Today for an interview, we have debut author Ann Mauren here with us! She's the author of IN THE SPOTLIGHT, a really good book that I think everyone should check out.
1. How did you come up with the idea for IN THE SPOTLIGHT?
Since I was young I’ve played a little game with myself where I pick a person out at random for observation—trying to come up with a story in my mind about who they are and what they are like from what little I can see of them in the time I have to watch them. It began for me as a kid trying to pass the boredom of time spent at hardware stores with my dad, or department stores with my mom, but I continued it later as a grown-up in situations like being in a mile long line at the BMV or while walking in a park or waiting at the post office. When I decided to write a story, this seemed like a natural premise to pursue and it was fun to take it further and imagine a whole scenario about watching a person for an extended period of time and slowly falling in love with their character. It was also fun to think of it through the eyes of the person who realizes they’re being watched and how they might react to such a thing. There’s nothing better than controlling the destinies of characters you love.
2. Publishing is a hard. How was your experience? Easy? Hard?
It’s hard—so hard in fact that I’m still scratching my head wondering how I of all people got away with it. That being said I must confess that self-publishing is relatively easy in comparison to mainstream publishing. Companies like CreateSpace and Smashwords make it basically free to publish your work, but the flip side is that you have to be innovative and diligent in creating strategies to market your book and connect with your particular set of readers. The hardest part for me has been to muster the courage to put my work out there for people to dissect and critique. I wish that everyone who posts opinions about books they’ve read could have the experience of writing their own piece and offering it up for review. I have a new appreciation and profound respect for other authors, both old and new.
3. What's your favorite thing to do in your free time?
Free time? Are you kidding? I have a baby and a third grader, a secular job and house to run…oh, and novels to write! Free time! As if! J Okay, I’ll confess that late at night when nobody needs their diaper changed, or their lunch made, or their shirt ironed, I love to curl up with a steaming cup of chai tea, get under a warm blanket in my favorite chair and read a good book. Make that a Kindle! My husband recently surprised me with one and now and totally I’m hooked! It’s the best thing since sliced bread (and it never gets stale!)
4. If you could time travel for one year, where would you go?
I’ve always been really curious about what life must have been like in the Garden of Eden—before that whole forbidden fruit thing went down, of course.
5. Can you relate to any of your characters?
Ellery is the character with whom I can most easily identify. The descriptions of her insecurities about making friends and speaking in front of other people are exactly how I felt when I was her age, and how I still feel today, to a certain extent. Other similarities are that I’m the reigning champion of Balderdash (a game of word definitions) in my family and that I have a ‘thing’ for state quarters. I have long blonde hair and brown eyes and my mother actually does scoff at the fat and cholesterol content of any given ingredient in a recipe…I could go on for quite a while here!
6. Will you be writing more books after Mayne Attraction?
I’m still working on the Mayne Attraction series but I have ideas for other stories all the time—especially when I’m trying to write for M.A.! It’s very frustrating, actually. What I’d really love is to team up with another author and write as partners. I used to think this was a weird notion and wonder how other authors made it work, but now I can see that there could be huge benefits: developing and refining ideas together, sharing the research and editing work, keeping up the excitement and/or morale, and each writer contributing their particular talents and expertise to the project. And of course the biggest benefit of all would be if this partner already had a bit of a fan following of their own. Then our fans could join forces! Would I mind being a sidekick? Not at all. “Holy spell check, Batman! To the internet for research—Let’s go!”
Thanks for the great interview Ann!!
-Ana
No comments:
Post a Comment