People often ask me what inspired Searching for Sky.
No single factor explains it, but I’ll try to unpack a little history behind the book.
First, I’ve always been fond of fiction that revolves around characters who are searching for something. Of course, all good fictional characters—like all real people—wrestle with unique personal struggles and ambitions, but the kind of search I’m speaking of is a search for identity, and especially a search for identity in the face of social pressure. Sometimes these characters are lost and confused; other times they are restless seekers. Whatever the case, it is their alienation or disillusionment that attracts me. Think Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye or Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby or Coleman Silk in Philip Roth’s The Human Stain.
In my opinion, these stories are even more interesting when they take place in foreign locales, such as the France and Spain of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises or the Africa of Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King or the Mexico of Lowry’s Under the Volcano.
Another important source of inspiration for the novel was my early career experience. As a young lawyer at a global law firm, I saw first-hand how easy it was for people to get stuck on the proverbial “corporate treadmill.” After a while, the force and momentum took on a life of its own. Moreover, while each step brought greater material comfort and social recognition, it seemed to be at the expense of creative potential, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that exchange. The kernel of a novel formed, and I decided to move to Barcelona to see if I could nurture it.
Early on, the two main characters – Roy and Stephen – both of them young corporate lawyers – entered my mind. I wanted Stephen to be drawn to Roy’s world of fame and riches, even as he detected a sense of emptiness at its core.
Other characters and pieces of the story—such as the Cabal conspiracy—came much later. But that’s a topic for a separate blog entry.
