fuonlyknew

Why do you write?

I write because I like it. I never intended to become a writer (I wanted to be a lawyer, and I am one), but I’ve always read quite a bit, and one day decided to try and write a novel. Through a number of fortuitous circumstances, that novel was published, along with two more. I don’t consider good writing, or at least writing at the level I want to do it, easy. But I enjoy it.

How do you come up with your ideas?

I get asked this question a lot, and don’t have a pat answer. I guess I try to pick topics that are interesting to me, and maybe address them in ways they haven’t been addressed before (or at least that I’ve never seen so addressed). The Return is about a black woman who claims to be Christ returned—I had never seen that. The Gendarme tells the story of the Armenian Genocide, but from the point of view of one of the Turkish policemen—I had never seen that, either. Boy With Wings is about a boy, well, with wings. That seemed pretty unique, too.

Do you aim for any particular genre?

Not really. I suppose I’m drawn to historical fiction, as I like to learn things when writing a book, and I love history. Both The Gendarme and Boy With Wings are in large part historical. I prefer, though, not to be pigeonholed. Sometimes this is a blessing in the market, as the book can compete in a number of different categories. For instance, Boy With Wings has won awards in literary fiction, historical fiction and paranormal fiction categories. On the other hand, sometimes booksellers and others don’t know what to do with you if you cross established genres.

How much time do you devote to the publicity of your books?

It varies, but generally a lot. It’s not necessarily the preferred way to spend my time, but if you want people to actually read your books, you don’t have much choice. Even with a big five publisher, I pulled out all the stops, contacting my college and law school alma mater, running down contacts, putting together my own book tour. For Boy With Wings, which is with a smaller publisher, I told myself I would spend at least two hours per day doing nothing but marketing, and I have. I saw somewhere that a well-known sci-fi author employes two full-time publicists, which I thought was over the top, but when you get down to it, just responding to requests, trying to get your book in front of people, asking for responses and then following up takes an enormous amount of time. It would be nice to just put your book out and focus only on writing the next one, but most authors don’t have that luxury.

Do you read when you write?

I do. I know a lot of authors don’t, or say they don’t, to avoid another author’s voice creeping into their work. That’s never been a problem (I don’t think) for me, as usually I have two or three books I’m reading at one time, either audiobooks or actual hardbacks or paperbacks. I like to hear other voices, and to examine how other authors do things.

Can you read poorly written books?

Not happily. I’ve been asked to blurb several books that, when I actually read them, I cringed at the writing. One seemed to be written at a tenth-grade level. It’s not that every book I read has to be a masterpiece of the English language, but when it isn’t, it’s noticeable to me. Books can be okay if they’re only adequately written, but never great.

Give us some suggestions of recent books you thought were great.

Sweet Sorrow by David Nichols

The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

Fate and Furies by Lauren Groff