My guest today brings a story with an anthropological nature. Please help me welcome author Richard W. Wise to the interview hot seat! Let’s take a look at his background and then find out more about his stories.
Richard W. Wise is the author of four books: bestseller SECRETS OF THE GEM TRADE, THE CONNOISSEUR’S GUIDE (originally published in 2001, second revised edition in 2016), THE FRENCH BLUE (2010)—an award-winning historical novel, and the mystery/thriller REDLINED: A NOVEL OF BOSTON (2020). He lives with his wife, Rebekah, and their two cats (Charlie and Sammy) in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
Richard: The magnificent cave paintings at Chauvet Cave in Southern France.
Betty: What, if any, new writing skill did you develop while working on this story?
Richard: I think I improved my character development.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
Richard: The personalities of the two protagonists, particularly the female Lada. She is kidnapped by Neanderthals and given a choice to marry one or remain a slave. How she deals with that choice and her conflicted feelings when she discovers she is pregnant with a child by one of the men who murdered her father and all her friends.
Betty: Which character(s) were the easiest to get to know? Why do you think?
Richard: Again, Lada. Writing about a woman who existed prior to the Judeo-Christian ethos.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
Richard: I read a number of books on the Aurignacian Period in France. 40-30,000 BP. Also, books by archeologists detailing what we know about the customs, technology, physical morphology crafts and art of both Neanderthals and Cro Magnons. The climate, available plants and animals of the European Ice Age.
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
Richard: Seven.
Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?
Richard: It took about four years part-time. I began it in 2016 just after finishing the revision (2nd edition) of my first book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade. I had almost finished, Redlined: A Novel of Boston (2019-20), but my agent suggested a number of revisions and I had to drop this book and concentrate on the former for a while.
Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?
Richard: I have the habit of being erratic. I don’t have set days or times, but I do write quite a lot. I’m disciplined in an undisciplined way.
Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?
Richard: “Just and first.” My characters do smile and nod quite a bit. I also use “quite” a lot.
Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?
Richard: I admire a number of writers: Hemingway, Tolkien, Bernard Cornwell.
Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?
Richard: I have a separate office/library/reading room.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
Richard: I’m a retired goldsmith/gemologist/gem dealer. I was head of the company and wrote my first two books while I was running that business.
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Richard: Well, I guess I’d have to say, my first book. It had a major impact on the gem industry and made me quite well off.
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
Richard: Historical fiction.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Richard: I’d like to be a good writer that people read. Improving my craft is important to me.
31,000 BC:
The Dawning tells an age-old story of deadly struggle, the heart-rending tale of young love—its aspirations, pain, disappointments and eventual triumph.
Ejil and Lada, son and daughter of a Cro-Magnon tribe (on the verge of adulthood) have begun to explore their maturing feelings when an encounter with a clan of Neanderthal hunters tears their Ice Age world apart. Lada is lost and Ejil finds himself embarked on a desperate odyssey to find the mother tribe.
The Neanderthals, a pale skinned people, occupied Ice Age Europe for three hundred thousand years. Dark-skinned Cro-Magnons, our direct ancestors, appeared forty-five thousand years ago. Five thousand years later, the Neanderthals had disappeared. What happened when our two ancestral peoples came face to face on the ice bound plains of prehistory?
Travel back 33,000 years into our deep past. Set against the backdrop of the fabulous painted caves of Southern France, follow the gripping tale of two young lovers and the sweeping narrative of ancient cultures met in bloody conflict.
I applaud you, Richard, for tackling ancient history like this. I have studied anthropology in the 1990s and loved the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel (well, most of the books in that series). I hope this one finds its audience! Thanks for stopping by.
Happy reading!
Betty
Award-winning Author of Historical Fiction with Heart, and Haunting, Bewitching Love Stories
Visit www.bettybolte.com for a complete list of my books and appearances.
Please help me welcome author Matt Lucas to the interview hot seat! Let’s take a gander at his bio and then find out more about what he has to share with us today.
Matthew C. (“Matt”) Lucas was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, and lives there now with his wife, their two sons, dog, and axolotl. He writes speculative fiction that ranges from dark and epic, to droll and historic, to a lot of stuff in between. His published novels include The Mountain (Montag Press) and Yonder & Far: The Lost Lock (Ellysian Press), with two more novels (including the next Yonder & Far adventure) set to be released in late 2023 or early 2024. Matt’s shorter works have appeared in Bards & Sages Quarterly, The Society of Misfit Stories, Sword & Sorcery Magazine, and Best Indie Speculative Fiction.
When he’s not working, enjoying his family, writing, or playing the bagpipes (badly), he can be found at the neighborhood bowling alley, an enthusiastic if not especially talented regular.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
Matthew:Yonder & Far: The Lost Lock came about after I had read Susanna Clarke’s delightful Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (for the third or fourth time) and thought to myself how fun it would be to craft a historical fantasy in that same vein, but set in the United States … and told from the point of view of the fae … and with a dash of Casablanca. With that impetus, and after a fair amount of historical research, the book practically wrote itself.
Betty: What, if any, new writing skill did you develop while working on this story?
Matthew:Definitely historical research. This is my first novel of historical fiction, and I wanted to get the details as right as possible. I am not, however, a professional (or even an amateur) historian. So it took some time for me to find good sources that could provide a holistic overview of the late eighteenth century in the United States as well as more granular details about specific story points I wanted to flesh out (e.g., legal proceedings in post-Colonial Boston, the origins of Prince Hall Freemasonry, Age of Sail mechanics, and so forth).
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
Matthew:I’m a discovery writer (i.e., a “pantser”), so I usually go into a new novel with a good idea about what will happen in the beginning, a fair idea about how it will end, and no idea about the middle. Middles are where I spend the most time in my writing, and Yonder & Far: The Lost Lock was no exception.
Betty: Which character(s) were the easiest to get to know? Why do you think?
Matthew:John Yonder came pretty easily (although his partner, Captain Far, was a close second). Some of Yonder’s lines, I swear, I heard them spoken in my ear while I was writing. He’s a fussy, preening, pompous, lawyerly little fellow of simple pleasures. For some reason, I can channel him pretty easily. Make of that what you will.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
Matthew:I read a couple of “general history” books, a couple of presidential biographies, some guy’s master’s thesis on Boston in the 1790’s (that was, fortuitously, posted online for whatever reason), and I looked at a lot of maps.
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
Matthew:As a discovery writer, my writing process usually has me going over the prior day’s work before writing anything new. So the first completed version of my drafts takes a little longer to complete, but it’s usually about 80% finished by the time I write “The End.” So, really, it only took two versions—the initial and the edited final—before I felt the story was complete. My editors (God bless them) had other ideas. We went through somewhere between ten and twelve passes of the whole manuscript before the book was released last year.
Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?
Matthew:It took about a year. And that’s right on track for my method of writing. I’m a daily word-count writer (I try for around 500 a day, not including Sundays), which puts me on pace to finish a first draft of a 100,000-word novel in about twelve months.
Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?
Matthew:I drink a lot while I write … Half a pot of coffee, at least.
Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?
Matthew:Arching eyebrows, nods, and smiles. I end up editing a lot of them out because my first drafts have my characters communicating like mimes.
Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?
Matthew:I think Patrick O’Brian’s writing is superb. His Aubrey Maturin books are an amazing amalgam of flowing prose, richly drawn characters, high-stakes action, and impeccable historical research (that never overwhelms the story).
Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?
Matthew:For writing and revising, we have a small den with a window to the backyard and a framed picture of a peacock that I end up staring at a lot. That’s where I do my fiction writing. Reading can be anywhere, but usually it’s on the couch in the living room.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
Matthew:I do have a day job, and I love it. I’ve been a state appellate judge for the past eight years—a job that entails, interestingly enough, an enormous amount of reading and writing.
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Matthew:It’s been a few years, but honestly, I’m still on cloud nine each time I get an offer of publication from a publisher. That’s a thrill I don’t think any author ever forgets. More recently, I was proud that Yonder & Far: The Lost Lock took second place in the historical fantasy category of the spring 2023 BookFest Award.
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
Matthew:Right now, historical fantasy.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Matthew:For me, success is reaching an audience that enjoys the kind of stories I do: fantastic adventures told with a little bit of a literary flare; page-turning speculative fiction that also wrangles with the deeper issues of life. If I can entertain those readers, the time and effort I’ve put into my writing will have been worth it.
Boston 1798. John Yonder, Esquire has accepted a seemingly simple case. He need only recover a magical lock of hair for a spurned lady. She had given it to her lover, Wylde, who is somewhere in Boston. The problem is, neither Yonder nor his murderous, wine-soaked partner, Captain Far, have any idea how to find him. But Yonder has an idea: he tricks a fortuneteller, Mary Faulkner, into assisting with the case. With a whisper in her ear, he tethers Mary’s mind to Wylde’s, creating a terrible, but potent human compass.
Following Mary’s guidance, the trio sets out after Wylde. Hapless sailors, pirates, slave owners, and a host of others hinder the path to Wylde. In the end, Yonder, Far, and Mary learn that the man they’re after, the lock of hair he’s carrying, and the client who hired them are not at all what they seem.
My guest author today has quite a story to share with us, both about her writing inspiration and process and the book she’s talking about. A quick peek at her bio, and then let’s dive right in!
LENORE HART is the author of eight books, including the novels Waterwoman (a Barnes &Noble Discover selection),Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher, and The Raven’s Bride. Two novels have been optioned for film. She’s the series editor of three Night Bazaar fantastic fiction anthologies. A Shirley Jackson Award finalist, Hart has received prizes, grants, and fellowships from arts organizations in the US, Ireland, and Germany. Her short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and journals. She’s a writer for the Kevin Anderson Agency in New York City, and teaches fiction writing at the Ossabaw Island Writers Retreat in Savannah. Forthcoming is a historical folkloric novel, The Alchemy of Light, from Milford House/Sunbury Press. She lives in Virginia, in a Victorian-era farmhouse on the Chesapeake Bay, with her husband, novelist David Poyer, two cats, and two peahens.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
Lenore: I was in my last year of graduate school, getting my MFA in creative writing, and realized I’d run out of stories to hand in for that semester’s writing workshops. I had a vague idea of a story I wanted to write; a scribbled note that said: “Two elderly sisters live alone in a house on a remote island, and they are angry at each other. It has something to do with a man.” That was all I had at the moment, but classes were about to start. As the mother of a five year old, who was teaching two classes and commuting 120 miles round trip to the university, I felt panicked. When would I have any writing time? So in desperation I spent a long weekend secluded at a friend’s house intending to crank out what I thought would be a short story based on that mingy paragraph. Instead a rather different story came pouring out as if it was being downloaded directly to my brain. My friend Nancy kept me fed, supplied an occasional glass of wine, and made trips to the local library to get me needed research books. I wrote over 37,000 words (about 125 pages) in less than three days. It was a novel, not a short story. And that MS later became first my book-length MFA thesis, and then my first mainstream novel, published by the Berkley imprint of Penguin Putnam in 2002.
Betty: What, if any, new writing skill did you develop while working on this story?
Lenore: I’m not sure it’s exactly a concrete writing skill, but I learned a lot about how crucial it is to stop being self-critical or second-guess myself too early in the creative process – in other words, to listen to and respect The Muse when she comes calling. Otherwise the writer risks sending her away for good to greener, more receptive pastures.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
Lenore: The odd thing about this book is that is was not much of a struggle at all. I revised it only maybe three times in total before I sent it out for submission. I also had several working watermen read it, and they thought it was accurate and moving. But after Putnam acquired it, I expected to receive an editorial letter and revision guidance from my editor there, yet she said she had none. “I believe it’s wonderful as it is now, and I don’t want to tamper with the unique voice.”
Well, I was astounded to say the least. How could that be? Actually, this made me very nervous, even anxious. I don’t really believe in perfection, at least not for us humans. I called her up and asked her to reconsider: wasn’t there anything she’d like more, or less of? Finally she said I might consider lengthening a scene early on at the post office when Annie (protagonist) receives a love letter from war-torn France, which she mistakenly thinks is for her, rather than for her sister Rebecca. I thanked my editor profusely and did just that, feeling much better. I still wonder if she did it mainly to humor me . . . anyhow, I would like to stress that this has not been the experience with my other novels. They all came much harder and required many more revisions. I think I received a truly magical gift with Waterwoman, that first one!
Betty: Which character(s) were the easiest to get to know? Why do you think?
Lenore: Annie Revels, my protagonist. I had a lot in common with her – save for all the time out on the water; I don’t even fish, I get seasick easily, and I have fair skin that burns after about five minutes in the sun! But she was considered too “boyish” and had trouble fitting in with the social mores of her time; wanted more from life but was trapped in isolation, and thus frustrated, and she longed for a partner in life who understood and accepted her. I think those are universal issues many readers can relate to, as well.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
Lenore: Again, this novel was atypical for me (as I would find out later.) I had lived on the Eastern Shore by then for about 8 years, and so – as a history buff – I already knew a bit about its past, and about the landscape and people. I had never been out on a waterman’s boat though and knew only a little about the calling (I don’t think it’s a mere “job”). And I am and always have been a stickler for historical accuracy in my work and in the books I choose to read. But again, I was terribly short on time to write, so I got a stack of books about the Shore’s history and about waterman of that period (1900-1921.) And I read them as I wrote, and after I stopped writing, until I went to sleep. When I came up hard against a spot where I needed a particular word or phrase or technical information, I looked it up. But again, it was odd, in that – as I mentioned before – the whole story came so fast and furious, and felt so sure and true as I typed it, I didn’t have to even do a lot of that. It was actually a bit creepy, in retrospect. Almost as if someone was telling me their own story; one they’d waited a long time to have seen and told. I can’t explain it all any better than that – even to myself!
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
Lenore: As I mentioned, three in total. The first draft on the long weekend; a second draft to enlarge on that to meet the required word count for my MFA thesis; and once again before it was submitted to three presses: Putnam, Crown, and one other I’ve forgotten. There was something of a bidding war between Putnam and Crown, but ultimately I went with the former.
Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?
Lenore: Not at all typical. For example, I took five years to complete my later novel Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher. Almost four years of reading and research, and the rest spent writing and revising. Other novels have taken a year to two or three years. Waterwoman, when I added all the reading, writing and revisions, took less than five months in total. I do wish it would happen that way again, as with Waterwoman. But so far – not! Maybe a writer only gets one of those “ultimate downloads” in a lifetime?
Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?
Lenore: My most effective ritual is to run away from home while I write the first draft of a manuscript. I have to have quiet in order to concentrate – it’s less crucial at the revision stage — and that isn’t the situation at home! My hideout needn’t be fancy. I’ve written first drafts on a fellowship at a lovely writers’ retreat in Germany, and I’ve written them in a friend’s uninsulated office over his boat shed. It’s just the act of getting away to concentrate and work that’s important.
I don’t have a lucky pen or special computer software or anything like that. I write a detailed synopsis of the novel first, about 7 to ten pages long, so I’m sure I grasp the basic events, characters, and trajectory of the story. Some people (like my husband) prefer chapter outlines, but I get too bogged down in them; a synopsis works better for me. But I do feel some kind of planning tool is crucial, and I reject the idea (which I’ve been told more than once) that an outline or synopsis is too “inorganic” or not “creative.” In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Knowing as much as you can before you begin is freeing for the writer. Once that guide is in hand, you no longer have to worry “Where is this going?” or “What comes next?” You already know; just look at your outline or synopsis and there’s no excuse for writer’s block (which I think is mostly just the writer’s version of “I don’t wanna get up and go to work today”). A plan frees you to be as creative as you like without worrying if you’re getting too far off track (been there, got the T-shirt) and if you encounter a need for changes, well – it’s a computer file, not a concrete building. Easy to update as needed!
Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?
Lenore: Oh lord, yes. Though mine are so boring I hate to even list them. But here goes: a bit, little, small. As a writing prof I’m well aware of avoiding too many repetitive tags like “he smiled” and awkward, negative-attention-drawing words like “strode” or “torso”. But I just . . . can’t . . . seem to shake . . that darn . . . list! So I go looking for them in my last revision with Find and Replace to stamp them out – yet again.
Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?
Lenore: Early on I took writers I met and whose behavior I admired as my role models for how to act like a decent person-slash-author. Ray Bradbury was one; a kinder, more patient, humble or humorous soul you could not find. I felt very lucky to make his acquaintance. Also, when I was learning about the craft early on – a good writer is always still learning — I had mentors who helped me immensely: novelist Janet Peery, short story writer Lee K. Abbott, nonfiction writer Philip Gerard, editor/teacher Frank Green, and of course my husband, novelist David Poyer. We still read, comment on, and line edit every single MS the other produces, no matter how long or short.
Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?
Lenore: I like to write away from home, as I said earlier. It needn’t be a fancy place, but should be a fairly quiet one, or it just won’t work!
I can revise (unless it’s a really complex and long change) pretty much anywhere, including at home, despite cats jumping on me, the phone ringing (mostly telemarketers) and my husband watching loud news-clip videos in the next office.
I can and do read anywhere, though my favorite spots are on the back screened porch, which overlooks a tidal creek just off the Chesapeake Bay — and in bed at night before I go to sleep.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
Lenore: For many years my day job was teaching creative writing, mostly in colleges and universities, sometimes as a visiting professor or writer in residence. Previous to becoming a full-time writer, in Florida (my natal state) I was a librarian, in such varied settings as a state mental hospital’s forensic unit; at the Florida Department of Commerce, and finally in 25-branch public library system in Jacksonville. Later I was fiction faculty in the country’s largest low-residence MFA program for 16 years. I have been (and still am) core faculty at the Ossabaw Island Writers Retreat, an excellent workshop and retreat-based getaway for aspiring authors that crams a lot of information about how to succeed in a short stay, while also offering a gorgeous unspoiled setting on an undeveloped Georgia barrier wildlife island refuge. I also have a community-based writing workshop at a local arts center which has been ongoing for 27 years now. I’m happy to say that a good number of my students there have been quite successful: receiving publishing contracts, including with NY houses, being finalists for or winning literary awards, receiving conference or retreat fellowships, and even becoming Amazon bestsellers. I still teach the local workshop because I do enjoy teaching, seeing them improve and become skilled writers, and I like helping beginning writers start out on the path to publication well-prepared!
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Lenore: Being able to keep publishing – poetry, short stories, and book-length fiction – nonstop, since my college days in the late 1970s! I feel very fortunate indeed to have the craft of writing shape and inform my whole career.
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
Lenore: Oh dear. A hard question, since my tastes are very eclectic and tend to evolve over time. I read mostly novels, story collections/anthologies, and memoirs. But my favorite genres, fiction or nonfiction, usually draw heavily on either fairy tales, folklore, or mythology to inform their themes, plot, and underlying structure. Those old, archetypal stories are both a big side interest, and a big influence on my own work.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Lenore: Definitely the joy option, as with other aspects of life, even though there are always low points. But I would celebrate still being able to keep at it, over three decades later. And – though I’ve been known to carp about how hard first drafts are, since my favorite part is revision – the fact that I never grow tired of the process, and have been able to make it work as my primary career for so long. The unhappiest writers I’ve met went into writing feeling sure they’d get fabulously rich, probably right away, with their first book. As if – especially these days! They probably should have gone into a field that more readily assures such a goal. For that kind of success is the exception, not the rule, in publishing, an industry in which success is also heavily dependent on sheer luck. But even if I never made another cent from writing, I would still be a writer. It’s not really even a choice for me, but rather an essential and basic part of my existence! And I’m very satisfied with my fate.
Even as a child in 1920s Virginia, plain and boyish Annie Revels had everyone’s role in life figured out. Everyone’s except her own. Her mother was sickly and needed to be taken care of. Her little sister Rebecca was remarkably beautiful, while Annie was not. Her father was a waterman, a free-looking life Annie deeply envied and could’ve had, if only she’d been born a son. But a waterman wants no women aboard his boat; it’s bad luck.
Tiny, remote Yaupon Island knows nothing of the partying, gin-soaked Roaring Twenties which grip the rest of the country. The Revels family depends on the coastal waters to make their living, and tragedy is always only a bad storm away. As Annie notes, “In order to live on the Shore, you need to understand that good weather always follows bad.” But when her father dies suddenly, it falls to Annie to take his place aboard the oyster boat and support what’s left of her family. Out on the water, she’s free for the first time. It seems Annie’s found a life she can enjoy, even if the watermen around there shun her. Then one day, stuck on a sandbar, she meets a handsome hunting guide named Nathan. And finally, against her better judgement, she takes him home to meet her mother and sister. His presence in that house of women upsets the family’s uneasy balance, bringing joy – but also discontent, jealousy, rivalry – and ultimately, tragedy for them all.
Lenore, you’ve had quite a diverse and impressive career! Thanks for sharing The Waterwoman with us—I’m adding it to my TBR now. I’ve always been in love with and fascinated by the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, so this sounds right up my alley.
Happy reading!
Betty
Award-winning Author of Historical Fiction with Heart, and Haunting, Bewitching Love Stories
Visit www.bettybolte.com for a complete list of my books and appearances.
My guest today is Claire Waters, a character appearing out of the pages of California Sister by author Gloria Mattioni. I understand Claire is a little nervous, so please help me welcome her to the interview hot seat! But first, here’s a bit about the author before we get to know Claire a bit better.
Gloria Mattioni is an award-winning feature writer and the award-winning author of California Sister. She previously published Reckless – The Outrageous Lives of Nine Kick-Ass Women and Dakota Warrior. Additionally, she published in Italy a novel, Con Altri Occhi, and three non-fiction books, Guerriero Dakota, Wild Women, and La Tribù dei Mangiatori di Sogni. As soon as her new novel, California Sister, was completed, she started writing her second novel, a mystery along the lines of the books written by Claire Waters, the main character and narrator of California Sister. Growing up, Mattioni dreamed of being a pirate, an astronaut and an explorer but she was a storyteller since she learned to speak in complete sentences. She’s been, among other things, an investigative reporter, human rights activist, animal rescuer, editor and magazine writer.
She was born in Milan, Italy, but moved to Los Angeles in 1992. She still lives in California with her husband and rescue dog, conjures six impossible things every morning before breakfast, and travels much. She loves hiking in the mountains, swimming and surfing in the ocean, but also getting lost on city streets or jump in her car for impromptu road trips.
Betty: Do you know how to swim? How did you learn, if so?
Claire: My father threw me in the lake from a boat with a rope tied around my waist when I was two. That’s why his father taught him how to swim. I learned. I was two.
Betty: What do you think is your greatest failure?
Claire: Not having saved my sister. Why? Because I was so sure I could!
Betty: What is the most wonderful thing that has happened to you?
Claire: My sister.
Betty: If you could change the past, what would you change?
Claire: My sister would still be healthy and alive.
Betty: What’s your greatest fear? Who else knows about it?
Betty: If you could live anywhere, where would you live?
Claire: Where I do. Los Angeles.
Betty: How do you like to relax?
Claire: I never relax.
Betty: What genre of books do you most enjoy reading?
Claire: Thrillers.
Betty: How do you like to start your day?
Claire: Hiking in the woods or on Griffith Park trails.
Betty: What kinds of friends do you have?
Claire: Few but true ones. Mainly from my younger years spent in Italy.
Betty: Who would you like to meet? Why?
Claire: The Dalai Lama. Hoping some of his wisdom would rub off on me. Alternatively, John Lennon.
California Sister is a dual-narration story of fierce love, loss and redemption. It is contemporary fiction inspired by my personal experience. An Italian-born writer who moved to Los Angeles in 1992, I had my own “California dream” suddenly interrupted the day I received a call from Italy informing me that my sister, Marina, had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage. I dropped everything and ran to her side. I ended up remaining there nearly three years, running from one hospital stay to a rehabilitation clinic, and finally taking her home with me.
I wanted to share what I learned from this heart-breaking experience to help others who struggle to communicate with family members impaired by physical or mental limitations while having to make decisions on their behalf. But I was unable to write a memoir without breaking down. I needed the distance that fiction provides to write more objectively. Fiction also allowed me to give my silent sister her voice back, getting into her head and letting her express what I felt she would have said if she could.
A sister’s love vs. a cruel fate. A story of fierce love and heartbreaking grief. Claire Waters, an Italian mystery writer living in Los Angeles, rushes to Italy after her older sister’s devastating brain-hemorrhage, determined to restore her health—or help her die with dignity. Claire is a gritty decision-maker, a lone wolf who values freedom above all else. Her sister, Ondina—now walking on the edge of death or a severely limited life—is wise, cautious, and sociable. They may be different, but have remained close despite the distance. Claire is faced with a dilemma impossible to solve. Would her non-verbal sister want to go on struggling, damaged as she is, or end her suffering? Forsaking her career, Claire hardly leaves her sister’s side, refusing to give up the tiniest hope of healing. It takes an exhausting and lonely year for stubborn Claire to surrender enough to listen to her silent sister.
My guest today is another historical romance author who writes about American history. Please help me welcome author Liz Arnold! We’ll take a quick peek at her bio and then find out more about her writing process and stories.
Liz wrote her first drama around age ten in which a romance figured prominently. Today, Liz’s heroines make their own choices and find strong yet flawed heroes who work to quell their demons. Together they learn that love conquers many problems, and their stories are set in exciting times in American History.
Liz teaches college English and writes historical romance when she can crawl out of the rabbit hole of research (which she loves.) She completed an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction/Historical Fiction in 2019 at Seton Hill University.
Currently, she’s working on book two in a trilogy of historical romances set in the Northwest Territory in the late 1700s before Ohio became a state.
She enjoys walking, yoga, and herb gardening as well as spending time with her family.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
Liz: I am a lover of history and historical fiction. A Healing Touch was inspired by my research into early Ohio history.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
Liz: One struggle I experienced while writing A Healing Touch was getting all the wonderful tidbits of everyday living into the book. Another struggle was getting the research right about the smallpox vaccine. Its initial development took place in America at this time and was really interesting to read about.
Betty: Which character(s) were the easiest to get to know? Why do you think?
Liz: The character Molly Hilliard was easy to get to know because there’s a bit of sass in her, which flows easily from me in real life. I enjoyed getting to know Romney Applewood the most, however, because I had to dig deep into the stories written by captives of the time period. The challenge for me was writing what it might be like for a young man who has known one way of living to be thrust into another, unfamiliar way of life with the stroke of a pen. The Greeneville Treaty of 1795 ended hostilities in the Northwest Territory and meant that all white captives were free. I had to imagine what Romney would feel, say, and see as he stepped from a natural way of living with the Delaware tribe into the rapidly changing American frontier landscape.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
Liz: My research for A Healing Touch was intense. I spent hours and hours in the special collections departments of several libraries in Marietta, Ohio and on the internet. I read over twenty eyewitness accounts of captives, and travelled to Pittsburgh, PA, Marietta, and Point Pleasant, WV for research.
Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?
Liz: Just just. My editor was very kind about pointing this out.
Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?
Liz: I read and look up to historical romance authors Tessa Dare, Beverly Jenkins, Lisa Kleypas, and Eloisa James.
Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?
Liz: I’ve got a great office that is all my own in my historic home (built in 1897.) My favorite color (any shade) is purple. My office walls, décor, storage, etc. are some hue of purple. I love my purple office.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
Liz: My day job is teaching college English online part-time. It’s work. That’s all.
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Liz: I became an author to get the stories out of my head. I have a constant flow of ideas for stories. My greatest achievement is working with great editors to publish these stories and connect to an audience. Writing and publishing are about connections for me. Connecting creativity to work, stories to print, and books to readers. I adore readers.
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
Liz: I love to read historical romance because I truly believe that love has supported all the great adventures, advances, and achievements in history.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Liz: A Healing Touch has received several five-star reviews from a variety of readers for which I’m very grateful. It would be fabulous to be able to write full-time and make a living from it, but publishing is so crowded and getting more so, that getting in front of readers is more and more difficult. Success for me would be regular publications and an energetic reader following. Some money and some connection.
Live, laugh, love, Liz Arnold
In post-revolutionary America, Molly Hilliard wants to be more than an herbal healer, and she answers the lure of adventure on the Ohio river and journeys to the Northwest Territory seeking the freedom to set up a medical practice. Along the way, she tries to hire Romney Applewood as a guide, but he is going the opposite direction. After ten years as a captive of the Delaware Indians, Romney wants to get as far east as possible to forget his past and avoid the bounty on his head for taking part in raids upon settlers’ homes. Something about the way she sacrifices herself to heal others, and something about the way he endures the difficulties he encounters because of his tormented past, links them in more than their individual quests as they blaze new trails in their lives and on America’s frontier.
I have a special treat today: author Linda C. Wisniewski is here to share about the inspiration for and writing of her time-travel tale. Let’s find out more about Linda and then we’ll delve into her writing process.
Linda C. Wisniewski is a former librarian and journalist who lives with her retired scientist husband in Bucks County, PA, where she volunteers at the historic home of author Pearl S. Buck. Her work has been published in Toasted Cheese, Hippocampus, and many other literary magazines. She teaches memoir writing in the Philadelphia area and online and is the author of a memoir, Off Kilter: A Woman’s Journey to Peace With Scoliosis, Her Mother and Her Polish Heritageand a time travel novel, Where the Stork Flies.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
Linda: At a family reunion, a cousin showed me a copy of our family tree. The oldest known ancestor was a woman named Regina, born in 1778, and we were curious about what she’d think of our lives today. From that beginning, I decided to time travel her to the present day and find out.
Betty: What, if any, new writing skill did you develop while working on this story?
Linda: Although I’ve written short stories, this is my first novel. I attended workshops with fiction writers and read books on plotting, character development and scene building. Not a surprise, I found that the same skills are used in my first genre, memoir writing, but with more world building and less self-reflection.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
Linda: Since I was creating characters who did not really exist, I struggled to find motivation for their actions. Why would Kat take in a homeless woman? Why would they come to believe that time travel was real? I needed to sit with these questions and come up with possible answers, which turned out to be their ‘back stories:” what happened in their lives that made them act this way.
Betty: Which character(s) were the easiest to get to know? Why do you think?
Linda: The point of view character was easiest because I made her a librarian, a career I’m familiar with, and the setting was eastern PA, where I live. She also has a Polish American background. Initially, I was writing Regina’s story, but after a while I realized it was Kat’s story I wanted to tell.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
Linda: I love to do research as a former librarian and journalist, so this was fun, and often led me down rabbit holes I had to pull back from if I ever wanted to finish the book! My husband and I went to Poland to see the area I was writing about. We got to visit an outdoor living history museum and saw the houses, villages, clothes people wore and what they ate from the time period I wrote about.
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
Linda: I don’t count them because when I have revised the story, I delete the old stuff. It’s a risk, I know, but I find that keeping old drafts is confusing.
Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?
Linda: I took about ten years to write Where the Stork Flies, taking my time, putting it aside for weeks or months at a time. I didn’t feel an urgency to write it, but I did feel motivated to finish it. I think this is typical for me and some other writers, especially because I also write personal essays and short memoir pieces in between big projects like this one.
Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?
Linda: I like to have coffee at hand, and I write in the afternoon, after my chores and errands are done, when the house is relatively quiet. I write in my upstairs office beside a window that looks down on evergreens and birds flitting between them. Can’t seem to write in cafes or libraries, though I’ve tried.
Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?
Linda: My writing ‘tic’ is gerunds: ing words. “Walking down the street, she…,” “Looking out the window, he…,” “Asking herself the next question, she…” Early feedback I was given was “get rid of all the ‘ing’ words!”
Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?
Linda: Oh yes, I do. Older women who taught me what I know and are still writing. Maureen Murdock, Susan Tiberghien, Susan Wittig Albert, were kind and encouraging when I was starting out. The first two are memoirists. Susan Albert writes cozy mysteries and started an organization, Story Circle Network, that supports women writers of all ages and genres.
Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?
Linda: I write in my cozy office/sewing/yoga room on the second floor of my house. Same place for revising, but I take my reading downstairs on the couch or in a big recliner looking out over our deck at the birds and grass. I like to reward myself after a writing session with a good book and a cup of tea about 4 in the afternoon.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
Linda: I teach memoir writing on Zoom and in person once a month, and I also volunteer as a docent at the home of Pearl S. Buck. I love both because they connect me with people who love writing and authors, and because my students are eager to share their stories.
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Linda: Lifting up other women by writing about my own struggles and those of my female ancestors. I am a big believer in the connections we make when we give each other the time and space to be heard. People have told me that my words have helped them understand others and themselves.
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
Linda: Mystery novels have been my favorite all my life, from romantic suspense as a teen to British mysteries today. I love entering the worlds the authors have created, whether from the past or the present day, and following the plot that works like a puzzle to be solved.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Linda: In terms of wealth or fame, I’m a failure! 😉 But that was never my goal in writing. I started late in life, after 50, and the joy comes from knowing my words are being read far and wide. I love hearing from readers about what they liked. Just the other day, a reader called me from Florida to say I wrote “a great book” because it touched him by bringing up memories of his childhood in the Polish section of Philadelphia, a neighborhood that is one of the settings of Where the Stork Flies.
Kat is estranged from her family when she finds an old woman who speaks no English in her Pennsylvania kitchen, desperate for help. Eager to give her life meaning by coming to her rescue, Kat hires Aniela as translator. When the woman tells them she is Regina, a 19th century Polish peasant, Kat thinks she’s crazy – until Aniela convinces her it may be true.
As they struggle to find a time portal, the exasperated Aniela reveals her true identity as Jadwiga, medieval queen of Poland sent by the Black Madonna to help them. It’s Jadwiga’s first mission after dying in childbirth at 25. If she succeeds, she can stay on Earth and experience more of life.
Kat is overwhelmed as she feels responsible for both Regina and Jadwiga. At least she can buy Regina a new pair of shoes, but no sooner do they arrive at Wal Mart than Regina rescues a girl from assault and realizes that years ago, she was a victim too. Lesson learned, she goes back home with a desperate Kat close behind her.
When Kat gets lost in a 19th century forest, she realizes her own mistakes and goes home to heal her family.
Okay, Linda, I will confess to gasping when you said you delete your previous drafts! I can’t say the same…Eventually I do, just not as I go. Thanks for sharing about your story and writing process.
Happy reading!
Betty
Award-winning Author of Historical Fiction with Heart, and Haunting, Bewitching Love Stories
Visit www.bettybolte.com for a complete list of my books and appearances.
Let’s take a moment to get to know a really fascinating author, S.W. Leicher. She brings a unique background to her stories, one I think you may enjoy. Let’s look at her bio and then find out more about her writing processes and inspiration.
S.W. Leicher grew up in the Bronx in a bi-cultural (Latina and Jewish) home. She moved to Manhattan after graduate school and raised her family on the Upper West Side, where she still lives with her husband and two black cats. When not dreaming up fiction, she writes about social justice issues for nonprofit organizations.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
S.W.: The story had two main sources of inspiration:
The first was the research that I’ve done for a series of policy reports on the lives of women in New York City’s low-income, insular religious, racial, and ethnic communities—from Latin to African American to Asian to Muslim Arab to Haredi Jewish. Everywhere I went while conducting that research, I heard tales of relentless hours spent in tough, low-paying jobs, thankless hours spent as primary caregivers for children, partners, siblings, grandchildren, and older relatives, and unbreachable barriers to achieving anything different than that.
The tales I heard were invariably told with dignity, wit, and love. But also—all-too-often—with flashes of longing for something more than the lives that those women and girls had been assigned. The experience left me determined to write a book that would celebrate their grace, their unacknowledged contributions—and their unfulfilled longings. And that would explore what might happen should any of them dare to pursue their ambitions and desires.
The second source of inspiration was my own family. My mother was a Latina Catholic immigrant who came to New York for her education and married my New York Jewish father. I spent my childhood moving back and forth between those two cultures. Taking in their deep riches and their deep meshugas.Noting how they view one another, speak about one another, and treat one another. Feeling part of both—and an outsider within each. Much of the book is based on what I learned from all of that as well.
Betty: What, if any, new writing skill did you develop while working on this story?
S.W.: Before I plunged into writing this novel and the novel that precedes it—for this one is a sequel—I had never attempted to write a book of fiction. I had only produced white papers and proposals designed to prove a point—to persuade policy-makers to push for a particular piece of legislation or funders to make a grant to a particular project. Once I launched into fiction writing, I had to let go of all that. I had to learn how to create characters and imaginative plots and—most importantly—to allow those characters to make their own points and act in their own ways while I just scrambled to take it all down.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
S.W.: All of my characters act badly at some point in the story. They withdraw from one another emotionally, they take vengeance in terrible ways, they remain willfully shortsighted, they betray one another. There is lots of cause for “atonement.” Hence, the title. I dearly love my characters (or most of them, anyway). It was really tough for me to allow them to do all that. It was terribly hard to write those sections.
Betty: Which character(s) were the easiest to get to know? Why do you think?
S.W.: Paloma has many of my traits—she’s impulsive and dramatic; she has a sharp tongue and a warm heart. Her voice spoke directly in my brain. Serach was trickier. She is slower to anger, more logical, more stubborn, and more quietly generous. She is, however, a bit like my husband in those regards, so I was sometimes able to tune into what he might say or do in any situation and take it from there. For a long time, one character—Serach’s younger brother, Shmuely—was incredibly difficult for me to portray. He is, for the most part, a stubbornly rigid, fervently religious Orthodox young man. But little by little he showed me his vulnerabilities, his pain, and an unexpected mischievous streak. As all that evolved, I found it easier to get into his head and hear and record his voice.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
S.W.: I had to research much of what I wrote about observant Jewish practice, much of the action taking place in Israel, and everything that I wrote in Yiddish. I was raised in a very left-wing Reform part of Judaism and no one in my immediate family speaks Yiddish. The scenes in Flatbush, Manhattan, and the Bronx were much easier for me to write—my family and my work have taken me into those venues and into those conversations many times. And the scenes taking place among my Latina characters were very easy. I am very familiar with characters like that and have heard people speaking Spanish (or sprinkling Spanish through their English) all my life. I definitely had to do some research about what equipment is used in the Fordham Road auto shop in which a couple of those characters work, however. I don’t even drive…
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
S.W.: I re-wrote and re-wrote drafts of the book six hundred and forty-three times. Yes, that’s right. I just went back and counted them. I didn’t revise the entire thing every time that I re-wrote it, of course. But I ruthlessly revised parts of it—often performing radical surgery. The first time that I sent it out to readers for suggestions and corrections, it was 500+ pages long. Those poor readers! By the time that I was finished paring and parsing and re-working the manuscript according to their suggestions and my own ruthlessly hypercritical eye, it was a nice slim 312 pages. Whew!
Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?
S.W.: I’ve only written two novels, and they were very different experiences. The first novel (the predecessor to this one—this is a sequel) took a year and a half to finish and I did it in-between holding down a full-time consulting practice. This one took two and a half years, and I dedicated to it practically full-time. Why was the second one so much more time-consuming? Well, the first novel was basically a coming-of-age, coming-out sexually, first-time-in love, rebelling-against-one’s-parents story. A story, in short, that we all have experienced, one way or another. This sequel is about staying in love over time and as an adult. Much more complicated—and never the same twice. Also, since the second one is a sequel, I spent an unconscionable amount of time figuring out how much of the back story had to be included and how to do it. A lot of my re-writes involved solving that particular conundrum.
Betty: Every author has the tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?
S.W.: “And.” “And” is my most overused word. Generally, at the beginning of a sentence. One marvelously patient friend (she is also a marvelous writer) took my first draft and began pointing out how many times I started a sentence with that conjunction. The act of removing half those initial “ands” probably cut twenty pages out of the first draft, all by itself…
Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?
S.W.: I love Amos Oz for the way he communicates the complicatedness of human nature—simply, honestly, and with great empathy. Sigrid Nunez blows me away with her ability to seamlessly weave thoughtful contemplations, high-brow intellectual references, and zinging (almost slangish) asides into a single paragraph. Amor Towles delights me with the sheer joy he clearly takes in writing. I hope my readers can sense the fact that I am having a grand time, too. I have re-read a couple of Judith Krantz’s romance novels more times than I care to admit. I’ve learned a great deal from her about how to portray women’s ambitiousness, friendships, and follies.
Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?
S.W.: I live in an old, Upper West Side apartment house that has two dozen rooms on the rooftop floor that were originally used as bedrooms by the housemaids of the residents who lived in the apartments on the lower floors. The last of those housemaids moved out forty-five years ago, so the rooms are now rented out as storage spaces or offices by the downstairs residents. The room that I rent is lovely, airy, and flooded with sunlight—a real luxury in my over-built and deeply-shadowed neighborhood. I have filled it with plants and paintings and a little desk, and it has become my refuge. When I am in the middle of writing, I mount the stairs to that office as soon as I am finished with my gym routine and breakfast—generally by 9:00 a.m. I tend to my plants for a bit, fiddle with the windows according to the weather, turn on my desk fan if it is the dead of summer, and then sit down at my computer to begin writing, re-writing, re-reading, and re-writing again. Depending on the day and how well it is going, I can go six hours straight—writing, editing, and re-reading—before finally looking up, noting the time, and saying: “I think I’m done. I have to eat something.” And it’s rarely less than five hours. Once that happens, however, I’m done for the day.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
S.W.: My training is in public policy, and—until the pandemic struck and the whole time that I was writing the first novel—I was still in the midst of a forty-five-year consulting practice writing policy reports, evaluations, and proposals for a range of social justice-focused foundations, federations, and non-profits. I loved that work dearly and—as I mentioned above—it ended up providing a splendid jumping-off place for both my novels. By the time I started the second novel, however, COVID had de-railed most of my client base and the launch of social security payments began reducing my need to work so hard. Currently, I only have one client—the Puerto Rico Women’s Foundation—a fabulous organization that supports women’s groups and feminist philanthropy in Puerto Rico.
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
S.W.: Literary fiction is number one. Twentieth Century history—particularly American history and biography—is number two. Mysteries are number three. I love certain poets—Kay Ryan tops the list, along with Emily Dickinson and Seamus Heaney—but I don’t tend to gravitate toward poetry books without someone saying: “You should take a look at this.”
Betty: Success looks different to different people. How do you define success?
S.W.: The main goal that I have had for my writing is to insert my characters—their situations, their cultures, their trials, and their joys—into other people’s heads. When readers talk to me about Paloma, or Serach, or Shmuely, or Manny as if they were as real to them as they are to me—when it is clear that they care about them and worry about them and want to know more about them and want them to be happy—that constitutes true success for me.
Serach Gottesman—soft-spoken, golden-haired renegade from Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn, and Paloma Rodriguez—headstrong, drop-dead-gorgeous trailblazer from the Latina South Bronx, have been in love for ten years. They’ve sacrificed past relationships, cherished beliefs and communal ties for the sake of their audacious lesbian romance. In return, they’ve gained accepting friends, entrée into the diverse cultural riches of New York—and a sense of fulfillment and permanence.
And then an unexpected death, a seductive proposal, and a brutal arrest bring their indomitable families and cultures roaring back into their lives, with devastating results.
The book has been called: “a story of intense character confrontations and…intensely personal dilemmas…interwoven with religious credence, social justice, and cultural relevance,” (Jim Piechota, Bay Area Reporter); “a deep dive into what [readers] at bottom hold most precious,” (Michael J. Coffino, author of Truth Is in the House); “a complex, touching story about the difficulties of navigating one’s identity,” (Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Review); and “a fast-paced narrative that offers masterful insights into New York City’s social and ethnic diversity and its criminal justice system.” (Jules Stewart, Author of Policing the Big Apple: The Story of the NYPD).
I have to say “wow” to the 643 drafts/revisions to your story, S.W.! That’s a lot of work to put in to make your story shine. Good for you! Thanks for sharing with us, too.
Happy reading!
Betty
Award-winning Author of Historical Fiction with Heart, and Haunting, Bewitching Love Stories
Visit www.bettybolte.com for a complete list of my books and appearances.
My guest author today writes thrillers, so you’re in for a bit of a treat when it comes to learning about his inspiration and his process. Let’s take a gander at his bio and then we’ll jump right in.
Steve has spent the majority of his professional career as an advertising copywriter and agency owner. He got interested in writing fiction after one of his short stories was accepted by an online literary journal back in 2013. This inspired him to try his hand at writing seriously. With a gritty noir style and unique writing voice, his first novel, Thieves, garnered praise from renowned crime and thriller authors from around the globe. Steve’s second novel, The Dead Don’t Sleep released in November of 2019 and recently optioned for film, has won him a legion of new fans. His latest effort titled The Debt Collector is slated for publication late this year. Steve is proud to call New Jersey his home.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
Steven: I first got the idea after I went trap shooting with a good friend of mine and his uncle who was down visiting from Maine. My friend told me that his uncle had served in Vietnam, but that he never, ever talked about what he did during the war. It never came up during our outing either. The family rumor was that he had served as some sort of intelligence officer. That got the wheels spinning and from that encounter, the story of Frank Thompson emerged.
Betty: What, if any, new writing skill did you develop while working on this story?
Steven: I think writing this novel helped me develop a better sense of pacing. Sometimes I can get too descriptive or I get caught up in unnecessary details that can bog the story down. I consciously tried to keep things moving in The Dead Don’t Sleep. The greatest compliment I get from readers is when they say they finished the book in one or two sittings. That’s when you know you’re doing something right.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
Steven: For me, the hardest part of writing in general is trying to figure out what happens next. I don’t (at least I haven’t so far) write an outline or plot out the story before I begin. I simply sit down and begin writing. Sometimes things flow smoothly for a chapter or two or three, but inevitably I get to a point where I stop, scratch my head and wonder what the heck happens next? It’s easy for frustration, or even panic, to set in. And of course, trying to come up with an ending that ties up loose ends and feels somehow satisfying is always difficult. Luckily, working as an advertising writer for most of my adult life, I’m used to the pressure of having to try and come up with a good idea. I developed a habit early on of sleeping with a pad and pen on my nightstand. For me, inspiration usually hits in the middle of the night and I suddenly pop up out of bed with an idea and scribble it down. The hard part is trying to read my handwriting when I wake up the next morning!
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
Steven: I didn’t do a whole lot to be honest. I had to research the weaponry used by my characters. I know a little about firearms, but I’m no expert. And I also did some research on the Phoenix Program, a controversial (and ghastly) operation sponsored by the CIA during the war.
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
Steven: It was one continuous draft that was in a constant state of revision.
Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?
Steven: I’d say it took about a year to get the overall story written, then several months of re-reading, revising, and editing. The prologue and epilogue were the two final sections that I wrote before I felt satisfied. I can’t tell you how long it typically takes me to write a novel. With Thieves, my first novel, I finished the initial draft in just 3 months. My latest novel has taken about 3 years of writing and revising including input from a developmental editor.
Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?
Steven: I don’t really have any writing habits or rituals. I like to be alone when I write and I like it quiet.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
Steven: For many years I was a partner and creative director in a medium sized ad agency in New Jersey. Now I run a small, virtual ad agency. We work on projects, mostly for insurance and healthcare clients. I’ve been in the ad business most of my professional life and I do enjoy it for the most part. But I seem to be transitioning more and more towards writing fiction.
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Steven: Well, writing is difficult and finding an agent is difficult and getting published is difficult and finding reviewers and readers is difficult and selling books is difficult and everyone seems to be an expert and every expert’s opinion is different – it can all get pretty overwhelming.
Geez, my greatest achievement so far is probably just not giving up!
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
Steven: As you might expect, I enjoy reading crime novels and thrillers.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Steven: Boy, that’s a tough question.
I think success is measured in increments, sometimes big, and sometimes not so big.
First I thought just being able to finish a book-length manuscript was a monumental task. Then trying to get my book published by a traditional publisher seemed like an impossibility. Next, I figured getting my books onto library shelves (something that has always been on my bucket list) was something almost unattainable.
I achieved success in each of those endeavors.
Writing, like so many things in life, seems to be simply a matter of setting goals and overcoming obstacles.
There, I’ve finished the last of the interview questions – see, another success!
Frank Thompson, a recent widower and aging Vietnam veteran is down from Maine visiting his nephew, Bill, and his family in New Jersey. While at a trap range, he and his nephew have a chance encounter with a strange man who claims to remember Frank from the war. That night, the windows in Bill’s home are shattered along with the quiet peaceful lives the two men had been living.
Three veterans from a special combat unit directed by the CIA during the Vietnam War have gathered to discuss what they are going to do about a man they claim killed one of their own over forty years ago. Jasper, Birdie and Pogo were part of a team that called themselves the National League All Stars. They were a squad of psychopathic killers trained by Special Forces to cause death and mayhem during the war. Now, they have banded together to hunt down and kill the professional soldier who led them all those years ago.
Drawing on his military training and a resurgent bloodlust from his tortured past, Frank prepares for a final, violent reckoning that will bring him full circle with the war that never left him.
I like your way of counting successes, Steve! Check off the interview questions and see what comes next, eh? Thanks for sharing the inspiration for your story, proving yet again that writers take their inspiration from all around.
Happy reading!
Betty
Award-winning Author of Historical Fiction with Heart, and Haunting, Bewitching Love Stories
Visit www.bettybolte.com for a complete list of my books and appearances.
Inspiration for any given book is a combination of factors. My guest today, author Alle C. Hall, muses on answers to some deep questions to produce her award-winning fiction. Let’s take a peek at what makes her tick and then we’ll find out more about her inspiring and moving story.
Alle C. Hall’s first novel, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back, swept the 2022 International Firebird Book Awards, winning first place in two categories—Literary and Coming of Age—and second place in Women’s Issues. Excerpts from As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back won the 2022 National League of American Pen Women’s Mary Kennedy Eastham Flash Fiction Prize and placed as the first finalist in the 2020 Lascaux Prize. Hall’s short fiction appears in journals including Dale Peck’s Evergreen Review,Tupelo Quarterly,New World Writing, and Litro; and her essays in Creative Nonfiction and Another Chicago. She has written for The Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, and was a contributing editor at The Stranger. She is the former senior nonfiction editor at jmww journal, the former associate editor of Vestal Review. Hall lived in Asia and traveled there extensively, speaks what she calls “clunky” Japanese, and has a tai chi practice of 35 years running.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?
Alle: The main character of As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back, her name is Carlie,is an incest survivor. I am an incest survivor. I lived in Asia. I sent Carlie to Asia. Both expereinces—Asia and being a survivor—affected me hugely; although, obviously, being sexually abused as a child had more impact. Nevertheless, what I learned about being a survivor was indelibly shaped by being in Asia. I was “as far” from the abuse as I needed to be in order to heal from it; I was open to wonderful life experiences that, as I let them in, filled me to the point that my body literally had no more room for the horrible expereinces that I was hanging onto. I had to process them.
My tai chi practice was one of those expereinces—continues to be. In ways I don’t understand, the energy flowing through a person as she pratices, that chi becomes a motivator for good in your body and in your life. There are many energy-based practices that are equally as effective: yoga, for example. When I watch surfers, I always see them as pure chi.
To finally answer the question, while I am one of those writers who writes for herself, who only pursues ideas that really do it for me, if anyone happens to be touched by As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back, if they can see themselves more clearly or if they come to a better understanding of someone in their life, that would be an honor. Of course, if the reader was inspired to take a tai chi class—how cool! We need more people on this planet who practice tai chi.
Betty: What, if any, new writing skill did you develop while working on this story?
Alle: I learned how to write a novel. I thought I’d learned in 1998, the first time I sent As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back to an agent. When the agent asked to see the full manuscript, I thought I had it made. Sadly, she passed. I was so hurt that I didn’t send a another query for four months. I supposed, then that I also learned that a huge amount of reejction is a part of finding a publisher for every novel, and that the thing to do is revise and send out again.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story? What and how?
Alle: No. From the moment the idea first popped out of my head, I knew the first third of the plot—the abuse, the planning to steal the money, the escape to Asia and the dramatic problems there, and then finding tai chi and moving to Japan. I mean, I knew all that would happen. I didn’t know how it would happen. I still had to write it. Then, I knew the ending—which I won’t reveal.
I had no idea what was going to happen from the time Carlie arrived in Japan until she reached the last moments of the book. I had to figure it out as I wrote, but it wasn’t the struggle that I find with some other writing. It wasn’t a struggle because I had the final image so firmly in my mind, and for so long.
Betty: Which character(s) were the easiest to get to know? Why do you think?
Alle: Carlie’s emotional experience is so close to mine: the child sexual trauma, the travel, then tai chi coming into play as a huge part of my emotional healing. Naturally, that made it easy to find her. I wouldn’t say she differs hugely from me. I would say that the character I’ve created is in such different circumstances that her experience, from the very beginning, shapes her into something different than I am.
I was quite surprised at how much easier it ended up being to step into the Asian characters. Most of the Asian characters are Asian American, because as uncomfortable as I was writing an Asian American, I was that much more uncomfortable writing an Asian who was born and lived in Asia. That said, the head teacher at the English Conversation school, who plays an important part in one of the sub plots, she arrived fully baked. To write her, all I had to do was think about the pink suit worn by one of my Japanese coworkers. When I lived in Tokyo, Takako Doi was the first female Opposition Leader and then the first female Lower House Speaker. Doi was famous for wearing what I thought of as powder-pink power suits, which so captured the nearly impossible dichotomy Japanese women were supposed to achieve in the professional world.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?
Alle: The primary amount of research—healing from my own childhood trauma—had to take place before I could be a functional human being or a versatile writer. The abuse so dominated my experience that in order to write about anything else, I needed to put that story into a single container. Until I did so, the topic tried to shove itself into everything I wrote: food pieces, cultural criticism; especially movie and book review. It was like it was of primary importance for me to scream, “I am a survivor, too!” even when the topic was cooking with pumpkins.
In order create this so-called container, I had to heal on a personal level. Before I had any idea that I was going to write a novel about a victim learning to thrive, I had to step into that thriving. So most of the “research” was done long before the writing began. I recommend that, actually. Trying to figure out your childhood trauma is difficult and excruciating. To add to that trying to write a book about it, no way. Cut yourself a break. Just learn to thrive. The rest will come.
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
Alle: A hundred? Two hundred? I am not sure how to count drafts. Every time I got close to signing a deal with an agent and the deal fell through, I stopped sending out and went back to work: what could be better? How can I make the story more relevant? More honest? Turns out, the manuscript was always honest and good. It just wasn’t good enough. Through a combination of excellent editing and great feedback from critique groups, eventually, I put it together.
Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?
Alle: From conception to “holding book in hand” was thirty years. I had a great deal to learn about writing a novel.
Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?
Alle: I like to do some tai chi or other stretching first thing in the morning, then have a solid breakfast, then settle into my pretty little basement office with a nice cup of tea. I like to pop my back a lot. I bend from the waist and all the little spinal bones “click click click click” into place. This is terrible for my back, but I love the sound and the feeling of bones clicking.
Also, I make and then drink a lot of tea. Every hour or two, I find that I have simply run out of ideas. Making tea has become a ritual. No fancy Japanese tea ceremony here. I use a tea bag. I take a good sniff of the clean smell of tea as I listen to the water boil. I do a little tai chi as the tea steeps. I don’t think about the work. Invariably, when I sit back down, I can go for another hour or two.
Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?
Alle: I use, “just” quite a bit, as I do, “this.” When I find I’ve written “this,” I go back and define “this,” and the sentence becomes a much better sentence. Since I have been writing like this (edits to: Since I have been writing with this great level of detail, my work is much more alive and more specific.
Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?
Alle: My therapist of 30 years standing wrote the book, Iron Legacy. It’s a mix of self-help nonfiction and short, personal essays. It took her 50 years to do the necessary clinical research and then write her book. Donna Beven Lee’s ideas founded the field of healing from codependency, as well as the ideas that underline my own recovery and therefore the psychological spine of As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back.
I have also modeled my parenting after Donna’s—and that undertaking is even more important to me than writing or publishing.
Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?
Writers who wait for the perfect time and place to write and revise are probably not going to get a whole lot of work done. I’ve always had to write where and however I could. When I worked full time and did what Barbara Kingsolver calls, “writing around the edges,” I wrote starting after dinner on Friday night. I wrote all night, slept through most of the day, and spent the rest of the weekend doing what people do on weekends: saw friends, cleaned the house. Once I had kids, I spent a lot of time writing during whatever class or practice I was waiting to pick them up from: front seat of the car with my laptop on my knees that were propped against the steering wheel. At the Chinese restaurant up the street from the kung fu school.
Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?
Alle: For a long time, I was in marketing and then national sales management. I worked for a toy and novelty company, which was goofy, like me. Then I worked for an organic tea company, which could not have been a better fit. That three-year-period was when I wrote the bulk of the first draft of As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back. I loved having a job that had some clout and that I did very well, but that I did not take home with me. My job was my job, and in my free time, I was a writer.
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Alle: That I stuck with it. Even after I signed a book deal for As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back, I felt some shame around the fact that it took 30 years to get published as an author. Then I realized: more people would have this as their story, too, if they’d stuck it out. But too many writers receive one too many rejections or hit one too many blocks in the road. They quit before the miracle. That was never going to be me. The only thing more depressing than not being published as an author was not even trying.
Betty: What is your favorite genre to read?
Alle: Literary fiction by women of color.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Alle: Great question. I would love to be well-regarded for my writing, but I write literary fiction about women from deeply traumatized backgrounds. If the world were in a place where someone could be famous for this kind of writing … wow.
Currently, I am writing a companion piece to As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back. In my first novel, a young woman with a traumatic childhood is backpacking in Asia and has to decide whether she is going to move toward the light or stay in the dark. The second novel, called Crazy Medicine, also follows a young woman with childhood trauma who is backpacking in Asia and comes up against the same question. She chooses the darker path.
I would love to have these books published and discussed as the yin-yang of: “Why do some people choose the light, while others, the dark?” I don’t understand the answer to that question, yet the answer has hugely affected my life. Also, my writing doesn’t solve the issue. It merely explores what happens as I tell those stories. I would feel very successful if somehow, this question came into the zeitgeist in the context of my novels.
Seattle author Alle C. Hall’s debut novel, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back is a-girl-and-her-backpack story with a #MeToo influence: Carlie is not merely traveling. A child sexual abuse survivor, as a teen she steals $10,000 and runs away to Asia. There, the Lonely Planet path of hookups, heat, alcohol and drugs takes on a terrifying reality. Landing in Tokyo in the late 1980s, Carlie falls in with an international cadre of tai chi-practicing backpacker types. Teaching English and pursuing her own tai chi practice, Carlie has the chance at a journey she didn’t plan for: one to find the self-respect ripped from her as a child and the healthy sexuality she desires.
Thank you for stopping by to share about your compelling and thought-provoking story, Alle. I appreciate you sharing your insights and perspective about your experiences and how your character came to terms with them.
Happy reading!
Betty
Award-winning Author of Historical Fiction with Heart, and Haunting, Bewitching Love Stories
Visit www.bettybolte.com for a complete list of my books and appearances.
Please help me welcome my guest author, Sylvia Broady, to the interview hot seat! I think you’ll enjoy finding out more about the inspiration for her stories, so let’s look at her background and then dive right in. Ready?
I was born in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which has a rich tapestry of history. I live near to the market town of Beverley where stands the magnificent Beverley Minster, and for 17 years I welcomed visitors from every part of the globe. These wonderful places and its people inspire my writing. My novella, The House by the Mere, was shortlisted for the RNA Romantic Short Novel Award. The setting of Wassand Hall gardens and grounds, and the mere, which I love, was instrumental in my story.
Writing is my enduring passion and when I am happiest, apart from my beloved family. My daughter is my biggest fan and I am lucky that she and her family live nearby. I recently returned from a six-week stay with my family in Australia. On a road trip with my son, we stayed over in Inverloch, and visited the library where I spied two of my books. The librarian asked if I would give a book talk. If only I didn’t live on the opposite side of the world.
I keep up with the writing market with memberships of the RNA, The Society of Authors and the Historical Novel Society. Plus, I attend my monthly writers group. I regularly give book talks. And I am eternally grateful for my wonderful readers.
Betty: What inspired you to write the story you are sharing with us today?
Sylvia: The inspiration to write Orphans of War started way back. I interviewed a man for local radio for a programme about World War 2. He told me that as a young boy he was on the cliffs at Hornsea when an amphibious craft came along the beach and out stepped General de Gaulle. Fast forward a few years and when I visited nearby Wassand Hall, I learnt that stationed there during WW2 were the Free French. Soon, the idea for my book went into creative mode and became a reality.
Betty: Did you struggle with any part of this story?
Sylvia: I didn’t exactly struggle. However, 70,000 words into my story and researching the best way for my Free French soldier to travel from Paris with his wife and daughter to the safety of his parents’ small farm, I came across the terrible massacre of the Villagers of Oradour-sur-Glane. I realised that this was the refugee children’s story who were being cared for at the manor house by my lovely character Charlotte Kirby, and this was the main storyline. Though the Free French soldiers were still important to the story. With this in mind, I rewrote the 70,000, and the book finished near to 100,000 words.
Betty: Which characters were the easiest to get to know?
Sylvia: Without a doubt, Charlotte Kirby. We first meet her during an enemy bombing raid in the city of Kingston upon Hull, and the attack killed her mother. Her father had died years earlier, so at 16 Charlotte was an orphan. When she goes to live with her aunt in the village of Mornington, she understands the loss of the refugee orphans of war living in the manor house. Feeling an affinity for their suffering, she volunteers to care and support them by helping them to lead as normal a life as possible. I also loved the three ladies who come into her aunt’s pub and tell her stories. And the old man Jack, and the Free French officer Emile, who both play an important role in Charlotte’s life. There is a spirit of camaraderie amongst the villagers, which is a character in its own rights.
Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write the story?
Sylvia: I love researching and have a tendency to do more than necessary. A friend loaned me copies of his mother’s letters of when she went out with a Free French Soldier. From these, I could gain an insight into authentic life, a part of social history. And other people were generous with information. I read many books and documents, and local history books, far too many to mention. The Free French in the area were the 2nd Tank Armoured Division, under the command of General Philippe Leclerc, and they were training for a special battle mission across the English Channel. Later, they liberated Paris. The bombing raids on the city of Kingston upon Hull, were relentless, causing the loss of many lives. With several books written on the subject and the tragedies well documented. In the past, I have interviewed people about their memories during the WW2 period. Juliette is the Free Frenchman’s daughter who survives to be cared for by Charlotte. While researching this story, I came across a photo of Julia Bricht, age 3 years, with lovely bright eyes and shiny dark hair, and she became my Juliette. Sadly, this beautiful child didn’t survive the death camps.
Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?
Sylvia: About 5 or 6 drafts. Each time I rewrite and edit, I polish, adding finer details or deleting words. Sometimes I have given minor characters the same name. If a sentence become too long and straggly, I reword it so that its meaning is clearer. Double check facts, like the colour of a character’s eyes, or a date of a battle. The list becomes endless, but I enjoy the process, which I feel enriches my writing. Something I have learnt over the years is to know when to stop rewriting.
Betty: Do you have a place to write? Revise? Read?
Sylvia: I have a cosy study where I write, with a view of my garden and the ever-changing sky, and its shelves full of books. Books for research that I have collected over the years. Some with intriguing titles: Every Women’s Enquire Within, Cassell’s Book of Etiquette by a Woman of the World, Women in Wartime. A North-East Coast Town, this is about the city of Kingston upon Hull, and the bombing it suffered during WW2. This is to name but a few of my books. I revise in my study and usually read books on research at my dining room table. Here I spread out maps of the areas I am writing about. However, when the weather is warm and fine, you will find me in the garden surrounded by my writing paraphernalia.
Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
Sylvia: Most definitely the last book I have published, Orphans of War. So the last book I have published will always be my greatest achievement, though I will always have a place in my heart for the first full-length book I had published. It started with the publication of The Yearning Heart. Previously, I had written short stories and novellas. Over a few years, I wrote a 120,000 words manuscript, which had gone through many changes. With my writers group, I discussed my prospect of publication–it was now or never. I sent off my beloved manuscript to Robert Hale Publishers. To my surprise, it thrilled me to receive an email the next day to say they loved my work and would publish it if I cut 40,000 words. A dilemma! After discussing it with a writing friend, I decided I would cut all those words. My greatest joy was to hold the hardback edition of The Yearning Heart in my hand. And so my joy continues with each book I have published.
Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?
Sylvia: I worked full time with a demanding job, a family to care for and aging parents, which didn’t give me much time for myself. Until I answered an advert to attend an evening creative writing class to be held in the local community hall. I loved it, having found my niche. I wrote short stories and a three-part serial and colleagues encouraged me to enter a short story competition on local radio. Imagine my surprise, when at work, I received a telephone call from the literary presenter at the radio station to say that my stories and serial were to be broadcast on the radio and they would pay me. I knew then that my destiny was to become a writer. It took a few years, but I made it. I am passionate about my writing and finding my inner happiness, which pleases me to know that now I can write forever.
Kingston Upon Hull, 1941.
German bombs are raining down on the city. Racing to the nearest air-raid shelter, Charlotte hears an almighty explosion. Her mother’s haberdashery shop has taken a direct hit – killing her mother. Suddenly, Charlotte, 16, is all alone in the world. Then a mysterious aunt comes forward who she didn’t know existed, her mother’s sister, and offers Charlotte a home in the village of Mornington, and to work in her pub. She works hard, despite her aunt’s coldness towards her. When a group of distraught French orphans arrive to live in the big house, Charlotte volunteers to help care for them and finds a new purpose in life.
Then a band of Free French soldiers are billeted in the village, including a handsome young officer, Emile. Soon he and Charlotte become friends, and then they fall in love. Though will it survive? The events of war mar their joy as Emile returns to France and to face more tragedy in his life. And Charlotte must uncover both his and her own family’s secrets if they have a chance of lasting happiness.
Betty Bolte's Musings 