Ask the Author: Mary Simses
Answered Questions (8)
Mary Simses
Hi Jan, I hope so too! I've been working on one for a while now. It's just taking me a little longer than usual. You know how that is - when life gets in the way. Thanks for asking. Mary
Mary Simses
It's tough to pick just one, but a couple that come to mind quickly, which I guess means they must be high on my list, are Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Darcy is such a brooding and serious guy and you just know he needs a woman who can lift his spirits and bring laughter and excitement into his days, as well as smart conversation of course. Elizabeth is so intelligent and dynamic (and a good piano player at a party, which should be a lesson to all of us who gave up on music lessons too soon), but she needs a man who can provide her with emotional strength and solidity, not to mention a decent bank account. Throw in an assortment of obstacles and oddball characters, and you have the perfect five-star romance. I also love Lucy Honeychurch and George Emerson from A Room with a View. Guess I'm stuck on the Brits!
Mary Simses
If I'm having trouble with a particular chapter, I sometimes start working on a different scene or different chapter, just to get the writing going. Or I'll call a friend, who is also a writer, and brainstorm with her. I usually have a pretty good idea of where I'm going with each chapter before I write it, which really helps.
Mary Simses
The best thing is knowing that I've touched someone emotionally with my words and hearing from readers who enjoyed the book.
Mary Simses
Last year I wrote a column called "10 Do's and Dont's for the Aspiring Novelist," for Chuck Sambuchino's blog. Chuck is the editor of Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents. Here is the column.
DO’S:
1. Start small. Writing short stories is a great way to do that. Many novelists have started this way, including me. Writing a good short story forces you to create and develop a character and take a plot from beginning to end in a limited number of pages. It also prepares you for writing a novel, because each chapter is basically a short story. Writing a short story is also much less intimidating than writing a novel.
2. Look for a fiction writing class and/or a writer’s group in your area. This is probably the most important thing I did, when, after a long hiatus, I decided to get back into fiction writing. While I was working full-time as an attorney, I enrolled in an evening fiction writing class at a local university.
What you can learn from others about voice, plot structure, character development, and general story-telling mechanics is invaluable. And other writers can provide so much inspiration. I always loved hearing what fellow students had written. Much of it was amazing and it always encouraged me to keep going and work harder.
3. Write things down. It’s helpful to jot down ideas for stories, bits of conversation you overhear, interesting situations you learn of, and character names you create. Keep a little notebook for this purpose and put it on your bedside table at night. Don’t trust your memory. That great idea you thought of just before going to bed will probably be gone in the morning.
4. Try to write something every day, even if it’s just a few paragraphs. Writing is a skill, like any other, and the more you do it the better you will become. If you can get into a routine, as far as where and when you write, all the better – but if not, just write.
5. Take advice from other authors. Two books I love are Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg and Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. They are both excellent resources on the craft of writing. I also found Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market to be another helpful resource when I was submitting stories for publication.
DON’TS:
1. Don’t let your day job get in the way. We all have to earn a living. If you’re not lucky enough to have started writing at age twenty-five and now have a string of best-sellers under your belt, so be it. Not everyone can be a full-time writer. But don’t think that you can’t be a writer because you’re earning your living in some other way. And don’t use that as an excuse not to write. I wrote for years “on the side” while working as an attorney. Write whenever you can – at night, on weekends, early in the morning, on busses, on airplanes, while you’re skydiving (well, maybe not while you’re sky diving . . .).
2. Don’t fall in love with your words. At least don’t do it to the point where you can’t be a ruthless editor. It’s important to be able to read your work with a critical eye and get rid of excess verbiage or writing that sounds “clunky.” I’ve always found, regardless of whether it’s a legal memo or a short story, that if I put the work away for a while, I can come back to it with a fresh eye and I can more easily see where it needs improvement.
3. Don’t keep your work hidden away. If you want to get it published, you need to send it out. If it’s a short story, try submitting it to literary magazines; if it’s a novel, send query letters to agents. As mentioned earlier, Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market is a great source of information on fiction markets, agents, and writing contests.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask friends for help – especially if they are in the publishing field. There are probably thousands of great manuscripts out there that will never be published because the writer can’t get them to the right person. If you know someone who can help you and your work is good enough, they should be happy to do it. Ask!
5. Don’t forget that you are the writer. It’s great to get feedback from others, in a class or a writer’s group or from other people whose judgment you trust, but in the end the decisions about the story are yours. Different people will give you different advice and editing by committee never works. Analyze all of the comments and suggestions carefully, and then select the ones you think are key to making your story the best that it can be.
DO’S:
1. Start small. Writing short stories is a great way to do that. Many novelists have started this way, including me. Writing a good short story forces you to create and develop a character and take a plot from beginning to end in a limited number of pages. It also prepares you for writing a novel, because each chapter is basically a short story. Writing a short story is also much less intimidating than writing a novel.
2. Look for a fiction writing class and/or a writer’s group in your area. This is probably the most important thing I did, when, after a long hiatus, I decided to get back into fiction writing. While I was working full-time as an attorney, I enrolled in an evening fiction writing class at a local university.
What you can learn from others about voice, plot structure, character development, and general story-telling mechanics is invaluable. And other writers can provide so much inspiration. I always loved hearing what fellow students had written. Much of it was amazing and it always encouraged me to keep going and work harder.
3. Write things down. It’s helpful to jot down ideas for stories, bits of conversation you overhear, interesting situations you learn of, and character names you create. Keep a little notebook for this purpose and put it on your bedside table at night. Don’t trust your memory. That great idea you thought of just before going to bed will probably be gone in the morning.
4. Try to write something every day, even if it’s just a few paragraphs. Writing is a skill, like any other, and the more you do it the better you will become. If you can get into a routine, as far as where and when you write, all the better – but if not, just write.
5. Take advice from other authors. Two books I love are Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg and Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. They are both excellent resources on the craft of writing. I also found Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market to be another helpful resource when I was submitting stories for publication.
DON’TS:
1. Don’t let your day job get in the way. We all have to earn a living. If you’re not lucky enough to have started writing at age twenty-five and now have a string of best-sellers under your belt, so be it. Not everyone can be a full-time writer. But don’t think that you can’t be a writer because you’re earning your living in some other way. And don’t use that as an excuse not to write. I wrote for years “on the side” while working as an attorney. Write whenever you can – at night, on weekends, early in the morning, on busses, on airplanes, while you’re skydiving (well, maybe not while you’re sky diving . . .).
2. Don’t fall in love with your words. At least don’t do it to the point where you can’t be a ruthless editor. It’s important to be able to read your work with a critical eye and get rid of excess verbiage or writing that sounds “clunky.” I’ve always found, regardless of whether it’s a legal memo or a short story, that if I put the work away for a while, I can come back to it with a fresh eye and I can more easily see where it needs improvement.
3. Don’t keep your work hidden away. If you want to get it published, you need to send it out. If it’s a short story, try submitting it to literary magazines; if it’s a novel, send query letters to agents. As mentioned earlier, Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market is a great source of information on fiction markets, agents, and writing contests.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask friends for help – especially if they are in the publishing field. There are probably thousands of great manuscripts out there that will never be published because the writer can’t get them to the right person. If you know someone who can help you and your work is good enough, they should be happy to do it. Ask!
5. Don’t forget that you are the writer. It’s great to get feedback from others, in a class or a writer’s group or from other people whose judgment you trust, but in the end the decisions about the story are yours. Different people will give you different advice and editing by committee never works. Analyze all of the comments and suggestions carefully, and then select the ones you think are key to making your story the best that it can be.
Mary Simses
I'm working on another novel, which will be published in June, 2016 in the U.S. and April 2016 in Germany. The story is about a woman in her thirties who loses her job in New York City and returns to the town where she grew up in Connecticut to visit her parents. While there, she is forced to confront an unresolved matter from her past and make some important decisions about her future. It’s a blend of romance, drama, and humor. I think small town life and unfinished business from the past are my themes!
Mary Simses
That's a tough question. Writing is fun but it's also like any other job, which means it's hard work. I usually want to write but sometimes the rest of life gets in the way and my day gets away from me. I guess what I'm saying is that it's not really the inspiration that's the problem - it's often just having a clear block of uninterrupted time in which to do the writing.
Mary Simses
The idea for Blueberry Café came from something I heard on the radio one morning. A woman was telling a story about how her grandmother died, and how right before she died she said, “Erase my hard drive!” I kept wondering what was on that hard drive that the grandmother wanted to keep secret. It finally led me to the idea of an eighty-year-old woman, reflecting on her life and wanting to make amends for something she had done in the past. It was the idea of uncovering a secret that I really liked. I used a letter as the vehicle for opening the story, rather than a computer, because I wanted something more old-fashioned and more tangible.
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