Sarah Kraft - An Uniquely-crafted Emotional Thriller
Sarah Kraft was born and raised in Oregon. By day, she designs jewelry for Portland's brides. By night, she writes novels and designs prints for her fashion collection, KoutureDeLeKraft. She is the author of several paranormal teen novels. Follow her online for dog mom stories, wine recommendations, and fashion tips. As our Author of the Day, she tells us all about her book, Five Years Later.
Please give us a short introduction to what Five Years Later is about.
FIVE YEARS LATER follows the story of 23-year-old Elle Fox, a Portland writer-turned-sales-girl who is trying to navigate the emotional turmoil of her parents' divorce as well as her feelings towards her ex, Scott Darcy, who she gets stuck with by accident on a vacation to the Oregon Coast.
What inspired you to write this story? Was there anything in particular that made you want to tackle this?
I always tell people that while this is a work of fiction, there are tidbits of nonfiction strewn in between. I started this book after standing in the bookstore looking for a novel with a good plot and a character that could relate to where I was at at the time. As it turns out, there aren't a lot of books about being a daughter in college with divorcing parents and the aftermath that comes with that. Sure, we talk about being a kid or teenager with split families, but what about the new adults? We're in one of the most critical turning points of our lives, trying to figure out where we belong in this big, terrifying world and the foundation we've relied on since birth has just been torn out from under us. Where's the book about having to jump before you're ready and, worse, having to jump with broken wings?
Five Years Later is told in dual timelines. Why did you take this approach?
The dual timelines were important to me because at the time I was in the process of reflecting on my own past as well as dealing with big challenges in my present day. We as people believe the past is the past and it is unchangeable, and while this is true I can say that hindsight is often 20/20. We can learn new things about the past that we didn't know at the time it was in the making, and these newfound truths can change our perception of then as well as the course of our futures.
Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?
Besides telling stories, I also design fashion prints! During the COVID shutdown in Oregon last year, I started doing a lot of art and making some really amazing things. I found a fashion producer that spring and now have my own collection, KoutureDeLeKraft, which can be found on Etsy! I hope to bring some FIVE YEARS LATER merchandise into the picture later this year, too!
Which of your characters was the most challenging to create
I don't know that the characters were challenging to create, but it was a challenge for me to write the scenes between Elle and her father, mostly because dealing with my own father after my parents' divorce was so difficult. The hardest scene for me to write (spoiler alert) is the scene at the end, where she's in the hospital with him and she realizes how much she loves him despite all the terrible things he's put her through, and we see the really painful, hard part about true love: it's there regardless of whether we want it to be or not. We can reject that truth, or we can accept it - not for the other person's sake but for ourselves so that we can begin the real healing and move forward.
Family is an important theme in this story - why did you take this approach?
Family is of the utmost importance to me, and when mine fell apart in my early twenties it was devastating. I had to leave college. I worried night and day about my mother, whose suffering actually lead to serious, physical illness. But people outside don't see those parts - they just see a girl who is upset because mommy and daddy didn't stay together. They like to say things behind your back like "She's an adult now, she shouldn't be so torn up about her family splitting. Isn't she old enough to start her own family?" There isn't a lot of sympathy for adults with broken families. I wanted to write a story for those like me who needed to hear, "It's okay to be upset over your broken family even though you're an adult. It's okay to feel all those feels, the angry ones, the sorrowful ones, the fearful ones... It's okay to not be okay."
Do you believe in true love in real life?
Absolutely, but it definitely looks different than I thought it would growing up! To truly love someone, you love all of them - even the crappy, hard to love parts. In FIVE YEARS LATER, we get to see Elle discover two different kinds of true love: the kind you fight to restore and keep, and the kind you learn to accept so that you can let go and move forward.
What are you working on right now?
My time is currently occupied with promoting FIVE YEARS LATER, but I do hope to write a sequel to this story as well as a sequel to my Amazon epic teen novel, MARKINGS, in the near future!
Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?
All of my books are available on Amazon, either under Sarah Kraft or S.B. Roozenboom! They can also contact me online either at Twitter @SB_Roozenboom or through my website, http://www.TheOfficialSBBoom.Yolasite.com! They can also catch me on my fashion page on instagram, @KoutureDeLeKraft! I love hearing from fans!
