I tell everyone I don’t read the books I put up here. I just quickly check them for typos, formatting and “production quality stuff”. The reason is I, like many indie authors, am hammered for time – not enough of it, never going to be enough of it. So then, page One of Marian’s book Eel’s Reverence, a genre I don’t often read (once in a green Moon), I’m sucked in. If you find a typo in here don’t blame me, I wasn’t looking I was reading. Good quality writing will do that to you – every time.
“Indie publishers seem willing to take a chance on odd books that don’t fit exactly into a stereotyped niche. It’s also easier to make personal contact with indie publishers and editors, online and at conferences.” – Marian Allen 18 Nov 2010
The Back Flap
An elderly female priest of Micah–a religion of inclusiveness, humility and compassion–gets miffed because her parishioners prefer the showy “reaver” priest down the block and goes on a Final Wandering. She happens into the coastal area known as The Eel, where a coalition of reaver priests have driven out all the true priests and are forcing attendance and tithes on everyone, including the sea-dwelling mermayds. Rebellious citizens set Aunt Libby up as a rallying point for a revolution that threatens to be bloodier than the coalition’s rule, and one old woman finds herself a reedy voice for peace in an increasingly bellicose confrontation.
When did you start writing the book?
I started writing sometime in 1990, I think–after our youngest started school. EEL’S REVERENCE was published in 1994 by ACCESS (no longer in operation). Then it was picked up in late 1994 by SERENDIPITY SYSTEMS, who also published two other of my books. Back in those days, one ordered electronic books by mail and received 5 1/4 floppy discs! Hoping to sell the books to a paper publisher, I retrieved my rights from SERENDIPITY and subsequently contracted with ECHELON earlier this year. ECHELON chose to re-issue it, and my other two e-published books, again in electronic formats.
How long did it take you to write it?
It took me about three months to seriously prepare for it and nine to write it. Revisions never end. *laughing*
Where did you get the idea from?
In college, we read Matthew Arnold’s poem “The Forsaken Merman”, a first-person poem in which a merman explains to his children that their mother is a mortal who returned to land and will never come back to them. He goes into town and watches her and sees she has forgotten her enchanted life. The idea of a sea creature on land intrigued me, so Loach, the mermayd, was the first character created.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
I always struggle with plot. There are so many ways a story could go, it’s very difficult for me to collapse all the possibilities into one narrative line.
What came easily?
Characters and dialog come easily. I love doing characters and dialog.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
Aunt Libby is based on my late Aunt Ruth. “Feisty” doesn’t begin to describe her! And Uncle Phineas was written as a part (in my mind) for the late actor Thayer David, who was Count Petofi and Professor Stokes on Dark Shadows, among his other roles.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
I loved Jane Langton’s THE DIAMOND IN THE WINDOW, Madeline L’Engle’s A WRINKLE IN TIME, Albert Payson Terhune’s LAD: A DOG books, Andrew Lang’s Rainbow Fairy Tale books and Walter R. Brooks’ FREDDY THE PIG series. A pretty eclectic selection, especially if you throw in the King James version of the Bible, which I heard every week at the least.
All these books have some things in common: They all have beautifully constructed sentences and strong story lines.
DIAMOND and WRINKLE explore human frailty and oddity and interior struggles.
Terhune was unbeatable at making a location a character, at writing action scenes and at creating strong empathy for a non-human character and at making the reader feel privy to a non-human character’s emotions and thought processes.
Brooks made his animal characters humans in disguise, but his strength was common-place characters with endearing quirks–the longer I live in a small town, the more I appreciate his writing–and vernacular dialog.
If you grew up after the King James Bible went out of common use, I encourage you to read it. Like Shakespeare, the sound of the passages is beautiful, whether you understand what they mean or not.
Do you have a target reader?
Anybody with $2.99 burning a hole in his or her pocket? Seriously, my target reader would be someone who isn’t afraid of a book labeled “fantasy” or “science fiction”, who likes character-driven stories. One of the main characters is an old woman and one is a young person. I didn’t write “for” adolescents, but there’s nothing in EEL’S REVERENCE that would make it unsuitable for middle-graders or young adults.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I have to start out writing. I blogged about this the other day in an entry I called “Outlining My Pants”. People always ask if you’re an outliner or a “pantser”, but a lot of writers are both. I do best if I sit down with my germ of an idea and write until I get irritated with the shapelessness of what I’m doing. They I have to put the writing aside and work out some kind of structure, whether that ends up being an outline or just a two-sentence log-line.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just Chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I tend to outline after I’ve started writing. I don’t think I’m the only kid who wrote her term paper first and her outline afterwards…. I have to have some handle on the situation and characters before I can think about where it’s going, and that means I have to write myself into it. I usually write short stories without an outline. Sometimes it shows, I must admit. Ah, well, there’s always the editing process.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I edit as I go, a bit, sometimes more and sometimes less. When I write short stories, I edit extensively as I go. During National Novel Writing Month, I work myself up to just making notes of things I want to go back and plug in or smooth over or change.
Did you hire a professional editor?
I didn’t. I saw the false economy of that when Echelon sent me the proofs for EEL’S REVERENCE. I found a lot of mistakes I’d made–and this was a book which had been through three publishers’ editors. Echelon sent me the corrected proofs, and I found many more mistakes. When I get the proofs for FORCE OF HABIT and SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING, I’ll send them to a professional.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
I can work in a coffee house with people talking and music playing, but I have to have quiet when I work at home.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
I did. My work was considered unsalable, although my rejection letters were personal and encouraging.
What made you decide to go Indie? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
Originally, I went indie because none of the big houses were interested. When I saw a notice about the then-new electronic publishing, I jumped on it like a duck on a June bug. I was very lucky to have two good electronic publishers, and now a third good one. Indie publishers seem willing to take a chance on odd books that don’t fit exactly into a stereotyped niche. It’s also easier to make personal contact with indie publishers and editors, online and at conferences.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did it you do it yourself?
My publisher had the cover done. My cover story is that there was a scene in which Aunt Libby looks up at the night sky which was described as being in shades of pink and purple. The cover came, and it was in shades of green. So I rewrote the scene to match the cover. Now it looks like I had all kinds of input on it. *laughing*
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I had a marketing plan, but I’m learning as I go and possibilities are coming up that I never thought of, so I’m winging it, too. I planned a blog book tour, and I did that, but I’m joining groups and visiting blogs I didn’t know about when I did the tour and speaking up in panels at writers’ conventions.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Know that you’ll be expected to take a lot of responsibility for your own promotion. I understand that many big houses expect that, too. You’ll have to make some financial investment, and spend a lot of time and thought promoting your book. But that isn’t a warning, it’s just a statement. Warnings are about bad stuff. Promotion can be fun, if you think of it as socializing.
About You
Where did you grow up?
In the West End of Louisville, Kentucky, the oldest part of town.
Where do you live now?
In the woods of southern Indiana, about as different from my upbringing as you can get.
What would you like readers to know about you?
Everything is about writing, with me.
End of Interview:
If you’d like to find out more about Marian (she has some great recipes on her site) please visit her blog here.
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