Interview with Kathleen Jabs

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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"><span id="goog_153736942"></span><span id="goog_153736943"></span>What is the title/working title of the book?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The title is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Wings</i></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Where did the idea come from for the book?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I worked on a series of short stories centered on women at
the US Naval Academy for almost two years before I started on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Wings</i>.  After so many drafts,
I’d finally found the voice for Bridget Donovan, the main character in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Black Wings</i>, but I didn’t have the
whole conflict. One day I had a vision of a female pilot crashing into the sea.
The line, “Audrey Richards wanted to fly,” came to me.  I wanted to know
who Audrey wa<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blog..." name="_GoBack"></a>s and what had happened to her, why she
crashed. Everything pointed back to her time at the Academy. The stories from
the Academy became entwined with the real life quest Bridget undergoes to
discover what really happened to Audrey.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">What genre does your book fall under?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Black Wings</span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> is a mystery but
also a literary thriller.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">What actors would you choose to play the part of your
characters in a movie rendition?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Audrey would be played by Jessica Chastain.
Bridget would be played by Jennifer Lawrence with her hair short and dark or
Ellen Page. Captain Fangmeyer would be played Tommy Lee Jones. Jude Duggan
would be played by Ryan Gosling.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Black
Wings</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> is a mystery centered on Navy Lieutenant Bridget Donovan
and her quest to discover what really happened when her former Naval Academy
roommate, Audrey Richards, dies in a botched take-off from an aircraft carrier.
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">How
long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
first draft took about two years, but the entire project took 10 years, which
included two years where the novel languished in a drawer.  </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Who or what inspired you to write this book?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m a lifelong reader and I always wanted to
write a book. I entered the Naval Academy in 1984, the eighth class to accept
women. I had no idea what I was getting into or what military life entailed.
For a long time, I didn’t write about the military or set my stories in
military settings, but once I started, I kept going. I loved exploring the
world of girls/women trying to navigate their way through the military training
as they chased different dreams.  </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While I was writing, I had a vision of a female Navy pilot
crashing into the sea. I wanted to understand what happened to Audrey and why
she crashed and it kept going back to her time at the Naval Academy. The only
person who would be able to put the pieces together was her roommate, Bridget
Donovan.  </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">What else about your book might pique the reader’s
interest?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Black
Wings </span></i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">features secret societies, an inside peek at
inner workings of the Naval Academy honor court, a glimpse at the early days of
women in combat aviation and realistic settings from Annapolis, Norfolk and the
Pentagon.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The title, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Wings</i>
is both a reference to a physical object and a metaphor. In the Navy, people
who are warfare qualified, such as aviators, wear a device on the pockets of
their uniforms. In shorthand, the aviator device is referred to as “wings.” Throughout
the novel Audrey is confronted with sets of black wings, which are meant to
scare her away from flying. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Was your book self-published or represented by an agency?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m represented by a small press, Fuze Publishing. I was
especially lucky to reconnect with Molly Tinsley, my former advisor at the US
Naval Academy and one of the co-founders of Fuze. She taught me writing 20+
years ago and helped launch Black Wings into print.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks Kathleen for stopping by Two Ends of the Pen. I have read <i>Black Wings</i> and loved it. Here's the link to my review: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/RU0I62P6... </span><br />
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