Unseen
Author: Amberkbryant
Genre: Teen Fiction / Paranormal
Wattpad Book Blurb:
Clara has been alone her entire existence. People pass through, but no one can see or touch her and she cannot leave the grounds of the nondescript hotel she calls home. She doesn’t know how she came to be there, nor does she understand exactly what she is or why she’s different, but Clara does know one thing—she wants to be seen.
After running away from his abusive father, Nolan lands a job at Clara's hotel. Trying his best to fly under the radar, Nolan hopes to attract as little attention as possible while he raises enough money to find his long-absent mother. Depressed and heartbroken, Nolan wants only to be invisible.
Despite opposing goals, the two share a palpable loneliness. But there is little hope that they’ll share anything beyond that, until the morning a barrier separating their planes of existence is breached, and for the first time, Clara’s unseen world is made visible. As Nolan is drawn into Clara’s reality, he must decide whether the love of one person is worth crossing into a world that may never let him back into his own.
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Author Interview
1. Please tell the readers a bit about yourself.
Hello, my name is Amber and I’m a librarian. I’ve been a Wattpad addict for about a month and now have only have vague memories of what life was like before. My career brought me from the Midwest to the west coast of North America over ten years ago. When I’m not in librarian mode, I’m writing, and when I’m not writing, I’m growing flowers and food or hiking in one of the mountain ranges near my home.
2. What types of books do you write?
I write young/new adult speculative fiction, predominantly. Some of my work is science fiction, some of it veers more towards paranormal and fantasy. I can’t seem to get away from the topic of other planes of existence/parallel universes in my work. Each universe seems to manifest differently depending on the context of the story, but it’s always there.
3. How many books have you written?
I started writing almost two years ago. The first thing I wrote is a book called Adherence, which is the beginning of a sci-fi trilogy set on—you guessed it—a parallel world. Next, I took a break from that trilogy to write Unseen, so that work is essentially the second story I’ve written. I also wrote a novella, a short story, and several flash fiction pieces. And I’ve got several novels currently cooking, including the second book in the Adherence trilogy and another novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last November.
4. What movie and/or book are you looking forward to this year?
I actually have the book in my possession now! It’s called The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. This was the first book I discovered on Wattpad. Walton posted the first six chapters leading up to publication and I was immediately taken in and had to get the book. It’s wonderful! As for movies, I must admit that I used to go to them all the time but rarely do now. I have a young child, which means the last movie I saw in the theater was The LEGO Movie (not that I’m complaining because it was awesome). I’m tentatively excited for The Maze Runner, but as with all of the film adaptations of YA trilogies, I’m fearful that it won’t do the book justice.
5. What type of books do you enjoy reading?
Because of my job, I’m exposed to a lot of Young Adult fiction and therefore, I end up reading quite a bit of it. I think it’s important to read beyond the kind of work you write or are most comfortable with, though. While I might be a sucker for dystopian sci-fi, paranormal fiction, and magical realism, classic authors like Austen, Dickens, and Tolstoy have had a significant impact on me and I enjoy returning to their work now and then. I think it’s easier to find your own voice as a writer if you have eclectic tastes in what you read.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island what 3 things would you want with you?
I’ve thought about this one—or more correctly, I’ve over-thought it. I’m going to make some assumptions—the island has a fresh clean water source, it’s tropical so no need for heavy clothing or shelter, and it’s large enough to provide food. So here goes:
1. A really great knife.
2. A copy of Moby Dick. Because if it’s the only book I have with me, I’ll actually finish it.
3. A survival expert who will take care of that pesky day-to-day keeping-us-alive business. I will even let him use my knife and read Moby Dick aloud to him each night by the light of our campfire, if he asks me nicely.
I think there’s a chic-lit romance in there somewhere—something I’d want to read on a beach vacation on a not-so-deserted island (I’ll leave Moby Dick at home for that one).
7. Are you considering a sequel?
Yes! In fact, the second installment is already underway. My goal is eventually to have three interrelated stories, Unseen being the first. Once they are completed, the stories combined will create one novel-length book.
8. What inspired you to become a writer?
Reading! Being an avid reader for 30+ years made me want to write, as well as having a desire to see something through to its end. I’d thought about writing for a long time, but held off doing it. When I finally started and actually finished a 115,000 word novel, that was really huge for me. It gave me the confidence to keep going and write more.
Excerpt from Unseen
Clara hasn’t always been alone. She is almost certain of that. She can’t say that she remembers someone else exactly. Nothing is that concrete for Clara. But sometimes, when she lies on the edge of sleep, she unintentionally brushes her hand against her cheek, and the touch seems familiar in some inexplicable way. Someone touched her like that once. Gently, nonchalantly, as though to caress Clara was a routine and expected gesture repeated often throughout the course of a day.
Clara believes someone loved her once, a long time ago.
Besides, someone must have taken care of her as a baby. It just stands to reason.
Whoever they were, they left her before she was old enough to remember them properly and it has been Clara and only Clara ever since. She does not count the breathing people. They are different, set apart from her. They have always been oblivious to her, and her interest in them merely passes the time.
That was before the boy, Nolan, came along. Her fascination with Nolan is on a vastly different scale than anything she’s experienced for other breathing people. Nolan interests her, and that interest began before she became visible to him. Nolan avoids speaking to everyone, if he can help it. He keeps himself wrapped up in a dark hoody in order to hide himself from the world. Nolan doesn’t want anyone to notice him. He is a complete contrast from Clara.
And yet. Clara sees how sad the boy is. He goes to great lengths to keep his emotions secret from the other hotel employees. They might start asking questions that Nolan isn’t interested in answering.
He doesn’t want it to, but the lack of attention from other breathers seems to make Nolan lonely. This is exactly how Clara feels. She wishes for his sake that they didn’t share this in common. But as long as they do, she must admit that she is oddly comforted by it. She is lonely and he is lonely. Maybe their loneliness can somehow cancel each other’s out and become something else entirely.
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