Category: The Writer’s Corner

‘A is for..Alibi’ ‘B is for…’C is for’… An Interview with Sue Grafton (part 2)

      Part II ** Interview with Sue Grafton     In Loving Memory

          Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?

SG. On occasion, but not nearly often enough.  I love that feeling but most of the time it’s just struggle, hair-tearing, whining, and complaints.  I’m easily distracted.  If the work is going well…call it twice a week…then I’m happy.  Most of the time I’m sitting here because that’s what it takes.  Comfortable or uncomfortable doesn’t make any difference.  I suffer because I feel stupid and clumsy and blocked most of the time, but so what?  That is all part of the process.  If you’re not willing to sweat it out, you’re in the wrong business.  No short cuts.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

SG.  When I was eighteen.  I wrote seven full-length novels from the ages of twenty-two to thirty-eight.  Novels four and five were published.  The others have never seen the light of day.  The eighth novel I wrote was ‘A’ IS FOR ALIBI and that was after a long stint in Hollywood where I wrote pilots, movies for television, and the occasional film script.

Q. How long after that were you published?

SG. My first novel was published five years after I began teaching myself how to write long form.  ‘A’ IS FOR ALIBI took me five years to write.  I’d say ‘five’ is the magic number.  It takes fifteen years of being published before you can support yourself with the writing.  This is not a career for sissies or cowards.  You better get used to hard work.  And rejection and frustration.  That’s what teaches you.  You can’t side-step the anguish.

Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?

SG. As I’ve often described, I keep a series of journals or notebooks on my computer for every novel I write.  The journal is where I keep plot possibilities, ideas, research notes, character sketches, dialogue when it occurs to me.  The collective journals for ‘V’ IS FOR VENGEANCE came to 967 single-spaced pages.  The journals for ‘W’ came to 1298 single-spaced pages on the day I finished the book, which was February 21, 2013.  It took me a year to settle on the storyline .  I work by trial and error which is why it takes me so long.  After a mere thirty years at this, I know what doesn’t work but I don’t always know it in advance.  I write and then I think, no.  I write some more and think, don’t think so. I write some more and think, are you kidding me?  I write some more and I think, well that stinks.  And on it goes.

Q. Where/when do you first discover Kinsey and your other characters ?

SG. I am Kinsey Millhone so that was easy enough.  Other characters I discover as I go along.  Character and plot can never be separated.  Both have to be developed at the same time, in tandem, or a story won’t come to life.

Q. What inspired your story/stories ?

SG. Sometimes a germ of an idea will come to me.  In fact many times I have the germ of an idea.  That’s the easy part.  What’s difficult is figuring out what you can do with an idea, figuring out how you can develop it to the point where it will carry 660 manuscript pages.  You need heft and complexity and major muscle.  Not every idea will yield a novel.  One of my big lessons, always, is learning when to let it go.  I’m ruthless when it comes to that.  I might work on an idea for six months.  Once I realize it isn’t working and that I don’t know how to make it work, I dump it. 

Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre?

2017

SG.  I’ve written in other forms and formats; movie scripts, television scripts, short stories and novels.  I’ve never written science fiction or erotica or romance or horror or westerns.  I don’t know those forms and I wouldn’t do a good job of it.  I love the hard-boiled private eye novel and I love crime fiction, which is…as it turns out…where I belong.

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Biography:  I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky where I graduated from the University of Louisville in 1961 with a degree in English.  I worked in a variety of jobs in the medical field, writing after the family was down for the night. Sold a ‘mainstream’ novel, KEZIAH DANE, that was published when I was 27 and then a second novel, THE LOLLY-MADONNA WAR, that was published when I was 29.  Altogether, before the alphabet novels, I wrote 7 books .  The eighth novel I wrote was ‘A’ IS FOR ALIBI. Guess what I’ve been doing every since?’   

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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!   Did you miss the past few months?    December: British writer, J.G. Dow.  January: In Memory, Sue Grafton.
                                                                                   
                                         Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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PI, Kinsey Millhone is Hot on the Trail, Again! an Interview with Sue Grafton

                                                    An Interview with Mystery Writer, Sue Grafton  (Part 1)

best selling author, Sue Grafton, fiction for women                      Author,  John D. McDonald died suddenly back in 1986 and took Travis McGee with him.  I owned and had read every book of McDonald’s…..Now what was I suppose to do??  I didn’t read many mysteries (back then) but I was especially fond of Travis and his bear-of-a-man friend, Meyer.   So back in the eighties, (when you shopped at a real book store), I looked through the aisles for someone worthy of replacing John McDonald.   There I found “A is for Alibi” with the formidable and quirky, Kinsey writers, best selling authors, best sellers, fiction for womenMillhone.  I’ve been reading Sue Grafton ever since.  TS
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this entry from Sue’s journals;

Dear Shadow . . . Self . . . and Right Brain, Doing everything I can here to make life possible. I’ve abandoned the old story . . . cleaned out my computer . . . sorted and tossed and filed away old notes and articles. Now I need help in launching myself again. Please speak to me. Please let me know where the new book is coming from. I really need your assistance and I’m hoping you’ll spark something so I can get to work.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Love & kisses,

Sue

Response from Shadow Self:   How about an old-fashioned unsolved murder case?  Parents are angry because nothing’s been done.    Case is old & cold, with no new leads coming in.
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Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

best sellers, Sue Grafton,
Sue Grafton’s work space

A. I have an office in both my homes; Montecito, California and Louisville Kentucky.  The two are different in terms of size and style but I can’t tell you that I’m more productive in one than in the other.  I like lots of light.  I like tidiness.  I like space.  I like quiet.  When I’m working my desk is usually a mess, but I do make an effort from time to time to restore order. The creative process is messy enough. I don’t need to look at chaos as well.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

A.  Often I do a short stint of self-hypnosis which helps quiet the chatter in my head and helps me focus and concentrate.  I learned the technique from a book on the subject that I got at a book store and it’s been a wonderful way to keep ‘centered’ if you’ll forgive the term.

Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.)

A. A computer, of course. Which I claim has greatly improved my skills.  In the ‘olden’ days of white out and cutting and pasting, I got hung up on whether the page ‘looked right’. I hated adding anything that forced me to repaginate because I didn’t like all the extra work.  If I deleted 11 lines, I got so I could exactly replace the missing lines with something that would work as well so that I didn’t have to retype everything.  To my way of thinking, this is not the key to writing well. On a computer I can and do write every line over and over until it suits me.  The tinkering is infinite.  I when a line is right and when it’s not, I revise and refine and cut and amend until it sounds right to my inner ear.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

A. I’m usually at my desk at 8:00.  I check emails and make a brief visit to my Face Book page where I chat with readers.  I never feel truly creative.  I work until lunch time when I take a short break.  go back until mid-afternoon when I usually take a walk with one of a number of friends.  I work seven days a week because it’s easier to stay connected to the writing.  In completing “W” writing, best sellers, fiction for women, Sue GraftonI worked double-sessions, returning to my desk after dinner.  I cut out our social life.  I nixed all the walks which I found interrupted the work too often.  I didn’t run errands.  I didn’t stop to get my hair cut.

 

 

 

 

Part 2 of this Interview will be posted August 6th

And to read more in the fascinating Journals that Sue keeps for each book, go to:  www.suegrafton.com
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Raymond Benson, Amber Winckler, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author with a bonus chat with Cathy Lamb later in the month.  September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

World Renowned Mystery Writer, Sue Grafton visits my Blog!

sue-grafton-3.2012a           DON’T MISS IT!  Starting tomorrow, my interview with Sue Grafton, most famous for her best selling alphabet series!

August 1st and 6th, Sue shares with me and her readers her process as she writes her best sellers.  Beginning back in the eighties she wrote “A IS FOR ALIBI”  and the rest is history. What happens when we get to “Z”??  Will that be the end to Kinsey Milhone, PI?  Oh, no!!!

best selling author, Sue Grafton, fiction for womenwriting, best sellers, fiction for women, Sue Grafton

The birth of CSI …an Interview with Rhys Bowen (part 2)

    I SAT DOWN WITH Rhys Bowen (wish that were true) and HERE IS PART II of my INTERVIEW WITH HER.

Catch up with Part I of this great interview!

 

          photo  Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?

A. I write historical mystery series so I come to a new book knowing a lot about my main character, a lot about her background. So I am not starting from a blank canvas each time. I usually start from a setting, an environment. I know I’d like to send Molly to an enclosed convent in search of a missing baby. I have no idea what will happen there or who I will meet until I start to write it. My books always go in directions I hadn’t suspected.  (sound familiar?)


Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters ?

A.With Molly Murphy I knew I wanted to write a feisty first person female who didn’t know when to shut up. With Lady Georgie I wanted to write the most unlikely sleuth I could think of—royal but penniless.

Q. What inspired your story/stories ?

A. The Molly books were conceived because I visited Ellis Island and was so emotionally overcome by what I saw and felt there, I just knew I had to set a story there. The Royal Spyness books started from wanting to write something fun and funny and about British aristocrats in the 30s.

Q. When is your next book coming out? (or) What are you working on?Rhys Bowen, best selling authors, best sellers, writing

A.March 5.  It’s a Molly book, The Family Way. My next Royal Spyness book will be out on August 6, called Heirs and Graces. (reviewed here in August).  I’m currently writing the 13th Molly book, called City of Darkness and Light. It takes place among painters in Paris.

Q. As a fan of your work I am currently reading “Royal Blood” (from the Royal Spyness series).  What inspired the story line? Had you visited ‘Bran Castle’? Met royals? Attended a royal wedding, perhaps?

A. I wrote Royal Blood because vampire novels were suddenly so popular that I wanted to write a spoof on all things vampire.  I haven’t visited Bran castle but I have been to plenty of similar castles in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic so I had a good feel for it.

I have met plenty of real royals… all English. I had tea with the current queen. I was presented to the queen mother. I met Princess Margaret and saw Queen Mary when she was very old but still so regal and stately.  But alas, no royal weddings. I’d have liked to be at William and Kate’s.

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?

A. I suppose like all writers I’d like to write that one definitive literary novel.

Rhys.photoClick here to read Part I of this interview
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A review of Bowen’s “Oh Danny Boy”, another Molly Murphy mystery.
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!  A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name:: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Karen Robards, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year.
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

Interview * Rhys Bowen~~ New York City, A Brew of Immigrants and Mystery!

Iinterviews, best selling authors, best sellers, writersINTERVIEW ***  WITH BEST SELLING AUTHOR, RHYS BOWEN

 

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? 

A.I have an office, set up to make everything go as smoothly as possible. Bookshelf behind my desk has all my research materials. On the walls are certificates for all my award nominations to inspire me when I get depressed. On my desk are silly toys to play with when I get bored.Rhys Bowen, best selling authors, best sellers, writing

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

A. I write two books a year. I have to be a professional, sit down at my desk every morning and write although I do sometimes do it in my robe and pjs!

 

Q. What is your mode of writing? (long hand? Pencil? Computer? Etc.)

A. Oh goodness, I’d never manage two books a year if I wrote longhand, nor would I be able to read my own writing. The day computers were invented was the happiest day of my life.

 

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

A.I go to my desk as soon as I’ve made a cup of tea, answer emails then start to write. I give myself a target of 5 pages a day and I write until I’ve done at least that much. Sometimes it’s more. Sometimes I’m done by mid morning.

 

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?

A. There have been mornings when I think “It must be eleven by now. I’d really like a cup of coffee and I look at my watch and it’s 2 p.m.

 

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. Right after college when I started working for the BBC in London. I started writing my own radio and TV plays.

Q. How long after that were you published?

A. The first play I took to the head of BBC drama was accepted and produced. I’ve been a professional writer ever since.

 

Biography.  I’m the New York Times bestselling author of two historical mystery series: The Molly Murphy books are set in early 1900s New York City and the Royal Spyness books are about a minor royal in 1930s England. My books have won 13 awards to date, including Agatha and Anthony. I was born and raised in Britain but have lived in California for most of my adult life. Now I divide my time between California and Arizona (where I go to escape those brutal California winters).  http://rhysbowen.com/
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Don’t miss Part II of this wonderful interview and get a look into this writer’s world!  Friday, July 5th
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month .These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: : Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz,  Karen Robards, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year.
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

Interview with Bestselling Author, Rhys Bowen !

ohDannyBoy 001DON’T MISS IT!!

This month’s Interview is with mystery writer, Rhys Bowen.  Don’t Miss It! 

starting Tuesday, July 2nd and July 4th

 

Biography.  I’m the New York Times bestselling author of two historical mystery series: The Molly Murphy books are set in early 1900s New York City and the Royal Spyness books are about a minor royal in 1930s England. My books have won 13 awards to date, including Agatha and Anthony. I was born and raised in Britain but have lived in California for most of my adult life. Now I divide my time between California and Arizona (where I go to escape those brutal California winters).Rhys.Bowen.photo

 

Coming in August:  A REVEIW of Bowen’s new release, “Heirs and Graces”

 

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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month .These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name: : Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Karen Robards, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year.
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

Review…Trisha Sugarek’s “Song of the Yukon”

           alaska, homestead,adventure, lesbian, gay, best seller, fiction, fiction for womenMIDWEST BOOK REVIEW ~~  ‘Song of the Yukon  is a powerful historical novel that opens in the Yukon in 1923 where LaVerne’s new cabin is being erected by a team of helpful neighbors and friends, and tells of one strong woman’s long-held dream of homesteading and how the Homestead Act led her to build a new home, sweetened by her discovery of gold on her property.

In the next instant readers are transported to 1921 Washington State, where LaVerne shares a single room with her sisters in a crowded farmhouse and longs for something different in her future. It is here that her dream of a better life in Alaska evolves: an uncrowded life offering opportunities to ‘rule and obey’, and plenty of space.homestead, Alaska, fiction, Song of the Yukon

Song of the Yukon begins with this dream and works outward as it follows LaVerne’s efforts to hone and realize her desires upon discovering that the Alaskan frontier offers her a unique opportunity to “…chase your dreams there, be whoever you want to be…no one telling you what to do and what not to do…”

From boat rides on the Yukon River to encounters with native tribes to filing homestead papers and working the land, LaVerne uses newfound frontier wisdom as a basis for expanding both her music and her perceptions: “No man owns what Mother Spirit does not freely give.” Joe replied.  What a charming folk tale, LaVerne thought. And Joe seems to believe it. I could use the story in one of my songs.”Alaska, fiction, homestead, Song of the Yukon

It is here she encounters her first real friend and learns the realities of frontier life and homesteading: experiences that will shape her life, help her create music, and lead her in directions no woman has explored before.

But Sugarek in her third novel, Song of the Yukon, covers more than music growth, more than homesteading in the wilderness, and even more than testing one’s abilities against a foreign environment. Most of all, it’s about one woman’s determination to achieve her dream against any odds – and it provides readers with not only a solid background in frontier experiences, but a sense of self and accomplishment that heroine LaVerne learns through hard Alaska, fiction, homestead, family histories,best sellersexperience.

It is a commanding saga recommended for a range of readers. Thank you for the opportunity to look at your fine title! ~~ Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review ~~

Tip: You can find legitimate book reviewers to review your book BEFORE you publish.  This is important because then you can use a tag from the review on the front or back cover.  Example: “….A commanding saga…” Midwest Book Review.  I know you’ve seen these tags on book covers and they are powerful marketing tools.
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Estimated release date Fall, 2013.  Look for it wherever you buy your books and here in my bookstore!
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name:: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Karen Robards, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  Mark Childress is our April author.  Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author.  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.  Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

An Interview with Caroline Leavitt (Part 3)

Caroline Leavitt, best sellers, best selling authors, interviews  Part III.  Caroline was so generous with her time in this interview.  Following is the final segment.       Enjoy!!          (click here for Part I)

 

   Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like? (cont.)

Once I have the synopsis, I write a first chapter. I can’t go on without a good first chapter because often, when I am in the middle of the book, and I feel it’s a mess, I need to go back and say, “Well, I wrote a really great first chapter, I can’t give up now, can I?” And I don’t.
Then comes the writing. I write and rewrite, sometimes up to 30 drafts. And I show it to about 4 different readers. Then it goes to my agent, and she usually wants some rewrites. Then it goes to my editor who always wants rewrites. But I love the rewriting process. To me, that’s the real creativity.

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters ?

A. I do a lot of character work. I make maps about the characters trying to figure out what’s haunting them? Where are their hidden scars they need to heal? What is it they want and how is it different from what they really need? (That’s my Rolling Stones method of writing!)

Q. What inspired your story/stories ?

A. Usually it’s a question that has been haunting me for years. How do we forgive the unforgivable was the question that sparked PICTURES OF YOU, though I was also mulling over my phobia about driving. To me, the worst thing in the world would be to kill someone in an accident, and so I began to write about it, thinking I could heal myself that way. IS IT TOMORROW asks the questions, how do we become a part of a community that doesn’t want us? I was thinking about what an outcast I was as a child because I was Jewish, asthmatic and very smart, in a community that was Christian and working class and suspicious of anyone different.

Q. When is your next book coming out? (or) What are you working on?

A. IS IT TOMORROW is coming out May 7, 2013 and CRUEL BEAUTIFUL WORLD will be out sometime in 2014 or 2015. I sold it on the basis of a first chapter and a synopsis, so I have a lot of work to do!

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?ITT

A. I don’t like the word genre because I think it compartmentalizes women. I refuse to use the term women’s fiction, commercial or literary. I tend to think a good book is a good book is a good book!

Thank you so much for these great questions!
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BIO: Caroline won First Prize in Redbook Magazine’s Young Writers Contest for her short story, “Meeting Rozzy Halfway,” which grew into the novel. The recipient of a 1990 New York Foundation of the Arts Award for Fiction for Into Thin Air, she was also a National Magazine Award nominee for personal essay, and she was awarded a 2005 honorable mention, Goldenberg Prize for Fiction from the Bellevue Literary Review, for “Breathe,” a portion of Pictures of You. As a screenwriter, Caroline was a 2003 Nickelodeon Screenwriting Fellow Finalist, and is a recent first-round finalist in the Sundance Screenwriting Lab competition for her script of Is This Tomorrow.

Caroline has been a judge in both the Writers’ Voice Fiction Awards in New York City and the Midatlantic Arts Grants in Fiction. She teaches novel writing online at both Stanford University and UCLA, as well as working with writers privately. Caroline has appeared on The Today Show, Diane Rehm, German and Canadian TV, and more, and she was featured on The View From The Bay. She lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, New York City’s unofficial sixth borough, with her husband, the writer Jeff Tamarkin, and their teenage son Max.
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  Mark Childress is our April author.  Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author.  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.  Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

Tuesday, June 11….Part 3. Interview with Caroline Leavitt

DON’T MISS PART 3 of this entertaining interview with bestselling author Caroline Leavitt

 

Caroline Leavitt, best sellers, best selling authors, interviews                              Tuesday, June 11th

 

Excerpt:  “I can’t go on without a good first chapter because often, when I am in the middle of the book, and I feel it’s a mess, I need to go back and say, “Well, I wrote a really great first chapter, I can’t give up now, can I?” And I don’t.
Then comes the writing. I write and rewrite, sometimes up to 30 drafts….”

 

Caroline Leavitt, interviews, best selling authors

An Interview with Caroline Leavitt (part 2)

                                    An Interview with author, Caroline Leavitt  (Part 2)

(Me and Minnie, the turtle)Caroline Leavitt, best selling authors, interviews

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. I always wrote seriously. I was sending things out from the time I was sixteen, and of course, they always came right back, rejected. While I was at Brandeis University, I took a writing course with a famous writer who told me flat out that I would never make it. He used to attack me in class, and though tears would stream down my face, I never left the class. I was in my late twenties, sending stories out every week (and getting them back every week with rejection letters) when I finally won the Redbook Magazine Young Writers Contest!

Q. How long after that were you published?

A. That contest opened up doors for me. I got an agent. I got a book deal based on the short story. I became sort of famous, and I thought it would last. But my next four publishers all went out of business. I was with two major publishers who wouldn’t take my calls or emails, and though my novels got stellar reviews, they had enough sales for me to buy groceries. When I submitted PICTURES OF YOU to my last publisher, they rejected it, saying, “I’m sorry, this just isn’t special.” They didn’t want to publish anything else of mine. I knew my career was over because who wants to publish someone who has published 8 novels and has no sales? But a friend of mine was with Algonquin and she offered to show her editor my novel. Algonquin bought it in three weeks and they did something no other publisher ever did for me: they treated me with respect. They invited me to come talk to them! They said, “We’re going to change your life.” And they did. Six months before the book even came out it was in three printings (it eventually went into 5). They got it on the New York Times bestseller list and the USA Today e-book bestseller list. It was one of the top books of 2011 from the San Francisco Chronicle, the Providence Journal, Bookmarks Magazine and Kirkus Reviews! I always tell people that I am living proof that you should never, ever, ever give up! You never know what can happen.

Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like? 

A. It looks like craziness. Caroline Leavitt, interviews, best selling authorsI’m always in between stages because I live in terror of that stage when nothing is going on. So while I am in the midst of writing one book, I’m thinking of the next book, making vague inroads. It’s much better to have a new work to focus on so you don’t drive yourself too crazy when your book comes out. So the first stage is the idea. I spend about 6 months writing up a detailed synopsis. I’m like John Irving. I have to know where I am headed for, what the character change is going to be. I liken it to creating the skeleton. Once you have that, you can add on the flesh, the hair, the clothing. Once I have the synopsis done, which is usually 30 pages, I show it to three different writer friends and they tear it apart—and I want them to. It doesn’t help me not to hear the critiques. Then I go back and keep redoing it until it feels like a story. I’m big on story structure. I know some writers “follow their pen” and find structure confining, but I feel it actually awakens creativity. And since using story structure, I’ve had my first NYT bestseller and I made the finals at Sundance Screenwriting Lab, so I think it works.

Don’t miss Part 3 on June 11th as we continue to visit with this fascinating author!Caroline_queen_book_fest
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  Mark Childress is our April author.  Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June‘s author.  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.  Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!