Actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter Ally Walker chatted about her new book “The Light Runner.”
As an actress, she is known for such projects as Profiler, Universal Soldier, While You Were Sleeping, and Sons of Anarchy.
What is your debut novel ‘The Light Runner’ about?
The novel is about Ella Kramer, a young psychiatrist who works at a psychiatric hospital outside Baltimore. For her first case, she begins treating a high-profile patient – a war hero whose wife has just been murdered.
As Ella delves into his story and the events surrounding his wife’s death, she begins to question whether he is being truthful and worse, she begins to feel her reality unravel as her past trauma comes to the surface.
When some of the patients begin to corroborate Ella’s gut feelings, Ella begins a journey that transcends time to correct the wrongs that have taken place.
I look at her journey as a metaphor for finding ones’ identity and purpose no matter what is taking place around you.
I believe that our true value should be measured by what we know in our hearts and how we care for one another. Your mind can only get you so far, but your imagination? Your heart? The possibilities are endless.
What are you most excited about as the release date approaches?
The pub date! I’m excited about all of it. I am excited that I get to share it with fans and people who don’t know me and see if it is something they like and can relate to.
It touches on quite a few things so, hopefully there is something in it for everyone! I’m just happy I was able to do it. The writing – that was the exciting part.
What intrigues you most about metaphysics?
I’m not really sure. I guess since it comes down to explaining what reality is, I just find the different interpretations of it fascinating. Be they religious, astrological or Newtonian. I think we all determine our reality to a point, but I also believe some things are destined to be.
Are the characters based on people you know or a combination of ideas? Tell us about your protagonist.
My characters are an amalgamation of the people I have known and of myself. They
represent the lessons we are here to learn. Ella is innocent and unaware of her own power. She represents purity and goodness transmutating into wisdom.
Why write a thriller novel? How did this idea come about?
I love thrillers. Agatha Christie was my hero as a kid. I read everything she wrote. I love science fiction. Things like the film, Blade Runner or the book it came from “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Phillip K Dick.
I feel like my book pays homage to these works. I wrote the first 150 pages of this ten years ago and wondered if I could intertwine the two genres – thriller and soft sci fi. I think I did it and hope people think the same.
Without revealing too much about the novel’s twists and turns, when did your interest in neurodiversity and mental health begin?
My interest in neurodiversity began when I found out my dad’s brother was labeled mentally retarded. No one spoke of him much, but I always wondered what he had endured.
My aunt Mildred was bipolar although no one said much about that either and she lived a somewhat tragic life. I felt very bad for both of them and decided at an early age that life was very unfair.
How much different is writing a novel as opposed to writing for small and large screen ?
I think when you are doing a screenplay it is more bare bones in a sense because your actors are going to take those words and flesh it out for all to see.
Books are lovely to write because the writer gets to be every character and expose every nook and cranny of the characters mind and being.
Sometimes a writer will overwrite as I do and then the editing process can be laborious and somewhat exhausting. In all honesty, I enjoy doing both.
What types of books do you read? Who are your favorite authors?
I love many writers: Dostoyevsky, Edith Wharton, Charles Bukowski, Agatha Christie, Wally Lamb, Ayn Rand, Daphne du Maurier, and Voltaire, to name a few.
What is your writing discipline? Do you have a certain time of the day you write?
My writing process is kind of all over the place. I sit and think for long periods of time
and let ideas flow to me. Then I usually write four – six hours a day until it’s done. Then I go back and rewrite a lot. Or I just sit and stare at the wall.
What do you want readers to pull out of your novel. Is there a lesson in your writing ?
I think the lesson I want readers to get from my novel, if there is one, is that – one should trust ones’ self in life.
One must find one’s core and strive to honor it. Even when you aren’t sure – be true to yourself. And then you can change the way your life will come to pass. And maybe even change reality.
Tell me about this ‘Reality’ Series? What are you working on now?
I’m working on the second book in the “Realities” series. The first, “The Light Runner” dealt with the lack of empathy that humanity is currently facing.
The next is about what truth is and how we cannot survive without it.
What’s it like being an author in the digital age?
I think there are pros and cons. The pros are you can get your own material out without an intermediary and can control most aspects of its marketing.
The cons are that there are soooo many choices and it’s hard to stand out!
What would you say to aspiring young actors?
What I have always said is that you have to love the craft of acting as that will get you through all the rejection and hard times. If you love it- do it. If not- I would say find something else!
I also think the beginning actors need to take every opportunity they can to work. No role is too small air inconsequential. Just keep doing your work.
“The Light Runner” is available on Amazon by clicking here.
For more information on actress and author Ally Walker, visit her official homepage, and follow her on Instagram.
