It’s not often I do guest
posts. TBH, it’s not often I put up posts at all, but today I’m making an
exception, in the shape of a conversation with the lovely Miriam Drori.
It started out as a video chat,
but a morass of technical problems at both ends meant we had to revert to good
old-fashioned written words.
Miriam is a writer and editor,
a resident of Jerusalem, and a producer of high quality work. Which only begs
the question, why would she want to talk to an idiot like me?
Still and all, let’s get on
with it.
*
Welcome, Miriam. One of the questions people ask me is, what prompted you to become an author. Fact is, I had a good education which was a complete waste of the taxpayers’ money, and when I retired from the rat race ten years ago, I took up scribbling more seriously. So let me put the same question to you. What prompted you to first start writing? What was the first thing you wrote?
Ooh, you've thrown me in at the deep end and forced me to start
with those two letters: S. A. No, that's not South Africa or South Australia or
even Société Anonyme, which is the first one that Google gave me. No, for me,
SA is social anxiety, which I've been unfortunate enough to share most of my
life with. It probably sounds strange for me to say that social anxiety
prompted me to start writing, but I can explain. When I eventually discovered
that was my problem, I joined an online forum for 'sufferers' (for want of a
better word). I 'met' a lot of people who were much worse off than me. And I
noticed that almost everyone who joined the forum wrote, "I thought I was
the only one." Also, I noticed that people on the forum wrote a lot about
not being understood - even by professional people who should have known
better. In other words, people who had it didn't know they had it, and people
who didn't have it didn't know anything about it. So, I became passionate about
raising awareness of social anxiety. As writing was something I knew how to do,
I started writing about social anxiety. That was in 2004. The book, Social
Anxiety Revealed, was eventually published by Crooked Cat thirteen years later,
in 2017, stayed with them for three years and is now published independently.
It was when I finished writing it, in about 2005, that I had the idea of
writing a story and so began the long… well, never-ending period of learning
the craft of fiction writing.
Another question
people ask me is what’s a typical day like you. Disastrous is the first word
that springs to mind. A jackrabbit mind like mine needs something to keep it
occupied, so there is no typical day. I could be talking to the webcam,
writing, marketing, or (when the missus is in that kind of mood) working in the
garden. Your turn. What does a typical writing day involve for you?
A typical day… I wish I had one! I wish I could say I spend
the mornings writing and the afternoons editing and marketing, but it doesn't
work out like that. I have lots of days when I don't do any writing at all… at
least, not the fictional sort of writing. In November, on the other hand, I
spend whole days writing. That's because of NaNoWriMo - that month when certain
crazy people around the world try to write 50 thousand words in a month. I
don't always reach 50 thousand words, but I always have a great time doing it
and that's because of all the other local crazy people doing the same thing and
the meetups we all have where we eat, drink, discuss what we're writing and
write together. So, this is the time that writing isn't a solitary activity.
When I think about my
work, I often ask myself, what’s the best part about writing? For me it’s
typing those two magical words THE END. What’s the best part of the writing
process for you…and the worst?
The best part is reading through something I've written and
thinking, "That's really rather good!" The worst part… I don't know.
It's certainly not finding a section that doesn't work. That happens all the
time, but I know that if I think about it, I'll come up with a better idea, or
else I'll ask for advice. So, I can't think of a worst part of the actual
writing process. In the wider context of being an author, marketing is the
worst part.
I’m a panster. I never
plan anything. If I do, the plans are invariably go wrong. Do you plot your
novels in advance, or allow them to develop as you write?
I've tried both. I think the writing process flows more
quickly when I plot in advance. I prefer to know the ending so that I always
have a goal in mind. Having said that, nothing is engraved in stone - any part
of my plot can change as I'm writing.
I frequently struggle
with deciding on names for my characters. Is it one of your problems too?
In general, I try not to have two with the same first
initial. Also, I try to choose names that would sound familiar to
English-speakers even if the characters are not English-speakers. That's not
always possible, so my second choice would be names that are short and
hopefully easy to remember.
In the first novel I ever wrote, I didn't know what to call
the main characters, so I called them M for male and F for female. Eventually,
they turned into Martin and Fiona. Luckily, I decided to scrap that novel, but
the characters remained with me, keeping their names in a new plot that became
my latest novel.
Let’s throw you right in the deep end. Can you summarise your latest work in just a few words?
Yes, I can summarise it because this is something I've
considered. In 3 words: Japan smashes walls. In 7 seven words: Social
misfit's journey through Japan and life. That one was suggested by my
friend and author, Katy Johnson.
And the inspiration
for the book?
The original idea came from a writing course I attended. We
were told to describe a character and I chose Martin, who I knew well from my
discarded novel. Then they told us to place the character in a country we
hadn't visited. At the time, I hadn't been to Japan, but I'd heard a bit about
it. So, I imagined how Martin would fare if he was sent to Japan, and that's
what led to the novel, Cultivating a Fuji.
I’m sure it’s a winner.
I spent much of my
working life travelling all over Great Britain, so I don’t need to do a great
deal of research for my books. Do you do much research?
Oh yes, but not an enormous amount, because I deliberately
used places and facts I knew. I researched sites in Japan that I didn't get to
see on my visit there. And I discovered new places in Bournemouth, which is
where Martin lives. And various aspects of life in the '70s and earlier - like
songs that were popular then, and even the weather. I discovered I'd included a
waxwork in London's Madame Tussaud's that wouldn't have been there at the time.
It took me some time to find another one that was there and that suited my
story.
Other people ask, do you have a message for your
readers? The answer for me is, yes. Read and enjoy. So again, I put the
questions you, is there a message for the reader?
Mostly, I wanted to create a good
story. If readers enjoy the story (and they have), then I'm satisfied. If it
causes them to rethink anything afterwards, that's an added bonus. There are
several messages they could take away, starting with this one: The effects of
childhood bullying can last a lifetime.
Last question. Do you remember Desert Island Discs? If you
were stranded on a desert island, what luxury item would you like with you?
I still listen to Desert Island
Discs, although I always expect to hear Roy Plumley! (Yes, I'm that old.) I'd
take a piano. Hopefully, I'd finally have time to practise. Hidden inside the
piano would be lots of notebooks and pens, because I can't imagine not being
able to write!
I think that’s cheating isn’t it?
Miriam, it’s been absolutely wonderful talking to you, and
I wish you every success with all your work.
*
Miriam’s novel, Cultivating
a Fuji is published by Crooked Cat Books and you can find it at:
No comments:
Post a comment