I was interviewed recently by Alexandra Wolfe who is the Publishing Editor at Kissed by Venus, based in Canada. This is my first interview. See how I did. I am open to suggestions on ways to improve.
Alexandra: First of all let me welcome the author, Susan Gabriel, to Kissed By Venus, and thank her for taking part in our 20-question in the hot-seat “interview” sessions.
1. The first question we would like to ask you is why do you write, is there something that compels you?
In my more dramatic moments, writing feels like life and death to me. I guess I spent so many years without a “voice” that it is crucial for me to have one. I have written novels for 14 years and at this point I can’t imagine not writing. I feel like I have certain stories that are mine to tell. I worry sometimes that I will die or become incapacitated in some way before I get to write them all down.
2. What, for you, is the hardest thing about writing?
The money part. If my books don’t make enough money then I have to supplement my income, either editing other people’s manuscripts or taking an odd job here or there. It’s the writer’s age-old dilemma. The arts are not valued in our society so it is hard for artists not to fall into a “starving artist” mentality.
3. What genre do you feel most at ease writing in, if any?
I love fiction. I love stories. Although I have a blog that I enjoy writing, too, that is definitely not fiction. But there is something magical and archetypal about telling a story.
4. How do you like to approach your writing when starting a new project? Do you do outlines, and breakdown scenes, or do you just leap straight into writing the narrative?
Most of my stories begin with a voice. I will hear a character’s voice and it’s as if they begin to talk to me. They begin to tell me their story. So it usually begins with a dialogue or a first-person voice. I don’t do outlines or breakdown scenes. It is a total leap of faith.
5. How do you create your characters? Do you start with a basic outline of personality type, or work them up as you go along?
They simply show up and are usually pretty fully formed when they do. I know their family history, their personal habits, and their motivation. However, I rarely know where a story is going after I start it, nor how it will end up. So the process is very entertaining to me. It’s like the story and characters have possession of me instead of me possessing them.
6. Do you talk to your characters at all?
Sometimes if I’m stuck I dialogue with them on paper and ask them where they want to go next. Sometimes I even dream about them. In my current book, Seeking Sara Summers, Grady showed up in a dream and waved to me. I thought this was very generous of him since he is not the most sympathetic of characters.
7. Do you have certain writing rituals that you like to perform?
I always have a small pot of tea by my side before I begin, either at home or at my favorite coffee shop. My favorite tea at the moment is organic Assam and the baristas at the coffee shop start making it for me as soon as I come in the door.
I usually write in the morning from 9 until 12 or 1:00. Then after lunch I market my current book and answer emails. I keep track of my hours, so I can prove to myself that I am not goofing off. I also jot a note about what I worked on and the progress I made.
8. Writers quite often work through personal issues in their narratives. Do you, and how do you handle that?
Seeking Sara Summers is about a woman who finds herself in a marriage that isn’t fulfilling and then who falls in love with her best female friend. This happened to me, yet the story is not my story. In a way it’s what I wished would have happened. Because this story was the closest to me, it was the hardest to write. I wanted to direct it, instead of letting the characters tell the story. I revised it many times, working to get myself out of the way.
9. Do you have people read your work as you write, or do you wait till a project is complete? What would you say were the benefits to either approach?
I’ve done both. With Seeking Sara Summers, I was in a writer’s group and I presented a new chapter every other week when we met. Any comments the group had I wrote on my copy and saved for the end. I didn’t go back and rework. It’s important for me to get it all down before I start revising, otherwise I can get stuck in the revision process. I allow myself a really bad first draft before I start looking at it again. And now, since I’m not in a writer’s group any longer, I wait until the 2nd or 3rd draft before I let anyone read it. My first reader is always my partner. My second reader is my agent.
10. Where do you find the inspiration for your stories?
I truly love my characters and do my best to tell their stories. They inspire me.
11. Do you like to write to music and, if so, what kind?
At the coffee shop, there’s always music and talking in the background, which I am good at tuning out. At home, I usually write in silence.
12. If you didn’t write, what would you do?
I would probably still be a marriage & family therapist. I closed my practice because I ended up putting all my creativity into the therapeutic process and had nothing left for me.
(This interview will conclude in the next blog post.)
P.S. If you have a passion, like I do, to document and pass down your family’s stories, check out www.YourFamilyTimeCapsule.com
