UNSEEN: Undone Realms Book 1

Unseen to Seen: Q&A

So, you've read Unseen but now you have some questions.  I have the answers!  Probably.  If your question isn't answered below, feel free to ask it in a comment or PM me. I don't mind and want to make sure you've gotten the most out of your reading experience!  

1. What exactly is Clara? You know you never actually answered that question.  I know, I know. You will have to read the sequels to find out that answer but I can say this: She is not a ghost. I can also answer a related question:

2. Where is Clara living, exactly?  Clara lives in an alternate, or parallel universe (in book 2 you will hear these realities referred to as "realms").  It is a specific kind of parallel universe that I call a pocket reality.  This pocket reality is only the size of the hotel and its grounds but it is layered over our own reality.

3. If she lives in her own parallel reality, how is it that she can see into ours and touch things?  Her reality is porous.  The folds separating our world from hers are incredibly thin, which is how she can see our world but is not able to interact with any of its inhabitants (other than Nolan).

4. Why can Nolan see her?  There are several reasons, but I can't give them all here because they involve spoilers from the sequels.  What I can say is that Nolan has become untethered from our reality since the death of his brother, Marcus.  Marcus grounded him, and without that grounding, Nolan has come to the hotel feeling more like an unwelcomed visitor to our world rather than a full participant.  His desire to be unseen intersects with Clara's desire to be seen, and it is at this intersection that the characters find themselves at the book's opening when Clara first becomes visible to him.  They have found the point where the veil between the realities is at its thinnest, and they have been able to take advantage of that.  There is a much more specific reason Nolan can see Clara, but again, you'll have to read the sequels to find that out!

5. Does Nolan become like Clara?  Yes he does.  The process is gradual, but over the span of a few months, he is able to unfold the layers between the two realities and cross over into Clara's. 

6. What's up with Clara's reality?  Why is she able to grow but not breath (and Nolan too, at the end)?  Oh, shoot.  Another thing you'll have to read the sequels to find out!  Let's just say that the rules of physics are applied differently in Clara's pocket reality.  And we'll leave it at that.

7. What happens at the end:  did Nolan go to Canada or stay with Clara?  Are there two of him now?  Yes, yes, and yes.  Let's look at that set of keys Clara took from the night manager.  She swiped them, brought them into her reality, and essentially she was making a copy of them, right?  The night manager kept his original set, but now Clara has a set of her own.  This is exactly what happens to Nolan, only because he's a living being who can insert his own will on the situation instead of an inanimate object, the process is gradual. So, Nolan A goes to Canada to find his mom.  Nolan B crosses completely into Clara's reality and stays with her.

8. Do the two Nolans still share a consciousness?  No. They are now two entirely different people, but up until the night Nolan A leaves the hotel for Canada, they are still the same person and so all of their memories until that point will be the same.

9.  Does Nolan A know that there's a part of him that stayed with Clara?  Nolan A may have been aware that he split off.  When Nolan A made the decision to go to Canada, he lost the ability to see Clara.  The fold closed over and his connection to Clara's world was gone.  He would have been able to see his other self though I don't know if he understood what happened.  Nolan B did, however.  He could see himself leaving.  I don't think he was really hiding from Canada-bound Nolan, per say, but I don't think he could quite bear to watch.  How weird would it be to see another version of yourself walking around!

10. Is this a happy ending?  That depends on your interpretation, but I think of it as bittersweet.  Nolan B and Clara do get to be together and I think we can all be happy about that.  But Nolan B will never know what happened to his mother.  He will never find her.  Nolan A will go to Canada and perhaps he will find the mother he's been missing for so many years.  But he will never ever see Clara again. 

11. What is book two going to be about?  Again, I'm not going to give any spoilers, but here's a big hint.  If we want to know what Clara is, we are going to have to go back before we can go forward.  That's all I'll give you, other than that, as with Unseen, it will be alternating 3rd person POV.

12.  What's this about a sequel?  Unseen has two sequels: UNHEEDED and UNSPOKEN.  If you go to the next chapter, you can read an excerpt from UNHEEDED.  Clara and Nolan's story isn't even close to being finished.  If you want to find out what happens to them, read on!

13.  What are all of those chapters doing hanging out at the end of this book?  I've got some teasers for some of my other stories, which you are welcome to take a look at.  There are also chapters dedicated to the winners of several contests I ran in 2014.  This contest allowed me to showcase the talents of other writers here in the pages of UNSEEN.  You don't have to read any of this, especially if you are anxious to move on to book 2 of The Fold Series.  But if you'd like to read some UNSEEN fan fiction, check them out.  I'm so proud of the talent of these authors!

14. What's this about you writing a story with R. L. Stine?  Yes, I did, I really did! You can read our story, called LET'S MAKE A TRADE either on my profile or on RL_Stine's. I've also added the external link to it on this chapter.

 *Special thanks to @atomiclights for suggesting the media, "Strange Birds" by Birdy.  She thought the song fit Unseen well, and I agree (even though Clara's not a ghost)!