Raymond Khoury - Interview

A Q&A With Raymond Khoury on THE SIGN

SPOILER ALERT: Please avoid reading this interview before you've read the book.

THE SIGN is somewhat of a departure from your previous books – where did you get the idea for the book?

I was in the Maldives, of all places, one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, and I was watching the news on TV and just felt so frustrated by what I was seeing, all the wars and fighting going on in different parts of the globe, most of them fuelled by religious fanaticism. The religious fundamentalism spreading in the Middle East and in America, all these leaders, elected or otherwise, making life-and-death decisions based purely on their faith, devastating the lives of millions of people around the planet. And I thought, what if something amazing could happen, some supernatural event that was so spectacular and beyond challenge that it would force us all to sit up and listen and rethink everything, something that could make us drop all previous allegiances and unite us all under a common flag, the flag of humanity. How powerful would that be? It would change the world—for better, or for worse, depending on how it was used—or abused. You could use it to achieve many different agendas. And the whole story just fell into place immediately, there and then.

The story jumps around from Antarctica to Boston, from Egypt to Houston – how did you pick these locations?

The locations always impose themselves by the nature of the story, they come out of my research. I don’t sit back and think, hey, I feel like setting something in Greece or in Naples … In this case, well, Antarctica is the place we’re most worried about in terms of ice shelfs breaking off. Egypt is where the world’s oldest monasteries are located. As for Boston, well it was either going to be Silicon Valley or Boston, the two centers of tech companies, and Boston worked better in terms of logistics, time differences, that kind of thing.

Science and technology play a major role in the book – what kind of research did you do for the book?

I always need to make sure that whatever I’m imagining in the books is technically feasible – something that, in this case, was easier said than done. I ended up doing a lot of research into nanotechnology and Janus particles and self-assembly once that turned out to be a possible way of achieving it. And as has happened before, one of my buddies who I was talking to about it had a friend who was a huge nano-techie, the CEO of one of the leading firms in that field. He hooked us up, long and detailed phone calls and emails ensued, a nice meal or two, and we eventually figured out how to do it…

The role of religion in politics is a central theme in the book. Why do you think they often go hand-in-hand?

It’s an easy button to push when you’re looking to grab power. It whips up people’s emotions and gets them motivated and angry, and the effects are spectacularly effective—and very dangerous. A voter is much more likely not just to get off his butt and vote, but to vote in a particular way, if he thinks it’ll help get him into heaven for eternity. And a soldier will be much more ruthless if he thinks he’s doing God’s work, if he believes he’s defending land or a set of rules that God bequeathed to “his people.” Religion is the perfect motivator. Look at what’s happening in many parts of the world. The fanatical few are dictating how the more open-minded—and more passive—majority are living. It’s very depressing to think this fanaticism can still have such a huge influence in the twenty-first century … but it is, and it’s getting worse.

In the book, “the sign” that appears has the potential to change the way the whole world lives and believes. Do you think that could happen in today’s society?

I do, in the sense that I think we’re instinctively naïve when it comes to God and his various representatives on earth, and if something came along that was so powerfully convincing, a lot of us—enough of us—would get swept up in it. We need to. Sadly, we seem to have an urge to be followers …

Tell us about your process. How do you go about your writing? What’s your process like?

I approach storytelling in my novels with the same discipline I use in 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 clear and feels like second nature to me, I think about what the big turning points are, where the major plot twists occur, how the adventure builds and how it’ll end. Structure and pacing are hugely important to me. But then, once you start writing, that’s when it all really kicks in and everything changes. I tend to write the books in short, intense, very focused and totally immersive bursts. I’ll be holed up somewhere quiet, totally consumed by writing the book, and with every new day of writing, with every page, 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, which is the most exciting part of writing.

It’s different with screenplays, especially when I’m working on a TV series, as you often have production imperatives where someone else has screwed up a script and you have to jump in and fix it or come up with something completely new in a week and you’re also juggling all kinds of external issues like casting, production meetings. There’s a collaborative process that’s always there and that interferes with the writing. Writing the books is very different. I need to be away from the distractions of daily life at home and be totally focused, but it’s a very solitary experience, so I tend to block out the time it takes to write them when I feel I want to dive in, and I’ll fly off to somewhere quiet where I’ll do nothing but write. I love the immersion, it’s like taking a trip into the world of the book for me. And luckily, I’ve got a few friends with nice houses by the sea or in the mountains—as well as one friend whose sailboat is a particularly great place to write on—who have been kind enough to let me use them to write there.

Your first book The Last Templar was recently made into an NBC mini-series. Was it exciting to see your work come to life, and will we see The Sanctuary or The Sign on a small or big screen soon?

You know, I find it hard enough to watch things I’ve actually written once they’re filmed, given that I’ve already “seen” them in my mind while writing them and, short of directing them and casting them myself, they never turn out to look anything like how I imagined them. With Templar, it was even less of a match, given that I didn’t write the screen adaptation and that I wasn’t at all involved in the production. It’s early to talk about The Sign given that it isn’t even out yet, but a couple of producers are trying to set up The Sanctuary as a movie. I’ve said I need to know who’s going to write the screenplay, and who’s going to direct, before I say yes. If I have the time, I’d love to be more involved this time around, but even that’s a tough call because you have to accept that adaptations are inherently going to be different from the books. As far as I’m concerned, I get to tell the stories I want to tell, the way I want to tell them, in the books. The movies or the miniseries will inevitably be different, for better or for worse. A lot of people will get involved, everyone will have different tastes and opinions and egos. It’s always a minefield of emotions when it comes to screen adaptations …

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.

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.

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.