In Which I'm Interviewed by Intern'l Thriller Magazine
Ashes To Water by Irene Ziegler
By Debra Webb
Wow! I'm very pleased to be talking to Irene Ziegler this month about her new book, Ashes to Water, from Five Star Publications.
Ashes to Water explores a very emotional situation with a protagonist who must make a very difficult decision. Please share your journey of how this plotline came to you and developed.
Let me start by saying thank you so much for your interest. Ashes to Water is my debut novel, and while it stands alone, it continues the story of Annie Bartlett who grows up in my collection of linked short stories, Rules of the Lake, both set in Florida. In Ashes to Water, Annie returns to her small home town to bury her father, who has been murdered. His girlfriend, accused of the crime, is in jail awaiting trial. Annie finds reasons to fight for the woman's innocence even though a not-guilty verdict would have a devastating effect on her erratic and unwell sister, Leigh.
The plot line came to me while I was performing a heart transplant.
Kidding.
I think it came to me when a good friend was going through a divorce, and his teenage daughters didn't talk to him for about three years. When I saw how their estrangement was killing him, I thought how easily time might get away from those girls, until one day, after they realized that life is complicated and love is messy, their dad might not be there anymore. I thought how profoundly sad that would be for them, to have missed out on that relationship. So I put Annie and Leigh in that situation, and played it out. The theme of difficult family relationships and the struggle to forge a lasting peace with loved ones soon began taking shape and posing interesting questions. Is blood always thicker than water? In morally ambiguous situations, where do loyalties lie?
What was the hardest part of writing this protagonist?
I didn't want Annie to be a goodie-goodie. Annie makes some bad choices under pressure, and I knew this might turn some readers off, but I'm not interested in fictional worlds where true love always triumphs, and right and wrong are never painted in shades of gray. So that was hard; making Annie both human and sympathetic.
And what an outstanding job you did! Pinckney Benedict said of your novel: A marvelously accomplished first novel, and a pitch-perfect literary thriller. What a fantastic review! Please share your writing journey. When did you decide to write? Did you begin with screen plays then novels? Was acting your first love?
If I go back as far as grade school, writing was my first love, but acting was my first profession. I'm lucky in that my two artistic passions fuel one another. I create characters I'd love to portray, put words in their mouths I'd love to say, make them tall and skinny with straight white teeth. Very empowering.
Like many a student of creative writing, I began with short stories, and still love reading them. In fact, I produce an event that features short stories written by Virginia writers called Virginia Arts & Letters LIVE. I've never written a screenplay, but I have written two plays, (one a winner of the Mary Roberts Rinehart award), and have begun a third. If you know a theatre producer looking for a good 8-woman comedy with a simple unit set, send her/him my way.
I'd love to hear more about the work you do with Virginia Arts and Letters LIVE.
Thanks! It's a neat event. If you're familiar with NPR's broadcast of "Selected Shorts", you'll see the ideas I ripped off...I mean, the ideas that influenced me. VALL features Virginia actors reading short stories by Virginia writers, accompanied by Virginia musicians. It's an annual event now in its seventh year. Pat Carroll (so wonderful as the voice of Ursula in "The Little Mermaid") will guest host in October, and read "The Happy Memories Club," by Lee Smith, a story, not so coincidentally, about writing.
What are you working on next? Please include your next novel.
The next novel is another Annie Bartlett mystery/thriller, The Face of the Deep (water is a major, recurring symbol in my work). And I'm working on a play, Miss Palmer's School of Penmanship and Civil Behavior. It's about penmanship and civil behavior.
Debra Webb wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn't until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain and within the confining political Walls of Berlin, Germany, that she realized her true calling. A five-year stint with NASA on the Space Shuttle Program reinforced her love of the endless possibilities within her grasp as a storyteller. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Debra has been writing romantic suspense and action packed romantic thrillers since.
By Debra Webb
Wow! I'm very pleased to be talking to Irene Ziegler this month about her new book, Ashes to Water, from Five Star Publications.
Ashes to Water explores a very emotional situation with a protagonist who must make a very difficult decision. Please share your journey of how this plotline came to you and developed.
Let me start by saying thank you so much for your interest. Ashes to Water is my debut novel, and while it stands alone, it continues the story of Annie Bartlett who grows up in my collection of linked short stories, Rules of the Lake, both set in Florida. In Ashes to Water, Annie returns to her small home town to bury her father, who has been murdered. His girlfriend, accused of the crime, is in jail awaiting trial. Annie finds reasons to fight for the woman's innocence even though a not-guilty verdict would have a devastating effect on her erratic and unwell sister, Leigh.
The plot line came to me while I was performing a heart transplant.
Kidding.
I think it came to me when a good friend was going through a divorce, and his teenage daughters didn't talk to him for about three years. When I saw how their estrangement was killing him, I thought how easily time might get away from those girls, until one day, after they realized that life is complicated and love is messy, their dad might not be there anymore. I thought how profoundly sad that would be for them, to have missed out on that relationship. So I put Annie and Leigh in that situation, and played it out. The theme of difficult family relationships and the struggle to forge a lasting peace with loved ones soon began taking shape and posing interesting questions. Is blood always thicker than water? In morally ambiguous situations, where do loyalties lie?
What was the hardest part of writing this protagonist?
I didn't want Annie to be a goodie-goodie. Annie makes some bad choices under pressure, and I knew this might turn some readers off, but I'm not interested in fictional worlds where true love always triumphs, and right and wrong are never painted in shades of gray. So that was hard; making Annie both human and sympathetic.
And what an outstanding job you did! Pinckney Benedict said of your novel: A marvelously accomplished first novel, and a pitch-perfect literary thriller. What a fantastic review! Please share your writing journey. When did you decide to write? Did you begin with screen plays then novels? Was acting your first love?
If I go back as far as grade school, writing was my first love, but acting was my first profession. I'm lucky in that my two artistic passions fuel one another. I create characters I'd love to portray, put words in their mouths I'd love to say, make them tall and skinny with straight white teeth. Very empowering.
Like many a student of creative writing, I began with short stories, and still love reading them. In fact, I produce an event that features short stories written by Virginia writers called Virginia Arts & Letters LIVE. I've never written a screenplay, but I have written two plays, (one a winner of the Mary Roberts Rinehart award), and have begun a third. If you know a theatre producer looking for a good 8-woman comedy with a simple unit set, send her/him my way.
I'd love to hear more about the work you do with Virginia Arts and Letters LIVE.
Thanks! It's a neat event. If you're familiar with NPR's broadcast of "Selected Shorts", you'll see the ideas I ripped off...I mean, the ideas that influenced me. VALL features Virginia actors reading short stories by Virginia writers, accompanied by Virginia musicians. It's an annual event now in its seventh year. Pat Carroll (so wonderful as the voice of Ursula in "The Little Mermaid") will guest host in October, and read "The Happy Memories Club," by Lee Smith, a story, not so coincidentally, about writing.
What are you working on next? Please include your next novel.
The next novel is another Annie Bartlett mystery/thriller, The Face of the Deep (water is a major, recurring symbol in my work). And I'm working on a play, Miss Palmer's School of Penmanship and Civil Behavior. It's about penmanship and civil behavior.
Debra Webb wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn't until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain and within the confining political Walls of Berlin, Germany, that she realized her true calling. A five-year stint with NASA on the Space Shuttle Program reinforced her love of the endless possibilities within her grasp as a storyteller. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Debra has been writing romantic suspense and action packed romantic thrillers since.
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