Q & A with Author Jenny Benjamin

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Jenny Benjamin, a Milwaukee native, currently is a freelance writer and former educator with an extensive portfolio. Adding author to her belt, she has written a book called, "The Most Amazing." I'm pleased to have her stop by and chat about her work being an author.

What inspired you to become an author and write your first book? 

I have been writing for so long, and I had a couple of unfinished novels under my belt. After I had my third daughter, and I was starting to write as a freelancer for educational companies, I made writing and finishing a novel a priority. For me, it works well to write fiction and freelance because when I have to wait to hear back from an editor, I go to my fiction.

You were once an educator, how do you feel that has impacted your career as a writer? 

I think teaching is in everything people do. Personally, teaching has taught me how to listen, read people, and how to move them with stories. I worked very hard at getting my students to enjoy books and stories. I tried to engage my kids, and I asked myself: how can I get them into the book I was teaching? I transferred that to my own writing where I constantly ask myself: how will I get readers to want to turn the page?

Do you have a specific writing style? 

I don’t think I do, but I’m probably wrong about that! I really try to get into the head of my point of view character, so I aspire to make my writing styles match that head.

How did you come up with the title of your novel? What inspired the way you told your story? 

I had a few other titles before I settled on This Most Amazing, which is an inversion of words in the first line of an E.E. Cummings poem, “I thank You God for most this amazing.”

It took me a long time to come up with the way to tell this story. I wrote about Vincenzo in different forms for over ten years: a failed start to a novel about my grandmother and several poems. Once the character of Dahlia came to me in 2009, the structure of the two timelines fell into place.

What were the challenges in bringing your characters to life? 

Since I had two time periods in the novel, I had different challenges for each timeline. For the characters set in 1797 Italy, I researched and worked hard to make them compelling for a modern reader with having authentic, historically accurate details. Sometimes I would get obsessed with something, say, tallow candle making, because I had started by exploring what kind of candle was in Vincenzo’s, the soldier in 1797, hand. I would have to rein myself in and get back on the track of writing the story. For the contemporary time period, I spent a good deal of time trying to bring Jonas, Dahlia’s love interest, to life. She’s a strong, dominant character, and I had to re-write Jonas in many scenes so he had some meat and wasn't a one-trick pony type of character.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? 

I learned countless things from writing this book. So much research went into the 1797 timeline it’s hard to catalog all the nuggets of new knowledge! I brushed up on my Italian. I learned about painting with oils, and I read a lot about the history of food in Italy along with pouring over my Italian cook books or my late Italian grandmother’s recipes.

Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work? 

It is hard for me to select one author as a favorite. One favorite, who really could be named the “top” one, is Zora Neale Hurston. I taught Their Eyes Were Watching God to my high school students for years, and each time I learned something new about writing and reading. We read a lot of the dialog out loud and had so much fun. I also love how she puts it all out there – her writing is so full of life and love!

What books have most influenced your life most? 

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Price and Prejudice and Persuasion by Jane Austen

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Inferno  by  Dante Alighieri, translated by Robert Pinsky

Tao Te Ching by Lao-tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell

Resurrection by Tucker Malarkey

April in Paris by Michael Wallner

Anything by Anita Shreve, Michael Cunningham, Margaret Atwood, and Ariana Franklin

Can you share a little of your current work with us? 

I am pitching my young adult trilogy (The Terrian Books) to agents and editors. The main crux of the trilogy is seventeen-year-old, African-American  Jesse Woods and his two friends realize they have special powers given to them from an ancient alien species that has pretended to be humanity’s gods since the inception of human religions. The friends must go to this planet to stop a war that could destroy humanity.

Also, I’ve completed the first draft of another novel for adults. In this novel, the main character, Heather Finch, is a forty-two-year-old widow re-learning how to live after caring for her brain-injured husband for three years. Embarking on a new writing retreat in Scotland, Heather Finch finds mysterious happenings at her Scottish Highland cottage, which may include new love.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Set a base amount of words to write every day. My base amount is 400 words a day, at the very least. On difficult days, I bleed the words, but on good days, they spill out of me, and I surpass the minimum, feeling very accomplished. Those boosts keep you writing. Revise, but don’t get stuck to where you never send anything out. None of your writing has a chance of getting published if it is not in the world. Also, if you get a personalized rejection, take what is useful, don’t dwell on the stingers, and move on. Be confident in your work and your ideas. Don’t give up. Don’t stop.

Q & A with Author Marc Prey

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Marc Prey, from an early age, developed a love of reading and writing. His career spans from working in the industries of newspaper, film, and now print as an author with the debut "When It Comes to Spooning, I'm a Fork." I'm pleased to have him stop by and chat about his work as a writer and his book.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Well, not from the moment of birth, but certainly from a very young age.  As a child, I wrote colorful stories on multi-colored notebook paper.  As a teen, I spewed out reams of angst-filled poetry and pretentious short stories.  In college, I dreamt of writing the Great American Novel while completing an English major.  Even when I later went to work as a lawyer, it was writing briefs and memoranda that gave me the most satisfaction.  Once I discovered I could make a living as a writer, the law didn't stand a chance.

Is there a particular author or book that inspired your career?

I consider myself a humorist.  As such, the writer I have always looked up to, and derived the most inspiration from, is Dave Barry.  Not only is he terrifically funny, he also happens to be a first-class storyteller.  In the realm of fiction, I would cite Elmore Leonard and Neil Gaiman as inspirational, particularly in their ability to create worlds that draw you in and refuse to let you leave.

How was the transition from being a screenwriter to author?

Seamless.  Over the years, I have delved into many forms of writing, from essays to short stories, comic strips to graphic novels, songs to plays, often working simultaneously on material in multiple formats and genres.  Authoring a book of humor essays was a natural outgrowth of my interests and experience.

How did you come up with the title?

The title is lifted from one of the thirty-nine stories in the book.  Over the years, my wife has tried her best to get me to spoon her while we sleep, and I have done my best to avoid the position like I do a telemarketer.  During one of these episodes, she demanded to know why I couldn't spoon her.  I happened to say, “Maybe it's because I'm a fork.”  After she replied, “You're something that begins with an 'F' all right,” I made a mental note to write a new essay based upon this conversation.  Of course, the essay's title was “When It Comes to Spooning, “I'm a Fork.”

The book was absolutely hilarious. What inspired you to write your book?

For many years, I wrote a humor blog around my experiences as a husband and father.  I would post a weekly essay, and people seemed to respond favorably.  Basically, I would reflect on what I had messed up that week, pick the funniest incident (there were always many to choose from) and post the write-up on my blog.  The stories covered a period of time from the day I met my future bride to my oldest boy reaching his teen years.  However, life eventually got in the way, and I was forced to stop writing the blog.  As the years passed, fans of the blog regularly suggested that I take the stories and publish them as a book.  To humor them, I compiled the best stories into a manuscript, added some new material, and sent the product to a few publishers.  To my surprise, each responded favorably.

Once you finished writing, did you learn anything about yourself?

As I wrote the essays that eventually provided the meat of the book, I quickly realized that having a healthy sense of humor, including an unbridled ability to laugh at one's self, provides the basis for a successful relationship, whether with one's spouse or offspring.

This book definitely has tv written all over it. If your book was made for tv, who would you want to play you? 

Funny you ask.  As I write this, my screenwriting agent is actually shopping the book to television and cable networks as a potential sitcom.  While I consider this to be a long-shot, it's certainly fun to dream.  One of my favorite television actors happens to be a fellow Michigander – Tim Allen.  If I could pick anyone to play me in a television series based upon my book, Tim would be my first, second and third choice.  Of course, he would have to leave his current hit TV series, but that is a minor detail.

Are you currently working on anything that you can share?

At the moment, I am working on a new feature film screenplay about a shy and reclusive boy who, while reading a mysterious, old comic book, comes across a curious ad: Send in twenty bucks and receive back a real, live monster.  When he does so, not only does receive a monster, he ends up with a best friend.  Of course, hijinx and hilarity ensue.

Since your background is in writing, what advice can you share with those who would like to pursue as a career?

I will answer this while wearing my screenwriter's cap.  Read as many scripts as you can get your hands on, particularly those written by professionals.  Study them.  Tear them apart.  Learn from them.  And while you are doing this, write, write and rewrite, your own scripts.  Each screenplay you write will be better than the last.  Eventually, when you feel like you have acquired a degree of mastery over the craft, send them out into the world.  This could mean entering your best work in screenwriting competitions, querying producers and agents or hiring a professional to critique your work.  And, while you do this, continue to keep reading and writing.

Q & A with Author Karen Foxlee

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Her upcoming book due to release Jan 28, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, has created such a buzz with early readers singing it's praise with such favorable reviews. Highly anticipating, this being the must read to put on your young reader's list, she was kind enough to stop by and chat about being an author and her work.

What inspired you to be a writer?

I wrote my first story when I was in second grade and was hooked. I think I fell in love with the idea of creating something out of nothing. I never stopped writing from that moment on. 

What books/authors have influenced your writing? 

I grew up on a steady diet of Enid Blyton books as a child. I loved her adventure book series "The Secret Seven" and "The Famous Five". The idea that these kids were running around solving mysteries without any parental supervision was so exciting to me! Of course I can also remember my mum reading us fairy tales and later reading them again and again myself. My favourite was The Snow Queen, which of course, features so prominently in OPHELIA. 

What drew you to the genre that you write?

I don't know if I've ever been drawn to a particular genre, rather drawn to the ideas I have for a story. It usually starts with a little idea about a character that gets under my skin and I just have to understand what that character's story is. In OPHELIA it started with a small boy locked away in a museum room for many years. I just had to understand why. 

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

Yes, I definitely prefer to see where my ideas take me. I ask lots of questions of my little seed of an idea and start to write. I write and write until I seem to find a path into the story.

Your upcoming book, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, was such a fantastic book with such favorable reviews. What inspired you to write that story?

I had this simple idea: what if you looked through a keyhole in a long forgotten room in a crumbling museum and saw an eye staring back at you? What if it was someone being kept prisoner there? The story really grew from there. I fell in love with the Marvelous Boy from that very moment and most of my first drafts were about his story, his amazing journey to deliver the sword to our world so that the snow queen could be defeated. 

Give us an insight into your main character. What do you want readers to take away from her story?

It is weird to say but Ophelia turned up quite late after many drafts. I needed someone to discover the boy. But as soon as I wrote the line, "Ophelia did not consider herself brave," I just had a feeling that everything was going to work out for this story. Ophelia doesn't consider herself brave but she is SO brave. She is reeling from the death of her mum, trying to work out how to exist in the world without her. She doesn't want to believe in anything that can't be proven by science yet she suddenly faces all manner of challenges and strange creatures in her quest to save the Marvelous Boy and the world. I love that she never gives up, she keeps picking herself up and trying, when faced with all manner of monsters and impossible creatures. What would I like readers to take away from her story? Always help your friends. Never ever give up. Love is always on your side. 

Would you ever consider writing a series?

The project I'm working on at the moment feels like a series but I can't even get the first part to behave so I'm trying not to get to far ahead of myself. I'm just focussing on that story at the moment. 

Do you have any current projects that you can share with us?

The story I'm writing is about a girl in Victorian London who can see the future in puddles. It features witches and ghosts and some fearsomely wild girls who hunt faeries. I'm completely in love with it and completely mixed-up by it. We'll see what happens. 

Are you currently reading anything? 

At present I am reading The Hunger Games and enjoying it. I went into it to see what all the fuss was about but I'm hooked. 

If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?

Lately I've been reading A.A Milne's WINNIE THE POOH stories to my little girl. We have laughed ourselves silly about the adventures of that bear and his friends. I think I would love to write something like that, which is so beautiful and clever and funny and... classic. Its appeal never fades. 

Do you have any advice for other writers? 

Only write a lot. Fall in love with your stories. Never give up on them if you think they are worthy and that they have a heart.

If you want to get more information on Karen, you can reach her at:
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1390474.Karen_Foxlee
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-Foxlee/139995856034130

How Travel and Writing Saved Me by Tony Brasunas

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What would happen if you left everything behind – your culture, your family, your place, your people, and your history – and moved to a faraway and foreign world? 

What would happen if you did this alone, when you were young? 

It would be a terrifying and exhilarating time. Your experience would be something others would probably call "Coming of Age." If this departure were voluntary, others might say you were "Seeking Your Fortune." 

But the experience would be even more profound than these terms suggest. You wouldn't just find maturity or a fortune; you would uncover who you really are and what you can really do. Without the culture, family, and society that had raised you and known you all your life, you would come face to face with you. Who are you – at the core? 

Setting Out

I left the United States for the first time at the age of 22 and moved to China. I taught English in a Chinese high school and journeyed throughout the country with just a backpack. I did come of age; I did not find a fortune, other than perhaps the untold riches inherent in self-discovery. 

That turned out to be quite a lot. 

I discovered who I am, at a level far deeper than I had ever known. I also learned, through repeated experiences teaching and traveling, that this world and this life is an open garden awaiting us, awaiting our hopes, intentions, dreams, and creativity. I learned that if you trust yourself, your instincts, and your intuition, and if you take the risk of letting them truly guide you, the world opens up to you in unexpected ways and you discover the essence of your own inner being. You get to be alive in the fullness and magic of your true self. 

Putting that lesson into practice removed ten tons from my shoulders; it was the thing that saved me. I learned not only who I am, but that who I am (and who all of us truly are) is good. I embraced that, I took risk after risk based on that, and I found the ability in most every moment to do what I most deeply want. I discovered two happinesses. 

I returned home to the United States and found a culture, a family, and a world that expected me to be the person I had been before. I tried to meet their expectations, for some reason. I never told anyone the details of my story, and no one asked. I became depressed and chronically ill, and I had no idea why. 

At the suggestion of an old and distant friend, I began to write about my journey. As I began to explore where and who I had been, the me that I had discovered – the one who trusts himself and guides himself by his inner knowing and intuition – he was still there, just hiding because no one knew him. As I wrote, he could come forth and share his discoveries with me and with others. 

Two Happinesses

Writing was the second thing that saved me. I wrote and wrote, and rediscovered myself through this second journey. Along the way, my writing got longer and better. I learned something of this eternal and elusive art. And I set out to write a full book. 

Today, a decade later, thanks to dozens of helpful angels small and large, my story is now published. With deep joy and a touch of exhaustion, I can announce that it is here, my book, Double Happiness, the story of the two happinesses. 

I offer it – and all my writing – as a gift, first to the people, land, and spirits of China; second, to the many angels who helped me find my path to being a happy person; and third, and most of all, as a gift for people everywhere who might learn or benefit from my discoveries. 

May it be helpful to you, and to all who seek happiness, whether you are able to travel yourself or only to travel from an armchair. 

Trust yourself, have fun, take chances.

Q & A with Author Leah Konen

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Leah Konen is a writer living in San Francisco. She is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied journalism and creative writing. Her work has been published in Elle Decor, Good Housekeeping's Quick & Simple, Parenting, The Fiscal Times, and several regional newspapers and magazines. She has stopped by to chat with me about her debut novel, The After Girls...

Have you always wanted to be a writer? 

In a way, I think so, though maybe I didn’t always know it! I never really thought of it as a profession, per se, but as a kid (I was a definite “inside kid”), I spent hours crafting stories on our old PC. There were fairies. A lot of fairies. And magical lands. And unassuming girls who got to explore said lands.

What inspired you to write your first book?

THE AFTER GIRLS came first as a title. I can’t say where it came from--it just did. From there, I began thinking about what would take a group of friends from before to “after” more than anything else. The answer was suicide, and all the guilt, confusion and heartbreak that come with it. More than anything, that is what I was exploring in THE AFTER GIRLS. 

Now that you have published your first novel, did you have any expectations on the process? If you did, were they met? If not, what have you learned that could help other writers?

It still feels very surreal. When I see my book in a library or bookstore or anything like that, or when I hear from a fan whom I’ve never met and loves it, I almost feel like it’s not really happening. Like I’m somehow fooling everyone around me! I try to take a step back and remind myself that, indeed, it is happening, but it’s difficult.For aspiring authors, I’d suggest that they enjoy the writing process--in many ways, it’s a lot more fun (and less stressful) than the publishing process. You’ve got to be in it for the joy that comes from the writing itself.

What was the hardest part writing your book?

Finishing! Letting your baby out into the world for it to be judged and noticed and hopefully loved. 

Your book has gotten some favorable reviews, was there something or someone that inspired the theme of your story? 

At first, no. But about halfway through writing, a friend of mine passed away at a young age from cancer. Friendship and grief became incredibly real to me, and it definitely affected how I wrote THE AFTER GIRLS. 

What message do you hope people who read your book take away from your book?

That friendship is everything and that life is beautiful and worth living, no matter what you’re going through.

What book would you say you were most inspired by?

Though it doesn’t have much to do with the themes of THE AFTER GIRLS, I learned pretty much everything I know about writing from obsessively reading Jane Austen.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you are working on?

Yes--and a really exciting one at that--I can’t reveal too much, but it’s also set in the South, and it focuses much more on romance than on friendship. 

What are you currently reading?

“The Stranger Beside Me,” a true crime story about the Ted Bundy murders. Don’t ask.

Do you have any advice on aspiring writers?

A great quote by W. Somerset Maugham is this: “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” I’d say my only real advice is just to keep on writing.

For more information on Leah, you can visit her at the following links:
www.leahkonen.com
TWITTER: @leahkonen
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/leahkonenauthor
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16225093-the-after-girls

Q & A with New York Bestselling Author Susan Mallery

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New York Times Bestselling Author, Susan Mallery is one of the most beloved and anticipated authors out today. Through her insightful and tender narratives of women and their relationships, her engaging stories has rewarded her with over 100 romance & women fiction novels published to date. As her loyal fans eagerly await the release of each book, her success is a testimony to the power of her pen. I chat with Susan about her readers and on being a writer. 

How did you become a writer?

I was actually in college, studying to be an accountant, when I saw a local adult education center offering classes on “how to write a romance novel.” I’d been reading romances since I was about 13 and decided to take the class. I’d never written a book before, but thought I should start one before the class.

It was an 8 week class and by week 6 I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life. But I wrote while I was in college and when I graduated, I had to make a decision. I had a job offer with an accounting firm. But I really wanted to be a writer. My husband and I agreed I would give myself 2 years to sell, so I turned down the accounting job and started writing fulltime. That was May and I sold in August of the same year. I’ve been a fulltime writer ever since.

As an author, finding that inspiration can be hard when you are trying to ignite that spark to write the perfect story. With such amazing characters, where do you get your ideas from?

Ideas come from everywhere. Situations I find myself in, songs, movies, conversa­tions I’ve overheard. (Okay, I admit it—I overhear those conversations because I’m intentionally eavesdropping. When you talk in public, you must realize a writer may be hanging on every deeply personal word.) The idea starts with a spark. The tough part is building that spark into a novel-length story. Some times an idea doesn’t go anywhere, and I have to save it for another day, when it might merge with another spark and become something wonderful.

The spark that led to BAREFOOT SEASON, the first book of the Blackberry Island series, was a thought that flitted into my head from I don’t know where – a gift from the universe. What if you and your best friend fell in love with the same man, and then he proposed to her You’re her best friend, so of course she wants you to be her maid of honor. And then... what if he tells you that he made a mistake, chose the wrong girl? BAREFOOT SEASON deals with the fallout of this scenario, ten years later.

The Fool’s Gold series of romance novels was initially inspired by a news story about the census. I thought of how interesting it would be if the census discovered that a town faced a serious man shortage. How would the women in town react? Would men begin to arrive in town by the busload, thinking there are women ripe for the picking?

You seem to be a very disciplined writer. What is your daily routine?

My writing process is fairly organized. I write every day and my goal is a set number of pages. Before I start a book, I do a detailed outline. I like to know I’ve worked out all the problems before I dive into the book. A typical day with me starts with e-mail, then pages.

My goal is to get my writing done in the morning so I can spend afternoons doing other things like answering fan mail, posting to Facebook or Twitter, or dealing with my website. I am always thinking four or five books ahead, so I might be reading a weird non-fiction book to give me back ground or doing research on the Internet. However, the pages come first. If it takes me until midnight, that’s how long it takes.

With all the success you have had, what has influenced you the most in developing as a writer?

I’ve studied a lot of screenwriting and that’s been a big influence for me. I have no interest in writing a screenplay, but I like the structure and the rules of it. I was living in Los Angeles when I first learned to write and there are all kinds of seminars and classes available there. I try to study with experts. I’ve taken characterization classes taught by psychologists and setting classes taught by poets. I still study. 18 years and over 100 books later, I read about writing craft, buy DVDs on screenwriting and listen to workshops in CD in my car.

Alright, it's just us. Are your characters based on people that you know or are they just pretend?

My characters are strictly fictional. Real people don’t fit well into stories. However, I will include situations I’ve heard about or experienced, which can be fun. 

You are one of the few authors I have seen that seem to be warm and engaging with their fans. How much does their support mean to you?

Fan support is everything to an author. I have published more than 100 books you can’t do that without a lot of very loyal, eager fans who rush out to buy your latest book the day it’s released. I have a very special group of fans called the Fool’s Gold Varsity Cheerleaders. These women are super-fans. They drive around their towns with Fool’s Gold car magnets on their cars, wearing a Fool’s Gold T-shirt, handing out Fool’s Gold bookmarks, and basically telling other readers about the books they love. I am humbled and honored by these very special women

Why do you think your novels resonate so much with women. I mean, when your novel comes out, it's like Black Friday shopping. Is there a particular reader that comes to mind when you are writing?

I believe there are universal themes we all connect with, especially as women. The need to bond, to create a family unit is biological. Romance novels affirm our desire to love, to have a mate, to have children. There is power in the ability to love fearlessly. Power in overcoming adversity, whether it lives inside ourselves or comes from an external force. Most women adore a good love story.

I do write with a specific reader in mind. She’s a mother with three kids and her husband is out of town. All three kids have the stomach flu, her washing machine is broken, and her husband won’t be home until the next day. She finally gets the kids in bed and has an hour or so for herself. She fills the bathtub to relax, grabs my book and sinks into the warm water, prepared to get swept away.

My job is to make her forget her aching back, the pile of laundry and the exhaustion dragging her down. My job is to make her laugh, cry and keep turning the pages, even after the bath water gets cold. My job is to make her believe that happy endings really do happen to everyone, especially women like her.

There are so many writers who get defeated and give up. Based on your success as a writer, what advice can you give them?

Don’t give up. Talent helps, but there are thousands of amazingly talented writers
who will never sell because they won’t start the book or finish the book or submit the book. The ones who sell, the ones who have a career, are the ones who don’t give up. Ever! You never know when the book you’re writing is going to be “the
one.” How horrible would it be to give up on the very project that was finally going to allow you to achieve your dream?

To find out the latest information on Susan, you can go to: 
http://www.susanmallery.com/
http://www.goodreads.com/susanmallery
http://www.facebook.com/SusanMallery
http://twitter.com/susanmallery