Raymond Khoury - Interview

Interview With Raymond Khoury on THE SANCTUARY
by Rachel Ekstrom

Tell me about the genesis of The Sanctuary. Where did the idea for the book first come to you?
Without giving away too much about the book, I’ve been interested in the central theme at the heart of the book—why we die, what do we really know about why we die, do we have to die?—for many years. I probably comes from a consciousness, a fear of death some people have, I certainly do, and I guess it’s a fear that becomes more real the older you get, once you have kids, once funerals become more frequent than weddings and christenings… But the good news is there’s a lot we take for granted about aging and death that’s not necessarily true.

Why did you choose to set a lot of your story in Beirut?
I’d been thinking of setting the story in Iraq, in Baghdad, present day—the idea of discovering something, of something being uncovered because of the current war there, intrigued me, but as I homed in on the story, it seemed less and less likely that my lead characters, Mia and Evelyn in particular, would be there, given how dangerous and grim it is out there, unless they were there because of the war, in which case it would be hard to justify their verring off on their own adventure. And just as I was designing the story, the war in Lebanon erupted last summer, and it felt like an organic setting for the story that also presented some real opportunities of context and atmosphere. Plus I knew it really well, which helps.

So you must have been writing it in ‘real time,’ given that the book is mostly set—for the contemporary part, at least—in Beirut, in October of 2006?
Exactly. And it was actually really cool to be writing it, imagining Mia and Corben and Evelyn out there, imagining the events in the book taking place literally on the day I was writing them. I have friends out there I was Skyping with every day, and it really brought the story to life in a very visceral, and emotional, way.

How has your background—living in various countries—affected the writing of The Sanctuary?
I guess it’s the same as with The Last Templar—it gives me a comfort zone when it comes to writing chapters that are set in different countries, even different time periods. But Sanctuary is also about people being yanked out of their homelands, becoming nomads and drifters, trying to find news homes for themselves, and I suppose that ultimately must be fuelled by my own feelings and experience.

How did you research the scientific/medical aspects of the book?
A lot of books, articles in medical journals and newspapers and websites—there’s some fascinating stuff out there. Once I closed in on specific questions, I was able to have some fascinating conversations with some doctors on the ‘what ifs.’ Looking back, though, there was one of those amazingly fortuitous coincidences that also happened with Templar, when a friend of mine I mentioned my work to told me how her Texas oilman husband had recently taken her to a conference in Las Vegas where a select group of cutting-edge scientists working in longevity medicine each gave a presentation, telling their uber-wealthy guests what they were working on, where their research had reached, in the hope of attracting funding—which they did, big time. These were people who were already spending thousands of dollars a month on injections and other therapies. And it totally fascinated me.

Getting back to how you conceived the story: you used the expression ‘designing’ the story. Is that how you approach it? Do you have it all mapped out before you start writing?
To a certain extent, yes. Broadly. I approach storytelling in my novels—though this is only my second book—with the same discipline I use—or maybe I should say, used to use—for screenplays. To begin with, I need to know who my characters are and why they’re going to get sucked into the story. Once that’s clearly defined and feels like second nature to me, I then need to know what the big turning points are, where the major twists occur, how the adventure builds and keeps building, and how it’ll end. Broadly. Structure and pacing are hugely important to me. But then, once you start writing, all kinds of discoveries and ideas come at you from all directions, and inevitably, the story evolves and grows and takes on a life of its own. But yes, I like to have a pretty clear idea of how the story plays out, of its pacing, before I start.

As with The Last Templar, you’ve combined a contemporary thriller with a big, sweeping, and very emotional—more emotional, arguably—historical adventure in The Sanctuary. Is that going to become your ‘signature’ style?
I don’t know about that, but in this case, it was how the story came to me, and it’s weird, but it just hits you like that and when it does, it’s hard to get it all down on paper fast enough. It also usually at three o’clock in the morning, which doesn’t help! I have to say I really enjoy writing the historic chapters, I loved living Martin and Aimard’s adventure in Templar, and I loved sharing Sebastian’s journey even more in Sanctuary. That chapter in Paris is one my of my favourite pieces of writing. Plus it’s fascinating to research different periods and settings in history, especially periods that really interest me.

Do you think what you’ve written about in The Sanctuary could one day be possible?
Like I say in my author’s note at the back of the book, I think it’s definitely possible. We’re already living so differently from those who lived a hundred years ago. It’s a theme I took up in Templar too—for people who lived hundreds of years ago, we are Gods. And human ingenuity knows no bounds. It’s all a matter of time, hard work, patience, money, luck … and being allowed to do the work. Which is the next big debate … would it be a good thing, or not. I’m all for it.