*Awakened with a banging noise it takes a minute to get oriented. * What is that? *I open the door to a knock and thank fuck I had put pants on*
Crap! It's my guest. OK, I invite her in. Luckily I have the kitchen prepared and the guest room ready. It's an editing friend/client, the delightful Ms. McAtee. I let her nap while I cook and 2 hours later I wake her. It's real early my time, but for her its time for a late evening meal.
Darlin', you look fabulous.
*I blush* Thank you.
The food is hot, the wine is ready. I am in waistcoat shirt and tie, ymy guest is in an amazing dress. Shall we head to the dining room for an indian meal? King prawn biryani, with fresh onion bhaji's poppadoms dips and lime pickle and oh my, the deserts in the fridge. The wine is chilled *I pull our her chair*
So sit, eat, drink, be merry and let me pick your brains about what really fucks you off as a writer."
*I giggle as I sit down.*
My guest today is Laura McAtee. Laura has a children's book coming out soon. What's it called?
Cloud Animals
* I wait for her to expound but she doesn't.* Right, well I guess we'll cover that later then. Welcome to the UK, Ms. McAtee. How are you finding it here?
OMG! So cool! Thank you, Ben for hosting me and showing me around.
Here’s the American sweets I promised, the
case of Mountain Dew, and as promised some wine from our Missouri
wineries. I brought my favorite sweet
wine, St. James Velvet Red and another of my favorites, Stone Hill Winery Port.
Ok, let’s start with
something softball since you brought booze, what’s the one turn-off that will
make you put a book down immediately?
Hmm, well bad grammar would be the first turnoff.
I’ll give the first few paragraphs a cursory read and if there is
misspelled words, or grammatical errors
I’m through. There are always books available that are well written.
So a great plot can be
killed by poor grammar?
It may have a great plot but if I can't get past the first
few paragraphs or first pages then I’ll never know if it was great.
That makes sense,
how's the biryani? Ok, so what genre is
your guilty pleasure?
Mmm, the biryani is delicious! My first real curry - thank you. *blushes*
Romance. Yes, some of those
trashy paperbacks ranging from the sweet romance to the bodice rippers and even
some of today's paranormal romance. I will read several books at a time, ineevitably one of them is a romance.
Fantastic! Now a question in the same vein. *takes a sip of
the wine* The white is excellent thank you, try the bhaji. Ok what genre is a
no way in hell?
Noir! * samples bhaji
contemplating* Mmm, this is wonderful -
love it! The noir, it's always dark,
negative, seems like such a downer. I
mean there are just too many things in life to get you down anyway, why would I
want to read more negativity? I read to
escape not to experience someone else's
nightmare.
That makes allot of
sense. Ok, what plots are your pet hates?
I loathe the overblown ‘everyone has a dark past’ motif personally.
*rolls eyes* Yeah,
that is greatly overdone. * eats a bit
more biryani and bhaji, sipping wine as I think*
I mean a little
darkness is useful, but if your 20 kid class in a small town high have all been
gang raped, the place has bigger
problems than who’s taking who to prom.
LOL- yeah no kidding!
Well , I'd have to say it's a toss-up for me between revenge and
metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis because most people don't change. They remain the same, expecting everyone else
to change to them, and in that vein there are just too many times I've read about
the character’s metamorphosis. You want your characters to change, to develop and become more, but that's a different matter entirely. And in my
guilty pleasure, you'd be surprised at how many romances use revenge as their
plot.
I bet
I mean seriously, you're going to start a relationship out
of revenge from the person that did you wrong?
Get over it! Move on already and start a real relationship with the new
person, beginning fresh. Wipe that slate clean sister! Leave your old baggage at the other guys
house.
It’s a nice easy
device. So, ok what do you mean by
metamorphosis?
The metamorphosis is usually the result of a curse, and the
cure for the curse is true love. Beauty and the beast is a metamorphosis story,
as is Shrek. The metamorph is innately a
sad character, and well, that just pushes my buttons right there. He/she is usually bound by rituals,
prohibitions, and often geographic region.
My problem with this plot is the cure
is external to the character. The
character doesn’t necessarily grow, but the other person just magically does
the right things to break the curse.
That makes sense. I
was thinking Kafka.
NO, that's actually interesting. Kafka had an extraordinary grasp on building tension, creating
the dramatic moment. He was a fantastic
writer.
“Many a book is like
a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.”
― Franz Kafka
That's one of my favorite quotes from him. He had style, class, and an ingenious way of
taking you through the maze. He plunges
you into deepest darkness in such a manner that you want to be plunged - and you don't know if he’s going to show
you the way out or delve even deeper where monsters lie.
The trial is amazing!
It is! *sips
wine* Thank you for the fabulous meal!
What’s your least favorite part of the writing process?
*leans forward placing hand on Ben's* If I tell you, you promise not to laugh at
me?
I swear.
It's the actual
writing part. Not the intial launch
phase where the idea is burning bright in your head. Not the dreaming ‘what if’ part, Not the
story building, plotting it out and filling in the holes. It's actually sitting my butt in the chair
and writing it out.
*I offer you the black
forest gateau desert*
Oh wow so good. Wow! Did you make this? * savors bite* I was going to make you something ,but I
didn't think it would travel well.
I completely understand.
I groveled to someone else to make that.
Ok, so the flipside: what’s the best part for you?
The spark moment. When
inspiration strikes, and I have to grab a notebook and pen, and write it
down. then I doodle for a bit as i think
through some details. For instance in one story I am working on, I
got a scene in my mind. I wrote a quick note
to myself, and couldn't wait to get home and start tackling it. I was inspires by something the pastor said
in service. Unfortunately , after my light
bulb went off I was no longer listening but rather vibrating inside on a low
keel.
How do you explain to
people that writing is a fulltime job? That
a book is a full time job?
Oh now that's a good one.
* takes another bite of the scrumptious dessert* I don't feel I've yet conveyed that to
anyone. Not to immediate family, not to
extended family, not to places where I've volunteered in the past. They all think since I stay at home I don't
have a real job and I am a slacker.
Well, I can be sort of a slacker but
it takes time.
What does writing mean
to you?
Writing is a way of
expressing myself. I'm rather plain Jane, ho hum mid-American girl, you
know. But through my writing I can
experience as many adventures as I want,
fall in love as often as I can, escape death numerous times and share the wild
imagination that I have. I figure God
gave me this imagination for some reason, right? So I need to put it to good use.
*i take a drink and
offer you a cigar*
So what is your goal,
why do you write? What do you want from
it?
*I wave off on the cigar still working on my dessert
slowly.*
My goal? Hmm, well to tell stories, to entertain. I mean there is a bit of ego to anyone who
writes that thinks their writing is worth others reading it now isn't there?
And of course to make a profit at it as well.
*cheeky grin*
Ok so what is it that
draws you to your pet genre? I don’t
think mine is worth reading, I write shit.
Oh I doubt that. My
pet genre? Are you talking what I write
in? Or my indulgences in romance?
My current book being published by MSH Publishing is Cloud
Animals and it's a children's board book.
I wrote that when my children were quite small. What I typically write is either humor -
which is inspired by my life. I am like a walking rerun of the Carol Burnett
Show, only not rehearsed.
I also write in the fantasy genre which was inspired by my
love of Tolkien and other epic fantasies.
What you want to write.
Here's a bit of irony for you - the pastor's messages have
inspired a couple ideas for me. One I have, tentatively titled Ascension, and possibly
planning a series from. Also, the pastor's message inspired a Lycan type
scifi thriller, that I have the bones
written. Now, I can guarantee you
that was NOT what his messages were. The
tale began from a tangent from his message about his family vacation. Hey, he's the one that went on the tangent -
so my mind wandering sort of followed suit to where he was leading so . . . And
the Asension idea came about a lesson on false doctrines. False religions and how denominations vary in
their beliefs. That started a whole
inner dialog of 'what if' which ended in
a world in another galazy, that has been isolated for generations.
So like me, you draw
inspiration from the world around you asking and answering the hey what if's
that plague me?
Yes
What inspired this
first book? The kids book?
Taking my daughter Sarah outside to play. We were playing on a blanket out in the yard
and she laid down on the blanket and said "Yook! Teddy bayo" then we spotted a few other things before we
picked up the toys and went inside. When I put her down for a nap, I wrote out
the rudimentary little poem that cloud animals is based on.
That’s a really cute
story. Are you going to dedicate the
book to the girls?
Yes of course.
Aww, Is there
anything you would do differently writing it again?
OH probably, I'd rewrite the whole thing.
Well, thank you for a lovely interview and shared dinner. Would you like to do a bit of sightseeing with a guide?
Yes! That sounds fabulous. I'll just go grab my purse and we can go!
Well, I don't want to disappoint my guest, so here's her information. Read while I show her a night on the town here.
Laura McAtee lives in a small rural town south of St. Louis
Missouri. Married for nearly 28 years,
dance this mother of two teen girls enjoys cooking, crafts, bicycling, and
playing video games such as Just Dance, and Dance, Dance, Revolution. Laura graduated from Herculaneum High School,
and Southeast Missouri State University with a BS in geography/
cartography.
A former opinion columnist for the Suburban Journal, she is
now tackling her own creations in fiction. Laura has a flair for the humorous,
and is currently working on Memoires of
A Klutz; a collection of humorous experiences.
Laura can be found at:
Laura
McAtee
And at: Through
Rose Colored Glasses
