Do you
have a favorite character?
Maggie Whitaker the stubborn, somewhat ornery, know-it-all
little sister with the stammer, thumb-sucking and occasional bed-wetting habit
who triumphs by the end of the book.
Have you
ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the
direction of the novel at all?
I started out with three foreign au pairs and rolled them
all into one, Renate von Hasselmann; I gave her three distinct faces, ingénue,
femme fatale and omniscient heroine. This made her multi-dimensional but kept
the fun and flair of those original personalities.
Did you
try the traditional route to publishing, i.e. querying agents/publishers?
I landed Ian
Mckewan and Salmon Rushdie’s agent in London, but, alas, after a number of
stops and starts she could not find a home for my novel, Cologne. She is still
keen to get it published across the pond if it does well here.
What
factors influenced your decision to go with a particular agent or publisher?
Molly Tinsley, the co-founder at FUZE, approached me, and I
knew she would be a brilliant editor for my book, so I had no reservations
about using this press.
If you
used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the
creative process for your cover?
My dear friend, artist and graphic designer, Kathy Keler has
a series of paintings she made in the nineties that have always resonated with
my writing and with this book in particular. I have always known her evocative
print, envoi, was the cover art I wanted for Cologne. And I was right; it is
gorgeous.
Do you
belong to a critique group? Have they helped improve your writing?
I’ve been in loads of writing groups, and they have all been
in equal part enlightening and frustrating. Overall I have to say sharing your
work with other writers can only benefit as practitioners of the craft develop
a sixth sense about what works and what doesn’t. Some just get a tad too
enthusiastic about how they would write it themselves.
What is
your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?
I lock myself up in the Library of Congress Reading Room
under that magnificent dome and pull words out of the air. It’s magic. And very
very quiet.
Do you
outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
It depends on the books: some arrive whole cloth and others
unwind piece by piece. Each story has its own trajectory. Novels are as individual
as souls.
Besides
Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?
Besides
writing, do you have any other passions?
Acting, playwriting, gardening and keeping up with my four
children and their wild and crazy lives.
What’s
next for you?
A telenovela
style novel about the Texas/ Mexico border called Deep in the Heart.
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