|
Written by Editor
|
|
Monday, 20 August 2007 |
An Interview with Magdalena Ball
 Sleep Before Evening
Maggie Ball: I think with all first novels, there's a grab-bag of almost inchoate experiences, sensations, and notions which are fermenting and floating around for a long time, so that the book is a kind of culmination of years of wanting to write a novel. But the specific point at which I started working on Sleep as a cohesive structure I had been reviewing quite a number of writing books, and was particularly charged to pull the short stories and ideas together by Dan Poynter's The Self Publishing Manual -- which talked about the process of constructing a book before writing it. I like to really test drive the books I review, so I actually did exactly what he suggested -- got a loose-leaf binder and created a pretty cover with my working title (which was "Broken Words" at the time) and my name nice and bold. Then I did a back cover with fake glowing blurbs (from people like Rushdie, Barnes, and Carey -- laugh) and even a pretend bar code, and began creating chapters with rough descriptions in each of what happened. The funny thing was that once I did that, I started to yearn to create it, and with a clear and workable structure before me, I started writing. I gave Dan's book a positive review (it was a good book which I continue to recommend), but had no idea at the time that the binder would keep growing and growing (I did eventually ditch it, but that visualization was very powerful for me) until it really was a novel.
Lauren Smith: Where did you get your inspiration for writing this? Where did this story come from? |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 02 November 2007 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Editor
|
|
Tuesday, 14 August 2007 |
Eye Contact - A Conversation with Cammie McGovern  Eye Contact
Penny Sansevieri: Tell us a little bit about your background. Eye Contact is definitely not your first book.
Cammie McGovern: No it’s my second.
Penny Sansevieri: What was your first book?
Cammie McGovern: Called the Art of Seeing and it came out maybe four years ago and that is a story about sisters one of whom is an actress who gets into movies at a relatively young age as my own sister did who is Elizabeth McGovern.
Penny Sansevieri: Okay. Wonderful. Now Eye Contact though is very different. It’s very different from the Art of Seeing.
Cammie McGovern: Yes, I’d say so. It’s much more of a mystery and Art of Seeing was more of a literary novel if you put these things into types.
Penny Sansevieri: Right, right exactly. But Eye Contact especially now it seems like you like to write about things that you’re passionate about. Eye Contact especially which is a story of an autistic child who witnesses a murder. Where did the inspiration for this book come from?
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Editor
|
|
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
Speaking with the co-author, Taryn Simpson  The Mango Tree Cafe
Taryn Simpson: I'm a professional ghostwriter and he contacted a writer friend of mine to "polish and punch up" his rough draft. When my friend learned it was a fictional novel, she contacted me since that is my specialty to see if I was interested. I read the synopsis and was hooked. After discussing the book with him via email over a period of days, we decided to work together as co-authors.
Lauren Smith: Why did you decide to write a book together?
Taryn Simpson: For me, it wasn't a matter of "deciding". I knew I had to. I felt that Alan had a diamond in the rough and I knew it would take the combination of both our talents to make it come to fruition.
Lauren Smith: Tell us about this story. |
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 05 November 2007 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Editor
|
|
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
An Interview with Susan Richard Shreve
 A Student of Living Things
Susan Richards Shreve: It’s great to be here! (Laughter)
Penny Sansevieri: What an amazing background! You have 12 novels and 26 books for children.
Susan Richards Shreve: I do! I have – I started to write books for children when I had four children, and you learn to – you learn a balancing act with four children. |
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 20 August 2007 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Editor
|
|
Wednesday, 02 May 2007 |
|
We are a part of the Virtual Book Review Network.
|
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 20 August 2007 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
| Results 10 - 14 of 14 |
Reviews 
