Welcome to the six hundred and twenty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with memoirist, non-fiction author and spotlightee Barbara Barth. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello again, Barbara. Please remind us about yourself, and how you came to be a writer.
Barbara: Death, Dating, and Dogs in Decatur, Georgia. I laugh and like to sum up my memoir with those words. Humor has saved my life when I thought I couldn’t move. Becoming a widow three months before I turned sixty was not in my life plan. My husband and I lived together twenty years and then married for another five years. We had no children, except our two dogs. I was retired from my job with the Federal Government and, while I dabbled in selling antiques, I realized I had nothing to do after he died. I sat on my sofa in total panic that I was alone.
Late at night I sent pitiful e-mails to friends, who were not up at that hour to answer. I’d listen to music, play with the dogs, and then send another e-mail with the words, “never mind”. No one ever acknowledged my craziness. But I knew I needed to get control if I was going to deal with the word “widow” and find my place again. I needed to jump start my life quickly or give in to grief. I started dating within three months to get out of the house, bought a vintage Corvette that I never drive, and let the universe guide me to my path. I became a dog hoarder.
Writing became my tool for dealing with the pain. At first I wrote to clear my head of demons. Then, along the way, a funny thing happened. I discovered I loved to write. I liked putting words on paper (in this case Word) and working with dialog. I went from being sad, to finding pleasure in the late night hours, writing my story with my own brand of humor.
Now I have to write, not because I am alone, but because it is in my blood. I feel cheated if I don’t write every day!
Morgen: It’s great that something positive came out of your situation. Writing can be very therapeutic. You write non-fiction, how do you decide what to write about?
Barbara: I decided to share my story on finding a new life for myself. My memoir is a series of essays over a year doing all those things I never thought I’d do again. It is very personal and no subject is off limits. One of my older friends, as in age, read my book. She is very dignified. I worried a bit about how she would view me afterwards. While we have known each other in the antique world for many years, we had more of a business friendship. Soon after she finished my book we met for lunch. “I was really surprised at something I read.” She looked me straight in the eye and I thought, oh no, here it comes. My mind immediately went to my dating misadventures. “I can’t believe you only own one bra!” We had a good laugh about that. I now own more. But that little tidbit came out in an essay on always being late. My new rescue dog swiped my bra and was chewing it in the living room as I was frantically trying to get to my part-time job. She and I now have lunch weekly and talk about everything under the sun!
Morgen: How funny (especially when I first thought that you and your dog had lunch weekly and talked to each other!). What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Barbara: The Unfaithful Widow is my first book. However, every night I write essays on life as I see it, as a sixty-plus single female leading a creative life with a six dogs at home. My essays are on many sites for women, including Silver & Grace in Canada, Skirt.com in the United States, and most recently in On Purpose Woman, a magazine in the metro Baltimore, Maryland, area and on Speak Out Friday with Women On Writing (WOW). I was featured in Silver & Grace’s e-book Women Who Make A Difference. I am a member of the blogging team for Lifetime Television’s ‘The Balancing Act’, a morning TV show for women, where I post online as the CEO of Life on Monday (Creative, Energized, and Old Enough To Know Better).
In December 2010, I published a one-time, twenty-six page, e-zine for rescue dogs and vintage dog art called Writer With Dogs: The Magazine Where Dogs Meet Art. You can still view it online today (http://www.epaperflip.com/aglaia/viewer.aspx?docid=4e65b04193e346d08143d5c6c2d36a22).
I am embarrassed to admit it, but I have many of my own blogs, one for every interest it seems, and I am always posting on them too. Miss April In Paris, my big hunting dog, had her own blog for a few months where she dreamed of going to Paris. It turned out to be kismet. While on a book blog tour with Women On Writing, I landed on Tilly The Dog site in England. The post had to be written from the dog’s point of view. Miss April in Paris had her blog to share!
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Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and sixtieth, is of non-fiction author Linda Osmundson.
Linda Osmundson has worn many hats – teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, volunteer, professional speaker, art docent, crafter, and writer. At the age of fifty, she told her husband she wanted to take a writing course. He asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
She grew up to publish many articles for art, children, parent, Senior, teacher, religious, and travel magazines as well as newspapers, Chicken Soup for the Soul and Family Circle. Her two books in the How the West Was Drawn series came out in 2011 and 2012. She awaits news of a third acceptance in the series.
Although her books are about western artists and she grew up and attended college in Texas, she was never a real cowgirl. After moving to Colorado to teach, she met and married her husband. His job transfers took them from Denver to Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver again, Seattle, San Ramon, California, and, finally, retirement in Fort Collins, Colorado. In each location, she substitute taught, volunteered in art museums, taught docents (tour guides) and classroom volunteers to give interactive tours, and led hundreds of children and adults through museums.
Osmundson belongs to Colorado Author’s League, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and Northern Colorado Writers. She teaches writing classes and presents art appreciation programs to organizations and schools. For more information check her website, www.LindaOsmundson.com.
In her “spare” time, Osmundson loves to visit her seven grandchildren, read, golf, craft, cruise / travel, or dance to Dixieland Jazz and 50s music.
And now from the author herself:
Why I Write Books About Art Appreciation
Since my passion and goal is to help children and adults look, see, interact, and remember fine art, I asked myself why the concept of interactive museum tours couldn’t work in book format. The concept of questions followed by stories or information achieved my goal in my How the West was Drawn series.
When I look back, I realize my book idea stemmed from a 1990 experience. I served as a docent for the Moscow Treasures and Traditions exhibit during the Seattle World Games. One day, rather than a docent leading a tour through the whole show, we each were assigned to one gallery. Tours went from gallery to gallery and docent to docent.
The group of high school students raced through the show, hardly glancing from side to side. I approached a teacher and asked why he didn’t insist students interact with docents. “Oh, it’s okay,” he said, “they just want to look.”
I grabbed my chance to get someone to “see” rather than “look” when I noticed a girl linger over a Faberge silver box.
“There’s a story on the lid,” I told her. As I asked questions and related the story, she pointed out whatever I mentioned – the girl, forest, trees, cold snow. When my story concluded, she discovered the large ghost-like face of Father Frost disquised among the snow and trees. She thanked me and left. A few minutes later she returned with a friend. “Do that with her.”
My books “do that” with children from ages 7-107; questions which require the reader to look and see each of the thirteen art works in each book are followed by tidbits of information or stories. When How the West Was Drawn: Cowboy Charlie’s Art arrived and the UPS truck left, I opened a box, grabbed a book with my name on the cover, and, at the age of 72, broke into tears.
Cowboy Charlie’s Art received a finalist Spur award from Western Writer’s of America. It was chosen as an Accelerated Reader (AR) book for schools. Hopefully Remington’s Art will also be honored.
I write about art appreciation to fulfill my goal. My books offer tools to help children and adults look, see, interact, and remember fine art.
You can find more about Linda and her writing via her website www.LindaOsmundson.com.
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Thank you, Linda. Good luck with book number three… your covers are simply stunning!
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The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with memoirist / non-fiction author, antique dealer and dog whisperer Barbara Barth – the six hundred and twenty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.
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See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, Chicken Soup For The Soul, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, Family Circle, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, How the West Was Drawn, interview, Kobo, Linda Osmundson, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and twenty-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with historical and crime fiction author Colin Falconer. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Colin. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
photo via Wikipedia
Colin: Hi Morgen with an E! I’m sitting in a beach house in a tiny coastal town about fifty miles north of Perth, Western Australia at the moment. It’s a weekday and there’s absolutely no one around. By contrast I was born in a terraced house in North London, and first came to Australia when I was 20, when a football club brought me out here. I’ve been a full time writer for nearly thirty years. I had no choice – there was just nothing else I wanted to do with my life. Took me a while to get there, but I never regretted it.
Morgen: I felt / feel I had no choice either because I love it so much. I living the pauper lifestyle (sort of) but I’m living the dream (by not having a ‘proper’ job) as are you, by the sound of it. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Colin: I write mainly historical fiction, from BC to twentieth century, though I have written some crime fiction. I used to go where the stories took me, but I don’t think that was a very smart move now. Neither readers or publishers like you jigging around too much, so I try to keep my butterfly mind focused these days.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Colin: Colin Falconer is a pseudonym, yes. I have published about forty books all told, including some autobiographical stuff under other names – one was a huge bestseller in Australia, only Dan Brown kept me off top spot! – as well as some YA that I wrote for my kids. Even won some awards here for it. But I keep that other stuff under wraps these days. I focus on what I’m doing now and plan to do in the future, which is my historical fiction and historical thrillers.
Morgen: Wow. Congratulations. Have you self-published at all?
Colin: I’ve been traditionally published all my life, and I still publish through Corvus-Atlantic in London. But I’ve never been able to break through big time in the US. The Big6 say I’m too far away to promote, even though 85% of my blog followers are from there. It’s stupid. And the advances are way down in the US – 10K is the new 100K. Getting stuck on someone’s midlist is the kiss of death, so in the last year I’ve decided to take more of my destiny back into my own hands. I get very frustrated with traditional publishing. They say they can’t publish more than one book a year but it’s clear that readers will accept as many good books as you can write, and I’ve always been very prolific. I’ve been listening to guys like Bob Mayer, who are the real visionaries in the business now.
Morgen: I know a first time author who’s doing the agent hunt wanting to secure a publisher with a decent advance. As you say, it’s more difficult than ever these days. Are your books available as eBooks? How involved were you in that process? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
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Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and forty-second, is of multi-genre author Laurie Smith.
Laurie Smith lives on a secluded property in rural Australia with his wife Lorelle. Retired from work but not from life he spends his time writing, maintaining their hideaway and travelling whenever possible. Prior to leaving school at thirteen, his only notable academic moment was to have a short story he had written, read out to the whole school. Then began a round of menial jobs until joining the Army in 1969, this fuelled his love of adventure. He saw active service in South Viet Nam as a member of the Armoured Corps.
Leaving the Army in 1975 he began a new career as a Prison Officer. This was more than a job it grounded him in the world of crime and criminals, providing a bottomless pit of characters for future reference. A career in the Queensland Police followed and seven years of dedication to a job he loved went down the drain. PTSD put his life on hold for a year, and then he returned to security work. The following ten years were low key but they gave him valuable time to read more books. Redundancy sent him back to working in jail and a series of unfortunate events over the following two years saw him retiring with ill health. His life changed in all areas and he married Lorelle, with her love and inspiration bolstering him he followed his dream and began a writing course. Now he has found his second love, writing.
And now from the author himself:
I write under two names, Laurie Smith for the Wuff and Ready series of children’s picture books and L W Smith for my adult DEATH series. Wuff and Ready is a book designed to show children, in a non-threatening way the work done by Emergency Services personnel. The characters are animals, and the first book depicts a day in the life of Wagapaw Fire Fighters when a fuel truck capsizes. The involvement of Fire, Police and Ambulance is shown, all doing their job and working as a team. The characters are created by a paramedic, Martin Smith (no relation) and I put the story together.
I don’t see myself primarily as a children’s book writer, I have a wealth of anecdotes and characters scrambling to get out in the adult zone. Mountain of Death, the first of the series started life as an epilogue to a penny dreadful / pulp fiction style exercise in writing class. The scene where a Detective Sergeant checks a series of surveillance photos brought my main protagonist, Jack Hardy to life. The story flowed on from there with people lining up in my mind to be noticed and the plot grew as I wrote. Yes the first draft was something of a dog’s breakfast, so I studied harder, read writing magazines and more importantly listened to my editor. I’ve found that the first book was indeed the hardest, after procuring a cover from a graphic artist and formatting the book myself, I self-published it on Amazon Kindle on the 12th of March this year. Then I really learned about marketing, something I now know I should have been doing for six months prior to release. The basics were in place: Facebook, a Book page on Facebook, WordPress blog. Now I have a Goodreads page and am on Linkedin.
Connecting with like-minded people is the way to go, building up a strong group of fellow writers who give good comment and advice when needed. Blogging is a wonderful way of reaching a wider audience; it’s not all about your book. I’ve found a series of humorous anecdotes from my police days has been quite popular. Word of mouth and a printed book go a long way as well. People like to hold a book, so I had a limited print run on Mountain of Death and it was launched locally with several other authors. All the feedback has been upbeat, ie, ‘When’s the next one coming out? Couldn’t put it down.’
The following two books, Valley of Death and River of Death are set in and around Brisbane, Australia. Where Mountain reflects the story from the criminal’s perspective, the sequels, already written are more police based. They are not procedurals but revolve around the life of the protagonist, a female Detective. The whole series is a darker look at crime and criminals, it is at times visceral, ugly, sexual and violent.
You can find more about Laurie and his writing via…
His blog: https://laurie27wsmith.wordpress.com where you will find samples of his writing, a couple of short stories, the continuing series of A Policeman’s Lot, plus small excerpts from the Death Series.
Facebook Page for Mountain of Death: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/DeathSeries
Link to review of Mountain of Death by Pat Garcia: http://patgarciabookreviews.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/mountain-of-death-by-l-w-smith
Link to Wuff and Ready book: http://www.tmasbooks.com.au/index.php
And Laurie’s Amazon book page: http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Death-Series-ebook/dp/B007N66TRM
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The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with children’s author and poet Sherrill Cannon – the five hundred and seventy-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.
Tags: author, author spotlight, book, children's, crime fiction, female detective, interview, Laurie Smith, literature, multi-genre, short stories, stories, story authors, writing
Welcome to the four hundred and second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with Hersilia Press publisher Ilaria Meliconi. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Ilaria. Can you please briefly explain the structure of your publishing house… perhaps who’s involved along the process of an acceptance to the book / story being published.
Ilaria: I publish Italian crime fiction including translations of books by Italian authors and English books set in Italy. I’m the publisher and owner, so I am the person who looks for new books to publish and makes the final decision on whether to make an offer for the rights acquisition. For translations, when I find a suitable book I send a copy to readers, who are fluent Italian speakers living in the UK, and they give me their opinion on it. On the basis of their reports and my own judgement I then make a decision on whether to make an offer for the translation rights. For English manuscripts I usually work with agents (meaning the manuscript has already had a first round of editing) but may suggest some further structural editing. All manuscripts are copyedited before being published.
Morgen: Now I wish I spoke Italian, it’s sounds a great process to be involved in (hard work of course but…). The $64,000 question: out of all the submissions you receive, what makes a book / story stand out for all the right reasons?
Ilaria: Good writing is essential, and I really don’t like big words used for their own sake and affectation. It is rarely appropriate to the crime genre and if an author can’t use different styles in different genres then that’s something they have to work on.
I like an unusual story that makes me believe I know what happened and it turns out it was something else, and a story where the explanation of some event or behaviour is not obvious. A good crime story doesn’t need a troubled, alcoholic and divorced detective to work, but it can work even without a professional detective. What makes people snap and kill others in a particular situation is fascinating to investigate.
Morgen: And then be an ultimate page-turner. Without naming names, what makes a book proposal / story stand out for all the wrong reasons? 
Ilaria: Stories that follow a fad, Templar knights mysteries and unoriginal titles that copy other, more famous ones.
Morgen: And possibly better written. How can an author submit to you?
Ilaria: Just email a book synopsis and the first chapter to submissions@hersilia-press.co.uk, with a short paragraph about yourself.
Morgen: Can you suggest some do’s and don’t’s when submitting to you.
Ilaria: Do write the submission as if you were applying for a job, not writing to your sister. Use paragraphs and don’t use text speak in the submission, even if it’s an email. Do read the information on my website before sending a submission. Don’t email me submissions for genres I don’t publish. Don’t ask for advice on how to get published, or a free publishing consultation – you wouldn’t ask your electrician to work for free!
Morgen: Common sense, you would hope. To your knowledge, have any of your published books / stories won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Ilaria: I try to select good quality books so many of them have won or been shortlisted in competitions.
The first two books in the Commissario Cataldo series by Luigi Guicciardi have been shortlisted for the Premio Scerbanenco, Blood Sisters by Alessandro Perissinotto has won the Premio Grinzane Cavour in 2005 and the Premio Camaiore in 2006.
Maurizio de Giovanni, author of I Will Have Vengeance, has won the Premio Camaiore in 2011 and has been shortlisted for the prestigious Premio Scerbanenco in 2010; it has also been shortlisted for the CWA Ellis Peters Award for historical crime fiction and the CWA International Dagger for translated novels.
Morgen: That’s fantastic. I don’t know the aforementioned Italian awards (sorry about that) but the CWA (Crime Writers Association) is highly respected here.
What do you feel about an author writing under a pseudonym? Do you think they make a difference to their profile? And would you recommend an author writing under different names for different genres?
Ilaria: I do. When an author writes in more than one genre, it helps readers identify what type of book they are looking at, even if the external layout should be clear enough. It might also help an author get “into character” when writing.
Morgen: I’d not thought of it like that, the ‘getting into character’. Quite a few household names write under pseudonyms for their different styles, Ruth Rendell = Barbara Vine, Joanna Trollope = Caroline Harvey to name a couple. Another semi-priceless question: do you think an agent is vital to an author’s success? How would you suggest an author gets one?
Ilaria: It’s vital that a manuscript is professionally edited – and having an agent reassures a publisher this has been done. If you can have your manuscript professionally edited (not just read by a friend or relative who likes books) and don’t have an agent, some of the work has been done but it is still more difficult to place it with a publisher. Lot of publishers don’t accept manuscripts from unagented authors.
Morgen: I’ve learned from this blog how many authors there are out there and most are trying, or have tried to get an agent or publisher but we all know it’s the profession for testing your determination. Now for, in theory, a simple question: what’s your opinion of eBooks, do you publish them and do you read them?
Ilaria: I publish them and read them, and love them! I believe eBooks and paper books can easily coexist.
Morgen: Oh, so do I. Most of the authors I’ve spoken to read both and can’t imagine being without them. Like me, they read paper at home but love the fact that they can have hundreds of titles with them if they go away.
Ilaria: eBooks focus solely on the content, p-books are visual and tactile objects so the physical experience is also important (e.g paper weight and colour, cover). Almost all my submissions are read on an eBook reader. The most important next step for the technology is to become standardised and more reliable: at present, even the same file isn’t rendered in the same way in all eBook devices. This is something that technology companies have to work on. And in my opinion DRM will have to be linked to a digital signature, allowing people to read the book they have legally bought onto as many platforms as they like and own (e.g. eBook reader, mobile phone, computer screen).
Morgen: It’s certainly a learning curve. I held a 2-hour talk at one of my writing groups on Thursday evening about creating eBooks (with a 9-page handout) and even those with little computer knowledge were less daunted by it (although most said they’d like to bribe me with cups of tea and biscuits to go to their houses when they come to put their eBooks together). Poetry and short stories are, in my opinion anyway, the two most hard done by genres… what do you see as the future for them? Do you think the eBook revolution will help given that eBooks seem to be getting shorter?
Ilaria: I think there has been a revival of the short story. A number of publishers are taking advantage of the e-format and are publishing free short stories on their website (Hersilia Press included). There has also been a huge growth in flash fiction which I like very much. Flash fiction is probably among of the hardest type of writing, it needs a lot of work and a lot of honing down to the very essential: it is the best way of showing not telling, where you can let your reader imagine most of the story.
Morgen: I’ve been writing a story a day since May 1st (for Story A Day May then 5pm fiction, as well as one a week for Tuesday Tales) and because of the timing (or lack thereof), they’ve turned out to be flash fiction so it’s what’s coming out at the moment, but I love them so… Apart from the stories in your publications, what do you like to read? Any authors (including those you’ve published) that you’d like to recommend?
Ilaria: I try to read something very different just to switch my brain off crime fiction, so I turn to popular science and academic essays – my training is in science so a part of me wishes to keep up with the recent research (but I don’t usually succeed).
Morgen: But presumably science comes in really handy with the technical side of crime writing. Are you involved in anything else writing-related?
Ilaria: Yes, I help running a writing group called Group 2012, with Blackwell’s bookshop in Oxford and The Oxford Editors. It started in January 2012 and it’s gone from strength to strength: we have a fantastic group of writers. We meet once a month, and usually have an author talking to us about their experience, while in the second half of the meeting we concentrate on writing, with exercises and manuscript feedback. Have a look at www.group2012.wordpress.com.
Morgen: I have, and sadly your group clashes with one I belong to (Towcester Writers Group), the third Wednesday of the month. 
I’m not long back from volunteering near you actually, at the first Chipping Norton Literature Festival. I was in the green room part of the time which was fantastic. I hope to be involved again next year (and others in between). What do you do when you’re not working?
Ilaria: I like to cook and eat, and do manual things to try to use the other parts of my brain: gardening and pottery (with rather poor results in both).
Morgen: Oh dear. We’ve had a lot of warm and wet weather here in the UK so the garden’s bound to get out of hand (that’s the excuse I’m using anyway). Well, thank you so much Ilaria, lovely to ‘meet’ you today.
Ilaria Meliconi studied astrophysics at the University of Bologna, then an MSc and a DPhil (or a PhD for non-Oxonians) in history of science at Oxford. She fell into publishing, working first on the journal of a learned society and then moving on to managing various journals and commissioning books. After a decade of experience she wanted to recommend her favourite crime fiction books to her English-speaking friends, and found they were not available yet, so decided to do it herself and founded Hersilia Press.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: Alessandro Perissinotto, Commissario Cataldo, crime fiction, Crime Writers Association, CWA, CWA Ellis Peters Award, CWA International Dagger, Hersilia Press, historical, Ilaria Meliconi, interview, Italian, Luigi Guicciardi, Maurizio de Giovanni, Premio Camaiore, Premio Grinzane Cavour, Premio Scerbanenco, publisher, submissions, translations, writing
Welcome to the three hundred and twenty-sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with comedy and satire blogger Joel White. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Joel. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Joel: Hi, I’m Joel White a budding young Australian trying to break into the comedy / satire scene.
I’ve always been fascinated by the ‘truth’ and how to both find it and define it. This in turn made me think about my opinions and how they were created, how they’ve evolved, and what effect they’ve had on my life. The way I found best to put across my feelings with regard to this was with both the written word and performing both live and in front of a camera and I’ve been doing that since I was 14. I noticed very early on that nobody opens their mind to a serious debate, plus it’s just not as interesting, and that’s when I found the power of comedy. Everybody likes some comedy and it’s amazing how powerful a genre it is. I’ve always found that to open somebody’s mind to change you must first make them laugh, which is also true of me. In that way it’s a bit unfair that comedians fall right down the bottom of the showbiz / writing pecking order.
Morgen: They do seem to, don’t they and humour is so subjective, personal that it must be really hard to get it right. Tell us a bit more about your writing – you’ve mentioned humour, any other genres?
Joel: I write personal opinion in the form of comedy and satire on my blog The Small Opinion’s Blog, along with the other members of my comedy team called The Small Opinion. This blog is a bit more serious than our usual comedy, but we use all the material that doesn’t quite fit into our comedy show. This show is a YouTube comedy series set to come to life mid-2012, so if you’re reading this after then, hopefully it’s already out! Later on I’ll explain how it all works and what it’s about.
As for other genres, I’ve dabbled in short stories and have come away reasonably unscathed, but I’ve never held the same passion for it as I have comedy. One day I envisage that I’ll put out a serious novel, probably a thriller / mystery, but it’s not forefront in my mind at the moment. Closer on the horizon I’m currently dabbling in creating a Bryan Dawe / Jeremy Clarkson style collection of my previous work and binding it all together with some new material all in one handy to read eBook. Hopefully in a year or two I’ll be back to ask if I can do a promo of that!
Morgen: Certainly… feel free. You mentioned the blog, has anything else been published?
Joel: Back in 2010 I was part of the three writers that put together a book under The Small Opinion called Our Problem with Pineapples and it sold reasonably well for a first-time self-published book on Amazon and we were proud of it. However, in mid-2011 the group split up after a few ‘disagreements’ and other life events, so the book is no more and all the material has been returned to the respective owners. I thought that would be the end of my writing days, killed off before it even started, but as the founder of the group I got to keep the name (we sort of had a bit of a divorce settlement going on!) so to keep the dream alive I have now reformed the group with a few close friends and we are driving it forward in a new direction. Hopefully our fans are still with us! We haven’t yet got plans for a new book as a group, but it’s something we’ll discuss soon, I’m sure.
Morgen: I’m not sure how relevant my next question is but I’ll ask nonetheless, or perhaps more so given your live performances: have you had any rejections?
Joel: As a group we’ve been pretty lucky so far, I think the fact that you have a ‘team’ somehow gives you more credibility and are accepted more often. We’ve struck the deals we’ve wanted and only turned down when we were a bit too ambitious.
Personally, however, I’m a young writer trying to break into the scene as a freelancer, and it is quite tough. It is one of those areas that requires a bit of luck to get anywhere, and there’s a bit of a catch-22 situation where you don’t have the experience required in order to get the experience. I’ve scored a few jobs writing blogs, articles and some scripts and would love to get a real break somewhere!
I’ve always been quite resilient and able to drive on in the face of adversity, but now that I’m turning what previously was a hobby into hopefully a job it’s a bit tougher to accept rejection. I’ve always handled it by writing another article every time I’ve been turned down. It’s a good way to keep the juices flowing, I’ve found.
Morgen: It’s the right attitude to have. If you keep going and have enough variety it’s got to pay off. You just have to hit your head against lots of walls, I guess. What’s your opinion of eBooks, do you read them or is it paper all the way?
Joel: The world of writing is changing with the internet, and it is now possible to publish, market and sell your eBook without the help of anybody at all, and I like it. Obviously companies like Amazon make it much easier to do everything yourself and that’s why I think old-style publishing firms will change drastically, maybe even disappear, within the near future. The newest form of getting your book out there has lately been in the form of torrenting – releasing your eBook for free to the masses and they then pay what they think it is worth, and surprisingly this has been working. This is just one example of the many new ways to get your book out there; almost all of it is unfamiliar and untested. The internet holds an unknown future, and that’s why I am so excited by it.
Morgen: Me too.
Joel: I have found with eBooks and the multitude of authors out there you get a sense of rawness and personal development when reading an amateur writer’s work. Particularly as a young writer myself, I like supporting others and learning from their mistakes as well mine, and eBooks allow you to do this. Previously they would have had to be professionally published first, which meant you missed out on that important phase.
Nothing does quite beat the sensation of a library and the smell of a new book, though…
Morgen: That’s what most interviewees have said and whilst I do think there will be less paper books being published, I think the two formats will run alongside each other. No-one’s spotted any mistakes in my eBooks yet (or at least not told me) but just knowing it can be amended in a matter minutes is wonderful. I love technology. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Joel: Almost all of it. We self-publish, market, sell, and produce all of our own work, and I don’t see it changing for a little while yet. We have occasionally had some other people to do some back-stage stuff and art design for logos and so forth (I can’t even draw stick figures), but that’s about it.
Morgen: I’m OK if I have something to copy (my favourite ‘art’ is cartoons ). What are you working on at the moment / next?
Joel: The group is currently working on a filmed YouTube comedy series I mentioned earlier. Our show mostly revolves around an unscripted and unrehearsed segment we call ‘The Couch’ where we discuss semi-topical items and always breaks down into some funny debate about our view on the world as well as rattling off some stand-up material throughout it. We then move into our written material in the form of sketches, monologues, parodies as well as each creating a story for the episode. We concentrate on creating intelligent humour (although sometimes we get a bit silly!) that is meant to first make you laugh, and then make you think a little bit. It’s great fun to make and hopefully that will show in the final result and hopefully we’ll make some people glad they decided to watch it.
Next in the pipeline is hopefully a book and some live shows if we can get the audience, but they’re something we haven’t fully discussed yet.
Morgen: It certainly sounds like it keeps you out of mischief. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Joel: Everything about a comedy show falls down to the writing, even the improvised bits. You’ve got to have the material, the quality and the quantity to make a show work. This is why it annoys me a little bit when others refuse to call comedians ‘proper’ writers. Stand ups spend weeks perfecting even just a five-minute monologue to make it absolutely perfect, with every single word, sentence, paragraph and entire script being analysed over and over and over.
To make it work I’ve basically got to write every day, even if it is just a 30 second filler. When I’m not writing, I’m either seeking inspiration, thinking about how to make a piece of material better or bantering with other group members to try and spark something. I also have to work the necessary bland part-time job in order to survive.
With comedy writing you can’t use more than half of your material (but I never throw it away!), simply because it is just not good enough, and this can get quite frustrating. Sometimes you can spend hours trying to perfect a simple little joke, only to end up giving up on it. That’s a tip most professional comedians give you: never be afraid to reject your own material. Because of this I inevitably suffer from writer’s block every now and then, but I manage to work around it by performing and filming when I do and soon enough the inspiration returns.
Morgen: I’ve had a few interviewees say that they don’t have time (or money) to get writers block and knowing you have to make money is certainly a great incentive. Do you have to do much research?
Joel: A heck of a lot, as we often stray into science, history, politics, and other equally complex subjects. Since we want to keep comedy the comedy quite light we’ve often got to research until we understand it to the point where we can explain it to a three year old and they can understand it. Then we have to make it funny…
I’ve become a bit of a hoarder of knowledge, and seek out any kind of learning I can. I’ve become addicted to shows like QI and all kinds of documentaries, and these are great platforms from which to get a writing idea from. You can’t write about something if you didn’t know it even existed.
Morgen: I love QI. I went to an author talk by Alan Davies last summer (he’d written an autobiography) and he was hilarious. I asked him which was his favourite topic (from memory, astronomy) and what they’d not covered (whales, I think) – I have a terrible memory. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Joel: My favourite is just the sheer joy I get from it. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to find the motivation to get out of bed and do it, but once I start writing the time flies and there’s a feeling of warmth within me that makes me not want to stop.
My least favourite aspect is not being able to turn off. Just sitting in a café talking to a friend becomes a nightmare when you’re trying to find inspiration and trying to think of something funny, because inevitably that friend gets assaulted with all kinds of half-baked jokes that should never have seen the light of day. Then there’s the urge to take out a notepad during a conversation and take notes so that you don’t forget your ideas, all while trying to retain your dignity and manners.
Morgen: You could always make a note on your phone and pretend you’re texting someone, not that that’s particularly polite if you’re mid conversation but friends of writers should always know we’re always “on call”. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Joel: Find somebody that can give you some great advice. Then tell me who that is, so I can get in on it! You, Morgen, are quite handy in that regard, actually!
Morgen: Why, thank you very much. It’s always lovely to feel useful. And there’s plenty of it on the blog. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Joel: We’re on Google+ as individuals (me) as well as The Small Opinion. It is full of great writers, writing ideas and generally intelligent intellectuals that inspire a lot of my material. It is also brilliant for marketing anything as everybody is willing to give your stuff a go and will give you constructive criticism on it as well as spark up wonderful debates. There are also Hangouts, which are live webcam sessions, and it is great fun to get in contact with your fans and have a joke around with them as well. It is a top class social media website and is much underrated.
The Small Opinion is also on Facebook, but we don’t find that anywhere near as useful, but we still keep it updated if people want to like it. I’m on a few forums around the place as well, but they are more just for fun than for writing purposes.
Morgen: We’ve talked a bit about eBooks, what do you think the future holds for a writer?
Joel: There’s a lot in the future for writing with the internet becoming more and more important. There will be new media sources, ones that we never thought would take off, and writing services will be required more and more from people who would never have made it even 20 years ago. For example, I made reference to the Google+ hangout above, I believe this is going to become a brilliant new medium that is going to need some flexible and difficult scripting in order to turn it into something that really draws a crowd.
Morgen: I’m on Google+ but not really done anything with it yet (all part of the plan). Where can we find out about you and your work?
Joel: The Small Opinion’s Blog, The Small Opinion (TSO) YouTube page, TSO Google+ page, TSO Facebook page, Joel’s Google+.
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Joel: I guess I should mention the others in my group! It’s slipped my mind until now. We have Harley Martin, Ben Haylock and Don (yes, he only uses one name)*.
Harley uses an ‘angry logic’ to get his point across and is very funny when he gets annoyed (which we like to do quite a bit). We share a lot of the same views and get along quite well.
Ben is a very intelligent individual, currently studying a high-level science with a name so long it puts German compound nouns to shame, hence why I can’t remember it. He often finds things that we never even think of, an ‘out of the box’ thinker, and probably the funniest of us all.
Don is a hard one to explain. You’ll just have to see him for yourself. We worry about him sometimes.
We’ve also got a couple of others, I’m not sure they’ll want to be named, that contribute to the blog and help us out back stage from time to time.
Morgen: They could always leave a comment on here if they do. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Joel: Yes there is. If you write a book about failures and it doesn’t sell, is it therefore a success?
Morgen: <laughs> I’d say only if it’s then mentioned in another book about books that fail.
Joel: Thanks for your time, Morgen, it’s been a pleasure.
Morgen: It’s been horrible, Joel, hated every second. See you again some time.
*above photo shows Don, Joel and Harley
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Alan Davies, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Ben Haylock, biographers, biography, blogging, books, Bryan Dawe, characters, children’s, comedy, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, Don, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, Harley Martin, historical, humour, interview, Jeremy Clarkson, Joel White, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, The Small Opinion, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and twenty-fifth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with non-fiction author and journalist Bruce Moore. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Bruce. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Bruce: I am originally from New York but currently reside in Richmond, Virginia. For more than 20 years I have been involved in the music business in various capacities from studio engineer and mastering engineer to live sound reinforcement. I also have a degree in English from The University of South Florida. A few years back I began combining the two disciplines and I started writing for numerous music magazines. In addition to books I continue to write for many different music publications.
Morgen: Two notoriously tough industries – presumably you’ll have had some rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Bruce: I have had more rejections than I care to think about. I don’t really have any trouble dealing with rejections. I have never submitted anything that I didn’t believe in 100 percent. I have been around the block a few times and I know not everyone will get it and to be honest I don’t expect them to. I am just looking for the one person who does get it; the rest just get tossed into the trash bin without so much as a second thought. Art is very subjective; I understand that and fully expect to receive tons of rejections knowing I will eventually find the right outlet.”
Morgen: Absolutely it is just one person’s opinion. Just a shame if they’re the editor of your favourite magazine but as you say there are plenty of outlets out there. How much of the marketing do you do?
Bruce: I have become my own best proponent. With technology the way that it is now it is quite easy to grow a fan base and then connect with them on a regular basis. Social networks like Facebook have become invaluable in this day and age, especially when as an artist I am working on a limited budget.
Morgen: I’m on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and have met some really wonderful people that way… many of whom have been on this blog. It’s literally opened up the world. Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Bruce: When I was working on my books “For Those About To Cook” and “For Those About To Cook, Pure Metal” I worked hand-in-hand with Safkhet Publishing. They made sure that I was involved in the creative process and always made sure I was fully satisfied with the covers before they went to print.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?
Bruce: At the moment, my second book, “For Those About To Cook, Pure Metal” is in the editing stage which has freed up some time for me to tackle another endeavour I have wanted to attempt for a while. Sticking with the music and food genre I have created and begun filming a musical cooking show I am calling “Brutally Delicious”. Basically it is a show where bands come into the studio, chat about their new project and then cook an original recipe with me in the kitchen; think Rachel Ray meets “The Headbangers Ball”.
Morgen: That does sound like fun. I guess this is less of an apt question for non-fiction but do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Bruce: My mind gets way ahead of me when I am writing and typing so even though I have been at this for a while I still find the need to go back and edit; sometimes significantly.
Morgen: Oh dear. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Bruce: My favourite thing about writing is the whole creative process. I absolutely love taking an idea and putting it to paper watching it eventually grow into the project that I had envisioned. I find that I can so easily get lost in writing and brainstorming that the hours literally fly by.
My least favourite aspect of writing is the business side of things. I cannot stand all the corporate nonsense that comes along with the whole process. I guess if I made enough cash as a writer and could pay someone to do that for me it would be ideal. Now however, writing, music and cooking are passions of mine that really get me out of bed in the morning even if they don’t pay the bills.
Morgen: Having just given up my job (two weeks ago) I’m in that situation but you’ve got it spot on; you need the passion. I have it in JCB loads. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Bruce: Jesus Christ, whether you believe in him or not his impact on the world has been huge and has changed the world. So much has been written about him both good and bad that I would love the opportunity to sit down and break bread with him. I would have so many questions. As far as cooking I think a good Middle Eastern dish would be appropriate, maybe some Falafel and Tabouleh followed by a strong, black Turkish coffee.
Gene Simmons from the rock band Kiss. As a long time fan of the band the little kid in me would love to sit down and chat with him over a meal. Even more than that though he is a fierce businessman and marketer and I would hope over a nice long meal he would impart some of that knowledge to me. As far as a meal I think a nice hunk of rare bloody beef would be appropriate – perhaps an extremely rare prime rib and a Bloody Mary to wash it all down with.
I would also like to sit down and share a meal with my all-time favourite author James Joyce. He was an author who wrote his way and on his terms; commercial success was not the goal. The goal was to create fresh, vibrant fiction that pushed boundaries and moved into uncharted territory. I would absolutely love to pick his brain on the craft of writing. As far as meals go perhaps a nice Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage.”
Morgen: I think I’d want to keep asking Gene to stick out his tongue to see if it really is that long. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Bruce: “If it is too loud you are too old!”
Morgen: I love that. Thank you, Bruce.
You can read my interview with Safkhet Publishing‘s Kim Maya Sutton here.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: AC/DC, agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, Bruce Moore, characters, children’s, cookery, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, Safkhet Publishing, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and twenty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with historical and children’s author Connie Hannah. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Connie. Please tell us something about yourself, where you are based, and how you came to be a writer.
Connie: Why is it that I always have something to say until someone asks me to tell them about myself? Well, let’s see. I am a married mom of ten-year-old twins. I was born and raised in the South and many refer to me as a true Steel Magnolia. My family and I live in a small suburb of Atlanta, Georgia and enjoy many things that a small town has to offer.
As far as writing goes, I cannot give you a definite answer on that one. I have lived a very complicated, adventurous, and wide-open life and am still going strong. Throughout the years, there has always been a nagging in my soul telling me to share my story with others. So, about a year ago, I decided to write The Suitcase of Secrets.
Morgen: Creative writing snuck up on me too, one session of a college evening class and I was hooked. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Connie: It appears that The Suitcase of Secrets is listed as fiction and historical fiction since it is based on a true story. I also have just finished writing Peter and The Purple Pill, which is a children’s book and the illustrations are being completed as we speak.
Morgen: What is your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing? Has anything surprise you?
Connie: My favorite aspect of writing is that, for me, it has been a very healing experience. I was very hesitant about sharing such a painful, raw, and honest parts of my past. However, since putting it all out there in print, the responses and reviews have been awesome. The least favorite aspect of my writing is the editing process. It seemed like it was never going to be done and I am a very impatient person.
The biggest surprise for me in regards to my book is that I am the one who actually wrote the words on the pages. Sometimes I will pick up the book and just turn to a random page. As I read, I am amazed that these words came from me!
Morgen: Isn’t that great. I quite often go back to old writing (even just a month or two) and am pleased with what I see (or not so pleased at others ). Is there a word, phrase or quote that you like?
Connie: I love the old Southern saying “Why do Southern Women wear white gloves? It is to hide their brass knuckles.” All I can say is so true and is this field you must be tough.
Morgen: You do, but you just have to remember that it’s one person’s opinion. I had a reviewer on Goodreads saying that one of my stories had to her off my writing for life, which is a shame from my point of view but I have others loving it and wanting more so definitely the rough with the smooth. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Connie: I know this has been said time and time again, but do not give up on your dream. If I gave in every time that someone told me that writing and marketing a book on my own was just a “pie in the sky” dream, the special words that I have penned would have never made it to a page. Well, guess what, I am now eating the pie and it is good!!
Morgen: Isn’t it. I’m only two weeks in on my new-found freedom but I’m looking forward to being able to crack on with the novels (still wading through outstanding emails at the moment!). Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re are vital to an author’s success?
Connie: I do not have an agent. I self-published The Suitcase of Secrets and I am working very hard to market it and get it out there. As far as an agent goes, I think there are pros and cons to just about anything. The major pro to having an agent is that they are marketing professional and can handle many of the day-to-day decisions that allows the author to spend their time writing. The major con to having an agent is that they handle most of the day-to-day decisions and the writer is possibly not in the loop. Either way, I am just thrilled that the book is finally published!
Morgen: Out of the two, although I love being self-published, it would be great to have someone on board so I could spend more time writing – that’s what we are after all. How much of the marketing do you do for your published work or for yourself as a “brand?”
Connie: Well, Morgen, I am a one-woman show. I currently do all my marketing since I am self-published. I am linked to Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, and have my own blog page: www.thesuitcaseofsecrets.blogspot.com. I had a book signing in the town in which I live and appeared as a guest on “Delicious Imperfections of Life” on March 13th of this year. The book is also on Amazon and Lulu.com. I think that I am off to a very good start.
Morgen: Anything live has got to be good… well done. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Connie: I think a little of both. The ideas just come to me and then I sit down and start to write. Once I get my bearings straight, I will put together an outline so that I do not forget the premise of the book.
Morgen: What do you do when you are not writing?
Connie: I juggle lots of stuff and love it. I take care of a home and kids, play tennis, and I am an amateur groupie for the band “Rascal Flatts.” I also, love the beach and have a small condo in Florida which I hope to use as my “writing cave.”
Morgen: How lovely. I’m a sea-lover and ended up in the middle the country… literally (3 hours from the coast). Thank you, Connie.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children's, children’s, Connie Hannah, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and twenty-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with crime novelist Quentin Bates. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello Quentin. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.
Quentin: Hello. These days I live in the south of England. I spent ten years living in Iceland and the links with that part of the world are still very strong, not least because that’s where my fiction is set. I’m not sure exactly how I came to write. It’s something that was always there in the background. I trained originally to be a ship’s officer and spent a few years at sea, and from there fell into an obscure branch of journalism. The step into fiction was something I had always seen as a mug’s game as the chances of becoming published are so slim for a newcomer. So I had to give it a try and was fortunate to be taken on by a fine literary agent who cracked the whip, supplied excellent advice and found me publishers in the UK, US, Germany and Holland.
Morgen: Cracking the whip is always a good incentive. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Quentin: I write what I like to think of as Gloomy Nordic Crime Fiction, set in Iceland, but hopefully without overdoing the gloom. Other genres? Not yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen.
Morgen: Oh but gloomy crime is great. What have you had published to-date? Do you have a favourite of your books or characters?
Quentin: Frozen Out (2011) (Frozen Assets in the US) and Cold Comfort (US, Jan 2012. UK, March 2012)
My favourite so far is the one I’m just starting on that should be number 4 in the series if all goes according to plan. I’m deeply fond of my rotund heroine, Gunnhildur, even though I give her such a rough time. The seedy taxi driver Fat Matti in Frozen Out was a joy to write and I like him so much that I’d love to bring him back one day.
Morgen: I love discovering incidental characters and making them meatier characters in later stories – Kate Atkinson did this in her anthology ‘Not the End of the World’, and I was hooked! Can you remember where you first saw one of your books in a bookshop or being read by a member of the public??
Quentin: I saw Frozen Out on a supermarket shelf two weeks before it was supposed to be published. What was a surprise was seeing a second-hand copy in a charity shop for 99p. I should have bought it.
Morgen: But then you wouldn’t have earned anything. What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?
Quentin: The first picture I had published was a hugely exciting event made even better by being paid for it. Acceptance is normally a thrill, or sometimes a relief. It’s confirmation that your work is up to scratch.
Morgen: Absolutely. There’s a lot of difference between gratis and someone wanting to part with their money – just look at eBooks. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Quentin: Of course. The only choices are to give up and retrain as a plumber (which has been tempting sometimes, as I’m probably too old to join the Foreign Legion), or to crack on and try to do better.
Morgen: No choice then really. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?
Quentin: So far I’m a completely award-free writer.
Morgen: That’s a shame… give it time. You mentioned earlier your whip cracking agent, do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Quentin: Although I can’t speak for others, for me being represented by someone with that kind of expertise was a real turning point. As soon as Peter Buckman took me under his wing, I immediately started getting a much better class of rejection letter. But it didn’t take him long to find me a publisher.
Morgen: I love that (class of rejection letter). I mentioned eBooks a moment ago, are your books available as eBooks? And do you read eBooks?
Quentin: The books are available in Kindle versions. I’d hope to keep a foot in each camp as I’m a great believer in paper. I’m something of a newcomer to eBooks and have only just started reading them.
Morgen: Me too, a couple of months ago. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Quentin: I’m a little daunted at the thought of being a brand. The publishers handle marketing, which normally means lining up interviews and opportunities for me to talk to potential readers. It’s something that doesn’t come naturally to me, but I’m gradually getting better at it. The blogging, tweeting, etc is my province and I’m probably not as enthusiastic a blogger and tweeter as I should be.
Morgen: It all takes time though but a necessity these days. Do you write under a pseudonym? Do you think they make a difference to an author’s profile?
Quentin: I use my own odd name. It’s not something I’ve given much thought to. I’d maybe consider using a pseudonym for another genre, if I ever have time to embark on another genre.
Morgen: If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Quentin: I’m not sure. Gunna is a robust sort of lady in the book and I’m sure there are plenty of fine character actresses out there who could do her justice. I’d really like to see someone who isn’t necessarily well-known take her on. There was one enquiry a while ago from an American company who had an actress lined up, someone who has a long track record of playing the best friend role, as far as I’m aware. I’m not a big movie watcher, and generally lost interest half-way thorough and look for a book instead.
Morgen: I love movies but the cinema is the only time I sit and do nothing so I love it. Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Quentin: My UK publisher changed the title of the first book to Frozen Out just before publication, which is why the book is Frozen Assets in the US. With hindsight, they were quite right to make the change, but I’d have preferred it to have been done earlier. There was a minor disagreement over Cold Comfort, as that was the title I wanted and I got my way on that. Covers are extremely important and you have to accept that the marketing whizzes know what they’re doing. They’re not something I have a much say in although I’d like to think that it could be discussed if there were a cover that I absolutely hated. For Cold Comfort I was fortunate enough to be able to persuade Yrsa Sigurdardóttir to supply the cover blurb, and that kind of recommendation really helps.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next? Do you manage to write every day?
Quentin: I’m in the process of finishing the third Gunnhildur book (provisionally titled Chilled to the Bone) and have been tinkering with the fourth book that’s starting to take shape. I try and write every day although I don’t always manage it. I feel it’s important to get some progress made every day, even if it’s only a couple of paragraphs, as that keeps the whole thing ticking over at the back of my mind.
Morgen: Well even 300 words a day would be a 100,000 book a year. What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it?
Quentin: It’s not something I’ve suffered from – yet. I have a day job to do as well, so by the time I get a chance to work on something Gunna-related, it’s like a release from the strictures of what I do all day and normally there’s no problem knocking it out. When ideas are thin on the ground, I find that just cranking out the words, even if it’s sub-standard stuff that’s going to be deleted later, is what sparks the thought processes and gets things moving. Staring moodily into space and waiting for inspiration does nothing. I find that where I tend to get bogged down is in the later stages of the book, keeping track of who did what, when and why. That’s when I want to bin it and start another one instead.
Morgen: Oh dear. I’ve written four novels (which I’m about to edit) and it was the threading it all together by the end that drove me mad. It’s part of the reason why I stick with short stories. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Quentin: Normally I start with an incident or a scene in the middle, that may actually get edited out of the finished book, and work in both directions. It’s probably not a great way to do things. Book 4 is a little different, as that initial incident occurs right at the beginning, so I’m working in one direction this time.
Morgen: You mentioned Gunna earlier, do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Quentin: I don’t have a particular method for creating characters. They tend to simply appear, although they can change into very different characters after a while. My feeling is that the dialogue is the key to making them credible, although real people don’t talk like characters do in books or on TV. I try to be careful with names and check as far as possible so as not to use a name that could be that of a real person in a similar position. There are several Gunnhildur Gísladóttirs in Iceland, although none of them are police officers. While I was writing Frozen Out I met someone who was so close to one of my fictional characters that the resemblance was quite uncanny. I made some changes so the resemblance was not so obvious, but it was a complete coincidence as that character had been written before the meeting took place.
Morgen: Well, it shows how realistic your character was. Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Quentin: I’m still writing as a journalist. I haven’t tried to write poetry or short stories for a very long time, but I have written a few non-fiction books, mostly extremely dull technical stuff. I once translated into English a book written by a friend in Iceland, but completely failed to find a publisher for it. It’s called Pelastikk (‘Bowline’ in English), by Gudlaugur Arason, and it’s a seagoing story that I suspect is largely very true to life.
Morgen: I would have thought seagoing would be popular (I love the sea ) – there’s always self-publishing eBooks online. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Quentin: I’m getting better on that score. I’m not over-writing quite as much as I used to.
Morgen: Me too. I can feel when I’m wandering. Life is all about practice, isn’t it. You do something often enough, it becomes easier, you get more confident and enjoy it more. In theory. Do you have to do much research?
Quentin: I’m finding that I have to do more and more research now that I’ve begun to exhaust my own areas of knowledge. Much of the research tends to be simply spending time in Iceland, reading the papers and keeping up with the news there, listening to how people talk and what they say, and paying attention to what their worries and concerns really are. For specialised stuff, I’m fortunate to have a group of people I can call on who can either answer a question or who will know someone who can.
Morgen: I love people-watching and that we have an excuse to do it. Some writers like quiet, others the noise of a coffee shop etc., do you listen to music or have noise around you when you write or do you need silence?
Quentin: I prefer peace and quiet while writing. I used to be able to have music on all the time, but for some reason I can’t do that any more. Maybe it’s an age thing.
Morgen: I’m better with classical music; no words to distract me. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?
Quentin: I’ve tried writing in the first person and couldn’t get on with it. I prefer the multiple viewpoints that the third person allows. Maybe I’m just not a skilled enough writer to manage the first person yet? I really don’t like to see ‘I’ all over a page. But looking back over this interview I can see ‘I’ all over the place and I’m not comfortable with it.
Morgen: I spoke with three agents at Winchester Writers’ Conference last July and they all said that they’d been swamped with first person and that third person would always be more popular with readers. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Quentin: Absolutely! I’m sure that most of us have an unpublished (and possibly unpublishable) first novel in a box somewhere. I have one and it was an invaluable learning experience.
Morgen: I’m just about to go back and edit mine – that’ll be interesting. It’s a lad-lit so at least I’ll have fun doing it. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Quentin: I hate being late. It drives me to distraction if I can’t get something finished by the agreed date, but that’s a hangover from writing for magazines with weekly or monthly deadlines. I shudder to think what it’s like working on a daily. It has to be said that making up stories is highly enjoyable and it’s a privilege to be able to do it. It’s just a shame not to be able to do it all the time. It has been a surprise (although it shouldn’t have been) having to talk to people in libraries, etc. I’m gradually becoming more comfortable with that side of it.
Morgen: I used to go to once-a-month open mic nights (until they stopped) at a local pub and was so nervous to begin with that I’d wear a sleeveless top regardless of the weather. After a couple of months the faces became familiar and it wasn’t so bad. I’d even offer to read more if they ran out of material. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Quentin: Just get on with it. Crank out the words. If you gaze into the distance and wait for your muse, you could be facing a long wait.
Morgen: Absolutely. You can’t edit a blank page. What do you like to read?
Quentin: All sorts… I grew up in a house full of Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Somerset Maugham, Evelyn Waugh and PG Wodehouse. Oh, Saki. I dearly love Saki’s short stories, especially the dark ones. Recently I’ve been reading Hilary Mantel, Ian Rankin and Kate Atkinson. I’ve also been reading Tim Mackintosh-Smith’s trilogy of books following the trail of the 13th century Moroccan traveller Ibn-Battutah, and they’re a real treat; enormously entertaining and very readable.
I try to keep away from crime fiction while working on a first draft of a book as I don’t want to encourage the voices or atmospheres of writers I enjoy and admire from creeping into my own stuff. The crime fiction I keep coming back to is Maigret and Sjöwall & Wahlöo.
Morgen: Kate Atkinson’s one of my favourite authors. I did a course on her at college – just three fortnightly meetings on her first three books (my first love is short stories so I’d read ‘Not the End of the World’ before we started then again before the second session). I’d not heard of her before the course was advertised and am so glad she’s done so well. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or invite three people, hiding the takeaway containers)?
Quentin: The menu would have to be fish, something best kept simple; fried fish, crusty bread and a vast tomato salad. Who to invite… there are so many interesting candidates. Today I’d choose Rudyard Kipling, Victoria Wood and Django Reinhardt. Tomorrow it would be a different choice. I’d love to have three Saga Age Icelanders, Gudrún Osvifsdóttir, Gísli Súrsson and Egill Skallagrímsson, round a table, preferably not armed, and ask them what really happened.
Morgen: Well, you do have to eat every day. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Quentin: From my own stuff: ‘Gunna? Can’t miss her. She’s a big fat lass with a face that frightens the horses.’
From the wonderful Saki: ‘The aunt of Clovis responded gamely to the suggestion, and churned away like a Nile steamer, with a long brown ripple of Pekingese spaniel trailing in her wake.’
Morgen: I love those… yours especially… it’s my kind of humour. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Quentin: No, that’s about it. A couple of times a year I go and speak to a creative writing group in a prison. That’s an interesting way to spend an afternoon.
Morgen: I went on a prison writing day talk a few months ago (where I met Sophie King) – it was really eye-opening. What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?
Quentin: I train in two very different martial arts. Not so much because I want to beat people up, but because I can’t face going to a gym and hammering away at a running machine to stay fit. It’s also a great way of clearing the mind, as for each two-hour training session you have to concentrate on that and nothing else. I’m also something of a tree-spotter these days. It’s not difficult, as they don’t tend to move about a lot.
Morgen: Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Quentin: I have a copy of Fowler’s Modern English Usage on the shelf in front of me. I don’t need it often, but wouldn’t want to be without it. I also use a thesaurus and have a couple of dictionaries to refer to when necessary; English, as well as English-Icelandic and a couple of others.
Morgen: Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Quentin: I’m on Twitter and Facebook, and I have no real idea how valuable they are.
Morgen: Fun but time-consuming if you’re not careful. I’m a member of a couple of tribes (and have my own which I’ve done nothing with yet – I will when I have time) on Triberr and that’s a wonderful tool – picking up fellow Triberr’s blogged tweets and retweeting previously sent ones every few minutes. It definitely gets my tweets retweeted more often. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Quentin: Very hard to say. It depends a great deal on what the rise in eBooks brings with it. The spectre of piracy is disturbing as it could mean that writers simply won’t be able to afford to write. At the time of writing, Cold Comfort hasn’t even been published, but there are already download sites out there that are offering free downloads of the eBook. That’s disturbing.
The alternative is that to make piracy less worthwhile, eBooks have to be so priced so low that they cost less than a newspaper, which is pretty cheap for something that represents the best part of a year’s worth of work. So while eBooks are undoubtedly here to stay, I have a fondness for dead tree technology. There are paper books that go back centuries. Everything digital depends on little magnetic machines and technology that could be gone on a few years.
But presumably publishers expect to remain in business and will need to employ writers to write for them. Hopefully the publishing business will be able to learn from the music industry’s experience of the advent of digital. But we’re set for some interesting times.
Morgen: I do think eBooks should be more reasonably priced (mine are $1.49) especially for new authors as people will take a risk on you. It’s fair enough for an established author to charge more but not almost full price. OK, so it cost something to put it together (not a lot unless there are extras) and apart from commission on the likes of Smashwords and Amazon, it costs nothing to have it online. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Quentin: My website at http://graskeggur.com, or on Facebook, also Twitter (@graskeggur). I also contribute to the International Crime Authors Reality Check group blog.
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Quentin: Gráskeggur is Icelandic for greybeard. My wife’s grandmother, who has trouble pronouncing my name, called me that one day and it stayed with me.
Morgen: Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Quentin: How do you find the time for all the stuff you do…? Do you only sleep for six hours a week?
Morgen: <laughs> Yes, pretty much. Four or five hours a night isn’t unheard of although I’m better at going to bed at a reasonable time (midnight) since giving up the day job (two weeks ago). Although I’m tied to my computer probably too much I love doing what I do and am so grateful to the authors involved here. Thank you so much, Quentin.
Brought up in the south of England, Quentin Bates took the offer of a gap year to work in Iceland in 1979 and found himself spending a gap decade there. During the 1980s he acquired a family, a new language and a new profession, before returning to the UK in 1990. He has been, among other things, a trawlerman, truck driver, teacher, factory worker and a journalist.
Frozen Out and its sequel, Cold Comfort, are born of the author’s own intimate knowledge of Iceland and its people, along with the fascination of the recent upheaval in Iceland’s turbulent society. He and his wife regularly return to their friends, relatives and alternate home in the north of Iceland.
Frozen Out and Cold Comfort are already or are due to be published in the UK, US, Germany and Holland.
Update October 2012: Quentin’s next book, Chilled to the Bone, is now scheduled to be published in the UK in April and is already listed on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, cold comfort, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, crime novelist, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, frozen assets, Goodreads, Gráskeggur, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, Iceland, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Nordic, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, Quentin Bates, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and twenty-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with crime and mystery author Jochem Vandersteen. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Jochem. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Jochem: I’m Jochem Vandersteen, I live in the Netherlands and am Dutch. I write in English however because it’s the language my favourite books are written in. I’ve always been dreaming up stories as long as I can remember. Picking up Robert B. Parker’s books made me want to write PI novels.
Morgen: Ooh, PI as in Private Detective. I love crime books. Is that the genre you generally write?
Jochem: I usually write crime / mystery stories, specifically the hardboiled PI-genre. I’ve written some horror and superhero stories as well. I’m pretty fond of those genres as well and plan to experiment with those in the future. Check out http://godling.blogspot.com for some of that stuff.
Morgen: That sounds interesting. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Jochem: My name is part pseudonym because I really am called Van der Steen instead of Vandersteen. I’ve published a novel, a short story collection and a novelette featuring Noah Milano. Noah Milano is the son of a mobster, trying to make amends with a violent past after the death of his mother. He works as a security specialist, but that really means he’s a PI. Or, sometimes, a thug for hire. What makes him unique is that he constantly tries to be different from the violent, selfish man he used to be. It isn’t easy however, because his main job skills are his proficiency in violence and his knowledge of the underworld.
Morgen: It’s great to have conflict within the character as well as externally. Are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Jochem: Ebooks have been a fantastic way to get my work out there. I love that revolution and right now most books I read are in ebook format. I still like receiving autographed paperbacks as well, but the fact I can own a lot of books without taking up a lot of space is attractive. I also like the fact authors can get me books to review very fast and very cheap. All of my work is available on Kindle.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?
Jochem: I’m writing a novelette now featuring Noah Milano, who’s being hired to bodyguard a convicted killer as he faces the parents of his victim.
Morgen: Wow. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Jochem: I’ve got a busy life as a father and employee. I never suffer from writer’s block, just from lack of time.
Morgen: A few other authors have said that. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Jochem: I do plot, but don’t outline. I think it makes the story flow naturally without me ending up staring at a dead end.
Morgen: Most authors I’ve spoken to have said they don’t plan and bearing in mind how the characters take over it’s not something I do much of either. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Jochem: Characters are key for me. Most stories start out with the characters and the plot comes next. I like being creative with names, paying homage to other writers for instance.
Morgen: Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Jochem: I write articles for a rock e-zine and for my own blog, http://sonsofspade.blogspot.com, that’s all about PI fiction.
Morgen: With crime (and your non-fiction) you’d have to get your facts write. Do you have to do much research?
Jochem: I don’t write police procedurals or stories heavy on forensics. So most of my research is about places and guns. Sometimes I need to know some legal stuff which the internet and newsgroups are great for.
Morgen: Everyone knows something about something. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Jochem: I love first person and haven’t done too much with third or second. I love the way first person makes it possible to create a distinctive voice and take the reader along with the main character, discovering things through his eyes.
Morgen: I like first person (although my favourite is second) – it’s great to be able to live inside a character for a few hundred pages. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Jochem: I love Jack Reacher’s (or Lee Child’s): ‘Hope for the best, plan for the worst’.
Morgen: I like that… and Jack Reacher has ‘nothing to lose’. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Jochem: Check out my blog http://sonsofspade.blogspot.com. It will get you any information you want.
To see a lot of my work, check out Tough As Leather. It’s a collection of my Noah Milano stories with introductions by other PI writers.
Morgen: That’s great, thank you Jochem.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, detective, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Jochem Vandersteen, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, mystery, Noah Milano, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, P.I., paranormal, paranormal romances, PI, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, Private Eye, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and twenty-first of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with historical novelist Cynthia Haggard. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Cynthia. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Cynthia: I’ve had four careers: violinist, cognitive scientist, medical writer and novelist. I was born and raised in the UK, but have been living in the US for 30 years. I currently live in Washington DC. I came to novel writing eight years ago, when I was taking a creative writing course to improve my prose style as I made the adjustment from being an academic to a medical writer. On the first day of the Intro to Novel class, the Stegner fellow who was teaching us asked for the first five pages of our new novel. I gulped, but ever the good student complied. That is how Thwarted Queen began in the Fall of 2004.
Morgen: Oh wow. It’s funny how we fall into things. I got the bug when I went to a college’s creative writing workshop because I’d brushed up on my languages and computer skills. It was very much a case of “OK, what’s next?” and that’s been ‘it’ ever since. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Cynthia: I write historical fiction, because I have this annoying tendency to float around in the past. I don’t think I could write any other kind of genre. Fortunately, historical fiction is a large umbrella, which includes romance, mystery, fantasy and thriller.
Morgen: It does and it’s all very popular. What have you had published to-date?
Cynthia: I published my first novel Thwarted Queen in October 2011 as an e-book. TQ is also available as a 4 e-volume set (The Bride Price, One Seed Sown, The Gilded Cage, Two Murders Reaped) and as a 3 volume paperback set (Rose of Raby, The Gilded Cage, Two Murders Reaped). All of these versions are available on Amazon.
Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Cynthia: During 2010, I sent out the manuscript of TQ to 45 agents. Though I got some nibbles, ultimately it was rejected. Like everyone else, I don’t like have my work rejected. However, I also see it as an opportunity to learn. My problem with the agent system as it currently stands is that when agents pass on something – even if they’ve demanded an exclusive that lingers on for three months – they don’t feel obliged to give you feedback. In my book, that is worse than a waste of time. Subsequently, I went to a couple of writer’s conferences in the spring of 2011 (Unicorn and Maryland) and paid extra to talk one-on-one with professional agents and editors. Finally, I learned what I needed to know. Armed with this knowledge I sat down and worked on it until it was right. So my attitude to rejection is to try and use it as an opportunity to learn.
Morgen: The trouble with sending work anywhere is that there is invariably one person doing two people’s jobs so even a tick-box reply is time-consuming with the amount of submissions they get, although I do think that’s the least they should do. Not replying at all is mean. I presume therefore that you don’t currently have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Cynthia: No, not currently. I obtained an agent for a short time in 2010, and didn’t find her particularly helpful. Are agents vital to an author’s success? That depends on the agent and where the author is in their career. For an emerging writer like me, the most useful thing an agent could do (apart from getting good contracts) would be to help manage my career.
Morgen: I certainly think when you get a good one that they do earn their keep. You mentioned Amazon earlier, are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Cynthia: My books are available as eBooks. I was heavily involved. I created the cover. I did the interior design. I uploaded it onto Amazon. I did hire a professional editor to copyedit the manuscript. And I hired a professional to transform my files into MOBI and Epub. My preference is to read fiction as an e-book, and non-fiction in paperback. This is because when I’m reading non-fiction, it is typically a “how-to” book and I need to flip back and forth. For fiction, I prefer e-format because it prevents me from cheating and reading the end!
Morgen: How much of the marketing do you?
Cynthia: I do all the marketing, and have given myself the goal this year of becoming thoroughly acquainted with it.
Morgen: It can be a slow process. You obvious had a lot of input into your books and you mentioned the covers, how important do you think they (and the titles) are?
Cynthia: I think that titles and covers are tremendously important, and yes I had full control over their design. I used various French chateaux as backdrops, both because the culture of my protagonist Cecylee Neville was so heavily French-identified, and also because I wanted to give these books an almost fairy-tale like quality. After all, many of the illustrations for Fairy Tales show people dressed in the garb of the 1400s, when Cecylee was alive.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?
Cynthia: I am working on another family saga called An Unsuitable Suitor. Set in 1920s Washington DC and Berlin Germany, it is a tale of identity, forbidden love and family secrets. I hope it will be published next year, 2013.
Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Cynthia: I try very hard to write every day, and don’t always succeed. However, I have got into the habit of reserving my mornings for writing as it is my best time of day. Like everyone else, I suffer from writer’s block. But I don’t let it ruin my life. If I get stumped, I simply put the MSS down and work on something else. Then I return to it the next day, knowing that that wonderful machine we have in the brain called the mind, will be working away at it underground while I get on with other things.
Morgen: That’s the trick – have some variety and your brain will keep fresh. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Cynthia: I do a bit of both. I get an idea and start out doing research. Then I just write for a while. When I’ve got to the part of the novel which I think of as the end of Act I, I stop and organize. That way I can have the best of both worlds: I can have the magic of writing on inspiration, without writing pages of stuff I don’t need. I very rarely write something I don’t re-use.
Morgen: That’s a very good plan. My heart sinks when I hear / read of writers who have deleted x,000s of words because they didn’t think it worked. That’s what copy / paste or File / Save As is for. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Cynthia: Yes. I spend a lot of time getting to know them. This is why it takes me some time to write a novel, because I like to take the time and trouble to get to know my characters. I create documents for them, in which I interview them. After the interview, I write in a sort of free-form fashion trying to get their voice.
Morgen: That sounds like fun. I think the characters are the most important aspect of a book – however good a plot is if we don’t like the characters (the ones we’re supposed to like anyway), we’re bound to lose interest in what’s happening around them. Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Cynthia: I’ve written a lot of non-fiction in my life as an academic and medical writer. I love writing poetry, and have even tried my hand at the occasional short story.
Morgen: I love short stories. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Cynthia: I always edit as I go along, working scene by scene. In the earlier drafts, I don’t worry much about copy-editing because I’m doing all the structural editing. By the fifth draft, I’m polishing the text.
Morgen: I do about four or five drafts (usually no more than that). Do you have to do much research?
Cynthia: As a historical novelist, I have to do a tremendous amount of research. Then I have to endure throwing most of it away so that the novel doesn’t read like a history book and bore the reader!
Morgen: I read only today in a back-copy of a writing magazine where a top historical author was criticised for overusing his research. I guess it’s very tempting to impress but it often backfires. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?
Cynthia: In my experience, the material dictates POV. Generally speaking, I don’t care for first person present as I find it pallid and unemotional. There is one exception to this, when writing in the voice of a child. In my novels, I tend to write in close third, because I like to have more than one POV. In Thwarted Queen, this POV issue was quite a challenge because it is a very long novel, mostly about one person. In the end I split it into four books, using different POVs for each book. I wrote the first book of the novel, The Bride Price, in first person present, to capture the freshness of a nine-year-old girl. I wrote the second book, One Seed Sown in first person past, to convey the more mature voice of a young woman in her twenties. The third book, The Gilded Cage, is the story of Richard of York’s political career (Richard of York was Cecylee’s husband) and the opening salvos of the Wars of the Roses. To capture the complexity of the material, and the different voices used to tell it, I wrote that book in third person. The fourth book, Two Murders Reaped, is the story of the last 35 years of Cecylee’s life after the death of her husband, I wrote that in first person past.
Morgen: What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Cynthia: I love writing. And I don’t mind marketing or thinking like a business person. I guess this is because I’ve been running my own business for the past five years. It surprises me that I find it possible to go from being an artist to being a business person.
Morgen: What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Cynthia: Understand that this is an endeavor that takes a lot of work, and set about learning how to do it as systematically as you can. You don’t have to go for an expensive MFA to learn how to write. On the other hand, you do need to develop a community of people who will read your work. Feedback is the most precious commodity in a writer’s life, and it becomes in increasingly short supply as a writer becomes more advanced at writing. So even if you are a recluse like me, you still need to think about how you are going to find that valuable feedback that all writers need in order to grow and develop at their craft. The saddest thing is to see talented writers wither because they aren’t given enough time to write their novels and they aren’t given the feedback that they need.
Morgen: I would definitely agree about feedback. I run two writing groups and belong to three others and I’m often alerted to things in my writing that had not occurred to me. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Cynthia: “Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster. This is the whole of the story and we might have left it at that had there not been profit and pleasure in the telling; and although there is plenty of space on a gravestone to contain, bound in moss, the abridged version of a man’s life, detail is always welcome.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Laughter in the Dark
Morgen: I like that. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Cynthia: I love to dance, I’ll dance to anything. I love music, and play violin and piano. I walk a lot (I don’t have a car and live in the city). I enjoy hiking. And I go to my favorite yoga studio 3-4 times a week.
Morgen: And you find time to write? Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful? (please include links where you can)
Cynthia: For the craft of writing, I recommend James N. Frey’s books and a series of books on craft put out by Writer’s Digest.
For marketing books, you can’t do any better than Dan Poynter’s volume.
Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?
Cynthia: To find out more my novels, please visit http://spunstories.com.
Morgen: Thank you, Cynthia.
I then invited Cynthia to include an excerpt of her writing and this is from ‘Two Murder’s Reaped’:
I glared. “I would have ensured they had your best interests at heart.”
There was silence.
I had said everything I could. Was there any way of annulling this ridiculous marriage?
But Edward said nothing.
“It is wholly inappropriate,” I remarked, staring at his downcast eyes and shut-in face, “for a monarch to marry his own subject where no honor or lands can be gained by it. A rich man marries his maid only for a little easy pleasure. In such marriages, folk admire the maid’s good fortune, but think her master lacks judgment. And in this matter, there is no difference so great between any master and maid in this land as between you and this widow.”
I paused.
Edward did not react.
“And the fact that she is a widow makes everything much worse.”
Edward lifted his chin and stared at me.
I gazed back. There was a long silence. Finally I snapped, “This marriage is a blemish and a disparagement to the majesty of a prince!”
I swept out.
Born and raised in Surrey, England, CYNTHIA SALLY HAGGARD has lived in the United States for twenty-nine years. She has had four careers: violinist, cognitive scientist, medical writer and novelist. Yes, she is related to H. Rider Haggard, the author of SHE and KING SOLOMONS’S MINES. (H. Rider Haggard was a younger brother of the author’s great-grandfather.) Cynthia Sally Haggard is a member of the Historical Novel Society. You can visit her website at: http://spunstories.com.
Update October 2012: Thwarted Queen has won some attention. She was a finalist for both the 2012 Global E-book Awards, and for 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Congratulations, Cynthia.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, Cynthia Haggard, Cynthia Sally Haggard, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, H. Rider Haggard, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, medical, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and twentieth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with romantic and ‘dark’ paranormal author Cher Green. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Cher. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Cher: Hello Morgen. Originally from Tennessee, I now live in South Carolina. I believe I was born a writer, and grew into an author. As a teen, I started putting words on paper. Many, many years later, I can say I’m published, but there’s still a long road ahead.
Morgen: Oh, me too. I’ve been studying on and off (evening classes, day courses, conferences) for six years and only have a few bits out so far. I’m yet to try Amazon but I do have four novels to edit (which I’ve madly given up my day job to have time to do!) so hope to crawl up the ladder, slowly but surely. Are you an avid reader? What genres do you read?
Cher: I’ve always read a lot, but now not as much as I like to. When life gets busy, you have to read when you can, therefore quality becomes more important than quantity. My genre reading has changed over the years. After kiddie books, I started reading romance and teen books. I found V. C. Andrews and was swept away. But, soon the dark day came – I discovered Stephen King and Dean Koontz. To be honest, I look more for a good story, rather than a specific genre.
Morgen: I’ve gone the other way: I used to read Stephen King in my teens but have ‘mellowed’ to crime. And what genres do you write?
Cher: I lean toward the darker side in most cases. My writing has ranged from romance to dark fiction, but usually contains some paranormal aspect. Sci-fi and Fantasy have been tugging at my interest.
Morgen: I’ve never really read any sci-fi / fantasy so I don’t write much of it but one of the reviewers of my Story a Day May anthology says one of the sci-fi ones is his favourite! What have you had published to-date?
Cher: Three short stories and two novellas. Each novella also appears in a corresponding anthology. A list of my published work can be found on my webpage.
Morgen: Have you had any rejections? (Dean Koontz had over 500 apparently ) If so, how do you deal with them?
Cher: I’d like to meet the author who hasn’t had at least one rejection. Yes, rejection is part of the game. I’ve been lucky. My first few rejections came with personal responses. This softened the blow when the form rejections started coming. You can only deal with them one way: print it out, start making a stack, and watch it grow. The bigger the stack, the more you are trying.
Morgen: I have had a handful of authors here who’ve not had rejections but only because they’ve either not submitted or they’ve had the first things accepted. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Cher: I haven’t tried for an agent yet, but I do plan to. I don’t think it’s vital, but the big publishers are out if you don’t have an agent. So, it does depend on which publishers you want to submit to.
Morgen: Indeed, and once you have one they do (supposedly) earn their keep. Are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Cher: Yes, both novellas and their corresponding anthologies are available as eBooks. I’m still a paper kind of girl, but I do read eBooks from time to time at my computer.
Morgen: Most people have said the same and I do think both formats will run alongside each other. From memory only one or two interviewees have said they’d no longer read paper. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Cher: I do what I can through Facebook, twitter, my blog, and guesting on other blogs. There’s a lot of controversy over whether social media works for marketing. It does, but an author shouldn’t get sucked in and forget the main goal – writing.
Morgen: <guilty as charged> Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Cher: I was able to keep both novellas’ titles. On the covers, I had the final say, but I only had two choices. Basically, the artist created one, and then, with my feedback, created a second. In both cases, I loved the second cover. I’m very impressed with both. Both titles and covers are very important for the sale of a book. These are the first two things most readers see. The next two important factors are the back blurb and the first few pages (sometimes paragraphs).
Morgen: They are great covers. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Cher: I get an idea and run with it. I’ve tried plotting, but I’ve yet to master a good technique. My stories are discovered through writing. So, when I try to summarize them into plot form, I really don’t get very far. Plotting is great for the second draft, but never the first draft.
Morgen: I do tend to agree. I plotted for my first novel but the story (and characters) took over so with the others it was just skimming a shell and ‘let’s see what happens’. Didn’t work out badly. Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Cher: I write everything. I do have one published poem listed on my webpage. In my teens, I had a few poems gain spots in various anthologies. I love to write short stories. On the non-fiction note – I write a lot about tarot cards and spiritual aspects on my tarot blog. I’m also a National Tarot Examiner for the Examiner.
Morgen: I love to write short stories too. More so, actually than novels. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Cher: I do a lot of rewriting / editing, but that’s part of being a non-plotter.
Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Cher: Of course, I believe all writers have at least one deep dark secret. I do have a few pieces that may never find publication, and a few unfinished pieces that may never find completion. But, then again, one should never say ‘never’.
Morgen: “deep dark secret” ah yes, I have one of those. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Cher: Read a lot. Write a lot. You really can’t make it far without doing both.
Morgen: <guilty as charged> again… What do you do when you’re not writing?
Cher: Spiritual growth and tarot cards keep me busy during most of my non-writing free time.
Morgen: What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Cher: Many opportunities: the publishing world is exploding. You don’t even need a publisher anymore. But, with the doors wide open, a reader does have to be more selective with their choices. One should definitely read excerpts before purchasing.
Morgen: And, I’d say, reviews / ratings where there are some. Where can we find out about you and your writing?
Cher: www.chergreen.com, http://chergreen.blogspot.com
Morgen: Brilliant, thank you Cher.
I then invited Cher to include an extract of her writing and this is from her novella ‘Escape to Love’…
A soft breeze stirred the curtains. The tick-tock of the old grandfather clock magnified, building to a roar. Then, an eerie silence settled over the room, voiding Constance’s moment of anticipation. Dropping her shoulders, she blew out the candles and shuffled toward the kitchen.
Angelica hissed. Constance spun. The curtains whipped in the strong wind tearing through her house. Through the sheer drapery, moonlight pulsed, trespassing into her small living room. Hair on end, teeth bared, her cat arched. Constance’s heart echoed in her ears – it worked, her incantation had been a success.
Thunder rumbled, shaking the house, ravaging her senses. Soft rain fell, lulling her into a calm state. The smell of disturbed soil filled the room, like a peaceful cemetery burial. Lightning darted through the darkened clouds, slithered through the darkness, and forked across the purple sky. A haze settled as the soft rain turned into a full-fledged downpour.
Tiny goose bumps popped up all over her bare skin. She crossed her arms, but it didn’t do much for the chill rambling through her body. The thin fabric of her nightgown did nothing to stop the icy grip of the storm on her flesh. She started toward the bedroom to grab a robe, but a high pitched cry bounced off the walls, stopping in her tracks.
Cher Green, born in Tennessee, lives in South Carolina with her significant other and her two feline companions. She writes in many genres, spanning from horror to romance, usually with a touch of paranormal.
When she isn’t writing, she’s delivering mail for the United States Postal Service. Cher also works as an editor, both for various publishing companies and freelance.
Her other interests include spiritual development, tarot cards, and reading.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, Cher Green, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, Dean Koontz, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, National Tarot Examiner, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novellas, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, romantic, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, Stephen King, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Tarot, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and nineteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with writer, editor and publisher (of Sheryl Browne, Bruce Moore, Will MacMillan, Will Sutton and others ) Kim Maya Sutton. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Kim. Thank you for your time today.
Kim: No, no, thank you for having me. I sometimes still feel a bit strange about people actually asking me if they can interview me (I wonder “me? Why me? Am I famous? Do I have something interesting to say?”) And then I quiver in my boots about whether anybody actually reads what I wrote.
Morgen: I have c. 200 visits a day and I’m sure most are authors so I’m sure they’ll be interested to hear from the other side of the table. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you became involved in the creative writing industry.
Kim: At the moment, I still live in Cambridge and am preparing to move to the North Sea coast of Germany at the end of May. Safkhet will stay in London, because the beauty of the internet is that we can really work from just about anywhere.
My being a writer, an editor, book producer and then eventually publisher started really early actually. I wrote poems and memorized other people’s works when I was two years old. In high school I participated in the student paper as an editor and every so often wrote a piece myself. And when I was 22 or so, I decided to write my dad’s biography. Don’t ask me why, but it took me years to gather all the information and I only got around to actually writing it up the year before last, while I was waiting for my Master program to start.
Morgen: My father took eight years doing our family tree which is wonderful. I keep saying to my mum that she should write her autobiography as she’s done things like work for (British racing driver) Stirling Moss’ sister’s riding stables but I don’t know if she ever will (she’s 80). Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Kim: Personally, I have never been rejected by other publishers, but that’s because I never submitted anything for publication. Actually, I have. An academic paper to an academic magazine. At first, they said they loved it and suddenly they said they didn’t want it. I asked why. They told me. I fixed the issues, resubmitted and they turned me down again. Again, I asked why and fixed. This went back and forth a bit and the editor must have been quite annoyed. In the end, she said she’d take my article because she loved how persistent I was, AND because she ended up liking it. I guess this might be the reason why I try to handle rejections I have to send out in a very similar way. I usually do not just flat out reject, but rather give a reason and suggest that they might resubmit when the issue is fixed or when there is a submission call, fit on the list or whatever is wrong with the submission in my eyes. Or, I just start a list because I am so impressed with an author’s persistence (thank you, Sheryl for Safkhet Soul; that one is all your fault!).
Morgen: Ah yes, Sheryl is why I’m speaking to you today. Are the Safkhet books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Kim: The books we produce at Safkhet are available as eBooks, except in very few cases such as For Those About to Cook (there were just too many pictures in there and a focus on the design; however, the second one – For Those About to Cook Pure Metal – will be available as an eBook.
Morgen: Bruce Moore (I’m interviewing him next Saturday ). I love AC/DC so recognised the ‘For Those About to Rock’ analogy. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Kim: Teehee… In my dad’s biography, I would love to be played by Emma Thompson; and my Dad could well be Joseph Gordon-Levitt at a younger age and then maybe Sting later? Several people have pointed out that Sting looks just like him (or does he look like Sting?).
Morgen: Sting looking like him, definitely. I had to Google / Wikipedia Joseph_Gordon-Levitt as I couldn’t remember who he was – I first saw him in 3rd Rock from the Sun… so funny. John Lithgow’s one of my favourite actors. I’ve just added Bruce’s cover, how important do you think titles and covers are?
Kim: The most important marketing tool, probably, considering that a reader only picks up the book based on either that or because they knew about it beforehand.
Morgen: In amongst all your publishing duties, do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Kim: Yes, I write every day. Emails, website entries, press releases, book bits, blurbs,… Writer’s block? I don’t have time for that. Seriously. If I ever feel that coming, I just grab my keyboard and start writing something. After five minutes, I usually have a good idea and can go back to the beginning and edit whatever may not have worked.
Morgen: Having a variety certainly helps. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Kim: If I wrote fiction, I would plot. In fact, I have had an idea for crime fiction and got exactly as far as plotting said book.
Morgen: Oh great. I met three agents at Winchester Writers’ Conference last July and they all told me they wanted more crime. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Kim: Sometimes I wish I was an author only, and not an editor, publisher, dog lover, dungeon master, knitter, cook, photographer, prop organizer, event manager, marketing specialist, … sometimes I even wish I was something rather straight forward, like a florist. That feeling usually only lasts about 2 seconds and then I am glad again that I get to do so many different things. I mean, wouldn’t I get bored otherwise?
Morgen: Will (Sutton – interview 28th April) told me about the Dungeons & Dragons and the knitting (or crocheting in his case!). What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Kim: Write! And stop calling yourself aspiring. You either are a writer or you’re not. You may not be published but you are still a writer, so please don’t submit anything (particularly not to me) with “I am an aspiring writer” in your submission. Wouldn’t let you cut my hair if you were an aspiring stylist either. I’d like to point you to Kristen’s blog as she said what I think quite nicely.
Morgen: That’s very true. I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of it like that. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Kim: Don’t know really; my best friend suggested that I should invite Cleopatra and Pope Joan because they are women who fight for themselves and “take no shit” (that’s what he said, not me). Makes me sound like a crosspatch, really. Another friend said he’d invite Picasso and van Gogh for me because they are so my style. Having thought about it then, I would like to invite Pope Joan, Picasso, and my grandfather (to ask him all those questions I forgot while he was still alive).
I’d serve goats yoghurt with blueberries. Hassle-free dinner, delicious and, I mean, who doesn’t like blueberries?
Morgen: <puts her hand up> I’m not really a berry person. More for everyone else. I adore cherries though. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Kim: “I don’t like to repeat myself”. Sadly, I have to repeat that all the time and am growing quite fond of the sentence itself. Also works well modified “didn’t I already say that”, “why do I feel like I’ve said that already”, “cripes, why do you make me say this over and over again”.
Morgen: <laughs> What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?
Kim: I sleep, eat, walk or work out. Or I paint, sew, think, cook, play Dungeons and Dragons, spend time with my friends, teach, prepare lectures,…
Morgen: A never-ending list, hey. I know that feeling (blog, shower, emails, blog, dog walk, blog, eat, blog…). Speaking of blogging, are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Kim: I see networking sites as a picture of reality. In the old days, you went to conferences to meet new people and exchange ideas. That’s what you do on Twitter or LinkedIn. But would you really have climbed onto a table and yelled “look at this beautiful girl of mine”? Probably not. You’d have shown that to your friends only. So that’s where Facebook comes in – you have a group of friends and people you met (or didn’t, at least not in real life) and share your thoughts, photos, … with them. As a company, it’s much the same, really. People follow you (meaning they express an interest in you, come to your old-fashioned convention, etc.) and you show them stuff you think they are interested in. Personally, I like Facebook best because to me, it is more of a reflection of reality; Twitter is more of a stand-on-the-table-and-shout kind of platform to me. I do stand on the Twitter table (and ask my authors to do it too, though), but I feel awkward doing it and understand those who want to avoid it. Wouldn’t want to force them, but I would seriously nudge them to become active on Facebook. For marketing, Twitter is only really important when an author’s audience is very active there. However, Twitter is a very powerful tool to spread the word about something, to stay on top of the news and to connect to some wonderful people because you can virtually hear what they have to say. I’d like to point out that I found the Kony 2012 campaign to help the Invisible Children that way, for example.
Morgen: I agree. Facebook is more intimate (but then I have 700+ friends on there as opposed to 2,400+ Twitter followers) and some people do tout tout tout on Twitter (then wonder why they get defollowed). I like LinkedIn too – twice I’ve put shout-outs for interviewees (which I don’t think as touting as I’m providing a free service – that’s my excuse anyway) and it’s done me proud (I’m currently four months ahead!). Where can we find out about you and your work?
Kim: www.safkhetpublishing.com and our blog safkhetpublishing.wordpress.com.
Morgen: Thanks for that. We’ve concentrated on the writing side of your life and I’m sure anyone reading this would like to know more about you with your publisher’s hat on. Can you please briefly explain the structure of your publishing house… perhaps who’s involved along the process of an acceptance to the book / story being published.
Kim: Briefly, yes, sure. It’s very brief. There are two of us, really. Will is responsible for the fantasy list and I am responsible for Safkhet Soul. All other books we divide based on personal liking and time. Mozart is our office mascot, she lies around and makes sure we don’t suffocate in books. She also keeps us focused and arranges regular workout sessions (ahem – editorial meetings) in the park.
Morgen: Ah, that would be the dog in the photograph then.
Kim: Otherwise, we work with freelancers. When we have a submission, it travels a very subjective route. Usually, I pre-screen the submission, provided it was sent to the proper address (info@safkhetpublishing.com). If the submission is not according to our guidelines, I turn it down. Sounds harsh, but we have our reasons. If it is, I forward it to Will if it’s not my cup of tea. Once a submission is with the editor, we have different approaches. Me personally, I read it immediately (nothing worse than a pile of submissions yelling out for me) and if I like it, I request a sample chapter. If I like that too, I request more. If I still like it, I tell Will about it and try to convince him. At this point, we already think about possible outlets, reviewers, market,… and if we can think of people who might like to help working on the book and promote it, we talk to them. If we can convince them of the project, Will goes to the drawing board for a contract and we contact the author with said contract.
Morgen: The $64,000 question: out of all the submissions you receive, what makes a book / story stand out for all the right reasons?
Kim: The first hurdle for a submission at Safkhet is: the author needs to have followed the submission guidelines (if they did, I can somewhat safely assume that working with them will be easy, as they follow instructions and trust me to begin with). Second hurdle: no typos, general etiquette, polite yet firm tone. Third hurdle (and possibly the most difficult for us): do I like this book, does it have potential and is there a market for it. Doesn’t help if I like it and nobody else does, we are, after all, all in this to make some money, right?
Morgen: That must be a really hard decision to make, especially if you have more appealing books than budget (if that ever happens). And then, without naming names, what makes a book proposal / story stand out for all the wrong reasons?
Kim: Let’s have an example speak here:
I would like to work for you as a writer of prose and poesy and sign a contract for 20 years.
I write a one book on year and cost a 50.000 $.
I write prose and poesy since little and I educated myself privately for American literature.
Prose and poesy is just for a connoisseur and a lover of reading.
You can find more of these onhttp://safkhetpublishing.wordpress.com/category/publishing/submissions.
Morgen: Oh yes, I see what you mean. Google translate perhaps at work for the last two. What genres do you accept? What would you suggest an author do with a cross-genre piece of writing?
Kim: Fantasy, Cookery, Romantic Comedy, and very few select titles for a niche audience. Cross-genres pieces are very interesting – do submit them but highlight where they fit into an existing list.
Morgen: And Sheryl’s definitely falls into the cookery / romantic comedy section. I have her book (yet to read it though <slaps wrist>) and loved her book talk / signing, especially when we got on the subject of second person viewpoint. How can an author submit to you?
Kim: Our submission guidelines are outlined on http://safkhetpublishing.com/publishing.htm.
Morgen: Presumably no mention of $50,000 one-book poesy contracts. Can you suggest some do’s and don’t’s when submitting to you.
Kim: Don’t not stick to the guidelines. Don’t be rude. Do be personal, funny, quirky, different. And please be short and succinct!
Morgen: Common sense. Are there authors that you deal with on a regular basis and / or perhaps represent directly?
Kim: We deal with all of our authors regularly – one email a day keeps the misunderstandings away 
Morgen: I think everyone likes attention to detail and knowing that someone’s thinking about them. What do you feel about an author writing under a pseudonym? Do you think they make a difference to their profile? And would you recommend an author writing under different names for different genres?
Kim: Whatever they want to do really. I personally don’t understand writing under pseudonyms. Going back to what I said about social networking – I would never have attended one type of conference under a different name than another just because they are not related. I might also lose my overview. Online nicks are about the maximum I can handle and I only have two nicknames I use, so once you’ve found me, you can find me on other sites as well.
Morgen: I agree that it’s easier to stick with the one name as getting people to know that one exists is hard enough. We touched on eBooks earlier, what’s your opinion of eBooks as a way forward?
Kim: Love them, find them helpful, they are additional though and not replacing books.
Morgen: Do you have to do a lot of editing to the stories you accept or is the writing usually more or less fully-formed?
Kim: I can’t answer this generally. Sometimes there is a lot and other times not so much. We do strive for a more global English though so in that regard, when we sign an author, we have to edit quite a bit to ensure this global house style.
Morgen: That makes sense. For your purposes, does it matter what point of view a story is written in? Have you ever printed any in second person? What’s your opinion of second person?
Kim: I like either first or third. I read a submission in second person once. Couldn’t stand it.
Morgen: <crosses that off her list> I love writing it but it’s definitely acquired taste. I went to a new writing group the other day and read out a piece in second person (my story from Telling Tales charity anthology actually) with mixed reactions… well, only one person said they didn’t like it (and was converting to first person as I went along), others murmured appreciation (out of politeness perhaps) but there were some who were bemused by a point of view they’d never heard of before. Given that more emphasis these days is put on the author to market their published works or indeed themselves as a ‘brand’, how involved are you generally with your authors post-publication?
Kim: We try to stay in contact as much as possible, come up with ideas, cross-promote, help setting up events if necessary, talk to libraries, stores… we also help the authors if they have any questions or when they want to know what to write next.
Morgen: This is where being self-published misses out. We’d have to find our own sources. A rather global question, but are there common mistakes an author can make?
Kim: The easiest to avoid and yet most common mistake I have met so far is to disregard the publisher’s house style.
Morgen: Yes. I’m sure a lot of authors do little or no research on that. Now with your editor’s hat on, how much notice do you get (would you like / need) for editing a project?
Kim: Ah, well, since I am in house and also have so many other roles and so much other work to do, I sometimes only notify myself that something needs to be edited a few minutes before I should start. Seriously though, we also edit for other publishers and then sometimes get very tight deadlines and very short notices. Trouble with those is that the fewest customers recognize the trouble this can mean and usually don’t pay extra which I think is a shame.
Morgen: It is but I suppose you just want to do your best to please them. I’ve heard numerous authors say they can self-publish without an editor – what would you say to that?
Kim: Don’t do it. There are so many editors out there who would be happy to get this work assigned even on a commission / royalty basis. There is no reason to throw your work on the market without a second pair of eyes having scrutinized it first.
Morgen: Absolutely. I have a great editor and she not only finds (fortunately few) errors but comes up with some great suggestions. How do you edit – on screen or on paper?
Kim: Always on screen – we believe in a paperless office.
Morgen: Oh dear. <she looks around her currently paper-cluttered office> What are you working on at the moment / next?
Kim: I am currently working on Somebody to Love by Sheryl Browne, For Those About to Cook – Pure Metal by Bruce Moore and Metal Missionaries by Bruce Moore.
Morgen: Do you work every day?
Kim: We take one day off from the office, but this is a floating day. I personally love to work Sundays, because my inbox stays quiet and I can really get some manuscript on the way.
Morgen: Me too, although I’m in Jane Wenham-Jones’ chat room 10.30-12 every Sunday morning (the clocks went forward so we lost an hour today) then record my podcast (every other week, today’s is four short stories) and Radio Litopia 7pm-9pm. Somewhere in there is usually a trek round the old racecourse with the dog, so a bit of r&r. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Kim: Thank you very much for your effort. I really enjoyed the cup of tea – ginger is my favourite, so thank you for that!
Morgen: My grandfather’s favourite too. I’m a berry girl when it comes to fruit tea although lemon & ginger has nice tang. You’re very welcome. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Kim: Where do you buy the extra time to do all these things? I need to set up an account with them and get some myself!
Morgen: Oh, that’s easy: a huge bottle of passion and short nights – go to bed and they automatically refill the next morning. Thank you, Kim.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, Bruce Moore, characters, children’s, cooking, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kim Maya Sutton, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, Safkhet Publishing, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, Sheryl Browne, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Will MacMillan, Will Sutton, Winchester Writers Conference, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and eighteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with creative non-fiction and educational author Mary Ellen Ryall. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Mary Ellen. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Mary Ellen: I am in love with the natural world in which I live. I am a Master Gardener, herbalist and food safety educator, published author and photographer, and executive director of Happy Tonics, Inc., a non-profit 501 (c) (3) environmental education organization and public charity. I have lived and worked around the United States and traveled to Europe and Mexico. I lived in South America for several years in the 1970s, where I worked with indigenous people, learned enthnobotany, and followed butterflies.
I am based in Northwest Wisconsin, United States. Minong, which means pleasant valley or it’s a good place in Ojibwa, is a village, with approximately 1,000 residents. There is no traffic to speak of, no box stores, fast food restaurants, and no light or noise pollution. Here I can breathe fresh air. My mind can wander and go within as I walk woodland trails and ponder deep connections to deer, fox, bear, birds, butterflies, and plants that I live among. This is the land of glacial moraines and at times big sky. Here one can see valleys, hills, pine and oak forests, and small farms. Lakes, streams, and rivers abound. Three glaciers passed through Northwest Wisconsin and because of this, Northwest Wisconsin has many unique micro environments. It’s a perfect place for a naturalist and writer.
I didn’t know I was a writer. My husband, Will DeJong, deceased (2010), used to tell me I was. I learned I was a writer quite unexpectedly. At the time I was an elder student at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College in Hayward, Wisconsin. I was enrolled in the Woodlands Wisdom Nutrition Project from which I graduated in 2003. As part of my course work, I used to fly around the country to attend Indigenous Wellness Conferences. While in the air, Anna Merritt, tribal college staff, told me that my assignment was to write about the Indigenous Conferences. My first reaction was, “What, me? I am not a Native American.” At the time, I learned from Ann Marie Penzkover, Dean of Students, LCOOCC, that one should write their own story not someone else’s. Of course, a conference is different. I think Anna knew I would have backed down if she had told me about the assignment on the ground. This is literally how my writing career took off. After we landed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and while driving home to Northwest Wisconsin, Anna asked, “What do you want to be when you graduate?” I thought about it and admitted for the first time, “I wanted to be a writer.”
Morgen: Wow, what a wonderful story… and I’d so love to live where you live (she says looking at next door’s hideous extension). What genre do you generally write?
Mary Ellen: Creative nonfiction and teaching books for children. I write in a narrative style often embracing plant and insect knowledge to create published works. I am a lifelong student who finds excitement and wonder in the discovery of plant and insect knowledge.
Morgen: You are in the perfect place, by the sound of it. What have you had published to-date?
Mary Ellen: Ryall, M. E. (2002). Thanksgiving Reflections. Debaajimong, Journal of the Lac Courte Oreilles Community. Ryall, M. E. (2005). Conquering the Dream Killers: Fear, Doubt, Worry, and Guilt. Tribal College Journal of Native American Higher Education. Ryall, M. E. (2011). My Name is Butterfly. Springbrook, WI: Salt of the Earth Press.I also have a newspaper column, “Butterfly Corner,” in Washburn County Register, a community newspaperpublished weekly in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, USA. Three of my stories were published in an anthology, Seeing beyond Ourselves, published online by Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, creative writing class 2006.
Morgen: Have you had any rejections?
Mary Ellen: Yes. Wisconsin Writers Association (WWA) has not selected my work as a contest winner. I am a member, and I do sell books at WWA conferences.
Morgen: What a shame. Have you had any contest success?
Mary Ellen: Yes, I won a Creative Writing Award from Tribal College Journal (TCJ) in 2005. Wisconsin Writers Association did a spotlight column on my essay that was published by TCJ. The editor at the time, Boyd Sutton, mentioned that he thought I was unusual and that there was a lot more to me.
Morgen: That’s great! Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Mary Ellen: No, I don’t have an agent and I don’t think they are vital to an author’s success. There are so few writers who make it to the top 100 best sellers’ book category. The rules for publishing have changed dramatically; a creative writer can market his or her own book if one knows his or her audience. I would like to mention that a writer can gain an agent or marketing person if he or she participates in Twitter and other social network sites. I tried an experiment today. I chose writers, publishers, and authors on Twitter; within twelve hours a few book marketing consultants contacted me. I don’t know much about them at the moment. It may be as Stephen King has suggested, it may not be worth much.
Morgen: Wow. But they contacted you – that’s usually half the battle. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Mary Ellen: My publisher, Lindy Casey, Salt of the Earth Press, is planning on making My Name is Butterfly available as an eBook. She loves Kindle and believes that color will be next stage of development for Kindle. My book is illustrated in color. I myself prefer books. There is something tactile in being able to check one’s sources using a pencil mark to acknowledge a source. I do so much research with a dwindling memory; I find it necessary to put my hands on my work. Tactile, auditory, and visual are my preferred learning styles.
Morgen: Most people I speak to do prefer paper books and I think they and eBooks will run alongside each other. Our bookcases would look rather silly with just an eReader sitting on them. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Mary Ellen: I am doing more marketing; however, my book is selling on Amazon. My publisher believes she is marketing to my niche. I think I have been branded by the public. People know me regionally as Butterfly Woman; this is my spirit name in Ojibwa, Memengwaa Ikway.
Morgen: Do you have a favorite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Mary Ellen: I love the children’s butterfly book. The story came about from a real life encounter of witnessing a monarch butterfly birth and the first three hours of its life. A published article about how the book was created can be read here. Frank Zufall, is the reporter, Spooner Advocate, p. 14A, 22 December 2011.
Tammy Temp is a character that I have written about for years. The manuscript needs to be resurrected if I am going to do something with it. My husband always thought this one would be a winner. I don’t see my work in films, nor do I see a leading actor.
Morgen: Some authors are criticised for writing in such a way that it would make a film but I think you do just have to write the story as it’s meant to be – the screenwriters can then adapt. Having done Script Frenzy in April 2010 I’d be happy to leave them to it. Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Mary Ellen: I had no say in the cover design for My Name is Butterfly; however, it is a perfectly charming cover created by illustrator Stevie Marie Aubuchon-Mendoza, Las Vegas, USA. Stevie Marie is the illustrator of the book. I will have some say in the cover design for a current book in progress, Monarch Butterfly Coloring Book. Cindy Dyer, graphic artist, Alexandria, VA is doing the photography for the book cover and layout. The illustrator and artist is Mora McCusker, Gordon, Wisconsin. I wrote the text and Valerie Jean Downes edited the book.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?
Mary Ellen: Field Guide Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Shell Lake, Wisconsin, USA. I want to create a field guide that embraces landscape design, hard structures and art. The guide will educate the public about symbiotic relationship between native plants and pollinators, such as butterflies. The guide will also include other insects, birds, and small animals that frequent the habitat. Photographs and art layout will be contributed by Cindy Dyer. We started a publishing house, Butterfly Woman Publishing, in 2011; the joint partnership will publish our collaborative work.
Morgen: I would imagine living where you do that you’d never run out of material. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Mary Ellen: I write an average of two hours a day. No, I don’t suffer writer’s block. I pretty much know the work I need to get published before I leave the planet. I am an elder now, nearly 67 years old (April 2012); time is precious. I want to focus on my field of knowledge while I am still able to do it.
Morgen: 67 isn’t old these days. A former neighbour was 103 when she died recently. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Mary Ellen: I get ideas first. Then, I get a visual picture in my mind as to how and what I will be writing. I can see chapters of topics, and I write them down, which makes an outline. I worked with national magazines in my career such as Smithsonian Magazine, Life, Food Chemical News and Pesticide News. Stories appear. An example: Last year, I saw a fawn under a bench, in the pergola, at the habitat. My heart sees the image later on, which leads to writing from heart center. I see the image and know then that I must include it in a story. After I start writing, it is as if the images are writing their own story. I have to do research to match facts with writing. I also use my own photography to imagine and outline what I am writing about. I have quite an extensive photography digital library.
Morgen: The joy of modern technology – that your digital library will take up no more room than your computer. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Mary Ellen: I choose people from a litany of past and present life. Somehow people give me unique gifts. I have learned to incorporate them into a story. I change a character’s name, personality, time period, appearance, location, and attire. I think my characters are believable because they portray a real circumstance. It is comforting to be writing from some inner source of knowledge.
Morgen: Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Mary Ellen: Yes, I write a lot of non-fiction. The short stories that I created with St. Croix Writers have not been published to date. When I have time, I intend to publish some short stories on my Blog.
Morgen: And you could do what I did and make an eBook collection out of them. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Mary Ellen: I know that I will always need a proofreader, I am dyslexic. I will always need an editor. When I have worked with one particular editor in the past, Jackie Remlinger, I was able to improve my writing and incorporate some of her editing skills. On the whole, I am a writer but not a polished editor. Luckily I do have editors that assist me. One such person is Valerie Jean Downes, an international English teacher, now retired. Fortunately Leslie Carroll, former teacher, has volunteered to proofread my work. I appreciate a good proofreader’s and an editor’s expertise. I know my work would not go very far without professional services.
Morgen: I think everyone needs a second (third…) opinion. My editor has picked up errors (fortunately not many) but has also come up with some wonderful suggestions. You mentioned research earlier, do you have to do much?
Mary Ellen: Yes. Why I would choose to write about natural science, with its own language at times, is beyond me. It is not an easy style of writing. One has to embrace scientific terminology and Latin words. I am a person who loves to study and research.
Morgen: You write about your passion though don’t you… and that will usually come across in the writing. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?
Mary Ellen: In creative nonfiction books, I write in third person. Essays I write in first person.
Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Mary Ellen: There are two projects that are questionable; one is a creative nonfiction adventure book and the other is a book on herbology. I have completed the first draft on both manuscripts, but never got back to the second draft. I don’t know if I have enough life span left to complete the work. Will the desire be there to complete the books? I don’t know. I put a lot of time into writing both manuscripts. Right now my priority is to publish two immediate books, a monarch butterfly coloring book, and a field guide for the Monarch Butterfly Habitat, in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, USA.
Morgen: I have over a dozen display books (80 sides each) with newspaper cuttings as well as a multi-page idea document and I wonder if I’ll write everything that’s in them… especially as I keep coming up with new ideas. I guess you just have to pick what appeals. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Mary Ellen: I love the writing process. I turn on Hearts of Space, an Internet radio broadcast, from San Francisco, California, USA. The music helps me go into an inner writing world. I love writing the first draft. This draft I write for myself. I don’t even feel alone when I write; often I can sense my ancestors looking down or over my shoulder. The second draft, the nuts and bolts of writing, which is for sharing with a trusted reader or two, comes later with proofing and editing.
The second draft is when I try to remove all unnecessary words, as William Strunk Jr. suggests. It can become laborious to get from beginning the writing process to the end result of a polished manuscript. I feel fortunate that my writing group, St. Croix Writers, is good at critiquing. Many times they make suggestions that make sense in clarifying a meaning or sentence. It is good to have another person read your work, especially a trusted individual who will be honest with you. A reader, proofreader and editor see with different eyes than the writer.
Morgen: They are. Actually anyone will be because we know what we mean by something – I’ve found that out all too often. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Mary Ellen: Write each day for a couple of hours. Set a time frame and stick to it. Start with small writing goals. Write articles for a newspaper and get some published. Work your way up to a magazine or respected journal. Your confidence will grow with publishing. After a while, writing will become a good habit. Join a compatible writers group that critiques work; network with other writers, publishers, editors, and proofreaders. This is all possible now on the Internet.
Recently, Lori Pirone, a young visual artist contacted me from Brooklyn, New York, USA. She read my book, My Name is Butterfly, and asked me to read a short visual art story that she wrote. I not only read the story but called her back. I gave her a few pointers on how to market her budding work. Cindy Dyer, graphic designer, also gave her some copy editing advice. After critiquing and changes, Lori Pirone created Cute Little Caterpillar. I think her visual art is vibrant. I believe she will go on to learn how to create her own Blog and start using social network sites to build her own writers network community. It is important that aspiring writers use social networking sites to expose their work to Internet marketing opportunities.
Michael Perry, author, Population 485, was a speaker at a WWA’s conference a few years ago. He mentioned that New York publishers don’t realize how out of touch they are with a Midwesterner’s book market. In the Midwest, one cannot simply jump from airport to city and back home again easily. The Midwest is spread out between towns; usually there is no mass transportation, meaning there are no buses, trains, or airports between rural towns. Michael indicated that he would be open to self- publishing books, now that the venue is available. This doesn’t mean he will, but I took that nugget of wisdom and started looking at options to get my work out to the public. If I had to wait for a big publisher to stumble upon my work, I doubt that I would find a big name publisher who would be interested.
Yes, I have a publisher; however, it is a small independent publishing house. I want to learn the publishing side of business. There are wonderful opportunities and partnerships for an aspiring author to explore. I like CreateSpace through Amazon. There are publishing costs with this publishing house, but they do sell books and there is another advantage, books are printed on demand. There are many small self-publishing houses that a new writer can publish under, and it costs nothing to publish a book. Instead, writers receive a small royalty fee for each book sold. I recently came across this informative writers guide for books.
I once was told that in order to make money, one must own the product. Cindy Dyer, who I mentioned earlier, and I decided to start our own publishing house for our creative collaborative work, Butterfly Woman Publishing. The business side of publishing is often Internet driven. I understand that the Internet sells more books than Main Street bookstores. Do I think it is all about money? No, I doubt much money can be made by a relatively unknown author, considering that the business of publishing costs money. None-the-less, Stephen King says, “I’d suggest that if you’re that anxious to get published, you skip agent-hunting or query-letters to publishers and go directly to a vanity press. There you will at least get a semblance of your money’s worth” (King, 2000, pp. 247-248).
An aspiring writer might ask, “Why do you write?” I write to understand and explain the world I live in. I want to give environmental knowledge to others. I believe it is important to save the natural world: its creatures, insects including pollinating butterflies and bees; plants as host and nectar sources for pollinators; crops for food and fruit production; wild edibles for food; and herbs for medicine. This is the world I live in.
Morgen: I write because I’m addicted. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Mary Ellen: Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and Annie Dillard. I would have someone cook (not me). I would serve Roast Beef with all its aromas and trimmings, with a beautiful table setting, classic old china, lit candles, and delicious red wine. The first invited guest, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote The Bells, which I love. Poe was an honored guest and wrote at The YADDO, an artist retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA, my hometown. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a cherished book, A Child’s Garden of Verses. I loved his positive attitude towards when he was a sick child. Annie Dillard, author of Pilgrims at Tinkers Creek, is a kindred spirit who writes eloquently about nature.
Morgen: I don’t know Annie but the other two would be intriguing… and inspirational. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Mary Ellen: “Nothing lasts forever,” Anna O’Grady Sullivan-Cunningham said this.
Morgen: Sadly true. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Mary Ellen: I do volunteer work to publicize events for Happy Tonics, Inc. I also volunteer at the local Minong Senior Center and promote senior events through newspapers, flyers, and social network sites. I believe in sustainable local agriculture, be it gardening and preparing my own foods from the garden, or supporting local farmers. I write to promote local food security. Our nonprofit co-sponsors an Environmental Film Fest during the academic year, at LCOOCC. We also have a garden plot at the LCO tribal farm. Both projects require writing and marketing skills. I am also involved with the newly established Chamber of Commerce in the Minong area, which will soon begin marketing events.
Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?
Mary Ellen: I love to be outside. I take meditation walks or garden on my village property of a half acre. I also love to work outside at the Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Shell Lake. I could spend hours outside learning from nature. In 2012, Happy Tonics will be assisting a few local nursing homes to implement butterfly gardens in raised beds outside in a garden setting. I also got involved in planting an herb garden at the local food pantry. We plant a Native Three Sisters Garden at the habitat consisting of corn, squash, and beans. I enjoy being an exhibitor at local garden events and public speaking at environmental and writer events. I love to meet the public and learn their stories of butterfly conservation, gardening, and personal transformation. I like to snowshoe, but snow has been scarce this year. I also love Tai chi and Yoga. These forms of exercise help balance my life.
Morgen: “snowshoe” – that sounds intriguing. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Mary Ellen: I am delighted that I have connected with your Blog.
Morgen: Why, thank you very much.
Mary Ellen: I also appreciate Wisconsin Writers Association’s writing tips and through an archival newsletter. I enjoy reading books such as Stephen King, On Writing; William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style; Natalie Goldberg, Writing down the Bones and Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. I couldn’t write without my Instructor’s Copy, Pocket Guide to APA Style, by Robert Perrin. Pat Shields, my English instructor at LCOOCC, gave me the book. I use it pretty much on a daily basis.
Morgen: Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Mary Ellen: I connect to my publisher’s Facebook page, Salt of the Earth. I also participate on Salt of the Earth, SotEP at (Salt of the Earth Press Author Discussion). Other writers and publishers have linked to my Blog, Facebook and Twitter. I find social network site networking is broadening my writing horizons. At one time I was connected to Wisconsin Writers Association online roundtable forum. I became bogged down with too many emails from the group.
Morgen: I have some of mine coming in once a week but it’s till time-consuming to read them all. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Mary Ellen: Limitless possibilities. Books were once the domain of large publishing houses. Budding writers didn’t have much of an opportunity to be taken seriously for their unknown work. After listening to author Michael Perry, Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors one Siren at a Time, a speaker at a WWA conference, I am exploring self publishing opportunities. Matter-of-fact, www.butterfly-woman-publishing.com plans to publish a Monarch Butterfly Coloring Book, in spring 2012. The work will be published using CreateSpace, owned by Amazon. Publishing on this platform will provide an ISBN number and enable to me publish on the world’s largest booksellers site. A writer needs to learn what book distribution sources they will use to market their book. Here are good marketing ideas on CreateSpace.
Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?
Mary Ellen: I am on Google, just type my name Mary Ellen Ryall in the browser; Amazon where one can see my book, open a few pages, or purchase the book at $12.98, FREE SHIPPING over $25; Twitter; Facebook; Digg; and WordPress at www.butterfly-woman-publishing.com and www.insectamonarca.wordpress.com
Morgen: Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Mary Ellen: Why did you start a writer’s Blog? Why do you want to help writers and published authors?
Morgen: I’d heard it was a good thing to do. Little did I know it would take over my life (literally!) but I really enjoy it. At the back of my mind was (and still is) getting my writing seen (and sold) but I love everything writing so I get a buzz every time I receive a new enquiry, although going through the emails can sometimes be a full-time job. Thank you, Mary Ellen.
I then invited Mary Ellen to include an extract of her writing…
“One warm, sunny morning in June, my mother landed on a native common milkweed plant in Sarah Reynolds’ flower and vegetable garden. Sarah was a child with brown eyes and honey blonde straight hair. She was in the garden one morning pulling weeds when she saw my mother. Sarah stood very still. She blinked in wonder as she watched my mother deposit eggs on the underside of the leaves.”
After my mother flew off, Sarah sat down on the ground. She thought about what she had just seen. Excited, she turned her baseball cap around backwards and ran to the house to tell her mother, “I saw a black and orange butterfly tap milkweed leaves with its tummy!” Sarah said.
A few days later, Sarah went back to visit her garden. She touched some black-eyed Susans, which were pretty yellow flowers with dark centers. Then she turned to the milkweed flowers and bent down to smell the sweet scent when she saw something.
Sarah looked right at me. I was now a tiny caterpillar munching a milkweed leaf. She figured out that when my egg hatched I ate through the leaf and climbed to the top.
With an explorer’s eye she looked more closely. Sarah saw several caterpillars munching away on different leaves. She looked at other milkweed plants and saw that the whole garden was a nursery for tiny monarch caterpillars.
Mary Ellen Ryall grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. In pursuit of butterflies, she worked and traveled in South America in the 1970s. In the 1980s Ryall completed the Masters Gardeners Program, University of the District of Columbia, and became involved with community gardens. Living in Southern Maryland in the 1990s, she wrote about the environment and founded Happy Tonics. Ryall moved to Wisconsin in 2000, graduating from the Woodlands Wisdom Nutrition Project at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College in 2003. In 2006 Ryall relocated the organization to Shell Lake, Wisconsin, where she spearheaded the implementation of a Monarch Butterfly Habitat. The photograph of Mary Ellen is c. Cyndy Dyer. Cover picture c. Lindy Casey.
***
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Welcome to the three hundred and seventeenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with novelist and autobiographer Leila Tavi. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello Leila. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Leila: Ciao Morgen. I’m based in Rome, where I work for the University Roma Tre and as a freelance journalist. From 1991 to 2000 I lived and studied in Vienna, commuting between Austria and Slovakia. At the moment I’m finishing my Ph.D. in Pre-Revolutionary Russian history, therefore I often travel to Russia, especially Sankt Petersburg and Chelyabinsk (Urals Region), where I’m visiting professor at the University. In my opinion writing is an attitude, something in our DNA, but the assumption of being a good writer is being a “bookworm”; I could read a book a day when I was a child. My motto was: “A book a day keeps the doctor away”. It has worked indeed… now that I have less time to read, I get the flu more easily than before.
Morgen: <laughs> Oh dear. I’m fairly flu-free but then I read a lot of blog content, if that counts. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Leila: My first novel Forbidden to think in colours (Vietato pensare a colori) is a sort of sophisticated comedy transposed into words, but I have also written an autobiographical book, East of the Danube (A est del Danubio), which has been published in monthly instalments by the Italian magazine “InStoria” (www.instoria.it). It is about my life experience in the Eastern European countries just after the collapse of communism. Science fiction stories with an international political background fascinate me, I’m also fond of historical novels like War and Peace or The Captain’s Daughter… I would like to set a story in the multiethnic Russian Empire under Catherine the Great with all the intrigues, the precious ancient stones she avidly collected, her lovers, her enemies, her conspirators.
Morgen: Wow, a real mixture. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Leila: The last published novel is Forbidden to think in colours, but I’m already working on a new story. I won’t write under a pseudonym, because my name sounds already exotic to Italians: my first name has an Arabic / Jewish origin and my family name is unusual, too; it is the anagram of the Italian word “vita”, life, I couldn’t find a better pseudonym.
Morgen: It’s simple and I love that about your surname. You clearly have “vita” for writing. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Leila: Not as a writer, but as a screenwriter I’ve collected a lot of rejections from movie directors and producers, too. My father, my grandfather and my great grandmother worked in the movie industry; I know well that for a single movie which can be shot, there are two hundred screenplays and two thousand synopses that lie down in dusty boxes. It’s the shooting system and one should not become demoralized because of that. It is for me a stimulus to invent new stories with appeal for the directors.
Morgen: Absolutely. Whenever I get nowhere in a competition I console myself (not a lot of that needed, I assure you) that at least I have the story I wrote for it. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Leila: After the social networks revolution? The web offers enormous opportunities for self-promoting. Being sponsored by an agent sounds old-fashioned and at the same time gives you the impression that you are a V.I.P., yeah… maybe after my third book, I’ll hire one for me.
Morgen: I’d never say never but for now am happy with the freedom eBooks give me. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Leila: East of the Danube will be republished as an eBook by the end of this year. My publisher simply asked me if I would agree or prefer traditional distribution channels. I usually read a lot of eBooks, mostly old books which Google Books provides for free on-line and which are useful for my researches about European travellers in Russia and Asia in the XVIII-XIX Centuries. I confess, I haven’t bought a contemporary novel as an eBook yet, but I have read plenty of them, because a dear friend of mine, a well-known Russian translator from Italian, always sends me the books she translates together with the official Italian version, and since receiving a parcel from Russia by mail could take months, we got used to share books via e-mail.
Morgen: It’s certainly made reading much more accessible and I do think more people are reading these days, especially short stories and as a short story author, I’m all in favour of that. How much of the marketing do you do?
Leila: I prefer to leave marketing strategies to my publisher, I’d rather concentrate myself on taking inspiration for good stuff.
Morgen: Ah yes, that’s the benefit of having a publisher. I have to do all my marketing (apart from a couple of lines at the end of each blog post I don’t do enough) but I’m starting to edit my novels next so it’ll step up a gear. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Leila: Yes, I do have a favourite character, Giulio Uberti, the main male character of Forbidden to think in colours, because this enfant terrible of the Roman high bourgeoisie synthesizes virtues and vices of three exceptional men I know: a lighting designer, an archaeologist and a movie director. I would choose Carolina Bang (Balada triste de trompeta, 2010) and Michael Stuhlbarg (A serious man, 2009), or Keira Knightley and Scott Speedman.
Morgen: Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
Leila: Yes, I do. I was the first to have a photo on the cover; the publisher used graphic for the novels, but I let her change the idea. Regarding the title, before submitting the title to her, I always consult students at the University, they are young, they make the trend.
Morgen: A second opinion on everything is always a good idea. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Leila: I’m working on an idea related to the “emotional” interaction between human beings and the first robotic experiments. Our society forces us to alienation, but we are social beings and the paradox of this phenomenon is that we tend to create robots in our image; it seems to me that we want to create a better human being, because we have failed, somehow, in developing our species further. It is like, you know, the same old story of the gods in the Olympus treating human beings as puppets.
Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Leila: If I can’t write every day I keep in mind the idea or the situation so long I succeed in writing it down. I’ve never suffered from a writer’s block; on the contrary, I always have three or four ideas twirling in my mind at the same time.
Morgen: Oh, me too. Just a word will kick-start something. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Leila: Normally I get an idea and run with it; of course for screenplays you do need to have a plot and eventually a subplot, or it won’t work by shooting.
Morgen: You mentioned Giulio Uberti, do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Leila: I get the inspiration from real people and I like to mix characters together: the result is very funny and prevents me from being accused of defamation.
Morgen: Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Leila: As a Ph.D. candidate I’ve written a bibliography and several papers; for magazines I’ve written about two hundred pieces. I would like to be able to write poems, it is the highest genre, but one needs to be “extirpated” from the frenzied environment which is gnawing us to enter the calm state of mind needed for poetry.
Morgen: I write very little poetry but then I have so many stories I want to write that I don’t feel guilty. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Leila: I do a lot of editing, in primis by myself and then with my proof-reader, the dear Giulia, who is very patient with me. I should admit that I painstakingly read and re-read and read again.
Morgen: Do you have to do much research?
Leila: Yes, I need to take the more I can from the different facets which compose the background I’m describing; by writing Forbidden to think in colours I met several times Luciano Stignani, a well-known and excellent lighting designer, I’ve interviewed him and spent time in his atelier together with him and his team.
Morgen: What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Leila: I use a first person narrator only for autobiographical books. I never tried to write in second person form, but why not, maybe. I can’t think of anyone who has written a second person narration in Italian.
Morgen: I’ve written a lot in second person recently and love it. Ever since I realised it existed (a couple of years ago) I just fell in love with it. Apparently it’s used a lot in poetry. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Leila: Yes, some ambitious synopses that couldn’t be shot with a low budget due to the economic crisis.
Morgen: Oh well, then maybe with the crisis is over? What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Leila: I do live a large part of my life through my characters and I find it negative. Yes, I do find it negative when I sit on the computer suffering from buttock numbness while my characters are having a kiss and a cuddle. The ability I have to create embarrassing tragicomic situations in my books always surprises me.
Morgen: What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Leila: To read a lot and to avoid banality.
Morgen: If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Leila: I would invite three great strategists: Caesar, Machiavelli and Napoleon in order to discuss with them feasible solutions for the current difficult international situation, not the “comatose” ones the politicians want to administer us. I would serve the “arzilla”, a traditional Roman fish soup made with race, carciofi alla Giudia (fried artichokes) plus rhubarb and strawberry crumble with custard.
Morgen: That sounds lovely… I love soup, and crumble. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Leila: Festina lente, “make haste slowly”, the motto of Emperor Augustus. When I repeat this motto to me, I know that all my ideas soon or later will see the light.
Morgen: We have ‘more haste less speed’. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Leila: As I mentioned before, I work at University Roma Tre, I’m very involved in that.
Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing?
Leila: I’m fond of horse riding, I go out with my daughter Denisa and we gallop in the beautiful country which still surrounds the neighbourhood where we live in the South of Rome. Our area has a romantic name “Castello della Cecchignola” (Cecchighola Castle), with an old tower, which is the soul of the neighbourhood. When I was a child I would always dream of entering the door of the castle and suddenly time would turn back… Few years ago an architect bought and restored the castle; he kindly invited the inhabitants to visit his estate… the castle was even more gorgeous as I could imagine in childhood.
Morgen: It sounds lovely – and a perfect location for stories. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Leila: Yes, I am a member of several LinkedIn groups: American Independent Writers, Association for Writers, Books and Writers, Creative Designers and Writers, Fiction Writers Guild, Writer’s Café, Writers, Writum.
Morgen: Which is probably how we met. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Leila: If a writer is able to bring his ambitions into the line with the degree to which they can be implemented, thanks to new media and languages, he will have a rosy future.
Morgen: Determination and passion, for sure. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Leila: I’m an Italian mother tongue writer and all the information you will find on-line is unfortunately in Italian; the official site of my book is sponsored by my publisher Ginevra Bentivoglio.
A personal web site for a single book is like our Italian old saying “To buy a saddle without owning a horse”.
Morgen: Book websites do strike me as a lot of work because you write another book and you have to start another site. Besides, it’s the author’s name a reader (hopefully) remembers rather than (or as well) the book. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Leila: I like to write, it is my passion in life, but even if I stay the whole night active and frisky because I got the inspiration, I never deprive myself of a good long sleep, especially in winter, when it is good to stay in bed under a warm blanket.
Morgen: Ah… I’m terrible. Even having given up my day job (only last Friday admittedly) I’m still not going to bed before midnight – I’m home all day today so tonight maybe. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Leila: What does impress you about a writer at a first sight?
Morgen: Usually if they are passionate… and not just because you said it. The ones who say that they can’t imagine doing anything else – that’s me. Thank you, Leila.
I then invited Leila to include an extract of her writing…
Elisabetta is a student in Architecture, with a passion for lighting and vintage clothing. Determined to become a lighting designer, she has chosen an ambitious topic for her thesis: the lighting of the archaeological site of the Ludus Magnus, an ancient Roman palestra for gladiators near the Colosseum, that she is trying to enhance and “modernize” with an innovative light design in harmony with the contemporary urban landscape.
The enthusiasm of Elisabetta confronts the sudden mood swings of her professor, Palmieri, and the malicious jokes of Uberti, the owner of the lighting atelier where she works. Uberti is an upper-middle class enfant terrible, who changes girlfriend like socks: every morning.
He and Elisabetta have a completely opposite way of dealing with life and love, but they share the same passion for their work. In the night, the two rediscover the architectural beauties of Ancient Rome and wander the streets between Ostiense and Garbatella, two popular Roman neighborhoods full of gathering places for students. The light accompanies them during this trip, stressing the city’s architecture, tracing its routes, outlining the urban landscape. However, a sudden job offer comes soon after Elisabetta graduates and she has to move abroad… that would reverse the relationship between the two tête-bêche.
Leila Tavi was born in Rome; she graduated in Philology, then in Political Sciences. She has lived for ten years in Austria and Slovakia, observing how Eastern European totalitarian States collapsed and turned into democracies. Since 2008 she has been working as a freelance journalist; she is a Ph.D. candidate in Russian History and holds seminars in cultural and diplomatic relations between Pre-Unitarian Italian States and Russia at the Sankt-Petersburg State University and the Chelyabinsk State University. She is a member of “100 Autori per il Cinema”, which includes directors such as Bellocchio, Sorrentino, Virzì…; she is also a member of the Association “Donne di carta” (Paper Women), where she is a ‘Book-Person’ who learns by heart an excerpt of a famous novel and repeats it to other people. This group drafted a Reading Bill of Rights, which was awarded by President Giorgio Napolitano. Forbidden to Think in Colours is her second novel.
UPDATE MARCH 2012: you can read this interview in Italian at http://librini.wordpress.com.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the three hundred and sixteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with fantasy novelist Ken Magee. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Ken. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Ken: Hello. My name is Ken Magee and I’m an… author.
Morgen: Welcome to Authors Not-So-Anonymous, Ken Magee.
Ken: I live in the North of Ireland and I’m delighted to have the chance to say a few words about my background.
I worked for many years in the computer industry in a wide variety of roles including programming, systems analysis and sales. In the middle of it all, I served in the Navy Reserve for five years… which was hard work, but fun.
In 2010, I semi-retired and decided it was time to finish the book I had started about 30 years ago (writing not reading). I would have finished it sooner, but life got in the way. It’s finished now, but I don’t think any of the original book survived the process!
I am married with two grown up children, five grand children and two dogs. I love reading, writing and words. I have a keen interest in music, technology, movies, travel and the Internet. To keep fit I play badminton when I get the time … and I walk the dogs even when I don’t get the time.
Morgen: It’s funny how we always find something of a higher priority – even the top authors say they do everything else they can and I’m the same (although it’s usually the day job, blogging or emails that get my attention) and yet writing is so wonderful – there really is nothing like it. What genre do you generally write?
Ken: I generally write fantasy novels. Well, maybe ‘always’ is more accurate. I’ve now written two novels and they’re both humorous, contemporary fantasies.
Morgen: Ooh, have these been published?
Ken: It has; Dark Tidings was published in November 2011 and it’s available from lots of online outlets including Amazon: Dark Tidings (Kindle US), Dark Tidings (paperback US), Dark Tidings (Kindle UK), Dark Tidings (paperback UK).
The sequel, The Black Conspiracy, can be found on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Morgen: How exciting. I have four and a bit novels to edit so will put those out myself, after my first readers have been through them, of course. Have you had any rejections?
Ken: I sent the Dark Tiding’s manuscript to a few agents and publishers, but I didn’t get too downhearted because I was lucky to get accepted, quite quickly, by a small UK publisher. They helped me a lot with beating the book into its final shape and they made me feel that I was doing something worthwhile. I did, of course, get a number of rejections, but I was expecting that so I didn’t worry too much. Having said that, it was always disappointing to get a pro forma, non-personal ‘NO’ letter.
Morgen: It is but as you say you were quite quickly picked up (well done ). So your book’s available as an eBook…
Ken: Yes. We produced a Kindle version of Dark Tidings and it’s selling well. Personally, I enjoy eBooks, but there is nothing like the real thing!
Morgen: Almost every author I’ve spoken to has said that. I love my Kindle as it’s so portable and you can’t break the spine of an eBook. How much of the marketing do you do?
Ken: I must say I have found the marketing very hard. I am new to writing books, never mind promoting them. I have tried to build an on line presence on Twitter (@Ken MageeAuthor) and with a Dark Tiding’s Facebook page, but it is very hard to get noticed. Blogs are very important too, so getting this interview opportunity here is precious to me.
Morgen: Ah, thank you. I’m delighted you feel like that and I’m so grateful for you as everyone who says “yes” gives me something to talk about. If your book was made into a film, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Ken: I got a really nice review in a multimedia Showbiz and Entertainment magazine called euVue. The review ended with the words “Dark Tidings begs to be made into a film. Harvey Weinstein on fast dial please!”… so maybe a movie is on the cards! If it happened, I’d love unknown actors to be given the lead roles, because everyone who’s new needs a break (like me ). Either way, I still want to go to Hollywood and schmooze with the A-listers.
Morgen: Wouldn’t that be great. Fantasy is hugely popular so fingers crossed. You’re with a “small publisher” (Ragged Cover Publishing), did you have any say in the title / covers of your book? How important do you think they are?
Ken: The publisher and I batted about a variety of cover designs and titles, but ultimately they let me choose. I am very happy with both, however I wish I had added a tagline to the cover, so it was obvious what type of book it was… something like “What happens when ancient magic meets the Internet?”
You ask how important they are… I ran a poll on a reader’s forum and cover design came 9th out of the 10 listed ‘reasons to buy a book’… title came 8th. Not scientific, but interesting nonetheless.
Morgen: Very. I would have thought they’d be higher and the cover above the title, although I’m a big title fan. What are you working on at the moment?
Ken: I am writing the follow-on to Dark Tidings. I felt the book ended at a clean, but interesting, point. I’m hoping there are lots of readers who’ll want to know what else could possibly happen to the main characters… and I hope they care what happens to them.
Morgen: If people enjoy a book they do usually want to go and read something else (so I’m hoping to get at least two of my books out at the same time). Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Ken: I do write every day, but only because I enjoy it. I try to fit in marketing activities too, but that’s where I struggle a bit.
I do suffer from writer’s block and he’s called Rocky. My collie seems to sense when I’m on a writing roll and that’s when he decides to demand some attention. It really doesn’t help.
Morgen: Oh dear. Mine just sits in the chair next to me (facing me) and gives me the big-brown-eyes look. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Ken: A bit of both really. I have the basic plot in my head, but I have no idea how the characters will navigate through the various twists and turns. And in Dark Tidings, there were a few shocks which came right out of the blue… even I wasn’t expecting them. Also, the humour definitely comes during the writing and again, I was surprised by a lot of it… I often found myself laughing out loud as I wrote.
Morgen: I love that you weren’t expecting the shocks because that means your readers won’t either. I clap when I’ve written something I like – then my dog thinks I’ve gone mad… although he’s pretty used to it now. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Ken: My writing is definitely more fully-formed now, I think my ‘voice’ has matured a lot compared with when I started. There still needs to be a lot of editing to ensure correct grammar, punctuation and syntax. The editing process also tightens the writing and makes it more reader-friendly. While I can get close to a completed manuscript, I think it is vital to use a professional proofer for the final version. It is all too easy to read what you meant to write rather than what you actually wrote and the professional will also remove ambiguities and the like.
Morgen: A writer absolutely needs an editor. Mine not only picks up (thankfully not too many) errors but also comes up with some great suggestions. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Ken: Stick at it. My book took 30 years to finish, but I got there. There is no better feeling than having a printed copy of your book in your hand for the first time.
Morgen: Wow. I interviewed Sheila Quigley last November and it took 30 years for her novel to be published but she’s doing really well now, so absolutely, don’t give up. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Ken: I love Goodreads. It’s the perfect site for book lovers and a super place to ‘meet’ other readers and writers. Similar, but with an emphasis on the Kindle, are http://www.kuforum.co.uk (focusing on UK readers) and http://www.kindleboards.com (focusing on US readers).
Morgen: Goodreads is the only place I received a 1* rating and the vow never to read my writing again – I thought it was hilarious. I’ve not explored the site properly yet but do get friend requests quite often which is lovely. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Ken: I’d just like to thank you again for this opportunity to talk to your readers. It means an awful lot to a new author to get a platform like this.
Morgen: Oh, you’re so welcome. Do come back and do something else… especially when novel 2 comes out. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Ken: How on earth do you get the time? Your time management must be superb!
Morgen: I’ve been a secretary since I left school and have been working out since then what I wanted to do, then light bulb moment when I went to creative writing evening classes seven years ago and now all that organising and typing practice is definitely paying off. Thank you, Ken.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy novelist, fantasy novels, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Ken Magee, Kindle Boards, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and fifteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with contemporary romance author Marina Martindale. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello Marina. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Marina: Thank you for inviting me, Morgen. My name is Marina Martindale. I’m based in Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. I came to be a writer through a series of life events that would be too long and boring to list here. I’ll just say it was a mid-life career change, and my only regret is that I didn’t start writing sooner.
Morgen: You’re so welcome. It’s lovely to have you here today. This may sound trite but I appreciate every interviewee’s time because my blog really wouldn’t be what it is without everyone else. I can talk for England but not sure about the whole world. What genre do you write?
Marina: I write contemporary romance. However, I’m considering writing historical romance and possibly romantic thrillers as well.
Morgen: All very popular. I’ve had a couple of agents tell me they want more historical (and crime). What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Marina: Aha, the truth comes out, but I’m laughing as I write. Marina Martindale is a pseudonym. I’ve written and published a series of historical novels for young readers under my real name, and I’ve built my brand as a children’s book author. However, I’ve wanted to write more adult material and branch out into the romance genre for sometime now. The problem was that readers in this genre expect some steamy, if not somewhat graphic love scenes. Now granted, I’m not writing erotica, but some of the material presented in my new novel, The Reunion, is definitely not for younger readers. I didn’t want to risk a parent, familiar with my earlier work, picking up this new book and thinking it would be suitable for their child to read, hence having to write under a pseudonym.
Morgen: That’s the thing about starting with one genre. I’ve never stuck to one so I think people don’t know what to expect when they read my stories… good or bad as that may be.
Marina: It’s like Disney and Touchstone. Same company, but the two products are branded for two different audiences.
Morgen: Oh, I didn’t know that. They’re both great companies. So how did you pick your pseudonym?
Marina: Marina Martindale is a play on my middle name and last name, and I created that name exclusively for writing my romance novels.
Morgen: Ah ha. You’ve mentioned ‘The Reunion’, what format is it available in?
Marina: It’s available in print and on Amazon Kindle. It will soon be coming to Smashwords as well.
Morgen: Mine are Smashwords only and I found it really easy (once I’d ploughed through the 70-something page style guide ). Do you have a favourite of your books or characters?
Marina: I’ve based Gillian Matthews, the female lead, loosely on myself. Like Gillian, I attended Arizona State University, and I studied fine art. I see Gillian as what my life might have been like had I chosen a different career path. Ian Palmer, the male lead, was inspired by someone I knew many years ago. Several of the other characters were also inspired by friends and family members. However none of my characters, including Gillian, are clones of any real persons. Each and every character I create is a unique individual.
Morgen: It must be easier getting inside their head if they’re familiar. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Marina: I’ve just finished writing the treatments, (short summaries) for two planned books. One will be a sequel of sorts to “The Reunion”. Three of the minor characters from “The Reunion” will become the lead characters this time around. The book is tentatively titled, “The Long Journey Home.” My other book, “The Deception” will have a new and completely different cast of characters.
Morgen: I love creating new characters but equally being able to go back to ones you know already is such fun. Do you manage to write every day?
Marina: I try to write everyday, and it varies. Some days I post on my blog or write articles or newsletters, other days I work on manuscripts. It all depends on whether I’m on a deadline, or what pops into my head on a given day.
Morgen: Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Marina: A little bit of both, actually. I’ll write the treatment, or summary, first, but it’s only a guide. New ideas will come along as I work with the manuscript. Oftentimes the end product will be very different from the original treatment.
Morgen: I found that. I plotted my first novel (for NaNoWriMo back in 2008) but it deviated quite quickly. You mentioned characters earlier, do you have a method for creating yours, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Marina: My characters are, more often than not, inspired by real people that I’ve known. However I make sure to give them different names, different physical descriptions and different backgrounds. Most of my characters are composites, meaning they are inspired by more than one person. For instance, Ryan Knight, one of the villains in “The Reunion” was inspired by a very moody ex-boyfriend, my ex-husband, and a good friend’s ex-husband. He came out as a truly despicable character who my readers love to hate. I then name my characters whatever name pops into my head first. If I get stuck trying to come up with a name I’ll open up the phone book. That will usually give me some good ideas.
Morgen: It’s a popular method; that and baby names books. Do you have to do much research?
Marina: Yes. I spend a lot of time researching and fact-checking. Generally speaking, fiction has to be based on fact to be believable. For example, as the plot for “The Reunion” unfolds, two of the characters will end up in the hospital emergency room. A close friend, who is a former emergency room nurse, co-wrote those chapters with me.
Morgen: Ah, very handy. They do say it’s not what you know but whom… What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Marina: Find an editor you can work with and have your work professionally edited. I cannot stress this enough. As authors, we need a fresh pair of eyes to review our work and look for the gaffes, errors and other problems that we’re unable to see because we cannot look at our work objectively.
Morgen: We do, although it does help to leave your writing to marinate. My editor not only finds the errors but comes up with some great suggestions. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Marina: In many ways there has never been a better time to be an author. The advent of ebooks, indie publishing, and self-publishing means that we writers now have options that we’ve never had before. We no longer have to deal with the gatekeepers that traditional publishers use to keep most prospective authors from ever being published. However, as traditional publishing continues to wane, we must become our own gatekeepers. That means we hire the best editors and proof readers that we can find so our work will be on the same level as those whose work is published by traditional publishers.
Morgen: We should, although I was reading a traditionally-published book today and found a typo (two words stuck together) which should have at least been flagged in the spell-check. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Marina: Please visit my website at http://www.marinamartindale.com.
Morgen: Yes please do, folks. Thank you, Marina.
Just like Gillian Matthews, the heroine in her debut romance novel, “The Reunion”, Marina Martindale began her career as a graphic designer and artist. Over time, however, she discovered that writing was her true life’s passion. In The Reunion, Martindale draws her inspiration from her own life. The story itself, however, is fiction.
”Not all of us are lucky enough to marry our true love and spend the rest of our lives living happily ever after,” says Martindale. “I think many of us have someone who we think of as, ‘the one who got away.’ We may stop and think about them from time to time, but have we ever really sat down and thought about what would happen, if just by chance, we were to run into our long lost love? That’s the premise for The Reunion. It’s a story of love, forgiveness, and second chances.”
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, contemporary, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Marina Martindale, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, thrillers, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and fourteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with sports and Christian-themed author Rob Sheehy. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Rob. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Rob: Hi Morgen. I’m a forty-year old husband and father of one from Wisconsin. By day I work as an Information Technology Consultant, primarily developing software and data integration solutions. I became a writer way back in 2000 when I began writing my first novel, Winns and Losses, but the seeds were sown much earlier. Back in seventh grade I wrote a story called Thanksgiving at Grandma’s for an English class assignment. My mom laughed so hard at that story that I knew I must have a knack for writing. She warned me never to let my Grandma read it, though. Something about my opinion of her turkey that Mom thought wouldn’t go over too well.
Morgen: Oh dear. What genre do you generally write?
Rob: Mainly I write contemporary fiction with a sports setting. I write with an emphasis on Christian values. In my books I usually deal with some issue that average people face in life and show how God works in our lives to help us in dealing with that issue.
Morgen: That’s the thing; characters have to be believable… like people we might know, even. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Rob: To date I’ve published one novel, Winns and Losses, in eBook format. I write as myself. I’m a pretty down-to-earth guy. I thought about using a pen name, but it doesn’t really fit who I am.
Morgen: You have a memorable name so I wouldn’t say you’d need to change. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Rob: I rely on God to be my agent. Ultimately He will determine how successful I am. As far as normal agents, as an indie author focused on e-publishing, I hope they’re not vital to an author’s success.
Morgen: Me too. So your book is available as an eBook? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Rob: Only as eBooks, actually. I tried a long time ago to solicit an agent and get Winns and Losses into print but it just wasn’t happening. Now that eBooks are becoming more prevalent, I took the opportunity to put my novel out there. I went through Smashwords so the process was pretty simple once I formatted my manuscript to their style guide. I have to confess I don’t find a lot of time to read books. I do most of my reading online in the form of sports and news articles, but if I did have time, I’d read eBooks more than print.
Morgen: Me too (again). I’ve gone via Smashwords (although I do plan Amazon in the not too distant future). And I don’t read as much as I want to but do read more eBooks than anything else. I only bought it in January so I guess it’s still a novelty. How much of the marketing do you do?
Rob: Right now I do all the marketing. I have a fan page on Facebook for Winns and Losses and on my blog site. That’s about the extent of it, unfortunately. I send out the occasional tweet from @CoachRobSheehy with a quote or something but I have to confess I’m not very consistent with it. Marketing is a big challenge for me. I don’t enjoy selling things, including myself. I’d love to find someone to do that for me.
Morgen: I think most authors would. The trick with the likes of Twitter is to do what you’re doing – providing education or entertainment in the main and then very occasionally promote your work. If people enjoy reading your non-tout stuff then hopefully they’ll investigate further. The quickest way to get de-followed is to say “please buy my book” endlessly. Some do it. Do you have a favourite of your characters? If any of your book were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Rob: Marty Winn is my favourite character. If Winns and Losses was made into a film, (which I think it would be a great one) I could see a guy like Chris Pine as Marty Winn, and maybe Amy Adams or Poppy Montgomery as his wife Angie. Gavin McCrae, one of Marty’s teammates, would be a great role for Michael Clarke Duncan, from The Green Mile. Of course, being a movie about football, a lot would hinge on the athletic ability of the prospective cast. I would want to try to find Christian actors, too, since it’s a story about faith.
Morgen: Good choices – I’m a big fan of Amy Adams (‘Leap Year’ especially). Presumably you had a say in the title / covers of your book, how important do you think they are?
Rob: I had full control over both. I think the title is important as a hook into the story. My title, Winns and Losses, ties the Winn family to the concept of wins and losses both in football, and in life. As for the cover, like it or not, we’re a visual society. People do judge books by the cover, so it’s important that the cover be visually appealing while providing a window into what the book is about.
Morgen: Exactly. It has to represent the content or the reader will feel mislead. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Rob: I began working on a baseball-themed novel about a father and son in the big leagues, but then I came up with a crazy idea for a book about three college guys taking a cross country road trip in an Imperial Walker, from the Star Wars movies. Out of nowhere that concept sort of crystallized in my head, so I put the baseball book on hold and have been working on the road trip novel.
Morgen: That sounds like fun. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Rob: I usually end up writing later at night, after the family has turned in for the night, usually three or four nights a week. I wouldn’t call it writer’s block in the true sense, but I do go through times where I have to force words onto the page a bit more than other times when things just seem to flow.
Morgen: It must be more difficult when writing one story. I’m lucky because I write short stories more than anything else so I get to switch topic almost constantly. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Rob: I usually begin writing with a specific end in mind, but how I get there is a fluid process. Winns and Losses takes place over an entire NFL season, so there are weekly games I had to account for to make up a realistic team schedule, but in between I filled things in on the fly, within the framework of the overall message of the book.
Morgen: Do you do a lot of editing?
Rob: I did a fair amount of editing on Winns and Losses from the original version I completed to the version I ultimately published. I probably made three or four complete passes through the book, making changes as I went. I think editing is important because there are always things you can tighten up, and you need to make sure your work is sound as far as spelling and grammar.
By the same token, over-editing is a mistake. At some point, the artist steps back from the canvas and decides the painting is finished. The writer needs to do the same with his / her work. Chasing perfection is like chasing a sunset. You never quite catch up and you eventually end up right back where you started if you keep at it too long. Eventually you just have to put your work out there and see what happens.
With the book I’m working on now, I make a habit of going back over what I’ve written most recently: to edit it, and also to ensure that what I write next is consistent with what’s already there.
Morgen: One of my Monday nighters will spend a week on a short story, pulling it apart, and (she says) often putting back in some sections she took out. I tend to do three or four thorough sweeps and move on. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?
Rob: I like to give my novels an auto-biographical tone, so I write in first person. I feel it allows for deeper development of the protagonist, and puts the reader in a position to step into the story through the eyes of the main character. While the development of other characters is sacrificed to a degree, the reader gets to know them the same way the protagonist does.
Morgen: It is a very popular point of view and if you have few characters it is a good one to go for. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Rob: My favourite part is to be able to bring life to my ideas and imagination. Seeing a story that I conceptualized develop and grow is a great thrill. My least favourite part is trying to get people to read what I’ve written. Like I said before, I stink at sales and marketing, at least when it comes to myself. I do enjoy talking about my work in forums like this, but I don’t like to push myself on people. Deep down I wish the right reader would stumble across my book, fall in love with it, and sing its praises to the world. I know that’s a pipe dream, but I really loathe trying to push my work into the public consciousness, or more realistically, drag the public kicking and screaming to my book’s webpages.
Morgen: So many interviewees have said the same thing but I think what you’re doing is right. You have to network without being pushy and forums are great for that. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Rob: If you have an idea for a story, write the story. You never know how great it could be until you do it. Even if you don’t have the whole tale mapped out from start to finish, start writing and see where it takes you.
Morgen: Exactly. I have two non-writing friends who are big readers and both say they couldn’t write like I do (or someone they’re reading) but I ask them how they know, if they don’t start. You have to want to though, of course. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Rob: We make church a priority, obviously. I spend a lot of time with my daughter doing whatever she has planned for us. I play on a local bar softball team in the summer. I watch a fair amount of sports on TV, which sort of counts as research. When the weather in Wisconsin permits it, I enjoy playing golf with my wife and daughter, with friends, or just alone, enjoying the beauty of nature. Finally, I do get into video games, although I don’t play as much as I used to.
Morgen: I love it that you get to watch TV as research. So many writers count staring out of a window as the same. We are allowed – it’s the law. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Rob: Suzanne Lakin writes a great blog at www.livewritethrive.com. Obviously www.smashwords.com is a very useful site since that’s where I published and distributed Winns and Losses.
Morgen: It is great. I’ve not heard of Suzanne so thanks for that. You mentioned a forum and networking sites earlier, how valuable do you find them?
Rob: LinkedIn is very valuable. I’m in several writing groups on there. In fact, that’s how I found your blog here. I also found The Christian Authors Show through LinkedIn and will soon have the opportunity to talk about my work there as well.
Morgen: LinkedIn has been great. I was running out of interviewees and had about a week’s worth when I put the shout-out on LinkedIn and I’m now booked to about 100 ahead. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Rob: I think the future looks bright for writers. Technology has gradually removed a lot of the barriers to publishing that writers faced as recently as five years ago. I understand that agents and print publishers still have their place, but the traditional publishing model makes it unduly difficult for new talent to emerge.
Now with electronic publishing, writers like myself have opportunities to get our work in the hands of readers. I think that as people become more and more concerned with the environment and going paperless, the eBook trend will make for a brave, open new world for writers that they never would have had in the past.
Morgen: It’s great. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Rob: I write a Christian blog at http://robsheehy.wordpress.com. I have a page there that tells about me, and a section for my books. As I write and publish more novels I’ll list them there. I have author pages at Amazon and Smashwords. I’m still looking into ideas for an author website.
Morgen: I have a website (http://morgenbailey.com) but it’s a static page. This blog has overshadowed and taken over but I’m fine with that. Thank you, Rob.
I then invited Rob to include an extract of his writing…
The Lord’s hand had brought the officer there. We headed out into the rainy Seattle afternoon, and he radioed in his new mission as I climbed into the front passenger seat of his Chevrolet Caprice Classic black & white. On any other day I would have been fascinated by the proliferation of gadgets on the dashboard and the stockless, semi-automatic assault rifle mounted vertically like a lone sentry standing guard over the prowler from between the seats. Instead I stared out the window as we raced along the streets of Seattle.
My mind replayed the events of Brooke’s young life, from the tense, anxious moments in the delivery room, to her first steps, and her first word, “Mama.” I flashed back to the night at Johnny’s, watching her gleefully flinging pizza dough skyward, and to Christmas day not so long ago, with the feeling of her hair whipping against my chin as we rocketed down the snow-covered hill together. All at once the car came to an abrupt, jolting stop.
“We’re here.” Officer Mackey declared. I bolted out of the vehicle and headed toward the sliding glass doors at the main entrance. “Good luck,” I heard him call out, his words tailing off in the moist air. I turned halfway around and gave him a quick wave before ducking inside. I entered Brooke’s room, only to find it unoccupied.
Rob Sheehy lives in Wisconsin with his wife and daughter. By day he is a mild-mannered Information Technology Consultant and by night enjoys writing novels that combine his love of sports with his deep faith in Jesus Christ. Winns and Losses is the first of what he hopes will be many more such novels.
Rob also volunteers as an Assistant Football Coach for a local high school and has previously coached at Concordia University Wisconsin. A graduate of Pepperdine University, Rob is also an avid golfer. When not working, coaching, or writing, Rob can be found with his family either on the golf course, at a sporting event, or traveling on vacations around the country.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, Christian, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, Rob Sheehy, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sportswriting, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and thirteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with romance / suspense novelist Nancy Clark Townsend. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Nancy. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Nancy: I was born and raised in New York City – the Inwood – Northern Manhattan neighborhood to be exact – but I resided most of my life about 60 miles north in the Lower Hudson Valley area. Now I live in a very rural part of north-western Louisiana. I like to think that I’ve been on the path to become a writer most of my life. I was writing stories when I was 8 and 9 years old and never stopped. I was always an avid reader thanks to my mother. Just about every Saturday morning from the time I was very little we would walk to the public library and spend a couple of hours there. She timed it for story hour but we also browsed. I think it is difficult to become a reader and writer if you don’t have an intense reading background from an early age.
Morgen: I don’t remember much from my childhood (not for any reason, I guess, than it being fairly uneventful – that and I have a terrible memory) but I do remember going to the library, and loving it. What genre do you generally write?
Nancy: I classify my novels as romance / suspense usually. I enjoy reading a variety of genres but I don’t venture into writing some because I don’t feel I have enough knowledge to do so – like adventure, war and sci-fi. The exception to that is my first published short novel – Furred & Feathered Friends: Katrina Castaways. Since the animal characters speak to one another and are the main focus of the book, I think of it as a fantasy.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date?
Nancy: Furred & Feathered Friends is my first published book. I have a short story “The Dog and the Nike” that will be published sometime in 2012 in an anthology entitled That One Left Shoe from Betsy A. Riley of Blue Dragon Press. Also, two of my animal memoirs appear on my author friend Kimberley Dehn’s website – “Inseparable” and “The Cat With Many Aliases”. I encourage everyone to check out all of Kim’s website because it is a cat lover’s paradise.
Morgen: I have a cat-mad friend, I’ll have to send her over. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Nancy: In 2002-03 I sent out several query letters, synopses and the first three chapters of a couple of my novels. I had looked up agents in a directory from Writer’s Digest Book Club and found a few that I thought might be interested. I received polite replies saying the novels weren’t what they were “currently looking for”. Unfortunately, I had just been widowed and I gave up much too easily. I’ve always considered writing as my hobby and I did it for fun. So I went back to hobby mode until recently.
Morgen: I went the agent route too but then eBooks really took off and I saw how easy it was to do. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Nancy: Right now I read paper all the way because I don’t have an e-book. Furred & Feathered Friends is available on e-books: Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com. I wasn’t directly involved in that particular process.
Morgen: You said earlier than you’ve tried to secure an agent, do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Nancy: I don’t have an agent, but I have an amazing publisher – Betsy A. Riley of Blue Dragon Press. I know she has been vital to MY success. I’m sure agents can be important to an author’s success but I don’t believe they are vital. Networking is vital and the Internet is a great resource for an aspiring writer.
Morgen: Isn’t it great. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Nancy: I haven’t begun to think of myself as a “brand”. Most of my marketing to date has been through friends and word of mouth, mostly on the Internet. The friend I mentioned before, Kimberley Dehn, has posted a link to Furred & Feathered on her website. My publisher is handling most of it so far.
Morgen: That’s the thing about agents and publishers; they do know their market. Do you have a favourite of your characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Nancy: I love all the animals in Furred & Feathered Friends, but my favourite is the Newfoundland dog Bruno, a great big bear of a dog and the leader of the castaways. I envision him as having a deep voice so both Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones come to mind in an animated version.
Morgen: Oh yes, they’d be great. Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Nancy: I think titles and covers are extremely important and I’ve had a say in changes. I’m rarely happy with my working title but Furred & Feathered Friends had that title from its inception. Then my publisher suggested the subtitle, Katrina Castaways. She was right on target because “Katrina” was the magic word, even though it’s been several years since the hurricane. I wrote this book shortly after Katrina and Rita blasted Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in particular. Some teachers in TX and LA have shown interest in using the book in their classrooms. I would be delighted for that to happen, and it shows just how important a title can be. As for the cover, I’ve already had people tell me they love the animals pictured on the cover of Furred & Feathered Friends. A cover is, after all, the very first thing you see in an ad and on the book – it HAS to grab the reader.
Morgen: It is, and it does. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Nancy: I’m working on a book called The Witness Wore Fur. This title is my publisher’s brainchild and I love it. It’s a romance / suspense about a dog – a black and white pointer – a widow and a police detective. It [Witness] will be published this spring [2012]. Some of my readers have fallen in love with the characters in Furred and Feathered Friends: Katrina Castaways, so I’m also working on a sequel.
Morgen: What a wonderful mix. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Nancy: Most of the time I write every day one way or another. I belong to two on-line writing groups and it’s a rare day that I don’t post in both. AARP has a group called “Writing Memoir” where I post under the name “foxieblue”. The other group is a private forum called “Advanced Writing Workshop” with a small group of writers. Sometimes I find myself stalled in a novel so I go on to some other novel or project. When I go back to it I’m usually able to pick up the thread and move on. I think most of us have times when life interferes with writing because of health or personal problems.
Morgen: I love online networking. I belong to loads, mostly on Facebook, but haven’t had time up to now to contribute to more than a couple (Tuesday Tales and Writers for Welfare) but now the day job’s behind me… Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Nancy: Plot and run. Sometimes I just have a germ of an idea. I’ll start writing and see where it goes without any particular goal in mind. That’s the way real life is after all. If I find it’s going nowhere, I just save it in a “maybe” folder and don’t angst over it. I never work with outlines. I even have problems putting one together after the fact. And I may be a good writer but when I hear the word “synopsis”, I panic.
Morgen: The English novelist and short story author Jeffrey Archer was the guest on Radio Litopia last night and he said that no author should plot because it never goes to plan. He knows the endings to his short stories but not his novels because, he said, if he knew the ending then the reader will too. We mentioned characters earlier, do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Nancy: Although I’m careful to not make it obvious, most of my characters are based on real people. In the course of a lifetime you come in contact with so many interesting personalities. Who needs to make them up? Some characters are a conglomeration. It depends on what I want from the character. I think that’s what makes my characters believable. From the moment I start a novel I keep a list of the characters in alphabetical order – whether they are animal or human. Whenever I put one in I make sure I keep track of everything from hair and eye colour to occupation. That has proven invaluable. I even list things like restaurant names, the type of cars driven, addresses, etc. – anything I think I might forget.
Morgen: It pays to be consistent because if you’re not a reader will pick you up on it. Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Nancy: I’m hopeless as a poet. I admit to a problem with short stories because I get so caught up in a story it’s difficult to keep it short. Furred & Feathered Friends is by far the shortest novel I’ve ever written, at a little over 14,000 words. I mentioned before that my short story “The Dog and the Nike” is appearing soon in the anthology That One Left Shoe. I’ve submitted three short pieces (I think they would be considered fictionalized memoirs) for another anthology but I haven’t heard from the publisher yet. I also submitted a short story to a new magazine and I’m waiting to hear about that as well. Novels are definitely my “thing”. As for non-fiction, I’m also working on my memoirs although I’ve decided not to try and put everything in one volume.
Morgen: I empathise with you on poetry. I do say that I don’t ‘get it’ but then I’m a prose lover so I rarely read any poetry which probably doesn’t help. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is tighter?
Nancy: I’m a compulsive editor and sometimes that gets in the way of my writing. I try to just go with the flow until the book is done and then go back. My publisher told me that she has very little editing to do because my writing is so fully-formed. Unfortunately, sometimes I have to tell myself, “Enough, Nancy!” and let it go. It’s like sending your child off to that first day of Kindergarten or even worse, to college.
Morgen: I think you can edit forever, especially if you leave some time between edits. As you say, you have to just let it go – easier perhaps if you have someone who’s going to edit it anyway. Do you have to do much research?
Nancy: Not often. Only a few of my novels are that detail oriented and in general I try to avoid writing about what I don’t know. The Internet is a big help when I want to include something I’m not knowledgeable about or I need to check on a fact.
Morgen: It’s great. I’m the same. History was one of my worst subjects at school plus it’s not a genre I read. Ditto science-fiction and fantasy. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Nancy: I tend to write in third person although I’ve done a limited amount in first person. One novel had first person for the main character with some sections here and there written in third person about a couple of other characters. The change-up was kind of fun. I’ve never attempted second person.
Morgen: Oh, second person is great fun. Well, I think so. I’d not heard of it until a couple of years ago and have been hooked ever since. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Nancy: Over the years I have written so many novels that I can’t imagine them all being published – at least not in my lifetime. Maybe if I achieve some success in what years I have left – I’ll be 74 in July – there will be a market for my “sleeping” novels posthumously. I leave that thought with my children.
Morgen: Mary Wesley was first published at 71 and went on to write another 13 books. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Nancy: The early favourable response to my short novel has taken me completely by surprise. I shouldn’t have been because my publisher, Betsy A. Riley, is a very sharp and talented lady.
Morgen: She is. She was one of my interviewees last July.
Nancy: Logic tells me that she wouldn’t be bothering with what I’ve given her so far – Furred & Feathered, The Witness Wore Fur, or “The Dog and the Nike” if they weren’t marketable. I guess that’s my insecurity showing. I have to say that my favourite aspect is the writing itself, the creative process. My least favourite is anything to do with the business end, which is why I so value this great gal who has stepped up to promote my work – my publishing guru, Betsy. She has taken all that off my shoulders and is there for me every step of the way.
Morgen: I think loads of authors have less faith in their work than an agent or publisher, and as you say, they wouldn’t spend their time (and therefore money) promoting something they weren’t happy with. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Nancy: Keep writing. Keep writing. Keep writing. Don’t give up. There are so many venues now with e-books, print-on-demand, the Internet, self-publishing. The world is wide open to you so explore your possibilities. Network. Make friends with other writers. I think we are a generous group of people and always willing to help others to achieve their dreams.
Morgen: I was amazed (because I didn’t know otherwise) how supportive writers are to each other. I compare it to learner drivers – we were all there at the beginning once. Going off at a tangent for a minute, if you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Nancy: I can cook quite well but I’ve never had a love of cooking. I should buy a bumper sticker that says, “I’d rather be writing.” I would invite them to one of my church’s potluck suppers because they are better than anything I could ever put together. If it had to be in my home, I’d order in pizza. I assume you really want me to name public figures of some note: (1) Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NY) – he is now retired, but he served in the House of Representatives for 20 years and for a number of years I worked for him in his old law office; he was the best example I’ve ever seen of a man who truly represented his constituents regardless of their party affiliation; (2) the late author Dick Francis – he is still my favourite writer and I have most of his books (I owned and raced harness horses at one time); he is my role model as a writer though I will never achieve his skill; and (3) CNN’s Anderson Cooper – he is one of the great broadcast journalists of our time because he is fair but he doesn’t hesitate to expose dishonesty.
Morgen: Dick Francis is hugely popular in the UK. As for achieving his skill, I do think that writing is like any other craft – we all improve with practice. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Nancy: Follow your dream and keep on writing. And frankly, although we were taught back in English class not to use them, I adore so-called trite phrases.
Morgen: Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Nancy: I am editor for “Church Chatter”, a newsletter I put out every other month for my church, Hall Summit United Methodist. I do a little of my own writing for it but mostly I collect interesting items, news, recipes and miscellaneous titbits to fill up its 8 pages. I create two puzzles for each issue – a Bible Word Search and a Bible Acrostic that I probably enjoy putting together more than everyone enjoys solving them. I mentioned before that I also write posts for AARP Writing Memoir and the private group Advanced Writing Workshop. In AWW we not only put forth our own writing – poems, essays, short stories, non-fiction books and novels – but we encourage and critique one another’s work.
Morgen: Last year I created a children’s author-related word search for a teen writing group I helped out at. I’m not sure if it ever made the newsletter but it was certainly fun to do. What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?
Nancy: No party tricks or hobbies aside from writing. I am Treasurer for my church and I have prepared lesson plans and led a number of Bible studies in the past couple of years. I’m preparing one now on “The Passion and Death of Jesus” but admit I’ve been somewhat sidetracked by what is going on in my writing life. I have two wonderful dog companions who do their best to get me up in the morning when they decide it’s time. They also make sure I do my chores (like feeding them). There’s Buddy the adorable mixed breed who is nine and Luke a handsome black and white pointer who is about three. In fact, Luke is the name of the dog in The Witness Wore Fur and he is also a pointer, etc. Both wandered into my yard as starving abandoned puppies and promptly adopted me because they recognized a soft touch. They are much smarter than me. I also enjoy interactive games on line – Scrabble and a similar word game, Lexulous, through Facebook.
Morgen: Oh, I’m completely side-tracked by writing (can you tell?). My mum said to me recently that I shouldn’t let writing take over my life… she’s a few months too late. Are there any writing-related websites and / or books that you find useful?
Nancy: I purchased two books from Writer’s Digest Books years ago that have been valuable to me – Character Naming Sourcebook and Building Believable Characters. I think they have both been updated or replaced but today there is even software to help in creating characters. (http://www.writersdigestshop.com).
Morgen: There’s loads of great information – I love it. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Nancy: A friend told me about a site on Facebook – Inwood – Northern Manhattan – which is where I was born and raised. I’ve met some wonderful people there. It’s fun to relive the old days, find out what is going on there today and share photographs. I encourage everyone to get back in touch with their roots if they can.
The private Advanced Writing Workshop has been invaluable to me. My co-writers, bbdunne, Betsy A. Riley and Sara Van Der Wansem are the reason I am officially a published author today, thanks to their support and encouragement. The same is true of AARP Writing Memoir. The people in that group are really great and so helpful.
Morgen: Groups are great. I belong to over a dozen on LinkedIn and the support to / from everyone there is fantastic. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Nancy: I think the future is wide open for authors in all genres. The venues may change but I really hope the time doesn’t come when books as we know them disappear.
Morgen: I can’t see that. There will be less traditionally published, for sure, but pBooks and eBooks will run alongside each other. I know some people who have both of the same book. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Nancy: I have an author page on the Blue Dragon Press website http://bluedragonpress.com/Nancy.html and also at Kimberley Dehn’s website that I mentioned before. If anyone would like to write to me I’d love to hear from them – nancy@BlueDragonPress.com.
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Nancy: I have a Facebook page, but you won’t find much about my writing there. It is mostly devoted to my advocacy for abused and abandoned animals. Via the Internet I work with groups like Pet Pardons and Save a Life from a Shelter and others, as well as a number of individuals in an effort to save animals from abuse and being euthanized at kill shelters. We share posts with pictures and stories in order to find them rescues, foster and medical care and ultimately new forever homes. It’s heart-breaking work but last year thousands of animals were saved this way.
Morgen: My dog is a rescue and he’s great. We’re both very lucky. Thank you so much, Nancy.
I then invited Nancy to include an extract of her writing and this is the prologue from THE WITNESS WORE FUR (to be published by Blue Dragon Press in the near future)…
The girl struggled to free herself from the duct tape that bound her wrists and ankles. Thank goodness they had fastened her hands in front of her and hadn’t checked her jeans pocket. She always carried a small pen knife that her father gave her when she was in a Brownie troop. It was easy to free her ankles but she had to use her teeth on the wrists.
She could hear the men laughing and talking in the other room while she worked, and she prayed they wouldn’t come for her too soon. Right now she knew they were drinking – they figured they had plenty of time for her. How foolish she had been to accept a lift from that guy even though she knew him.
Heart pounding, she made her way to the window, thankful that the room was on the first floor. She turned the old-fashioned lock and slowly pushed the lower sash upward. It creaked softly but she doubted they would hear it with all the laughter and the TV in the background. Her poor dog had been barking non-stop since they used a rope to tie him to a tree.
She found the dog quickly. He whimpered happily at seeing her but he obeyed the whispered command for “quiet”. He had almost chewed through the rope, so she sliced it the rest of the way as she wondered what they had done with his collar.
Free at last, they dashed for the nearby woods.
Nancy Clark Townsend is a retired secretary. She resides near Shreveport, Louisiana with her two rescued dogs Buddy and Luke. Nancy studied Creative Writing at SUNY Empire State College and through “Writer’s Digest” courses. She has written several romance and suspense novels and is working on her memoirs. She was a legal secretary for many years. Later, as an education secretary, Nancy worked with teachers to write and produce curriculum guides for elementary and high school students. She describes herself as “somewhat adventuresome and a survivor” because she met her second husband through the personal column in a newspaper and her third on match.com. She has been widowed three times. Nancy’s son Greg is a police lieutenant in a Lower Hudson Valley city in New York State. Her daughter Karen, whom she describes as “the incredible soccer mom”, lives in Virginia. Between them Nancy has seven grandchildren. She also have a stepson, Michael, who has just retired as a Sergeant in the United States Army and lives in Georgia, and a step-daughter-in-law, Tara, who lives in upstate New York. Between them, Nancy has yet another six step-grandchildren.
Morgen: Wow, I’m surprised she has time to write!
Update October 2012: I would like to add my other books – the links can be found on http://www.bluedragonpress.com/Nancy.html.
Both are in my animal series. Furred & Feathered Friends: Junkyard Dogs is about abused pit bulls that are rescued thanks to Angus the Parrot and his other animal and human friends. Also published since the interview is Furred & Feathered Friends: The Cracked Turtle which highlights Toby the Dachshund mix and his 3 young kitten friends who help an injured turtle and even save one of their human friends after he is injured. I have two more in the series that are “in the works” – For the Birds and The Water Dog.
When I wrote FF&F: Katrina Castaways shortly after Hurricane Katrina, I never expected I would end up producing a series. I have my publisher, Betsy A. Riley at Blue Dragon Press to thank for that since it was her suggestion. I’m having a lot of fun with these.
I am also working on a synopsis for a full length novel entitled What Really Happened to Rebecca? It’s the story of a young man in his mid twenties who has just discovered he was adopted after his parents die and his journey to find out about his birth family and his roots. The first part is based on a very unusual and true adoption story from my years as a legal secretary; the second part is pure imagination as to what he actually finds. I have the novel written, but Betsy suggested I send it to a bigger publisher. They want the entire manuscript, but they also want a synopsis. The novel wasn’t a problem; the synopsis is another matter and it is proving to be a challenge. Wish me luck.
Morgen: Absolutely, they can be a real nightmare. Good luck indeed.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the three hundred and twelfth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with sci-fi / fantasy writer Agron Shehu. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Agron. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Agron: I live in Canada. Wonderful place to live. Mountains, oceans and vast plains make your mind to generate realistic fantasies. Realistic fantasies, both of them don’t make sense. Do they? Kidding.
Morgen: Sounds a bit like to the backdrop of Avatar and look how that turned out. What genre do you generally write and would you consider others?
Agron: I wrote my first book as a sci-fi / fantasy. The world to me is a fantasy, sci-fi fantasy. That’s why I try this way. I have not considered other genres but might.
Morgen: Sci-fi fantasy is a hugely popular genre so if you enjoy writing it… What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Agron: To-date I have published the book “Human in SpaceTime … What a Shock”, under my first name AGRON. I love this name. It is a very ancient pagan Illyrian name.
Morgen: And I’d say perfect for your genre. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Agron: So far no rejection. Usually I try not to have. If I would have I’ll try to correct myself. Always it would be my fault, though if this will happen, which I hope not, I will take it as an opportunity for me to improve those that need to be improved and for me to be better in what I am doing, better writer and even better person, better than I am now. (Chuckles)
Morgen: A sense of humour is always a good start. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Agron: As a petroleum engineer when I have decided to challenge in my workplace I have done it. I don’t know if my book is shortlisted yet. Hope so.
Morgen: Fingers crossed. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Agron: Actually I don’t have. But as not experienced in that field I would love to have one and see how it works.
Morgen: There’s little doubt that having an agent is usually a benefit but so many authors are going their own way nowadays, with things like eBooks. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Agron: My book is an ebook. I am not involved at that process. Recently I read lots of ebooks in my iPad. It’s so interesting. It so easy to have an ebook. It’s cheap and you can have it right away and easily to find whatever you like.
Morgen: Isn’t it great. I bought a Kindle earlier this year and I love it. I don’t like damaging book spines and the Kindle stays open however much you might be tempted to bend it (please don’t, folks). How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Agron: To be honest not much. I have not much experience doing that. I didn’t publish my book for a living. I wrote it to tell something to the audience. I think my book of sci-fi genre though has lots of very important messages.
Morgen: That’s the way that author should be – writing it to educate and entertain, rather than money (because that’s the hardest part). Do you have a favorite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Agron: I think Higgs or Hitt as a same character in my book, who decides to live in two different bodies. It is a unique character in the world of fantasy, though you can find him easily in the real world. Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise would be perfect.
Morgen: I’d go and see either of those two. Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Agron: Yes, the idea’s all mine. The title of my book tells a lot. It’s so intriguing.
Morgen: It certainly is and presumably it encompasses the content of the book which is all-important. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Agron: I am still thinking about it. But it would depend on the success of my published book.
Morgen: Ah but what if someone really likes it – they may want to go and read something else. Do you manage to write every day?
Agron: To be honest not every day. My spiritual state is very important. I don’t use such a thing.
Morgen: Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Agron: Actually I plot my story based on what’s happening in real life.
Morgen: Now that is intriguing. I don’t write sci-fi or fantasy but imagine them to be more fictional than factional… if you see what I mean. You mentioned Higgs and Hitt, do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Agron: My characters are so unique. You can find my characters as human being but at the same time as particles in physics, so very complicated. Usually you think it’s like that but you don’t see him. You never see particles in physics but you name them as quark, gluon or higgs based on unseen behaviors. Actually that behavior makes sense and that’s the way you make computer or explain the world. Afterwards you try to reveal the hidden character behind that behavior.
Morgen: I like the idea of that. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Agron: Initially yes, but as time goes on it’s easier.
Morgen: It’s all about practice. Do you have to do much research?
Agron: Yes a lot. I like so much the world where we live, though so tiny compare to the universe where there is no sign of human life. That’s why the human mind is the “Fifth Dimension” in addition to space and time. Without the human mind, the universe where we live regardless its existence doesn’t make sense. In my book I have given a definition of human existence as well. And that’s a good reason I believe for research.
Morgen: Readers are very clever and they’ll pick out something if I didn’t do the research. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Agron: I started to write my book in first person. Someone more experienced than me suggested to use third person. And so I did. But to me even in first person is good to write as well. It’s not usual but I think we need to “break” the rules. Be more interesting. Perhaps using second person as well, why not.
Morgen: Oh, yes, do. I love it. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Agron: No I don’t.
Morgen: Well, that’s good. I have a few I think. What’s your favorite aspect of your writing life?
Agron: When I write I feel myself quite different, like living in the world I describe, away from existing environment.
Morgen: Isn’t that great? What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Agron: Imagination and fantasy is very important.
Morgen: If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Agron: I would pick someone in the future which means no need to cook, because he is not dependable on food. He exists forever. Not like nowadays that human affords his existence killing others or other beings. In my book I define nowadays human as “military humanoid”.
Morgen: Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Agron: Definition of nowadays human: “Military Humanoid”.
Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing?
Agron: I am a Petroleum Engineer and I spend most of my time as such, to help my company to produce more gas and oil. But in my opinion that’s not good, because if you read my book I consider that energy as a main factor that human race is fighting and suffering a lot and contaminating the environment. Because of that kind of energy we have generated the technology associated to produce the existing cars which need existing roads. Oh how many roads. Look on earth how many roads we construct as human. More than 70% of human efforts goes to building roads, endless roads. And the available aircrafts which the biggest cargo they transport is its own fuel. This is because of oil energy not the right one for human on earth. Someone needs to read my book to find out the best one and how.
Morgen: Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Agron: www.engadget.com is the website where I find the news on advanced high tech and Large Hadron in Suisse to learn for new physics.
Morgen: Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Agron: I am a member of Facebook and LinkedIn but not that interesting.
Morgen: I like them but they’re oh, so time-consuming. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Agron: Selectivity, not commerciality.
Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?
Agron: www.agronshehu.com and as the character you can reveal it if you read my book.
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Agron: There are lots of things to be mentioned but perhaps it’s becoming boring or may be entertaining.
Morgen: A return visit then perhaps. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Agron: What do you suggest in order people read my book, other than “marketing”?
Morgen: Good question. I think the best thing for any author is networking. The quickest way to put someone off buying your book is to say “please buy my book”. Too many people only do that on Twitter then wonder why they get de-followed. You have to build up a rapport with your audience, perhaps targeting forums for your genre and if people are interested they will either ask what you’ve written or go an investigate. You could sneak in your website address in your signature footer, that way it’s easier for them to take a look. Worth-of-mouth is a powerful tool. Get someone to read and like you and they’ll tell others. They say it’s not what you know but who you know and I do believe that’s especially true online, although some of both wouldn’t hurt. Thank you, Agron.
I then invited Agron to include an extract of his writing…
“Sure, of course, I’ll takeover and look after.” Gluon left the base and headed to the most sophisticated elementary particle research lab on earth. The scientists were dealing with the behavior of elementary particles like quark, gluon . . . higgs. That last one was kind of mystery, not discovered yet as first brick of buildup matter in universe. Quark was not sure about that. He had no idea what was happening with both Higgs. His co-voyager friend and that basic elementary particle, though for the latter, his idea was that it belongs to the uncertainty principle photon-wave light . . . kind of science.
Though Higgs himself was struggling in the court, trying to convince the judges through the signs of holes in his temples as a testimony that Hitt was already dead . . . He is his mind . . . no that evil shpirti anymore! . . . Pleading to them not guilty! Struggling to prove it whether Higgs was real or . . . illusive!
While handcuffed there on the bench he recalled, from the journey on the Dreamliner, that Quark always called the beings on planet earth ‘human’. Even he didn’t like to use the word civilization, but military humanoids rather. Quark eagerly wished those humanoids to be converted into civilized people! Higgs was bewildered why Quark thought such thing . . . but now he understands better . . . “
AGRON, a Professional Petroleum Engineer lives with his family in Canada. The author has lots of interests including Astronomy, Physics, Math, History and Social Behavior. He enjoys playing the guitar and tennis. He has gained lots of life experience traveling around the world. The most recent passion is writing books.
The following is Kirkus’ review of Agron’s book…
“A long, strange trip across time and space allows a man to take in the whole of human history, while accompanied by a friendly alien and primitive woman. Like Dan Milman’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior and Danel Quinn’s Ishmael, this slender title uses a fantastical thought experiment to convey theories of philosophy, cosmology, economics and ethics in a spacy nontraditional narrative. An earthling named Higgs uses his “speed of mind”—faster than the speed of light—to break the boundaries of physics and travel tens of thousands of light years away, to the planet QUARK, which is closer to the center of the Milky Way galaxy and, therefore, far more advanced. A helpful resident of QUARK, coincidentally named Quark, joins Higgs and uses his technology to beam an intelligent primate, Ardi, aboard the starship Dreamliner, and the three set course for Earth. During their travels, they witness millennia unfold as they discuss human progress in all its wonder and brutality. Ardi, meanwhile, evolves to become an unspoiled, beautiful woman and love interest. Higg’s true identity is a late shocker that will catch readers off guard—assuming they can parse Agron’s peculiar English-as-a-second-language prose. Agron also substitutes his own idioms for common-language concepts (“shpiriti deciders” instead of “clergy”). But some of Agron’s ideas, perhaps owing to his Balkan folk-wisdom, are interesting indeed: If external reality and the notion of passing time are merely products of perception, then God—“Zoti,” in Agron-speak—must exist inside everyone as the single transcendental force that binds us. When Quark mistakes minarets for missile silos, it’s the sort of expressive eccentricity this muddled narrative needs more frequently.”
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the three hundred and eleventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with crime fiction and non-fiction author Alison Bruce. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Alison. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Alison: I live in a village a few miles outside Cambridge. I moved here when got married and before that I’d lived in the West of England and worked in London. I first visited Cambridge in 1997 and when I decided to set my detective novels here the city was still relatively new to me. First long as I can remember I have written bits and pieces – mostly poems, short plays and stories while I was school, and later, my love of music led me to writing reviews of gigs and short biographies of musicians from my local radio station. I never aspired to being a novelist but enrolled on a short screenwriting course after coming up with a story idea but I felt would make a great movie. The man running the course was the director David Yates who was also staring out in his career, he liked the story but advised me to write it as a book first, OK I thought, how hard can it be? I guess there’s nothing like the combination of ignorance and enthusiasm for underestimating the job at hand.
Morgen: Having written four and a bit novels and 102 pages of script, I know which I’d rather stick to, although I don’t actually stick with either – I’m short stories through and through. What genre do you generally write?
Alison: I have written crime fiction and non-fiction. I don’t particularly see myself as only ever writing crime however I have so many crime stories bubbling in my head perhaps I’ll never find the time to try anything dramatically different. Having said that, I have the idea for a screenplay and if I’m ever in the position to tackle it I will jump at the chance.
Morgen: Ooh, Script Frenzy runs 1st to 30th April – your ideal opportunity. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Alison: I don’t write under a pseudonym, my publishers toyed with the idea of A.C. Bruce or Ali Bruce but as I already had non-fiction books published under the name Alison Bruce I was keen to stick to it. My first book, Cambridgeshire Murders, came out in 2005 and my first novel, Cambridge Blue in 2008, since then I have written one more non-fiction book, Billington – Victorian Executioner and three more novels in the same series, The Siren, The Calling and the book due out in July 2012, The Silence.
Morgen: I actually interviewed another Alison Bruce back in September 2011. It would be interesting to know whether readers ever mix you up and whether this has improved sales for either / both of you. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Alison: I have had rejections but fortunately not a huge number, I think this is partly due to finding the right agent before my first novel was pitched, it meant that the manuscript had been through quite a long editing and polishing process before if ever arrived on a commissioning editor’s desk. From the rejections I did receive I took all their comments and, as an exercise, decided to try to come up with a plot and character that addressed their various points, it turned out to be both fun and a very positive experience as the notes I ended up with turned into the bones of a stand-alone novel that I am currently writing.
Morgen: Oh wow. That’s the first I’ve heard of that happening. What a great result. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Alison: When I was 15 I had a poem published in Pony Club Annual, my prize was £1 and a copy of the book and I can’t remember even coming close to winning anything ever since.
Morgen: My first was £10 from Woman’s Weekly – I still have the original cheque. So you have an agent, do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Alison: The publishing world is going through huge changes at the moment and there are opportunities for writers to have success without an agent and even without a publishing deal with a traditional publisher however, I think the advice and support my agent has given me has been invaluable. She has years of experience and far more objectivity than I could have of my own work.
Morgen: I do think they are worth every penny (on the whole) but with eBooks so accessible it’s very tempting for an author to go that way after a few rejections trying the traditional method (like me ). Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Alison: This debate reminds me of the CD or vinyl debate… I love buying vinyl but love playing MP3s. I never thought I’d convert but the convenience won me over and I guess the same may eventually happen with my use of eBooks. So far I have read a couple on the Kindle App for my MacBook but it doesn’t quite feel the same yet. My novels are available as eBooks and have sold very well for Kindle with The Calling peaking at number 2 in the crime fiction chart.
Morgen: Well done. You must be chuffed. I’m yet to put my books on Amazon (but will before or when the novels are ready) but I do love my (month-or-so-old) Kindle. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Alison: I really love events where I can meet readers and answer questions, and I never turn down an opportunity like this. Sometimes events are booked via my publishers, but very often I’m approached directly, so I make sure I have all the publicity materials that will help to make the event the success. I have cards, promotional photographs, press releases and a display stand, all of which I have organised myself and I think these are the kind of items that make a big difference in the amount of publicity an event can generate and also the impression that readers are left with after they have attended.
Morgen: I’m off to a friend’s book signing today (his first as far as I know) and I love going – even if it’s not me doing the signing (I don’t plan any paper versions but never say never), it’s the whole experience of it. I went to Sheryl Browne’s book talk and signing recently at Droitwich Library and that was great (especially as she pointed me out and we ended up having a conversation about second person). Do you have a favourite of your books or characters?
Alison: LOL, I like this question!
Morgen: Thank you, it’s quite new.
Alison: My favourite book changes constantly and I suspect that it is usually the book that I have finished writing most recently, so at this very minute I’d have to say ‘The Silence’ which comes out in July 2012. I have a huge amount of affection for ‘The Calling’ because it was the first book I wrote, and ‘Cambridge Blue’ because it was the first novel published… But then again I love some of the twists in ‘The Siren’ and it also introduces one of my favourite characters Sue Gully. So you see, it’s a very, very tricky question, the style of the books is changing as the series develops and although each one can be read on its own, I think starting from book 1 and reading them sequentially is the best way to understand my detective, Gary Goodhew. Cambridge Blue is, in many ways, more of a conventional whodunnit than the books that follow which become more thriller-like as the series progresses.
Choosing a favourite character is equally tricky, Goodhew has 3 people close to him, his old school friend Bryn, his grandmother, and his colleague PC Sue Gully.
Morgen: I posted a really grim 328-word short story on my blog last weekend for Tuesday Tales online writing group and quite a few of the comments asked me to continue it. It features four very strange men and I must I did warm to them. It’s amazing how attached you can get in such a short word count. Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
Alison: I think every book has had its title changed by the publisher from the title I originally came up with. Having said that, I think that every title so far has come from a list of suggestions but I have then put forward, so I am very involved but I don’t always get my first choice, and with hindsight this is often a very good thing! The original title I had for The Siren was Kimberly’s Song and although I still like it I think that the new title was more appropriate for a crime novel, especially one that has proven to be as popular with male readers as female.
Morgen: I must admit Kimberly’s Song sounds quite romantic to me. The Siren is definitely intriguing.
Alison: I don’t get hung up about the title, and now I think of any title that I give a book as its working title only. At the end of the day the publisher should be better placed than the author to know why some titles are more appropriate. The cover situation is very similar, there has only been one occasion when I have actively disliked a cover and thankfully the publisher’s final decision wasn’t to pick that particular design. The cover design is the one of the most important marketing decisions but for me, seeing it for the first time is also the moment when a manuscript becomes a book.
Morgen: I designed all mine so not quite the same, and I uploaded them, but I was still thrilled to see them on Smashwords. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Alison: Now that the final edits of The Silence are complete I am looking forward to working on a new book and the next project is a crime thriller with the working title ‘The Moment before Impact’.
Morgen: Oh yes, I like the sound of that. Do you manage to write every day?
Alison: I don’t write every day, it’s very easy to tell yourself that you should, but realistically, I need time out to let go of a previous book before I settle down to work on the next one. When I first work on book it is at a slower pace than when I get towards the end, I usually find the last few weeks are very frantic simply because the words are coming into my head faster than I can put them on the page. Every book I have completed has usually involved me writing straight through the night several times in the last week, there is something utterly magical about writing as the sun comes up.
Morgen: I love getting up early although towards the end of last November’s NaNoWriMo I had a 21-hour day s I wouldn’t want to do that too often. You sound really prolific, do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Alison: Yes I do get writers’ block, so far it has occurred either when something is so stressful in my non-writing life that I cannot put it to one side enough to concentrate or, the more typical writers’ block which occurs when the words refuse to go onto the page in a manner that sounds like publishable English. In either case I have learned not to beat myself up!
Morgen: Absolutely. That’s the mantra of NaNo; it’s all about getting it down – quality not quantity, and you can’t edit a blank page.
Alison: The one thing I have learned that seems consistently true about the latter type of writers’ block is that it seems to occur when my subconscious is telling me but there is a better way to do whatever it is I’m trying to write. For example, I may be trying to describe someone’s arrival in a particular place and I may have started following the character from outside the building and finding that the words do not come together. Perhaps writing the same scene from the point of view of someone already inside the building and witnessing the dishevelled arrival of the scene’s key character may have greater impact than the original idea. Writers’ block probably works differently for different people but I would say that if you know your own writing voice and trust your instincts then the block will pass when you find the right words, just don’t give up, that’s when it grows into a monster.
Morgen: Quite a few of my interviewees have been writing different projects so variety must help too. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Alison: I tried the ‘idea and running with it’ approach and it was a bit of an upset to throw 30,000 words in the bin, ultimately I wrote myself into a corner and wouldn’t want to do that again in a hurry. Since then I have plotted very carefully, which in my case, includes a backstory for each character. That doesn’t mean that I don’t go where my imagination takes me, but it just means that I have a path that I am following and know that I will rejoin in order to make the story threads come together in a coherent and satisfying way.
Morgen: 30,000 ouch. Maybe you could have converted some of it into a short story or two? But then I guess you can see it as practice. We mentioned a few characters earlier, do you have a method for creating yours, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Alison: Character names can be fun and I think you instinctively know when you’ve found the right one for the character you are developing. Apart from that my golden rule for characters is something I just mentioned: backstory. I write enough about character so that I understand their motivations, fears, upbringing and ambitions. I try to understand another about them so that I know how they’re likely to behave in certain situations and how that behaviour may change under stress. For me believability comes when you read a character and feel that they really did exist before you first met them in the book.
Morgen: Absolutely – it’s got to be one of my favourite parts of writing. Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Alison: Apart from the publications I’ve already mentioned I have had a small dabble at writing short stories. I wrote one which appeared in Cambridgeshire County Life and a second, called ‘Fest Fatale’ is in The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 9.
Morgen: I have some of the Mammoth books, but sadly not that one. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Alison: I edit as I go, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t quite a few typos along the way but it means that each chapter is as fully formed as I think I needed to be at the point when I save it and move onto the next. I have never been able to write just a stream of notes because I find I need to be very thorough when I first work on a scene and capture it in the freshest, most complete way that I can. Coming back to it a second time is never the same, so my aim is always to finish even if that means I may spend a week on one chapter alone.
Morgen: Do you have to do much research?
Alison: Yes, when I have an idea for a new book I do some basic research to make sure that I can plot it properly then before I write I compile a list of much more thorough questions so that I can research the relevant material in an in-depth way without getting side-tracked into other interesting, but unrelated areas.
Morgen: What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Alison: I find 1st person an interesting and very immediate way to write but limiting from the point of view of showing a variety of storylines. Mostly I write the person but sometimes I have interspersed some 1st person narrative. I have not tried to write fiction in the 2nd person beyond a simple writing exercise and cannot imagine using it unless I was producing a short piece that had some kind of ‘rant’ quality about it. Maybe if I write an instruction manual sometime?
Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Alison: Not yet, the closest I have come so far is a radio play called ‘Like I’ve Never Been Gone’ which was recorded for a radio station called BBC Wiltshire Sound, the Sunday afternoon show that was going to broadcast it was scrapped in a programming reorganisation and nothing ever happened to it in the end. There are several other projects that I want to write and I think if those ones never make it to print I will feel disappointed, although ultimately it is down to me to get on and write them.
Morgen: It would certainly help. It’s a real shame about your play although my interviewee yesterday, Bryna Kranzler, can trump you with her one act play. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Alison: I first had the idea for the crime novel that eventually became The Calling back in 1989 and although it was 2001 before I finished it I was still amazed that it took another 10 years to get it published. I enjoy every part of the writing process although sometimes I think the one I enjoy most is anything but the one I’m currently involved in! If I had to pick one thing I love I’d say it’s the creation and visualisation of a new story.
Morgen: I’d agree with you on that one – I love not knowing what’s going to come out and generally loving it when it does. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Alison: Number 1. Don’t give up. It doesn’t matter whether you leave it for a while but a book will not get written until you sit down and do it one word at a time. Number 2, take advice, whether it’s going on course, dissecting somebody else’s book or reading a pile of how-to books, or better still, a combination of all of the above. From these sources you will learn some of the rules for writing, the final magic ingredient is finding your own voice. And maybe the hardest thing of all is recognising it and let it grow into the style of your very own. So finally, Number 3, when you find your own writing voice nurture it – it will make your storytelling unique.
Morgen: Sounds good to me. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Alison: Hmmmm. I can cook (up to a point) but if I was about to entertain Elvis Presley, Patrick Jane (the character rather than Simon Baker, the actor) and my grandmother (who I never met as she died in 1940) I think I’d leave someone else to do the catering.
Morgen: Oh yes. Big fan of Patrick Jane… and Dexter Morgan. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Alison: Epitode. It’s a word that my daughter made up when she was small, but I really think it should be in the dictionary. She misheard ‘eye of a toad’on Scooby Doo and because Scooby Doo pulled a face where one eye was bigger than the other she thought that eye epitode meant having odd sized eyes, we then used the word epitode to apply to an unmatched pair of things that should normally match, e.g. a Penny Farthing has wheel epitode, when a sock shrinks in the wash, that’s sock epitode, and so on.
Morgen: Oh how sweet. Maybe you could submit it to the OUP or suchlike, although it may need more than your family to use it. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Alison: My husband is a singer / songwriter (www.jacenbruce.com) and sometimes I write lyrics for him. His latest album, The Siren, includes 4 tracks featuring my lyrics, including the title track, which we wrote to coincide with the release my book of the same name. I enjoy the challenge of writing lyrics, it is a good discipline to express something in very few words. I have an author page on Amazon where I can link up my books but I was frustrated when I found that I could not add music onto the same page even though lyrics are still writing that is published. When I queried it I was told I was the only person who had ever made that request.
Morgen: Writing lyrics is on my list of things to try. What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?
Alison: Party tricks? I can circle my hands in opposite directions, does that count?
Morgen: I’d say so.
Alison: My free time is usually spent with my husband and children. My daughter also sings so we tend to go to a lot of live music events.
Morgen: It’s lovely to be able to do such collaborative things together. Are there any writing-related websites and / or books that you find useful?
Alison: There have been three books that I have found most useful along the way, all three are books that you can dip in an out of. Story is very thick and I never got all the way through it but the first half really changed the way I thought about delivering a story and because it is a book that was originally aimed at screenwriters I think it suited me as I always think of my stories as if they were films.
Evan Marshall, Novel Writing – 16 Steps to Success
Roger McKee, Story
Helen Corner / Lee Weatherly, How to Write a Blockbuster
Morgen: I don’t have Evan’s but do have the other two. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Alison: I’m on Facebook and Twitter, but not much else. I spend far more time on Twitter than Facebook now. I like to meet people but I cannot afford to be online too much otherwise I would never get a book finished.
Morgen: I think that’s my trouble – my email pings and I’m there, or I see the numbers on the internet’s tabs so I know something’s happened. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Alison: In the music industry the Internet has totally changed the way record companies do business and therefore the way artists are signed. It is now possible for anybody to record music and get it distributed worldwide. It is harder for the music buyer to find new artists as there are an endless number out there, in many cases this has led to huge sales for a very few and dwindling sales for everybody else. A record label is now more often becoming a brand in itself, a place where the music buyer can go knowing that they will discover artists and music to their taste and also recorded and produced to a good standard. If publishing follows a similar course then the market, especially for eBooks is likely to be flooded with a lot of projects that are not of a very high standard, amongst those will be some fantastic books that absolutely deserve publishing. How will a reader choose between two books that both say they are excellent? This is where writers who have, or can build, a loyal following will win out. It’s likely to be tougher than ever to earn a living at it but there will be plenty of opportunity – and competition too.
Morgen: That’s the thing about eBooks is the quality or lack of it. I do think that reviews will prove a writer’s worth as he or she can have only so many friends. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Alison: I have my own website at www.alisonbruce.com, I’m in the process of making it more blog-like and the ‘new look’ will be fully live in April 2012. For Twitter I’m @alison_bruce and that’s where I am most frequently. There’s also my publishers’ page.
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Alison: I am a big fan of the 1950s and rockabilly music. My books all feature a soundtrack at the back, it’s a list of the 12 songs I played most as I wrote that book.
Morgen: Ooh, great. Thank you, Alison.
This interview was picked up by Patti Roberts on her eNewspaper!
***
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Welcome to the three hundred and tenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with historical novelist and multi-genre author Bryna Kranzler. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Bryna. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Bryna: Hi, my name is Bryna Kranzler, and I am a late bloomer. I published my first book at the age of 52 (or 53—who remembers?) although I have been writing for many years. I started off thinking that I wanted to be a playwright, and in fact I won the Helen Price Memorial Prize for Dramatic Writing while I was in college (Barnard College). My first one-act play (“Do Hermaphrodites Reproduce Only in the Spring?”) was a finalist in the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theatre Center Competition. It scheduled for production twice: The first time the theatre owner died and the season was shut down, and the second time the director committed suicide. For the benefit of the arts community, I got out of playwriting.
Morgen: My goodness… pardon the pun but how dramatic! I wrote 102 pages of a TV script for ScriptFrenzy in April 2010 and liked the story but didn’t enjoy the bittiness of the format so have since converted it into the beginning of a novel… so I stick to NaNoWriMo. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Bryna: I write fiction and non-fiction. I like to write essays, newspaper and magazine articles in addition to novels and my recent historical biography. I have a novelty book in the works and a YA novel planned. It seems to me that the story, or the objective, should determine the genre rather than sticking with a certain genre and trying to make what you write fit within it.
Morgen: Absolutely. I write allsorts (usually dark) but I always have so haven’t been pigeon-holed to one genre that I feel I have to stick to. It’s a great freedom. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Bryna: I recently published The Accidental Anarchist, the true story of an Orthodox Jew who was sentenced to death three times in the early 1900s in Russia – and lived to tell about it. He also happened to have been my grandfather, and the book is based on the diaries that he began keeping in 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War. (Seeing so many young lives squandered in that war led to his determination to help overthrow Czar Nicholas II – reason for death sentence number three). Since I’m writing this, you must have already realized that he escaped from that date with the firing squad, too.
Morgen: Wow, that’s a story. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Bryna: I would love to receive some rejections, but lately, publications that you query don’t seem to even acknowledge submissions, let alone go to the trouble of rejecting them.
When my son was about to graduate from college, and he and his friends were looking for jobs, they created a blog on which they posted their rejection letters: http://rejectionblog.blogspot.com. I thought that was a great way of dealing with the unpleasant but inevitable.
Morgen: I’ve taken a look… it’s great. They really don’t pull their punches. You mentioned the Helen Price Memorial Prize, have you had any other success?
Bryna: Yes, I won The USA Best Books of 2011 Award for a Historical Biography, and was a Finalist in ForeWord Reviews’ Book of the Year competition for a Biography. It also received an Honorable Mention in the London Book Festival for a Biography / Autobiography.
Morgen: Well done. I’d say it certainly sounds deserving. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Bryna: I don’t have an agent, and didn’t even contemplate sending The Accidental Anarchist to one. There simply may not have been time given that this is a family story and my mother was already in her 80s when she made it clear that she wanted to see her father’s story told “in [her] lifetime”. Knowing how long the publication cycle can take if you look for an agent, and then that agent looks for a publisher, I didn’t think it was a risk worth taking.
Morgen: Many people, myself included, are going their own way and it’s become very respectable, as long as it’s done with care. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Bryna: The Accidental Anarchist is available in all ebook formats through Smashwords.com, as well as from Amazon.com. I did the ebook conversion according to Smashwords’ guidelines. It was a little frustrating because if your book didn’t meet certain technical specifications (such as how many paragraph breaks there were between sections) the book would get rejected though without any explanation of what problem needed to be corrected. And I read book both on the Kindle and in hard / softcover. In fact, some books I read both on my iPad, which I keep at my bedside, and on my Kindle, which I keep in my gym bag (though the syncing function doesn’t always work properly). I don’t really have a system for deciding which books I read in which format.
Morgen: I’ve only had a Kindle for just over a month but I love it. I’m not a fan of damaging a book’s spines but I do love to have them around and would still buy them, but perhaps (if the book is good enough) have them in both formats. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Bryna: I do all of my own marketing, and am constantly learning what it takes to gain attention for my book. At certain points, I think the most important pursuit is getting interviews, and later I realize I get better book sales when I speak so I pursue more of those opportunities. But when it comes to handling the social media aspect of book marketing, the amount there is to learn makes my head feel ready to explode.
Morgen: I think you just have to have a go at everything. Obviously different outlets are going to work at different times, it’s just catching people’s eye. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Bryna: It’s difficult to admit that my grandfather isn’t my favourite character in my book. Rather, it is his friend Pyavka, Warsaw’s self-proclaimed “King of Thieves”, who is my favourite character. He is proud of how he makes his living, and has an aristocratic air about him that brings honor to his profession.
Morgen: Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Bryna: Since I decided to self-publish, I had complete control over the title and cover of my book, which is kind of scary; there was no one with more experience than I had to advise me. I had come up with a few titles that I tested in an online poll, as well as four alternate book covers I tested the same way. Unfortunately, the poll numbers were tied. I took the cover mock-ups to a local bookstores, and the booksellers there were split, too. Then they suggested that I bring the covers to another bookseller across the street. He looked at all the covers and pointed to one of them: “That one;” he was so certain about his choice that I felt very confident going with it, and I’m glad I did.
Morgen: It’s a great cover. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Bryna: Ah, at the moment I’m taking a few online classes, which have much more homework than I had anticipated, but they are driving me to improve my social media presence. It’s also, unfortunately, tax season. Most of my time is spent lining up speaking engagements, sending out book excerpts and seeking reviews, and participating in other interview opportunities (such as this one). ‘As soon as I have time,’ I will resume working on my ebook about self-publishing and all the mistakes I made that could be avoided. I’m also working on the novelty book in between things, and still have loads of essays to edit and send out.
Morgen: That’s a great variety so I guess you don’t suffer from writer’s block and do you manage to write every day?
Bryna: I work every day, though I’d like to be able to take a break from the marketing and get back to writing. Right now I’m just too busy. My form of writer’s block, though, may be different from other writers in that I will endlessly rewrite one section before moving ahead, and that doesn’t allow me to accomplish as much as I would like.
Morgen: One of my Monday night writing group is like that; she’ll spend a week on one short story. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Bryna: It depends on the project. I do tend to plot things out, though I also spend a lot of time writing a backstory for the character – what has happened to him or her in the past, what motivates him or her. And when I feel the tug of the character wanting to take over, that’s when I’m ready to start writing.
Morgen: I love that. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Bryna: I think personality quirks are a great way to get into character, probably much the way that actors approach a role. Sometimes it’s a pattern of speech, or a tick, that gives you insight into who they are and what has happened to them in the past. I often base the skeleton of a character on a certain person and flesh him out from there. The names I choose tend to be meaningful to me, even if no one else has the same reference points. And as I mentioned above, prewriting helps.
Morgen: Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Bryna: Actually, I have a poem that I’ve been thinking about for 10 years. I know what it means and I know how I want to develop it, but I don’t know anything about the structure of poetry so I haven’t been able to start on it. I write creative non-fiction, too, as well as am working on lyrics for a song. I’d love to go back to writing short stories, but over the past 20 years I seem to have lost my feeling for how a short story ends, since so many of them seem to just stop. It’s not the right medium for me these days.
Morgen: That’s a shame, but then I write nothing but short stories, certainly at the moment. You said you do a lot of editing…
Bryna: I do way too much editing. I was on the 24th draft of a novel that I put down to publish The Accidental Anarchist, and I haven’t gone back to it yet. For that project I didn’t do the prewriting since I felt I knew the characters and the story, but I have since decided to change the main character in a major way, and that will require starting over – some day; not soon.
Morgen: I would say that’s a shame but you have so much to keep you busy until then. With such varied topics, do you have to do much research?
Bryna: I also do too much research because I often feel that I need to know more before I continue. What I am trying to discipline myself to do is two things: 1) do a lot of research before I start writing so I don’t interrupt the flow of the work, and 2) make it up and highlight that section to go back to later. It really isn’t helpful to break away during the writing to do extensive research because I often find, when I get the answer, that I’m going to go in a different direction anyway.
Morgen: I find that. When I’ve been writing my novels the temptation has usually been too great to go on the internet although sometimes I have resisted and just typed ‘more here’ so I can come back to it later. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Bryna: I’m actually experimenting with 2nd person in my song lyrics. I’m most comfortable writing in 3rd person but I really love writing in first person for the immediacy of it. I would compare it to watching a movie that’s been recorded on video rather than film (which I happen to dislike). The video is much sharper and the artifice is clearer, whereas in writing you get the same sharpness of focus but a greater feeling of connecting with the character. I have written a few pieces that were entirely in 3rd person but for a single chapter, or scene, in 1st person.
Morgen: Song lyrics are something I’ve always fancied writing… well, over the last few years anyway. I love writing second person so I must try it. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Bryna: Oh, yes, like that novel that was in its 24th draft before I put it away. Situations changed and the story is too personal. It’s not that I mind revealing personal information – it’s that I’m so emotionally connected to it that I haven’t been able to step back far enough from it to manage it objectively. Maybe the time will be right 10 years from now.
Morgen: I have one of those but I’m thinking that if I go back to it then I’d change it enough to be more fictionalised, certainly changing the main protagonist’s name! (not mine, by the way) What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Bryna: I have found that being a writer wrecks havoc on my hamstrings, which tend to get very tight from sitting for so many hours a day. My neck and shoulders also get very tight. None of that physical stuff is pleasant, nor is being sedentary for so much of the day. What surprises me, in a negative way, is how much longer things take to complete than they used to. I’m much more distractible than I used to be.
Morgen: The joy of the internet. I find having a dog a great distraction from sitting all day, maybe you could borrow one. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Bryna: Do it only if you can’t not do it. For me, writing is the only way I know what I think.
Morgen: I can’t not do it. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Bryna: I rather like the word ‘antediluvian’. It has a rhythm to it that feels like there’s a wave right in the middle of it, and I like the way its meaning is both literal and figurative.
Morgen: It’s a new one on me (thank you Wikipedia). Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Bryna: I love to read, and love to go to the movies and theatre, so I write and post book, movie and theatre reviews on my Facebook page. I am also involved in the San Diego Jewish Book Fair and the San Diego Jewish Film Festival, and next year I hope to become more involved in selecting the books and films to be features.
Morgen: That sounds like fun. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Bryna: I enjoy cooking and baking. In fact, when I just can’t concentrate or find myself writing in circles (obsessively rewriting or otherwise not making much progress), I take a break and bake. My friends don’t mind, and sometimes I’ll pack things up to mail to my children who live all the way across the country. Often I’ll play around with new ingredients (different grains, like quinoa flour and oat flour; coconut oil instead of butter) to see if I can come up with something healthier or lower calorie. I find baking to be a wonderful creative outlet, and relaxing, too.
Morgen: Yum. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Bryna: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is a fabulous and inspiring book about writing. Story, by Robert McKee, is another great one. I’ve underlined about ¼ of the entire book. It’s been a while, so I probably ought to read them again.
Morgen: I have the latter. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Bryna: I got involved with Social Media because I was told that I had to have a presence online in order to successfully market my book. I resented that, because I didn’t have enough time to do all the other things I was doing, anyway. It also took quite a while before I found where to get involved. Only recently have I started participating in a LinkedIn group for History Enthusiasts, which has been very productive, perhaps not as much for selling my book as for making friends. I also like Goodreads, which is a site on which you can offer, and read other readers’ reviews of books. I’m still looking for the right places to be active, and need to come up with a Social Media “strategy” so I can make the best use of my time.
Morgen: I belong to Goodreads but have done little with it so far other than accept friend requests… I do plan to. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Bryna: After hearing about the death of books, what I’ve noticed instead is that people reading more (because there’s more information out there that we need), though in different formats and through different media. C.S. Lewis was quoted as saying (though I recently read that the quote isn’t appropriately attributed to him but to a student of his), “We read to know we’re not alone.” I think human beings will always need that assurance, as well as will continue to enjoy other cultures to which we would otherwise have no access.
Morgen: I think more people are reading than ever because of the e-format and whilst there are bound to be less paperbacks published, I do think they’ll run alongside each other. Where can we find out about you and your writing?
Bryna: I have a pretty full website at www.TheAccidentalAnarchist.com, which address why it took over 100 years to share my grandfather’s story with the public. My blog, at http://xsnerg-accidentalanarchist.blogspot.com, is where I post excerpts from my grandfather’s diary that I did not include in the book (for reasons of space or because they would have been distractions from the main story line); I also write about the process of self-publishing on my blog. I have two Facebook pages – a Fan page dedicated to the book, and a personal page where I have the opportunity to boast about my children’s accomplishments!
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Bryna: Interesting little fact about me: When I was 5 years old, Carl Reiner wanted me in a recurring role on the Dick Van Dyke Show as Little Richie’s next door neighbour. My parents turned down the opportunity because they didn’t think the life of a child star was the best one. While I think Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore would probably have been great surrogate parents, overall I don’t think my (real) parents were wrong.
Morgen: Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Bryna: What’s your secret for accomplishing as many things as you do, and is it available over-the-counter in the U.S.?
Morgen: It’s freely available actually – passion and not enough sleep. Thank you very much, Bryna.
I then invited Bryna to include an excerpt of her writing and this is taken from Chapter 1 of The Accidental Anarchist: In the Beginning…
I have no excuse, save for the ignorance of youth and a desire for grand adventure, which may have been one and the same thing. Consequently, the seemingly minor decision I made to end my education before the age of thirteen led me down a path from which each future choice was misdirected by the previous foolish one.
The result was that, in a little over ten years, I went from being a yeshiva student, a baker’s assistant, and labor organizer, to a corporal in the Russian army during the war in Manchuria (in which the men under my command wanted to kill me, simply for being a Jew, as much as the enemy did, simply for being in the way), to a revolutionary. For my efforts, I earned my first two death sentences, which was a little more excitement than I needed.
This limited my curiosity as to whether my end would come from freezing or starvation, from Japanese artillery or Chinese bandits, and whether it would be today or tomorrow.
Still, I was slow to put into practice the lessons from my youth and, following the war, became a revolutionary who wanted to overthrow the Czar. This got me involved in amateur spy missions that would have gotten a Hollywood screenwriter fired, but got me sentenced to death for the third time.
But even if my record wasn’t clean, my conscience was; everything I did was done with the most honorable intentions.
And ultimately provided enough excitement to last a lifetime.
yeshiva = Hebrew: Jewish educational institution at elementary or high school level, or beyond
Bryna Kranzler is a graduate of Barnard College, where she studied playwriting, but economic necessity drove her to get a real (read ‘paying’) job. She spent fifteen years in marketing and public relation positions with health care, high-tech and consumer products companies, and earned her MBA from Yale University.
When she was able to return to writing, she found that her focus had shifted to fiction, and more recently to narrative, or ‘creative,’ non-fiction, as in The Accidental Anarchist. She has also written two as-yet-unpublished novels, newspaper articles, numerous personal essays, and dabbles in other forms of writing, as well.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the three hundred and ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with non-fiction author and career coach Judith Thomas. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Judith. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Judith: My name is Judith Thomas and my recently published book is WORK ABILITIES – A Guide for Persons with Disabilities Seeking Employment. Originally from the UK, and hoping to return there when I retire, I am currently based in Ottawa, Canada. Most of my training and public speaking work takes place in Toronto.
My trail to becoming a writer is a very convoluted one. I was always drawn to write and initially thought of becoming a journalist. However, life intervened and I had various jobs and a family, before finding a career that I enjoyed. I got involved in the employment sector of work quite by chance and found that I loved it! So, I went back to school, first becoming a Career Coach and then a Career Development Practitioner. I’ve been employed by various non-profits as an intake co-ordinator, career counsellor, workshop facilitator, job developer, community outreach worker, and program manager. I discovered a passion for helping others and chose to work with marginalized youth, the long term unemployed and persons with disabilities (pwd). During my work with pwd, I myself became disabled and could no longer work in a full-time, structured environment. After a grieving period, I decided I could still help others through writing about my expertise. So, I first wrote my Work Abilities Guide and have just completed a Career Coach Capabilities guide which is for job coaches working with pwd.
Morgen: Gosh. They say write about what you know… Is it non-fiction that you generally write?
Judith: So far, I’m sticking to employment related material as that is my expertise. I have written several magazine articles on various topics such as youth, hope based counselling and behavioral interviewing, to name a few.
Morgen: I would imagine that there are quite a few outlets for those topics. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Judith: I only have one book published to date and it is under my own name.
Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Judith: I applied to several career based organisations to help offset the cost of publishing and marketing, but was not successful in any of my proposals. So, I just paid my own publishing costs and will continue at a slower pace than I would like!
Morgen: But you get all the satisfaction. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Judith: No, but some of my article writing has led to public speaking engagements which I thrive on – especially if they are paying ones!
Morgen: Oh great. I look forward to those. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Judith: Surviving on a disability pension does not allow for hiring an agent! However, I do have a lot of encouragement from past colleagues and current friends.
Morgen: Agents should only get paid from your profits but it can be an expensive process finding one, in time and postage certainly. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Judith: Yes, my book is available in eBook form for those with visual impairment.
Morgen: How much of the marketing do you do?
Judith: Currently, I do all of my own marketing, but it is a long, slow haul. I utilise any speaking engagement I have to advertise and sell my books, as well as participate in a lot of discussion on the LinkedIn website.
Morgen: LinkedIn’s great, isn’t it. If your book were to be made into a film, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Judith: Someone with a lot of humour! It is extremely tough to convince some employers to hire you with a disability, so you need to be able to smile and keep moving forward.
Morgen: Presumably being self-published, you chose your title and cover of your books, how important do you think they are?
Judith: Yes. I titled both my books and also chose the illustrators for them. I think that was very important as both titles describe what the books are about and the illustrations make them more interesting if you are a visual learner.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?
Judith: Saving frantically to have my next book published!
Morgen: Ah yes, money. But such a thrill seeing your work out there. With your time spent marketing etc., do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Judith: I often write best in the mornings, but inspiration can come at any time. Since my physical condition does not allow me to sit for long periods, both my books were written mainly lying in bed with a pencil and paper. I typed them up later, as I was able. Luckily, that means I always have a pencil and pad at my bedside, so I can jot down ideas at any time.
Morgen: Me too – I have pads and pens everywhere. I rarely write in bed but I know novelist Marina Lewycka does. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Judith: I am not a highly organised type of person. I write very randomly and then sort out order and chapters later.
Morgen: Some who are organised do it that way. It’s whatever suits us, isn’t it. This is where I usually ask about creating your characters…
Judith: Characters don’t really come in to it for me, although my books are heavily based on “characters” I have assisted to become employed and “characters” I have worked alongside. I describe them in both books as “the good, the bad and the ugly!” There are lots of real stories in both books, with names changed to protect the innocent.
Morgen: Very wise. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Judith: The editing I normally do is to add stuff after I think I’m finished.
Morgen: And if you’re anything like me you could just keep going. Do you have to do much research?
Judith: Yes, I need to include some facts and figures, as well as relevant web sites, for my readers.
Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Judith: I hope not!!!
Morgen: Me too. I have loads of writing that I’ve not touched for months but I’m hoping I can do something with it. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Judith: My favourite part is the passion that goes in to what I write. My least favourite part is the cost factor.
Morgen: Drat, that pesky money again. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Judith: Follow Nike’s sales pitch; “Just Do It”.
Morgen: Absolutely. You can’t edit a blank page. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Judith: Winston Churchill, Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher. Can you tell I’m a Brit, even though I’ve been in Canada a long time? I would have to serve vegetarian out of respect for Ghandi, but I would ply Winston and Margaret with lots of wine, so they wouldn’t mind the food!
Morgen: My mum’s a vegetarian so I eat her Quorn variations whenever I visit and it’s really nice although I couldn’t give up meat (unless I was told I had to). Coronation chicken… yum. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Judith: yes, from Ghandi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
Morgen: I like that. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Judith: I’m trying to break in to the market of training other career coaches and have made a small start.
Morgen: But you enjoy it so you’ll keep going. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Judith: My publisher’s website has an author learning centre at www.Xlibris.com.
Morgen: Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Judith: I like Linkedin and am in several of the career related groups. I am also a member of Google Groups for Career Practitioners. I find them quite valuable.
Morgen: I’m on Google+ but I’ve not heard of the latter – thanks for that. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Judith: I think people will always want to read and increase their knowledge – no matter what format they read in.
Morgen: I agree and now they have their phones, tablets, computers… Where can we find out about you and your work?
Judith: www.canadacareercoach.com and www.jobcoachjudith.com. Also, I have a profile on LinkedIn and on Google.
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Judith: My first book is now available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Morgen: I love the cover. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Judith: I’d like to thank you for giving writers this opportunity to showcase their material. You obviously have a passion for helping others too!
Morgen: Oh, you’re so welcome. I do really enjoy it, yes.
I then invited Judith to include an extract of her writing and this is from Chapter Two of ‘Work Abilities’:
2. Bullying.
By far the majority of employment agencies and non-profit employment organizations truly care about their clients. Most of them hire well-qualified, empathetic counselors, facilitators, intake coordinators and job developers. But, those “Ugly” ones we mentioned earlier are also out there.
Remember – If you are being coerced in to a position that you don’t want, then you have the right to refuse. You may be looking for a temporary job to assist you financially, or you may be in the long haul search for meaningful employment. Either way, the choice is yours and there is no right or wrong concerning your needs and values.
Warning - There are some agencies and individuals who care more about their statistics and funding, profit margin, or personal reputation, than you as an individual. Many organizations have a “quota” to fill, in order to stay in business.
Solution – If you are unhappy with your job coach, their program, or the agency you are with, the solution is simple; ask them to close your file. Try an agency, or consultant, that you think is a better fit for your needs. Start by checking out their mandate, or vision statement. Does it sit well with your own values and beliefs?
Quote from Marianne Cooke, Employment Support Consultant, Link Up Employment Services for Persons with Disabilities, Toronto, Canada:
“My belief is that both of the manuals Judith has written are long overdue ‘missing pieces of the puzzle’, for job seekers with disabilities, ‘Workabilities’ is a guide to who’s who in the specialized employment services universe, it is a practical kit to navigating the sometimes confusing and hidden maze of services and supports available, a detailing of pitfalls to avoid and opportunities offered and finally and importantly, the guide instructs on how to keep hope alive and confidence high during a job search. In sum, ‘Workabilities’ is many things; and although time and persistence by job seekers may eventually uncover best ways to take advantage of all that the system has to offer, this guide offers a highly valuable ‘shortcut’, knitting together the best of best practices and approaches and presents all of these in a highly readable style.”
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, career coach, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Judith Thomas, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Marina Lewycka, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, persons with disabilities, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, Xlibris, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and eighth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with poet and essayist Robbi Nester. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Robbi. Please tell us something about you.
Robbi: I am a poet, primarily. I also write personal essays. I do not seem to be able to produce fiction, though I love to read the stuff, and enjoy teaching it too. In graduate school, I wrote my dissertation on Nabokov (University of California, Irvine, Ph.D., M.F.A.).
Morgen: I’m the same with poetry – I finish them (on the occasions I write them) but they’re rarely ‘done’. We have our niches, don’t we? Where have you published to date?
Robbi: I have had a number of poems published, mostly in online journals. I publish quite a lot in the journal Qarrtsiluni, which has themed issues and guest editors. My poems have appeared in the most recent issue, Imitation, and before that Imprisonment, Health, Water, Insecta, Hidden Messages, going back to 2008. Because there have been a number of different editors, it has been almost like publishing in various journals.
I have also published in Inlandia, a journal that publishes writing related to the region in which I live, Southern California. But I also published a poem in Floyd County Moonshine, a print journal based in Floyd County, VA, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains which happens to be my husband’s hometown. That is also a region in which I have spent some time, having gone to college at Hollins College (now University), near Roanoke, VA.
The journal Caesura published one of my poems a couple of years ago. I’ve also published a review of David Landrum’s chapbook, The Impossibility of Epithalamia, at Switchback, an online journal. A poem is forthcoming at a new journal, The Northern Liberties Review
Also, more recently, two of my poems appeared in Victorian Violet Press, and this is how Karen Kelsay, editor of that journal, became acquainted with my work. Subsequently, she began a chapbook series, White Violet Press, which published my chapbook, Balance. Recently, she began another series specifically for free verse collections.
Balance is composed of 15 poems of 15 lines each that follow a sequence of yoga poses developed by B.K.S. Iyengar to promote emotional stability. They are accompanied by line drawings done by my cousin, Nina Canal, who is also a fabric designer and musician. This is my first book, though I have a full collection of poems, A Likely Story, that is currently looking for a publisher, if anyone knows of one likely to welcome it.
I have also published two personal essays in anthologies in the past year or so, one in Easy to Love but Hard To Raise, about raising a child with disabilities (DRT Press), and the other in Flashlight Memories (Silver Boomer Press), a collection of essays about reading.
Morgen: Wow, that’s a catalogue. Do you write under a pseudonym?
Robbi: I write under the name I use in most of my life, Robbi Nester. Everyone has always called me Robbi, though that is not my legal name.
Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Robbi: You ask whether I have had any rejections. What writer hasn’t? I have had many more rejections than I have acceptances! I deal with them by moving on to the next thing.
Morgen: Some haven’t but then they’ve either not written much and been fortunate or haven’t submitted anything, which would help. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Robbi: I have not thus far won any competitions outright. I did get some sort of runner-up in a contest awhile back, but I couldn’t accept the prize, which was 20% off on a workshop in my choice of three countries. Though it would have been fun, I still couldn’t afford either to take off the time from work or to pay for the workshop though.
Morgen: Oh, what a shame but then 20% off something (sometimes) really expensive isn’t all that helpful. Is your book available as an eBook? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Robbi: My book is available, in print form only, from Red Room.com, an online place where writers can build pages to store their published work, etc. That site has a bookstore royalty program and other perks for members. I’ve also made a FB page for the book, at www.facebook.com/balancepoetry.robbinester. People are free to visit me at either place or to join me on Facebook.
I’d like to recommend Richard Dillard’s new book, What is Owed the Dead, and Marly Youman’s new novel, A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage – both authors have been so important in my growth as a writer and a person. I also did a guest blog for Marly, entitled The Lydian Stones: Nester chooses Blake, when my book was released. This and my other published works can be read at my Red Room page.
I recently read a poetry book in that format, Ode to Tools, by Dave Bonta. Dave is one of the editors of Qarrtsiluni. It is a terrific chapbook, and I enjoyed reading it as an eBook, though a longer collection might have been more difficult to manage in that format.
Morgen: I do think eBooks will be the making of short forms and as a short story author (in the main), I’ll all for that. Did you have any say in the title/cover of your book?
Robbi: I designed the cover of my book, Balance, at least the photo on it, and am very proud of it. It came from a sudden vision I had of an origami lotus made from the pages of a book. However, I could never have realized my fantasy without the assistance of the artists who made the origami lotus in the photograph, who have a store on Etsy, and the photographer, John Genesta, who took the photograph itself. I also owe a lot to the considerable gifts of my publisher, Karen Davies Kelsay, a poet herself, and a mean hand at laying out pages.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment?
Robbi: I am working on sending things out, writing more poems, putting together a new collection, which I just started about 6 months ago. I also have some non-fiction, mostly autobiographical essays that could be gathered into a collection, if I write another half dozen or so. I even have a title for it, At the End of a Line. Also, I am constantly trying to come up with new ways to market my book and trying to talk people into let me read from it, so I may introduce more people to my work.
Morgen: Well, I hope this helps a little. You sound so busy, do you manage to write every day?
Robbi: I do not write every day. It might be a good idea, but I cannot bring myself to do it. However, I am working on something, like a blog entry or something, every day. Just not poems. I have a blog, Shadow Knows, at http://robbi-shadowknows.blogspot.com, though I do not write in it that much these days. I also have a writer’s page, http://redroom.com/member/robbi-nester, where one can find my published poems and essays and also an occasional blog I write there in response to prompts from the site, Red Room. It is a good place for writers to showcase their work, and has a bookstore from which I sell my book.
Morgen: Ah yes, I’ve heard good things about the Red Room. Are you involved in anything else writing- related rather than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Robbi: I am currently trying to transition from academia, where I have taught writing as an adjunct professor in colleges and universities for 32 years. It is difficult just now to find that kind of work, so I am trying to pick up some freelance writing or editing. That’s not so easy either. I did write a review of Lev Grossman’s novels for The Hollins Critic that will be featured in the next issue, and would love to write more reviews of books, movies, or even restaurants. I am a bit of a foodie, who likes to read food-related articles and watch cooking shows and even do a bit of cooking myself! I will never be a great chef, but I like puttering about in the kitchen, most of the time.
Morgen: I get asked to do book reviews and have to turn them down (no spare time but I do review short stories) so I’ll have to send them in your direction. What do you do when you are not writing?
Robbi: Yoga is an important part of my life, as is reading. A writer can never read too much. I like to hike occasionally, though I am rather slow. There are some beautiful places to hike around here, and the company is good. I also sing in a choir, which is fun. I belong to a Torah group at my synagogue as well, and am contemplating joining a bookclub.
Morgen: I read while I’m walking my dog. I’ve perfected (I think) the art of not running into or stepping in anything and edit sometimes. Writing on the go is more difficult as it makes my writing wobbly but I do it when I think of a great idea. I belonged to a book club last year to get me reading more and it did (we started with Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader, which I loved, then Julian Barnes’ Arthur & George, which I’d have rather just been George, then were going to move on to Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina) but I’d started this blog by then and had no time to read books that I wouldn’t have chosen myself so that was it. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Robbi: I am on LinkedIn and Facebook, and find these to be wonderful tools for writers to use to make all sorts of connections, like my connection with Morgen Bailey herself!
Morgen: :*)
Robbi: I am also in an online writing workshop, Zeugma, which has some gifted poets on it who offer me valuable commentary. My friends on Facebook teach me new things all the time, and it is wonderful to be connected to old friends from the distant past on that forum. However, the best comments and writing-related assistance I get is from my friends who are also writers, like my friend Marly Youmans, an incredibly talented writer and poet whom I met at college, a long time ago, but who generously offers suggestions on how I can further my writing career. You can meet her on her blog, at http://thepalaceat2.blogspot.com. Also, my teacher, Richard Dillard, at Hollins University, still offers assistance, and my husband, Richard Nester, whose poetry should be much more recognized than it is, comments on poems and generally provides support. I could not have done my writing without him.
Morgen: How lovely to have a fellow writer in the family. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Robbi: Don’t give up. Keep reading and writing, and be willing to rewrite as often and thoroughly as you need to. The point is the process, not just the work you produce.
Morgen: Absolutely. Thank you, Robbi.
Robbi Nester is the daughter of an international family, among whom one will find the WW I poet and artist Isaac Rosenberg (her great-uncle). Her mother was born in South Africa, her father in the U.S., where she herself was born, in Philadelphia, PA. She studied at Hollins College (now University), near Roanoke VA, a school well-known for its writing program, and went on to the University of California, Irvine, where she received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. Robbi taught writing of various kinds for 32 years until this past summer. Now she is focusing on her writing. Her first book, Balance, has just been published by White Violet Press. She is available for public readings, guest lectureships, and paid writing or editorial assignments, and can be reached at rknester@gmail.com.
Update from Robbi September 2012: I had poems published recently in Poemeleon and Philadelphia Stories and have poems forthcoming in Lummox and Jenny.
My book of poems, A Likely Story, is currently making the rounds of publishers.
I took part in the Inlandia reading series this past July and will appear with other poets at a reading in Ventura, CA at Bank of Books bookstore.
I’m still interested in getting the book stocked by bookstores, and anyone with an interest in carrying it can email me at rknester@yahoo.com.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the three hundred and seventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with autobiographical poet Violet R Schulert. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Violet. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Violet: I live in Lansing / Haslett, MI area. I love cats. I am a struggling Christian. I’m political, a bit of an activist, on several fronts, am learning to speak up when need be. I’m a former baby of the family. I love to write and I have to write. And I’m good at it.
Morgen: I have to write too. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Violet: Poetry, some prose too. Poetry is easier.
Morgen: My poets say that but I don’t write much so I find it harder. Everything’s better and easier with practice. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Violet: I’ve had single poems. This is my first book. Yes, Alexandria R Wesley is not my name. It’s two of my cats’ names. My next book will be under my real name Violet R Schulert.
Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Violet: Oh so many! Just try and ignore them and go on… most of it’s not personal.
Morgen: Absolutely. Just one person’s opinion, and the right thing for the wrong person. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all?
Violet: Yes…my book is available as both… my publisher says they are the future.
Morgen: I’d say so, although I do think people will still read paper books (I do) so they’ll run alongside each other. How much marketing do you do?
Violet: I’ve tried to do a lot… can’t get anybody to touch my book… it’s worthy of more.
Morgen: It’s really hard these days. I’m only just starting out (in the scheme of things; my eBooks went online last November) and I’m beginning to see how tough we have it… but we have to keep going. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Violet: I would love ‘Trust yourself’ to be turned into a movie, but I think it would take some major rewrites.
Morgen: Ah but that’s the joy of movies; they usually have scriptwriters to do that for you. I wrote the first 102 pages of a script for http://ScriptFrenzy.org in April 2010 and didn’t enjoy the process of writing script so I’d gladly leave it to someone else. You have a publisher, did you have any say in the titles / covers of your book? How important do you think they are?
Violet: I chose both the title and most of the covers and I’m proud of them. They are very important to the book. My book is about child abuse in my family the pic on the front is my niece as a child. The title comes from the book and the theme.
Morgen: They do have to be representative. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Violet: I want to do another book of probably poetry but it hasn’t come out of me yet….
Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Violet: No and yes.
Morgen: Oh dear. As a poet, this may not apply but do you plan or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Violet: If I’m writing prose, I sit there for a half an hour then finally can write my goal of a half a page a day.
Morgen: Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Violet: They are real people or based on real people – it’s the old ‘write what you know’.
Morgen: It certainly helps but then you can always use different parts of different people, so to speak. You mentioned fiction and poetry earlier, do you write any non-fiction or short stories?
Violet: I write mostly non-fiction poetry but have written short stories.
Morgen: I love short stories. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Violet: I don’t do a lot of editing.
Morgen: That’s fortunate. Again, it’s down to practice. Do you have to do much research?
Violet: No, it my life, or life experience.
Morgen: What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?
Violet: 1st person.
Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Violet: I believe I do.
Morgen: That’s a shame. Maybe one day you’ll revisit them. I have loads although I like to think I’m practiced enough now to do something with them. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Violet: Prose is harder than poetry… but it’s better. I’m a really good author!
Morgen: Then you just have to keep going. You have the confidence so I can’t see you giving up. I feel after six years of studying and writing (probably about a million words) that I finally know what I’m doing and have no desire to do anything else. You have to be passionate. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Violet: Don’t give up. Ignore the rejection notices just keep trying!
Morgen: Absolutely. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Violet: Amelia Earheart, Jesus, Hilary Clinton, my boyfriend and homemade pizza
Morgen: Mmm, I love pizza… thin and crispy with pepperoni and pineapple. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Violet: There are so many… being a Christian means being a pariah, it means not fitting in anywhere in this world – Girl meets God
Morgen: Christian writing is hugely popular. I hadn’t realised until I started this blog how widespread it is. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Violet: Spend a lot of time with my boyfriend, a bit of a couch potato, play on the internet.
Morgen: I tend not to play much but every now and then I fancy a game of Word Drop on Facebook… usually when I should be doing something else, but I figure it’s still writing-related. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful?
Violet: Just the Book Marketing Group on Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/groups
Morgen: LinkedIn is great, isn’t it. I’ve met some wonderful people there. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Violet: All over the internet – just google Violet R Schulert, Alexandria R Wesley, or chipmunkapublishing. ALL three will lead to me.
Morgen: The joy of having a fairly unique name (as far as I know there are only two or three other Morgen Baileys and I do so much that I’m the whole of the front page of a Google search at the moment ). Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Violet: Read my book…. I want to say its good… but it’s more than that… its a topic that people need to know about. The only way that it will stop is if people start talking about it and believe it… yes it’s intense… but kids are experiencing it… and THAT shouldn’t happen… little kids should not go through this. Read the book and then tell others about it and get people to care and to listen. I can’t do it all… I need help…
Morgen: Well I hope this interview helps. Thank you, Violet.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Alexandria R Wesley, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poems, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, Violet R Schulert, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with novelist, non-fiction author, screenwriter and spotlightee Germaine Shames. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Germaine. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Germaine: As a lifelong writer I have dodged bullets to report from a war zone, advocated for the rights of street children, profiled a convicted terrorist, survived the world’s highest bungee jump, formed part of the first U.S. press delegation invited to Romania after the fall of Ceausescu… When asked for a home base I usually respond “Roaming”, though I find myself perched for increasingly long stretches of time in a tiny adobe in the Sonoran Desert.
Morgen: Oh, wow. Plenty of fiction (or non-fiction) fodder. What genre do you generally write?
Germaine: In recent years I have gravitated toward fiction and write both novels and screenplays. Regardless of genre, my “product” is a compelling story lushly told.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date?
Germaine: Hundreds of articles on topics ranging from Aboriginal theatre to environmental politics. Two non-fiction books. Two novels, the most recent of which—You, Fascinating You—debuts this month.
Morgen: I love the title. Out of everything you’ve done, have you had any rejections?
Germaine: Heaps. I’ve learned a great deal from them.
Morgen: On the other hand, have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Germaine: One of the happiest days of my life was when I received a call from the Director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, informing me I had won my state’s Literary Fellowship in Fiction. I have also won a handful of residencies, scholarships and grants.
Morgen: Well done. Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Germaine: My novels are available both in print and as eBooks. I embrace any new technology that encourages people to read and spares trees.
Morgen: I do think more people are reading now because of eBooks; they’re able to always have something at the touch of a button. I’m all for it although most of the people I’ve spoken to will use both formats so I don’t think paper needs to be worried just yet. How much of your marketing do you do?
Germaine: There is no avoiding self-promotion. The challenge is to keep one’s focus on the work—creating, honing, and surpassing oneself with each new piece of writing.
Morgen: Ah, yes, that’s the thing… writing in amongst everything else. (note to self: write more) What are you working on at the moment / next?
Germaine: I am juggling several projects at different stages of development, all of which are set in the Arts—a literary ghost story tracing the histrionic rise and fall of Abstract Expressionism, a screenplay about the flight of Germany’s “degenerate” artists to Paris amid the gathering maelstrom of war, and others still too nebulous to thumbnail.
Morgen: You sound prolific and with such varied works, do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Germaine: I don’t have the luxury of believing in writer’s block.
Morgen: With your fiction, do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Germaine: When I give myself over to a story, my characters create themselves.
Morgen: They do, don’t they. I love that. With such a lot of experience, do you have to do much research?
Germaine: My books are all heavily researched. Understanding the layer upon layer of context surrounding any story enables me to provide a readable balance of action and backstory, plot and description. My aim is to draw readers first into the setting and period, then into the psyches and skins of my characters.
Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing?
Germaine: I dabble in Arts journalism and review art exhibitions. I also sculpt.
Morgen: How lovely. I enjoyed sculpting at school – not the same, I know but I’d love to do it again… and draw, and… Where can we find out about you and your writing?
Germaine: For more about my current novel You, Fascinating You: http://germainewrites.com
To purchase You, Fascinating You: http://palefirepress.com
For an overview of my work: http://sitekreator.com/germainewrites
To follow my blog: http://germainewrites.com/from-the-heart-germaine
Morgen: That’s great. Thank you, Germaine.
I then invited Germaine to include an excerpt of her writing and this is from You, Fascinating You:
Without warning the maestro sank to his knees on the dusty cobbles. “Marry me, Margit.”
“Get up.”
“Marry me right now. Marry me or I’ll crawl after you all the way to Monte Carlo. I’ll do worse: I’ll commandeer a fighter plane and smoke bomb the theater. I’ll drop tomatoes. There’s no telling what I’ll do.”
“Get up.”
“I’ll stand atop the Eiffel Tower crying out your name. They’ll have to drag me down and put me in a cell. They’ll have to shoot me.”
We might have stemmed the course of events with a simple “Come now, let’s be sensible,” but we were artists, lovers, and what was the art of love if not to risk all?
“Marry me or I’ll haunt every stage you ever touch. I’ll compose my own dirge and broadcast it to kingdom come. I’ll open my veins and rain blood on your ovation. My ghost will stow away in your tutu …”
I raised him up and kissed him full on the mouth. “My dear maestro, when have I not been your wife?”
Germaine Shames scours the globe in search of compelling stories. She is the author of Between Two Deserts, two earlier nonfiction books, and three feature screenplays. A former foreign correspondent and contributor to Hemispheres, More, and National Geographic Traveler, she has lived and worked in such diverse locations as the Australian outback, Swiss Alps, interior of Bulgaria, coast of Colombia, Fiji Islands, and Gaza Strip. With You, Fascinating You Germaine returns to her roots in the performing arts to reveal a hidden story painstakingly researched across three countries over the course of five years.
Update October 2012: You, Fascinating You, the novel showcased in this interview, has gone on to win the Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. Germaine Shames has a new novel, Hotel Noir, slated to debut in November under the pen name Casper Silk. Critics have compared the mysterious Silk to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Graham Greene, Thomas Mann and other literary luminaries. Read an excerpt here.
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Welcome to the three hundred and fifth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with article writer and philosophical travel adventure novelist Anthony Karakai. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Anthony. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Anthony: Hi Morgen, sure thing. I grew up in Melbourne, Australia and first started writing songs at the age of 12. My family is very musical, especially my dad who can do some incredible things on the guitar! From the age of 7 I played the drums, which was probably one of the most defining things in my childhood and teenage years. I loved them, and would play from sunrise to sunset consistently.
When I turned 18, I went travelling with my best friend around England, Spain and Greece. He has a lot of family in Greece so we were fortunate enough to experience the authentic culture straight away; that trip changed my life forever. We just had so much fun, and every experience we encountered was brand new. Fresh faced and 18 in another culture- you couldn’t ask for anything better. My time overseas, especially in Greece, really set the tone for who I am today and ultimately, led me to writing ‘Vagabond’. I had the idea for this novel a few years ago, but I only really had the chance to write it as I had such a difficult time finding a job after graduation.
Morgen: Good from bad definitely, and your dad sounds like fun! What genre do you generally write?
Anthony: My stories are usually set in a travel narrative, with elements of magical realism. I want to convey the beautiful places I’ve experienced in words, while saying something that matters. I don’t want to just entertain, I want readers to gain something intrinsically when they pick up my books.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Anthony: ‘Vagabond’ is my first novel, and no, I don’t write under a pseudonym.
Morgen: You have a very unusual surname (in England anyway) so it’s memorable already. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Anthony: Yes! Some have been worded nicely, some have been quite rude and the majority have been the generic “we wish you all the best”. I’ve always found rejections funny, however. Writing, like music, is an art form, and all art is subjective. Some will love what you do, others will loathe it. There are books I love which others don’t like, and there are books I don’t like which others love. I think the worst feeling for a writer is not necessarily being rejected, but when the agent doesn’t reply at all. Then you start to wonder if they ever received your query in the first place… But in terms of handling rejections, I took a proactive approach: If no agent was willing to help me get published, then I’d publish myself. A few months down the line and I have the #1 Bestseller on iTunes. I looked at that list, and noticed I was the only one in the top 100 who didn’t have a publishing deal.
It just goes to show that the publishing industry is so subjective, they can be wrong. It’s human nature. I think commerce has crept in and decimated the industry for a lot of writers. It’s no longer about finding the unique, standout book in the stores or online. It’s about knocking out another novel in line with the current market trends. There can only be one Harry Potter, and there can only be one Twilight saga- as a writer, it’s painfully obvious when you see the bookshelves stacked with rip-offs. I’m all for giving a new writer with a new voice a chance. As somebody who has read my whole life, I love reading books which are totally different to anything I’ve ever read before- that’s what makes reading so enjoyable.
Morgen: I love the fact you find rejections funny. I had a couple of 1* reviews on Goodreads for one of my free eShorts and the lady said she was glad it was free as she would have asked for her money back (is that possible?) and that it’s put her off reading me for life (which I think is a shame, but then I would, wouldn’t I) and I sort of found it amusing (and clicked the ‘like’ button) that my story would make someone feel so strongly, albeit it not a good way. Strangely, it’s actually based on a true story so I wonder if the original newspaper article (which I still have) would have had the same effect. Hey ho. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Anthony: I only recently entered into my first competition, representing Australia and New Zealand in the IPPY Awards.
Morgen: Ooh, good luck with that. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Anthony: I’ve got an agent, PR executive, accountant, manager, web developer, marketing assistant all by the name of Anthony Karakai. Haha, no I don’t I’m independent but it’s so difficult to wear all these hats, when really I’m just a writer. I can’t do what an agent does, I just try my best to make do with what I can while I can. I think having an agent would definitely alleviate some pressure, and if it meant I could just concentrate on my writing, then I’d love to have one. Sometimes in the beginning though, you just have to do what you have to do.
I don’t know if an agent is vital to an author’s success, but a writer who has one is definitely a step ahead of one who doesn’t. They have the knowledge, skills, and networks required to really make a career for a client. But if you’re an independent author at the start like me, you know that you’ve just got to get your work out there. Agent or no agent, if you can try your best to garner a following, then you can show to an agent that a market really does exist for your work. Sometimes I think that I should become an agent, because I’d really love to deliver the unique work of some authors to the masses. The gap in the market for a unique read is so obvious, it’d be great if there were more agents out there who wanted to discover a unique voice and a unique style of writing.
Morgen: That’s the thing. The time we spend doing everything but writing is doing everything but writing and we’re writers. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that (note to self: you’re a writer, write!). Is your book available as an eBook? How involved were you in that process? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Anthony: Yes, my novel ‘Vagabond’ is available through Amazon and iTunes in 32 countries. My books will always be available as eBooks, maybe even solely. It’s the way of the future; I love a hardcover just as much as the next person, but when you’re offering readers their book of choice, at a third of the RRP, and instantly into the palms of their hands, instant gratification will eventually win over. I have an iPad and I’ve been downloading books by unknown authors left, right and centre. I love it.
Not only was I involved in the eBook process, but I did everything myself. This actually took longer for me to learn than writing ‘Vagabond’ itself. I learnt how to use programs such as Calibre and Sigil, I taught myself HTML programming, I formatted, designed and produced the entire eBook myself. Originally, I paid somebody to do this for me but they butchered my work, which as a writer, is horrifying. You don’t want to know how stressed out I was over that.
Morgen: Ouch.
Anthony: Once I had created the entire product from scratch, I then used FlightCrew to help me rectify any outstanding flaws, so that when Apple and Amazon took it onboard, it’d pass with flying colours. It’s quite a process, and if you can find somebody to do it and you have the money, then it’s best to do it that way. I had to learn to do it myself as I was broke.
I read a lot of eBooks and paperbacks. I’m starting to buy every paperback I’m interested in as in the future, they’ll be a rare commodity and a collectors item. Ten years from now the world won’t be producing paperbacks.
Morgen: Certainly less but I hope it’s not none. I’d like to think we’ll still have both and most of the authors I’ve spoken to still read both but it’s how the general public will go. Interesting times, indeed. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Anthony: I do all of my marketing myself, but to be honest, I’ve barely spent a cent. I use social media to help connect with people, which has been great as it really breaks down any barriers of communication. Marketing is the golden nugget for any product or service in the world, it really is the deal breaker. You see record labels and publishing houses spending hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars on marketing campaigns just to get the name out there. I don’t have that type of money, so my sales and fans have been very organic and dedicated. I think that’s why I was so happy when ‘Vagabond’ went number one, ahead of all these fantastic and famous authors who have amazing financial backing. It reiterated my belief that a good book will be read, and no amount of money can change a reader’s mind.
Morgen: iTunes and social media are online so it does make sense that they’d go hand in hand. I’ve been on Twitter and Facebook Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Anthony: ‘Vagabond’ would definitely have to be my favourite book to date, seeing as it’s my only one, but I have recently started writing another which I think people will really love! My favourite character from ‘Vagabond’ is Leonardo, as his thought processes and learning curve while travelling is based largely on my own experiences. The thirst for adventure, the desire for happiness, the naivety at times and the internal struggle with wanting to be who I am, in opposition with what society dictates I should be, is a reflection of a young man trying to find his place in the world. That’s me.
It’s funny you ask about the film aspect, I often think about this. For Leonardo, I’d like Leonardo Dicaprio circa ‘The Beach’ as I think that character fits him perfectly. Otherwise Emile Hirsch would probably fit the bill- he has a young Dicaprio aura about him. For Rafael, Javier Bardem would have to be the actor- I cannot imagine anyone but him fulfilling that role. Carmen would be played by Penelope Cruz.
Morgen: Seeing that Javier and Penelope are married may help if you did ask. Did you have any say in the title / covers of your book(s)? How important do you think they are?
Anthony: I create all the artwork myself for my books, and I think they are incredibly important. Maybe it’s because I have synesthesia, but I believe the cover of a book will be judged, and the cover should reflect the feeling of the story within. My brain automatically associates sounds and words with colours, so for me it’s absolutely crucial that I get the cover right. When I hear a song I immediately see colours and associate that song with colours forever. The same with books. To me, ‘The Alchemist’ is tan and yellow. The song ‘Changes’ by Tupac Shakur is white and light blue.
I’d go as far as saying that the cover of my book influences whether or not somebody decides to read it. It’s vital- to me, anyway.
Morgen: There was a discussion recently on LinkedIn with some saying covers weren’t important but they were soon shot down. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Anthony: I’m working on a manuscript called ‘The end of Athens’, which is set in the not too distant future, where the ability to dream has become a recessive gene. I won’t say anything more than that!
Morgen: Okey doke. Your secret is safe with me. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Anthony: If I’m not working on my book, I’m usually working as a freelance journalist or conducting corporate communications for different companies. I’m a fast writer. I sometimes can suffer from writer’s block, but it doesn’t last more than a few hours at most. My style of writing is very free flowing; I think if you try to force yourself to think of something good, you run the risk of encountering writer’s block. I’ve done that in the past, it’s painful.
Morgen: You can put too much pressure on yourself and free flowing is great. My writing gushes out then the editing process is much slower, the best way round certainly. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Anthony: With ‘Vagabond’ and ‘The end of Athens’, the idea for the entire story came to me in an instant. I try not to think up stories, or force something creatively. When it comes, it comes. I know immediately what will happen at the start, middle and end. Then I freestyle write, and let it all come naturally, which allows the story to take shape organically.
Morgen: Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Anthony: In ‘Vagabond’, believe it or not the characters aren’t really the focus of the story. It’s an unorthodox style. They are more the vessel for the message, I like to think of it as a fable. I name my characters based on where they’re situated- I’m fond of classic names, I find them strong and commanding. Readers have told me they connected so well with ‘Vagabond’ as it’s relatable on a human level. They can see themselves as Leonardo or Carmen. My characters aren’t necessarily outstanding in an unbelievable way, they are very normal, everyday people. I think that’s why so many people enjoyed ‘Vagabond’, they were reading a mirror of themselves and identified with the thoughts, problems and dreams each character has. We’re each trying to find our way in the world, and there are so many questioning whether the social blueprint of society is a healthy thing. There has to be more to life than being another clog in the economy.
Morgen: That’s the thing; a book has to be relatable – even something like fantasy. You don’t want anything that will switch your reader off. Do you write any non-fiction, poetry or short stories?
Anthony: I’ve written thousands of pages worth of poetry since the age of 12, maybe I’ll publish some of it someday. I don’t write short stories, but I can definitely see myself writing non-fiction in the future. I’d like to write about the Hungarian uprising of 1956- from my family’s perspective, and how it changed their lives when they migrated to Australia. There are some incredible stories of migration in Australia, which you just don’t hear enough about. Australia really needs to unite as one and celebrate the great things so many cultures have contributed to this country. We need to shake that binge-drinking, larrikin stereotype and take control of who we are today.
Morgen: Ditto Britain. I mentioned editing a moment ago, do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Anthony: I do a lot of editing post-writing, but only for grammar. I’m fascinated with the fact that, no matter how many times you read your manuscript, something still misses your eye. It’s crazy, ask any writer. I’m going to try to edit as I write my next novel, and see if it makes a difference. I don’t particularly re-visit passages in my books and re-write them though.
Morgen: I know! I edited my chick lit (from 117,540 to 105K) four times and was still spotting things. Grrr. This is why you need a second opinion. Do you have to do much research?
Anthony: Yes, a lot. Much of my research comes from personal experience, which is priceless. Sometimes I need to research into subjects thoroughly, far deeper than what is probably necessary, as I want to completely understand a subject from start to finish. I want to become an expert on anything I write. For example, the start of ‘Vagabond’ sees Rafael discuss the old process of drying out tobacco leaves. I researched that day and night for a solid week, I read every bit of literature on that process as it was done 30 years ago. Everything I write has to be 100% accurate, that’s my rule. I’d never want to mislead a reader for anything, not even something as miniscule as that.
Morgen: Because if you don’t someone will pick you up on it. Someone is an expert on something. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Anthony: I’ve tried all, and I don’t have a preference. I find first person interesting, I’m using it in my next novel. ‘Vagabond’ employs third person.
Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Anthony: All of my poetry, all of the music I’ve created. I don’t think I’d write a novel and not release it, I would feel as though all that work was for nothing. My writing is important to me, and I don’t take any aspect of it lightly. I implore anybody who has a dusty manuscript to get it out there- even send it to me, I’ll read it!
Morgen: I wrote a novel for NaNoWriMo 2010 that I’d get sued it I published it as it is (based on a true story, no names changed and lots of embellishments) but I like the story so it may undergo a major reworking and get out in the ether eventually. Maybe. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Anthony: My favourite aspect is using travel as a tongue-in-cheek excuse to do ‘research’. My least favourite would be having to stop, and breaking that concentration cycle all writers get into once they get on a roll. I really hate that.
Morgen: You’re lucky that you have the time to get going – I have that trouble at the moment – but yes, stopping is frustrating. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Anthony: Write a story that you want to read, don’t write for other people. Be totally selfish and write what to you, is the perfect novel. Try to carve out your own distinct style, and break away from the trends. The industry is in dire need of innovators, not imitators! And above all, just believe in yourself. Believe that you can finish the manuscript, and if you get rejected by agents, don’t worry. Self-publish! I like to remember that at one stage, nobody wanted to give Jay-Z a record deal, they said he was horrible. So he gave himself a record deal, and did it his own way. The same with Sylvester Stallone- keep knocking on doors, and if they all close on you, break them down! Remember that one person’s opinion is just that- an opinion.
Morgen: Absolutely – that’s what I tell my podcast red pen and short story review guinea p… er, authors. That I’m firm but fair and it’s only my opinion. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Anthony: Plato, Tupac Shakur and Paulo Coelho. Three of the greatest and most diverse minds. I’d probably cook Spanish Paella, grab a few bottles of red wine, and invite them to a tavern in Santorini or down by the waters of the Amalfi Coast.
Morgen: Paella. Yum. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Anthony: “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
Morgen: Absolutely. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Anthony: I’m a freelance journalist for several magazines and online publications, mostly European football editorials and opinion pieces. They’ve been featured on Australia’s premier television network, Channel Ten, as well as a host of other places. I’m just starting to get behind an exciting project now, which we are trying to build from the ground up. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, so I’m relishing the chance to be a part of something from its inception, and following it into success.
Morgen: Ooh, how exciting. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Anthony: When I’m not writing, you’ll catch me with a mountain of books in my backpack, even though I don’t have time to read them all. I listen to a lot of music, I enjoy following football and playing chess. I love chess – I collect chessboards, which is an awkward, difficult and expensive habit. I also exercise a lot.
Morgen: Just having a mountain of books in your backpack sounds like exercise to me. Are there any writing-related websites and / or books that you find useful?
Anthony: Actually, no. Is that strange?
Morgen: I wouldn’t say so. Sounds like you don’t get caught up in the procrastination that websites tempt the rest of us away from our writing. So I take it you’re not on any forums or networking sites?
Anthony: I’m not much of an online presence in that regard, however I do have a Facebook fan page that I update regularly with inspiring images and quotes. My aim is to give everybody a little something to think about before they start their day. I know how important social media is for connecting with fans. The most interesting story I have from it, is a fan who found out about ‘Vagabond’ and asked where he could buy it in Tanzania! That was a wow moment for me… I hadn’t thought about my novel reaching Africa.
Morgen: I’ve only just had a view by country table appear on my WordPress stats and that’s fascinating (I had two from Mongolia on Thursday!). It’s funny, having the countries listed makes it feel more real, not sure why. We’ve talked a little about eBooks and self-publishing, what do you think the future holds for a writer?
Anthony: I think there are massive parallels between the music industry and the publishing industry, due to the rapid progressions in technology- namely peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Artists these days aren’t making as much money as they were say, 10 years ago. Musicians aren’t experiencing the same level of album sales as they once were- consumers are downloading the material illegally, or buying a song here and there off iTunes. Once they buy it, they burn it to a CD or share it with their friends on their iPods. The same event is happening with books- the industry is starting to break a part. With the introduction of the ebook, paperback sales will naturally fall, and consumers will start to download books like ‘Vagabond’ illegally to read. In one aspect, it allows more people to be exposed to your work and the opportunity to grow your fan base is exponential. But in terms of livelihood, it’s going to become increasingly difficult to make a living from this. If people have the choice of buying it, even though ebooks in general are dirt cheap, or downloading it for free, most people will get it for free.
The rationale behind that is, why should they pay if they can’t get caught? I’m against it of course, but realistically neither the music industry nor the publishing industry saw this coming. This rapid shift in technology has broken both industries, and all actions to salvage what’s left are reactive, instead of proactive. The young guns are creating this powerful technology while many senior professionals are hesitant to adapt to change. It’s punching holes in the moneybag, and everyone suffers as a result. There’s an argument by the pirates that corporations are greedy, and consumers should have the right to these products for their own enjoyment. It’s an incredibly selfish, and one-sided view, but if we are going to be real about it, we need to realize that nothing can stop this from happening. It will continue. In twenty years, I doubt there will be too many rich musicians or writers out there making a living- they’ll have to find something else to do.
In one way, it levels the playing field for authors as it shows that a good book will be read, and you don’t need a million-dollar marketing budget or publishing stamp of approval on your novel, in order for you to be read. I’m not sure if a publishing house would decide to endorse me or not, if I had direct contact with the editor. But my book went #1 ahead of everyone else who has a deal, and I was the only author on the charts who didn’t. That’s a statement in itself for independent authors- the readers and the fans put me there. If I can do that, I think anyone can.
Eventually though, good musicians and good writers will be recognized and truly endorsed by the people. If people aren’t forced to pay money for something, and if they are desensitized and unresponsive to all the advertising put in front of their faces, then the choices they make in who they read or who they listen to, are organic and pure. It puts the power back in the people’s hands at the end of the day, so I definitely see both sides of the equation. We might not necessarily make a living out of it, but the respect is real, and our work is valued. You can’t put a price on that.
Morgen: Absolutely. I love having reviews and feedback on my free eShorts (and of course my $1.49 eBooks) and I think it’s a really exciting, if not daunting, time to be an author. As someone leaving their job on Friday, I’m definitely feeling both right now. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Anthony: To find out more about me, you can follow my website which I update frequently at http://www.anthonykarakai.com, or http://www.akarakai.com (if it’s easier to remember, as I have a very unique surname). I post articles on anything and everything really. I keep people updated with my book, I sometimes talk about issues affecting the industry, sometimes I even talk about totally unrelated things, like tennis. I really love talking to the people who stop by, so please visit regularly, get in touch, post comments, and if there’s anything in particular you’d like me to start a discussion about, we can do it! I’m also giving an open invitation right now to everybody to come on as a guest blogger- both writers and non-writers. Talk about anything you like, you can find the contact form on my website. Also feel free to drop a line on my Facebook fan page.
Morgen: Please do, folks. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Anthony: Keep a look out for ‘The end of Athens’ later this year!
Morgen: I will! But give me a shout when it does and I’d gladly have you back here in some capacity to tell everyone else. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Anthony: How did this awesome website all begin?
Morgen: Thank you. :*) I started it (31st March 2011) because I’d heard it was a good idea. It was just going to be me and my writing-related opinions (of which I have many) and useful stuff (there’s still plenty of that) but then I was invited to do a blog interview and thought what a wonderful idea it was. I’d been doing in-person / Skype interviews for my podcast since the summer of 2010 but blog Q&As were so much easier so phased out the recorded ones and stuck with these. And here we are over 300 later. Thank you, Anthony. It’s been a pleasure.
Anthony Karakai was born in Melbourne, Australia and published his first book ‘Vagabond’ at 24. ‘Vagabond’ went on to become a #1 Bestseller, and is partially inspired by his experiences and thoughts travelling the world. He has since been invited to radio shows in New York City and Las Vegas, and as a guest speaker to final year students at high schools.
He loves to write and travel, and is constantly planning his next adventure overseas.
A free agent, he is open to communications from both literary agents and publishing houses. ‘The end of Athens’ will be his next novel, due out later this year.
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If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
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The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the three hundred and fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with multi-genre author Kathy Lynn Harris. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Kathy. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Kathy: I’m a native Texas girl who moved to a very high mountain in Colorado to live in a log cabin and write. So far, it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. As for becoming a writer, I think I was likely born that way! I wrote in a journal starting in second grade, wrote my first “book” of poetry when I was 9, majored in journalism in college, and attended graduate school for creative writing. The rest, as they say, is history. I will add, though, that growing up in Texas, surrounded by some pretty cool characters and the myth / legend of that region, helped fuel my imagination.
Morgen: Wow. I’m sure if I should be amazed that so many authors I’ve spoken to have written since forever – it’s great. What genre do you write?
Kathy: My writing runs the gamut from poetry and fiction to first-person essays and third-person magazine articles. My debut novel, out in paperback from 30 Day Books on March 1, 2012, is titled Blue Straggler, and while there are some autobiographical elements, it’s all fiction, baby!
Morgen: I’m a fiction addict. The only non-fiction I’ve written so far is on writing. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Kathy: I’ve published hundreds of poems, essays and magazine articles. I had my own column for a while on Examiner.com. I’ve published children’s books, as well. Blue Straggler is my first novel to be published. As for a pseudonym, I bet my family wishes I had one every now and then. Ha!
Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Kathy: Oh my, oh yes! Rejections are just a part (a large part) of being a writer. Some still sting, but most of the time, the thick skin I’ve developed helps me ward off the bad mojo!
Morgen: I love that. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Kathy: I do have a literary agent, and she’s wonderful. But the world of publishing is changing dramatically. While a literary agent used to be just about mandatory, that’s not the case anymore. New paths to publication are everywhere. However, a literary agent is still hugely important if your goal is to be published by the Big Publishing Houses of the world. In addition, a literary agent can really help you fine-tune your work before it’s pitched for a commercial audience.
Morgen: As does my editor. Second opinions are so vital. You mentioned that your novel is out in paperback is available as an eBook? If so, were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Kathy: Yes! Blue Straggler is available as an ebook. In fact, it was first published as an ebook only, and I was hands-on in all factors of its publishing. It’s a great feeling of control, let me tell you. As for me personally, I have a Kindle Fire and am largely addicted to it. But I still love my traditional books, too. I love seeing them on my shelves and returning to them, just to hold them in my hands and reread a passage before bed. I miss that about having ebooks … that physical presence of them around me.
Morgen: Same as me, I love them both. I’ve just downloaded a short story collection ’Heads & Tales’ by last night’s Flash Fiction Friday contributor Karina Kantas after I’d spotted her mention it on Twitter and a minute later my downloads icon was jumping up and down… it’s great. But then I have hundreds of books at home to read so I will read those at home but take my Kindle out with me. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Kathy: As an indie author, I’m hands-on with the marketing of my work. But I do have a superb publicist, Laura Pepper Wu, who is helping me through this whole “branding” thing, and I highly recommend her to any and all authors. (Bonus to UK readers / authors: She’s British!)
Morgen: That’s funny because my editor is American. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Kathy: For Blue Straggler, it’s really hard for me to choose a favourite character because they are all very dear to me! The main character, Bailey, is so completely flawed I can’t help but love her. People ask all the time if Bailey is based on me. She’s not — but we certainly share some characteristics, many of which involve tequila. Idamarie is a hoot in the book, and I wish I had an Idamarie to talk to every day like Bailey does. And then there’s Rudy … he’s funny and so vulnerable in a very nerdy way. I have to say that when I finished writing the book, I missed these characters a lot. Still do. As for who would play them in a movie version of Blue Straggler? I’ll have to let readers weigh in on that! (Some have already on Facebook)
Morgen: Oh yes, I definitely approve of Bailey. If you miss them then that sounds like a cue for a sequel. Did you have any say in the title of your book?
Kathy: My agent suggested again and again that I change the title. She really felt that Blue Straggler sounded too sci-fi. She’s probably right. But I fought for it anyway, because I love the idea of a person being similar to a blue straggler star – dark and disconnected and spinning out there on their own.
Morgen: I’m not a sci-fi reader so wouldn’t have made that connection necessarily but I like the title. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Kathy: I’m putting some finishing touches on my next novel, A Good Kind of Knowing. It’s also set in Texas.
Morgen: Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Kathy: Tons of editing! Probably more editing now than I did as a beginning writer way back in the day.
Morgen: That’s interesting – you’d think it would be the other way round. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Kathy: Blue Straggler is in first-person. A Good Kind of Knowing is written in third-person. I liked them equally well, though I have to admit first-person is easier for me. I have to be so careful in third-person to stay in character point-of-view. I tend to jump around. I have tried exercises in second-person. Very challenging to do well.
Morgen: It is. I have plenty of practice and get mixed reviews, mostly positive thankfully but then my pieces are usually short (latest just 134 words) and that helps as second person can be wearing. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Kathy: Oh yeah. Like everything I wrote from 1980 to 1990.
Morgen: Oh dear. But now you’re more attuned to what might be wrong with them… and fix them? What do you do when you’re not writing?
Kathy: When I’m not writing, I’m either playing in the snow or shovelling snow. I live at 10,500 ft. We get snow year-round!
Morgen: Oh gosh. We Brits panic when there’s a slightest flutter. We need more so we get used to it and my dog would be greatful. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Kathy: I’d be so appreciative if you checked out my author website at kathylynnharris.com. I blog there, as well, about being a multi-generation Texan living in Colorado. I’m also on Twitter and Facebook. I’m always looking for friends on Goodreads, as well.
Morgen: Yes folks, please do. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Kathy: Thank you so much, Morgen, for featuring me and being interested in my work!
Morgen: Oh, you’re so welcome. You write, I’m interested.
I then invited Kathy to include and extract of her writing and this is from ‘Blue Straggler’:
On my kitchen wall hangs a framed photograph of my brother and me astride a black mechanical bull at Gilley’s near Houston. I’m twelve and wearing pigtails; Mike’s just turned eight. Our lips are stained deep purple from sno-cones my father bought roadside on Interstate 10. Mike’s grinning for the camera, of course, and holding an empty beer bottle he picked up like a souvenir. I’m trying my best to follow my mother’s orders—no blinking, pretend we like each other, sit up straight on Mr. Bull. But despite my extra-wide-open eyes and fixed smile, my right hand rests on my hip, impatient. The other’s discreetly tugging at the edge of my yellow terrycloth shorts.
For many of my adult years, I have believed several things are evident from this picture. Apparently, awareness of sufficient thigh coverage begins at an early age in my family, as does the penchant to have at least one beer bottle in our hands at all times.
Kathy Lynn Harris, a native Texan, has written children’s books, poetry, short stories, newspaper and magazine articles, and personal essays.
Blue Straggler is her debut novel. Kathy likes to play in the snow year-round, which is easy since she lives in a log cabin in the high mountains of Colorado at 10,500 ft. above sea level.
Stellar mountain playmates include her husband, her son and two fairly untrainable Golden Retrievers who own both couches. Her website is kathylynnharris.com.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, articles, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children's, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, debut novel, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kathy Lynn Harris, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, personal essays, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with poet and literary fiction author Serge Lecomte. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Serge. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.
Serge: I grew up in Belgium and immigrated to the States with my parents in 1959. I grew up in Philadelphia and Brooklyn until I joined the military in 1965. I now live in Alaska. I began writing when I was fifteen and won my first poetry contest in high school.
Morgen: Wow. So many authors recently have told me they’ve been writing all their adult life (or longer) – I’m so jealous. I fell in love with writing fiction in my late 30s when I went to a creative writing evening group (which I took over in 2008 and still run) but I guess it means I have more experiences to write about – I just have to write quicker to catch up. What genre do you write?
Serge: I still write poetry, but I mainly write literary fiction.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Serge: I have published numerous collections of poetry, two of them in French. I am still looking for an agent to represent my novels. I will use a pseudonym for my novels.
Morgen: Authors do write under different names for different formats. I think it’s an especially good idea if you’re known for one style. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Serge: Plenty of rejections, but they give me the strength to go on. I love rejections. I just get up and keep writing.
Morgen: I think you’re the first author to tell me they love them but yes, many have said it pushes them onwards which is great. I haven’t had a huge amount (27 or 28) so I’m still not enamoured but getting more used to them, certainly. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?
Serge: I have won numerous poetry competitions in Alaska.
Morgen: Well done. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Serge: I have had a few agents but nothing came of it. I think a good agent can open a lot of doors since publishers now seem to require writers to approach an agent.
Morgen: Apparently it’s more difficult to get an agent than a publisher but yes, a lot of publishers won’t take direct submissions and most agents earn their keep. I’ve tried (albeit not as hard as most) to get an agent but have gone the eBook route (with a freelance editor) as I get more freedom. Are your books available as eBooks?
Serge: No, they’re not. I have published two books on Createspace. They print each copy on demand.
Morgen: I’ve heard good things about Createspace. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works?
Serge: I go out and sell my books door to door, do book readings and bookstore signings.
Morgen: That sounds like hard work but it must be thrilling meeting your readers face-to-face. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Serge: Of my unpublished novels I would love to see Martin, a surreal story made into a film. The leading actor would have to be an unknown.
Morgen: Presumably using Createspace, you get the say in the title / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
Serge: Yes. I think titles are very important because they set the tone for the works.
Morgen: They have to be representative, don’t they. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Serge: Right now I am resting from having finished a novel. My mind, however, is working subconsciously on an idea that took root years ago.
Morgen: I love that; that our minds keep going even when we don’t. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Serge: No, I don’t. I have never suffered from writer’s block because I don’t write about me. There are so any interesting people and characters. How can any writer have writer’s block?
Morgen: I interviewed crime novelist Mark Billingham back in November and he equates writing to plumbing – plumbers don’t have plumbing block so we shouldn’t. Fair point but then I don’t suffer from it either so it is easy for me to say. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?
Serge: Plotting would ruin the writing for me. I like my writing to surprise me.
Morgen: Me too. I plotted my first novel but it went off at a tangent (as I do) so I just let it and have been more or less like that ever since. I find it’s my characters that lead the way, do you have a method for creating yours, their names and what do you think makes them believable?
Serge: Names are usually symbolic for me. The characters come out of their names. Are they believable? That depends on the type of novel I’m writing. Satirical novels usually have less believable characters than realistic novels.
Morgen: Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Serge: I edit a lot, a friend then does it again and sometimes I employ a professional editor.
Morgen: It’s always worth getting a second (and third) opinion. Do you have to do much research?
Serge: I write about what I know.
Morgen: Good plan. I’m not a fan of research but my first novel’s protagonist was a hitman so that would have stretched my knowledge a little too far. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Serge: First and third. Never tried second person.
Morgen: It’s great. I’d recommend having a go, although it doesn’t suit everyone. For anyone tempted, Wikipedia explains it well. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Serge: Quite a few since they are not commercial. My most literary pieces are probably my best.
Morgen: Maybe the non-commercial ones could become self-published eBooks. I’m convinced there’s a place for everything (that’s good anyway). What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Serge: My favourite aspect is getting up early in the morning and putting words on a blank page.
Morgen: Me too, I’m a morning person. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Serge: Go to work in the real work, fall in love, travel, see the world, react with it and the people in it.
Morgen: Then write about it. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?
Serge: Mark Twain, Anna Akhmatova and Brigitte Bardot. Salmon and salad.
Morgen: Nice. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Serge: Mens sana in corpore sano.
Morgen: A sound mind in a healthy body (thank you, Google). Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
Serge: I used to edit a poetry magazine called Paper Radio.
Morgen: I love their website. I’d not heard of them before but they broadcast fiction and non-fiction so I’m definitely going to explore… thank you. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Serge: I garden, build and fish.
Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?
Serge: You can find Lauren at Two a poetry book about my daughter who died of bulimia on Amazon books under Serge Lecomte. I also have a funny, satirical book entitled Letters of Misanthrope Dogood Goodman also on amazon books under S. Lecomte.
Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Serge: I want to thank you for this interview.
Morgen: You’re so welcome. Thank you for accepting my offer. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Serge: When do you have time to write?
Morgen: <laughs> When I’m given a deadline. http://NaNoWriMo.org, http://StoryADay.org, Tuesday Tales and Indies Unlimited are great for getting me to knuckle down. I do write three or four exercises in my fortnightly Monday night workshops so overall probably a fair amount. I just tend not to write every day but I love writing more than pretty much anything else (just ask my friends!) and, like most writers, wonder why I don’t make more of an effort to write every day. Thank you, Serge.
I then invited Serge to include an excerpt of his writing…
Halloween night
The swans have left
on the frozen lake
images of summers
that may not come,
and it is that time of year again
when we are reminded of ghosts,
goblins, witches and saints
knocking at our door
for sacrifices for a trick
even though we have no neighbors,
or pumpkin lit like a severed head
on the snow.
Yet out here no man is an island,
and viruses do creep in
through the cracks of our cabin
in spite of the extra insulation.
You’re running a hundred and four
and climbing
like a comet burning up,
your tiny body so much like the fledgling
without feathers
fallen out of its nest this summer
when you and I nestled it on its branch
where it waited for its first flight.
Your mother’s mask of fear
wants to take you in,
while I still believe in saints to come,
the saints of my childhood
who will drive ghosts and witches back
underground where they belong
until next year.
Your smile reminds me of me,
your eyes heavy
and understanding what my father
must have seen before his deathbed,
what I fear for not seeing.
You seem willing to hatch out
into that netherworld
without hesitation
into the frozen lake.
I will not let it happen.
Prayers must still work
in these words that cannot be beautified.
Perhaps the day will come
when I can look into the lake
and see the swan
I once killed for Christmas dinner.
Smiling, I shall be ready
as you seem now,
to fly like a cygnet
on wings as white as light
and embrace It
as I would my mother
who too beckons in the distance
of this night.
Serge Lecomte was born in Wallonia, the product of a Ukrainian-Greek mother and a Walloon father. He immigrated to the States in 1959. After graduating from Tilden H. S. in Brooklyn, he worked for New York Life Insurance Company. He then joined the Medical Corps in the Air Force and was sent to Selma, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. There he flew helicopter rescue. He received a B.A. in Russian Studies from the University of Alabama. Earned a Masters and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Russian Literature with a minor in French Literature. In 1988 received a B.A. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Spanish Literature. He has lived in Mexico, Spain, France, Russia, and even Texas. Serge worked as a language teacher at the University of Alaska (1978-1997). He was the poetry editor for Paper Radio for several years. He has worked as a house builder, pipefitter, orderly in a hospital, gardener, landscaper, bartender in one of Fairbanks’ worst bars, and other jobs. He currently resides on the Kenai Peninsula. He published in numerous literary poetry magazines: Oklahoma Review, Mairena (Puerto Rico), Chiron Review, Phoebe (George Mason University), Paper Radio, African-Hispanic Review, Permafrost (University of Alaska) and many more.
Poetry Books Published:
Crimson Rice (1990), Librado Press
Alaska The Last Frontier (1991) Limestone Press, Kingston, Canada.
Lauren at Two, (1991) Edwen Mellen Press
What Shall I Tell You, Nikos? (1993) Edwen Mellen Press.
Where do the Children Go? (1994) Kawabata Press, Cornwall, UK .
Mother Speaks (1997) Paper Radio, Portland, Oregon.
And others…
Poetry in Foreign Language:
Resurrection, French poetry (1993) Pensee Universelle, Paris.
Ou sont les femmes d’antan (1995) St. Germain des Pres, Paris.
Letters of Misanthrope Dogood Goodman, Createspace, (2010)
Lauren at Two (originally published by Edwen Mellen Press) reprinted by Createspace (2010)
Translations from Russian to English:
Notes on Russian America by Kirill Timofeevich Khlebnikov Limestone Press, Kingston, Canada, 1990.
The Biography of Fedor Litke, UAF Press, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1996.
Serge has also won several poetry contests with the Fairbanks Arts Association in Fairbanks.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).
The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, autobiography, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, crime fiction, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literary fiction, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, Serge Lecomte, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the three hundred and second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with multi-genre novelist Joseph Devon. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Joseph. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Joseph: Well I grew up in New Jersey, went to college in Atlanta, moved to New York and have lived here ever since. As for how I came to be a writer… frankly I’m not sure I’m there yet. I don’t think it’s a place you get to, I think it’s a skill you keep honing. I’m always trying new things and trying projects that are outside of my comfort zone. I have a lurking feeling that when you decide that you “know” how to write, you stop trying as hard and your work suffers. As for the less pretentious sounding answer, though, I had an assignment in Junior High English class to write a short story. It was the first time I had tried writing fiction and I fell in love with it instantly.
Morgen: You’re right. I’ve heard top authors say they’re still learning. We’re like brain surgeons; there are always new techniques. I fell in love with writing at evening class – you just do, don’t you. What genre do you write?
Joseph: I’m actually all over the place with genres. My books tend to be larger stories that encompass a few different characters’ lives and weave them together, so I think that’s the common theme. But I’ve written urban fantasy, which is Probability Angels, and YA Literary and romance and horror, and humor and suspense, and anything else I can think of. I like to try new things.
Morgen: Me too. I’m so glad that I don’t have to write to form, and it means I don’t get bored. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Joseph: Oh lord no. How much editing a piece of work needs does not seem to decrease with practice. I think how much editing and rewriting is needed is a lot more dependent on the work itself. Some things just pop out pretty much fully formed. It’s a very relaxed process at that point. Some works, though, you have to wrestle to the ground. And those need a lot of rewriting. Actually sometimes I wonder if the amount of rewriting needed is related to how unwilling I am in my first draft to just let the story be what the story needs to be. The story tends to win out in the end anyway so you’d think I’d learn not to fight it with my preconceived notions of what I want it to be, but that seems to be a difficult lesson to learn. Oh, and there’s also the fact that your rewriting skills definitely become better and more powerful the more you work at them. So actually I think maturing as a writer might mean more rewriting, more loving polish and attention to tiny details and restructuring scenes and all the stuff that I just can’t do on a first draft.
Morgen: “loving polish” absolutely, and I love the image of wrestling your writing to the ground. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Joseph: Wow. Now that’s an interesting question. The second part I mean. As for the first part, I’ve written both in first and third person and I like them both. They each have their place. Obviously in first person you get a lot more insight into the narrator, one of my favorite things I’ve ever written was a short story called Black Eyed Susan where a married couple is telling the story of how they met and it keeps switching from one of them narrating in first person to the other. That worked really well in that story. However for something like Probability Angels where you have so many different threads of story being woven together it would be really tough to use first person, unless you did it for like seven different characters. I think at that point it’s best to just use third person. Now as for second person…man what would that even be? “You walk into the room and you see a dog?” Something like that? That could be super interesting but, no, I’ve never tried it before.
Morgen: That’s it – spot on. I love it and most of my writing at the moment is coming out in that (see Tuesday Tales). It doesn’t suit everyone but if you would like to have a go you could try some of my second-person Sentence Starts). Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Joseph: Of course I’ve had rejections. Do you know authors out there who don’t? I’d be pretty fascinated to meet them.
Morgen: I’ve had a handful here actually. They’ve either been very fortunate with what they’ve sent out or they’ve not submitting so that definitely helps.
Joseph: Lord, when I first moved to New York I used to hang my rejection slips on the door of my room. I papered over the whole thing a few times. When I moved I couldn’t even get them all down and managed to do a number on the door’s paint job trying to peel them all off. After that I decided not to ruin any more doors and just threw rejection slips in the trash. I don’t know of any great way to deal with rejection, but I do know that the more you write, the more stories you have out there in any form, the more fans you slowly build up, the less those rejections sting. But, yes. My rejections were so overwhelming that I ruined a door with them.
Morgen: That’s hilarious. Well, not at the time, probably but you know… Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Joseph: I strive to make my books available in as many formats as possible. I don’t really see it as a matter of one format being better than the others, I think it’s a matter of choice and I want my readers to be able to experience my work in whatever way they want. Currently that means paperback and in, I believe, every major e-book store for every major e-reading device. As for me, I only read on my phone now. Three years ago if you had told me I’d be reading books on my phone I’d have thought you were insane. But I bought a Kindle around then and it promptly sat in its box next to my couch for months. Finally I took it out, begrudgingly, and charged it up and read one book on it. I was hooked immediately. It has a lot of advantages in my mind. And then I got a new smart phone and someone pointed out that I could read on there and, again, I thought I’d hate it. But I don’t mind reading on a smaller screen at all and the ability to always have all of my books in my pocket, to never have to think, “Should I take my Kindle with me?” when I walk out the door? That’s huge. It outweighs everything else for me.
Morgen: I have a BlackBerry and haven’t read anything on that yet but I do like my Kindle. I’ve only had it a month or so and whilst it’s not changed my life (I still read paperbacks at home), like you, it’s great knowing I have 400+ books with me for the size / weight of a paperback. What are you working on at the moment / next?
Joseph: Probability Angels is the first book in a trilogy. The second book, Persistent Illusions, goes on tour in a few weeks. And currently I’m doing research for the third book, which I’ll start writing as soon as I feel I’ve got enough of a grasp on my topics.
Morgen: Ah, the beloved research (can you hear the hint of sarcasm?). Do you have to do much research?
Joseph: I do as much research as I possibly can. I’m always terrified of a know-it-all out there reading a minor scene in one of my books and calling me out on using the wrong type of bird for the region the scene is in or something. So I wind up reading almost all non-fiction for months before I start writing something new. The odd thing is that I only use it as a touchstone. There’s always a moment when I know that, in order to serve my story correctly, I have to take a leap away from the research and trust my gut. So basically I do a ton of research so that tiny minor details are, hopefully, correct but then wind up making up tons of stuff. I never said it was a good system.
Morgen: I’ve heard a couple of authors say they’ve been caught out. Historical novelist Simon Scarrow said (at Oundle Lit Fest last year) that he’d proved a queryer (clearly no such word but hey, we’re allowed to make them up, aren’t we) wrong but Alexander McCall Smith (who were there last night, coincidentally) was proven wrong. So it happens to the best. At least with eBooks we can go and change our errors. What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Joseph: Every author gets tired. Every author hits the middle third of their book and wonders why they should keep going. Every author has writers block. Every author sits down at their keyboard and gets filled with dread at some point. These are not problems specific to you. These are not signs that you are doing something wrong. They are, in fact, signs that you are just like every author you admire and read. We’re human and writing a book is a giant task and it’s just going to have its bad days. Don’t let them get inside your head. Treat them like bad days and move on. We’ve all been there.
Morgen: Ah yes, the saggy middle. Writing a book is a giant task and I love the fact that 300 words a day equates to a 100,000 word novel in a year (109,500 actually) so if someone thinks of it like that, it’s not so scary. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Joseph: “Chop wood; carry water.” It’s an old Zen quote… and all Zen quotes are open to all sorts of interpretations. That’s part of the fun of them. But I just like the clean quick orders of that phrase. Chop wood; carry water. As someone who spends a lot of time inside his own head overcomplicating things when I haven’t even started them it helps to have this phrase on hand to remind me to actually do some real work first and see if complications even show up. A lot of times they work themselves out. It’s best to just go chop wood and carry water. Best to do and let actual problems stop you than the ones inside your head.
Morgen: Exactly. It’s easy to worry and more difficult to tell yourself (or in my case, my mother!) not to but things do have a habit of working out, don’t they. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?
Joseph: I tend to sign up for every social networking site possible. Most of them I don’t find very useful. Facebook used to be very important but I find myself more confused there than anything else nowadays. Twitter, however, where I’m @josephdevon, I find invaluable. It’s a great place to network, share work, chat with fellow creatives, meet new people, have fun, tell jokes, read links. Twitter is the perfect Internet cocktail party and I love it.
Morgen: Isn’t it great. I’m sure only having 140 characters to get your point across has made some authors’ editing skills. Facebook I like too as it seems more intimate. And LinkedIn is definitely a great site for problem airing and sharing (and solving) – I’ve met some great authors on there. Where can we find out about you and your work?
Joseph: My website has all the information you could possibly want plus my blog and contests. The site itself is http://josephdevon.com. The Probability Angels page is here. And then there’s short stories and contests. There’s tons more on there. Definitely poke around.
Morgen: Ooh contests, I like the sound of that. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?
Joseph: Do you view yourself and your blog as an important tool for the future of publishing? Or do you just love books and writing and are following your heart? Or is it a mix of the two?
Morgen: What a great question. I think that publishing will tick along nicely if I wasn’t here (I know what you meant ) but I do love being a part of it. It’s a really exciting time to be an author right now and I love the fact that we have more of a say (or all the say) in our books. I started this blog (because I’d heard it was a good idea) just under a year ago and it’s taken over my life (literally) and although it’s hard work, I’m loving every minute. And yes, definitely following my heart. Regular readers (and writing friends) will know how much I’m following my heart – I quit my job last October and due to a variety of misfortunes trying to find a replacement will finally be leaving this month and although part of me is still cautious as it’s been so long coming but the rest of me is wearing the biggest grin. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Joseph: I run a few contests that I’d love your readers to know about. The first is called The Great Typo Hunt. Basically any reader who spots a typo in my fiction that still exists in my master copy wins a signed book of their choice. The second is my Annual Fan Art Contest. There are some great prizes that winners can choose from by submitting art based on my books.
Morgen: I love the idea of the Great Typo Hunt. I’d like to think that anyone spotting a mistake in my writing would tell me so I can correct it quickly. Thank you, Joseph.
My interview with Joseph, and several other authors before him, was brought to you in collaboration with Nurture Your Books.
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Barbara: Death, Dating, and Dogs in Decatur, Georgia. I laugh and like to sum up my memoir with those words. Humor has saved my life when I thought I couldn’t move. Becoming a widow three months before I turned sixty was not in my life plan. My husband and I lived together twenty years and then married for another five years. We had no children, except our two dogs. I was retired from my job with the Federal Government and, while I dabbled in selling antiques, I realized I had nothing to do after he died. I sat on my sofa in total panic that I was alone.
Barbara: The Unfaithful Widow is my first book. However, every night I write essays on life as I see it, as a sixty-plus single female leading a creative life with a six dogs at home. My essays are on many sites for women, including Silver & Grace in Canada, Skirt.com in the United States, and most recently in On Purpose Woman, a magazine in the metro Baltimore, Maryland, area and on Speak Out Friday with Women On Writing (WOW). I was featured in Silver & Grace’s e-book Women Who Make A Difference. I am a member of the blogging team for Lifetime Television’s ‘The Balancing Act’, a morning TV show for women, where I post online as the CEO of Life on Monday (Creative, Energized, and Old Enough To Know Better).
