HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As 2009 rushes to meet 2010... it's pop-the-champagne time, cheer-like-mad time... And just be party-harty time!

Wishing you all a healthy Happy New Year that's a blast all the way!!!!!!

FAVORITE OF THE WEEK: Writer, Producer & Director of Several Big-Screen Successful Movies - Nancy Meyers

Welcome to Up Close and Personal. Once a week, on a Sunday, a favorite author, journalist will be featured as ‘Favorite of the Week”. The article will give them more exposure and publicity about their work.

This week we choose Nancy Jane Meyer. She is a screenwriter, film director, producer of several big-screen successes, including Something's Gotta Give, The Holiday and The Parent Trap. Her second solo venture, What Women Want (2000), was the most successful film ever directed by a woman, taking in $183 million just in the U.S.

She's one of the few filmmakers who consistently crafts movies that appeal to adults, especially women, an underserved audience. Her films tend to be about well -- mature, typically affluent professional women who are concerned with their families and greatly desired by multiple suitors. Since she is known writer of chick flicks, she should be recognized as a writer who breathed life into the genre with complex female characters and often sparkling wit.

Nancy Meyer was born December 8, 1949, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She’s the daughter of Irving H. Meyers, who was an executive with a voting machine manufacturer and Patricia Lemisch, an interior designer.

In 1967 Ms. Meyers graduated from Lower Merion High School in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, and she headed to American University in Washington, D.C., earning her journalism degree in 1971. She found employment at WHYY, a Philadelphia-based public television station.

In 1972, at the age of 21 she moved to Los Angeles. She got her first job in the industry as a production assistant, for the long-running daytime television game show “The Price Is Right,” and has become known for her elaborate sets. Working as a gofer for producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman taught Ms. Meyers plenty about production.

She left after two years and became a story editor for producer Ray Stark (Rastar Production), which put her in the company of fellow screenwriter hopefuls. Her subsequent studies at UCLA eventually led her to enter show business as an assistant director and production manager.

Ms. Meyers first gained attention with Goldie Hawn comedy movie, Private Benjamin in 1980 which was co-written with Harvey Miller and her then-husband Charles Shyer.

Private Benjamin premise for the film script idea came to her, while driving on the Ventura Freeway when she was about 27 years old. She thought, 'What if a girl joined the Army to escape her problems?'

Ms. Meyers, Mr. Shyer, and Mr. Miller collaborated on the script, which featured Goldie Hawn as a pampered princess who joins the army after her husband dies. The film, lacking a male lead, was cutting-edge for the time and became one of the most profitable movies Goldie Hawn ever made in her life, proving a woman could carry a film to box office success. The screenwriting trio picked up Oscar nomination for best writing as well as WGA Award for screenplay.

Nancy Meyers married Charles Shyer a screenwriter in 1980. They have two children: Annie and Hallie. During the marriage, she tried her hands at screenwriting, resulting in scripts for such popular sitcoms as “The Odd Couple” and “All in the Family”.

With her writing Private Benjamin broke new ground in Hollywood by proving that female actresses could also be as bankable as their male showbiz counterparts.

In 1987, she released the film, Baby Boom starring Oscar and Golden Globe winner, Diane Keaton. It was tale about a shrewd New York businesswoman whose life changes upon inheriting a baby girl. Despite the success of that film, she lay low for several years before returning to produce and write the hit movie remake “Father of the Bride”.

She later moves into directing with the popular Disney remake “The Parent Trap” in 1998. From there, she entered into a successful new phase in her career that would yield such hit romantic comedies as “What Women Want” and “Something’s Gotta Give”.

Her directorial debut in “The Parent Trap” a 1998 film, it offers a charmingly modern take on the Disney classic. She then stepped into her successful new phase of her career that yield such hit romantic comedy “What Women Want” starring Oscar and Golden Globe winner, Mel Gibson. In the film, Mel Gibson played an arrogant advertising executive who suddenly possesses the power to read women’s minds. “What Women Want” offered a very funny and original take on modern relationships and proved a hit with moviegoers.

Due to the success of “Father o the Bride” and “Baby Boom” she established a professional association with Diane Keaton. So, when she chose to direct a tale of an aging womanizer who finds himself uncharacteristically falling for a woman his own age, the ideal choice to play the role was Diane Keaton opposite screen legend and three time Oscar winner, Jack Nicholson conceive in her mind.

After those successes, Ms. Meyer resurfaced again in a romantic comedy “Holiday” starring four time Golden Globe nominee, Cameron Diaz and Oscar & Golden Globe winner, Kate Winslet as an American woman and a Britisher who meet in an online support group that offers “house-swapping vacation” for dissatisfied people. The women indeed decide to follow suit, exchanging residences, and they each become involved with a man on opposite sides of the Atlantic played by two time Oscar nominee Jude Law and Golden Globe nominee, Jack Black. In the box office Ms. Meyers proved again that she’s the reigning queen of winter-break chick flicks.

She’s a member of American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Writers Guild of America--West.

Her latest film, which opened Christmas Day, starring two time Oscar winner, Meryl Streep, Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner, Alec Baldwin and Emmy award winner, Steve Martin. The film is about ex-spouses who, over their son’s college-graduation weekend, rekindle their romance — a tricky situation that becomes even more so when Meryl Streep’s character starts dating her architect, played by Steve Martin.

Nancy Meyers photo by Zade Rosenthal.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I hope that you are all celebrating with your friends and family this holiday season.

I'd like to thank each and everyone for your support and generosity. It has been a joy to work with all of you in person and online.

All your wonderful messages and efforts in getting involved with my blog meant the world to me. I'm deeply grateful to all of you.

Best wishes, peace and joy of the holiday season be with you all throughout the coming year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE !!!!!!!!

INTERVIEW: Young Adult Writer Josie Bloss, Author of Band Geek

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing their views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Josie Bloss. She grew up in East Lansing and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She was a member of the best college marching band in the country and a staff reporter for the Michigan Daily and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

After obtaining a degree in Political Science, she tried to decide if she wanted to be a lawyer while wrangling paper in several large Chicago law firms that are attempting to take over the world. Finding herself uninspired by global domination, she decided to relocate to somewhere more quiet and write instead.

When not mining her high school journals for material and wishing there were marching band options for adults, Josie enjoys obsessing over various TV shows, karaoke and all things theater. Josie Bloss lives in Bloomington, IN.

E.I. Tell us about your book “Band Geeked Out” for young adult? What inspired you to write it and what drew you to attract the YA readers?

JB: BAND GEEKED OUT is the sequel to my first novel, BAND GEEK LOVE. It follows the main character, Ellie Snow, as she navigates the tricky time around making decisions about college. Everyone in her life has an opinion about what she should do, and Ellie has to figure out how to stay true to herself. Writing about that time of life is very interesting to me, since it's the stage a lot of teenagers are making their first big decisions about what to do with their lives. That's what I love about YA lit in general...there are so many "firsts" to explore.

E.I. What was your biggest challenge or obstacle while writing and creating the characters Ellie Snow, Alex, and Connor? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story?

JB: The characters definitely evolved while I was writing the story, which was the biggest challenge! Sometimes it was hard to keep them all in line, to be honest. But it was a lot of fun to watch them grow and see how that growth changed the plot.

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from this book, is there one that you would select to share?

JB: Page 33, when Ellie meets the fascinating and intimidating Alex Campbell on a college tour and everything changes.

E.I. With two books under your belt, and a third one coming February 2010, how have you evolved as a writer?

JB: I am growing in confidence in my process. And I'm certainly getting accustomed to the stages I go through when I write a book...the initial deep infatuation with a new idea, the sprint through the first 100 pages, the slowly growing depression that it might not work, the bliss when I figure out how to tie it all together, and the crazy race to the end. I'm able to have more fun at this point, and to just let it happen. ALBATROSS, my book coming out in February, was a joy to write, even though it involved a painful topic.

E.I. As a first time YA novelist, do you feel more pressure, feel insecure or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

JB: At this point, I've learned how to separate it fairly well. I expect that I'll always feel a little insecure about how my books will be received, but while I'm working on them, I'm usually able to relax and enjoy the process. I hope to get better at that as my career moves forward.

E.I. Give us three "Good to Know" facts about you. Be creative. Tell us about your first job, the inspiration for your writing, any fun details that would enliven your page.

JB: Fact #1 - My first job was as a waitress in a retirement home - I still think it's the hardest job I've ever had! I guess I'm glad that I started out with it so everything I've had since seems easy in comparison.

#2 - I've never been able to keep a plant alive. This is probably why I've been too nervous to ever own a pet, even though I adore animals.

#3 - Though I was a band geek in high school and college (like Ellie Snow), I've since become a big old theater nerd. I love all aspects of theater, and recently spent a few months stage-managing a production in the town where I live. I've also discovered that writing short plays is a nice creative jolt when I'm stuck on a book.

E.I. Ms. Bloss, thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know you, and your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

JB: I think the hardest and most important thing to do is simply to finish something. If you learn how to clear out distractions and keep yourself focused until the end, you're already a success!

Photo of Josie Bloss by Adam P Schweigert

To learn more about Josie Bloss, please visit her site

To purchase her books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble

INTERVIEW: Howard G. Franklin - Former L.A. County Deputy Public Defender, Investment Banker, Poet & Author of "An Irish Experience"

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing his views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Howard G. Franklin. He was born in St. Joe, Missouri, in 1940. Raised in Los Angeles, he received his B.S. in Real Estate and Finance from the University of Southern California, and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

From 1968 to 1988, Howard served as a Deputy Public Defender for Los Angeles County, was engaged in the private practice of law, and became a partner in F & F Investment Company.

An avid sports enthusiast, Howard has been "learning to play tennis" since he was seven, and he is fervently devoted to baseball and his beloved Seattle Mariners with a religious zeal inherited from his childhood hero, Grampy Max.

It is family, however, that truly centers his life, and he frequently travels to Los Angeles to visit with his Mom and Dad, two sisters, and assorted nephews and nieces—not to forget for a second, his daughter, Amy, who lives in Long Beach with her husband Chris, and is pursuing a career in music therapy. He is also the proud father of two sons, Matthew, who is a vice-president for a property management company, and Nicholas, who is employed in the hotel field—both of whom share his love of athletics.

In 1991, after the untimely death of his second wife, Patty, Howard moved to Portland, Oregon—where amidst the joys and trauma of single parenting Matt and Nick, he began writing full time.

His short stories and poetry have appeared on radio, in newspapers, and numerous national magazines and literary journals such as A Different Drummer, Razem, the Lake Oswego Review, The Sandwich Generation, Silver Quill, Nomad's Choir, Single Vision, and Poets and Work. He also has appeared as a guest poet in Poetspeak's Reading Series at Portland State University, and in the Northwest Coalition's celebration of National Poetry Month in Vancouver, Washington.

An Irish Experience is Howard's first published book, and combining both his lifelong love of the written word with his unswerving passion for Ireland, represents for him the realization of a dream. In addition, for those who love a generous portion of magic topping success's sundae, Inkwater Press's decision to publish An Irish Experience arrived on Howard's last birthday during a meeting in which he was also introduced to the editor, Linda Weinerman, who strongly shaped the idea of public birth.

Their instant connection soon produced far more than literary sparks, leading to a romance that can only be classified as a real-life fairytale. Married in 2008, honeymooned in Ireland (where else?), the couple are currently hard at work polishing Howard's courtroom novel, Gideon's Children, for future publication, while sharing life with his three children, as well as Linda's daughter, Wendy, and her husband Chris.

E.I. Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Give us three “Good to Know” facts about your first job, the inspiration for your writing, any fun details that would enliven your page. Tell also your readers about Howard G Franklin -- the man behind the former Deputy Public Defender for Los Angeles County, a partner from an Investment Company and now an author?

HGF: I was very shy in my teens, concentrating on playing on my high school tennis team and my studies. There were only l200 students at Beverly Hills High, and while I was friendly and knew most of them, I only was close with five or six male buddies who shared my focus. And looking back, I wish that I had pushed myself more to have experienced a myriad of opportunities that were available.

As for my first full-time job, that was at 28, when I became a Deputy Public Defender. “The” turning point in my life, the courtroom forced me outside my natural shyness and truly opened me up to the real world. Stationed in Compton, I interacted with persons from every color, race, and religion, as well as diverse economic, social, and educational backgrounds. Obviously this widened my perspective, but most importantly for me, it forced me to grow. Like a Hydrogen bomb exploding, in learning about people in general, and specifically how to stand up for my clients, I also learned to believe in myself, and that hard work and perseverance in pursuit of a given goal paid off.

Looking back, these years led to my desire to write. In helping my clients, I gave full vent to my desire to help others---to connect with others and share. In fact, during my last year as a PD, on weekends I began to write short stories and poems, discovering in the process, that the love of words which I had had since a small boy, was now stronger than ever.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing that enchants you the most?

HGF: Well, picking up on my love of words acquired when I first learned to read, “enchant” is truly the correct word. All my life, when I read the works of masters such as Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe in particular, their use of language mesmerized me. And later, when I began to write myself, the idea that I could with words communicate not just what I think, but what I ‘feel,’ struck me, and still strikes me, as a true miracle. I read once that a writer reaches up and tries to grasp some semblance of the meaning of human existence and set it down on paper. That’s hard to do, let alone do it well. But I think that opportunity to try and accomplish this goal, is in itself a true blessing. And if one gets lucky, and gets to have his or her ‘words’ reach out and connect to another human being and touch a person----well, sublime, is an understatement of significant magnitude!

E.I. What sparked your interest in the subject of Ireland? What were your favorite aspects? Please tell your readers about your book “An Irish Experience.”

HGF: In 2000, I travelled alone to Europe for the first time. A lifelong love of tennis drew me to attend Wimbledon, and after two days at the Cathedral of Tennis, I spent two weeks traveling around England. I enjoyed myself immensely, finding that traveling alone worked well for me. And upon returning home, I soon asked myself what comes next?

What entered my mind late one night while I was drinking coffee in my kitchen and musing over possibilities, was Ireland. The picture in my mind was of this beautiful land of green valleys and sparkling lakes, and when James Joyce entered the conversation I was having with myself, I became intrigued. The following day, I drove to the bookstore and purchased some books and maps---and after an hour or so of browsing, I was hooked.

Unquestionably, the aspect that I enjoyed most was the incredibly welcoming Irish people. Historically, over the past 1600 years, the Irish have absorbed invaders and visitors alike. They absorbed the Celts first, then the Vikings, and finally the English. And today, first off, their warmth and friendliness instantly puts you at ease. The next, their relaxed pace of life slows one down to allow full appreciation of Ireland’s art and architecture, song and dance, and almost indescribably gorgeous geography—not to forget for a second, their great literary tradition, which features four winners of the Nobel Prize.

As I pointed out in An Irish Experience (AIE) , through its investment in education, Ireland has over the past 20 years enjoyed the highest level of prosperity in its history. However, while enjoying the so-called Celtic Tiger, the Irish have not become a consumer society. Instead, in large part they’ve retained their ties to the land and remained devoted to family, community, and church—thereby establishing a refreshing balance between progress and tradition.

AIE has as its mission to share with the reader the flesh-and-blood reality, the true experience of an actual visit to Ireland. And AIE accomplishes this goal by carefully interweaving Eire’s storied past and vibrant present into an exciting journey of discovery, complete with a spiritual search for Home, and accompanied by an off-beat sense of humor that makes the learning adventure fun.

With Ireland introduced as “a lovely lady wearing a single strand of wedding-white pearls, one each for Dublin, Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Killarney, Cork, and Waterford,” the reader then travels north, west, south, and east to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell the fascinating facets of a culture created by 5000 years of history amidst a geographical wonderland. And spiced with generous helpings of engagingly earthy banter between the narrator and his traveling companion, a fictional Greek-Jewish philosopher from antiquity known as the Professor, this journey offers a total experience comprised of art and architecture, song and dance, poetry, politics, and people. As from Dublin Castle, to Yeats’ Land of Heart’s Desire, to the Gap of Dunloe and Reginald’s Tower, the reader is immersed inside an adventure formed from day-to-day discoveries, intermixed with meeting both the welcoming citizenry and Erin’s renowned historical and literary figures.

In Dublin, on Wood Quay alongside the River Liffey where the Vikings landed in 842, shopkeepers, students, and pretty ladies mingle, then talk to the reader, as does James Joyce when he’s spotted later about to enter his favorite pub, Buswell’s, near Leinster House where the Irish Senate and House of Representatives meet. When the scene shifts north to the countryside and the Hill of Slane, St. Patrick shares how he introduced Christianity into the Emerald Isle, while at nearby Tara, Eire’s greatest King, Brian Boru, relives the saga of Clontarf where his army drove the Norse invaders from the motherland’s shores. On a train ride to Sligo Town, farmers, housewives, and merchant marines share thoughts and feelings about work, family, and community, while further south and west, Galway waits with its tale of the 14 tribes, as does Limerick City, Cork, and Waterford, each with a separate story that smoothly merges into One. There’s Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator, to meet, along with freedom-fighter Michael Collins, not to overlook George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Samuel Beckett. The diamond-dazzling lakes of Killarney beckon, as do the monumental Cliffs of Moher and the melancholy desolation of the Burren and Connemara. And there’s music and food and fashion, each separate thread weaving itself into a full fabric presented so personally that one can actually feel the true treasures and tender frailties of a foreign society.

And more. For AIE is also a celebration: Of the uniqueness that is Ireland—of a more simple and slower-paced way of life, graced by true touches of “innocence” in a world growing increasingly complex and cynical. Of the need for each of us, in our own separate way, to reach in and outside ourselves in order to connect to the places and people where we live, and visit. Of the eternal question: Is there a Home? A particular place where we truly Belong? Or are there only the lakes of love that the heart makes?

E.I. As an author did you take the view of an Irish man or objective observer while writing your book?

HGF: I took the view of an objective observer. Having no Irish roots (my grandparents arrived from Lithuania, Ukraine, and Hungary), when I arrived in Ireland in September, 2001, I was pretty much the proverbial blank slate. For even though I had read some Irish history, and studied my maps and guide books, I had not formed any strong opinions. And though I soon came to love Eire and her unique culture, when I wrote AIE, I tried very hard to recapture on paper exactly what I had experienced as my journey unfolded so as to say to the reader: Here’s what I found. I think and feel it’s unique and very special. How about you?

E.I. What was your biggest challenge in writing “An Irish Experience”? How did you decide what level of details your reader will accept? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story? How did you overcome these challenges?

HGF: The largest challenge I faced in writing AIE was in fully capturing the geographical beauty of Ireland, along with the uniqueness of its culture and the incredible warmth of its people without producing a large book. When I imagined my reader, he-she was someone who was planning to travel to Eire, and wanted to know and feel what it was like, and also someone who couldn’t travel there, so was relying on me to take them. I therefore asked myself: Hobman, what would you like to know and feel? And I recalled that when I was planning my trip, I had found many books about the different aspects of Ireland, i.e. history, geography, music, art, famous writers, but no single volume that offered the basics of the various categories together.

So, that became my goal: Take my reader to the Emerald Isle and let he-she ‘experience’ the wonders it has to offer. What I wanted and hoped for, was for AIE to entertain and educate its reader by coming as close as possible to transporting him-her to Irish soil and then use his or her brain and all the senses to know and feel the magic of Ireland. I felt that the best way to accomplish this was to recreate my experience, and have the reader travel right alongside me. So AIE is organized according to the cities, towns, and villages I visited, along with people I met and the experiences I enjoyed. Then, as we travel along, I interwove the various aspects of Irish history, art, music, etc. so that the reader would have as much depth as possible.

E.I. How do you imagine the audience when you are writing? Do you have sheets of newsprint covered in a story boards all over your walls?

HGF: I don’t use story boards. For AIE I began with a general outline, organized as I stated above. Then, I consulted the journal I had kept during my visit, which was extensive because I was travelling alone and had the time to keep it up, and because I was so fascinated by what I was experiencing that I wanted to capture as many details as possible and cement them in my memory. I also had 1200 plus photographs to assist me in describing details of places and people.

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from “An Irish Experience” is there one that you would personally select to share with your readers? And why?

HGF: It is very difficult to answer this question, because as I stated before, AIE is organized into the cities, towns, and villages I visited, and each has so much to offer that it is most difficult to pick just one as a highlight.

So, I would pick page 1 from the opening chapter entitled Genesis, because it provides the reader with an overview of the journey he-she is about to embark upon, and also makes him or her aware of the fact that the author and travelling companion possesses an oddball sense of humor.

E.I. Please tell us about your next courtroom novel, “Gideon's Children”? Can you give us a sneak peek about the book? How was your research different from your upcoming latest novel to “An Irish Experience”? What was the hardest part in writing it?

HGF: In late March of 1963, Clarence Earl Gideon, with the weighty assistance of the U.S. Supreme Court, ignited the final fires of a social revolution that was born thirty years earlier almost to the day. In a judicial decision bearing his name, the Court, with Magna Carta vision, reversed Gideon’s conviction for burglary in a Florida Court where he had not been represented by an attorney, and proclaimed that in a criminal proceeding, every person has a right to counsel, and if the defendant could not afford an attorney, then the State must provide one free of charge. And after almost two hundred years of labor pains, the modern day Public Defenders Office was born and along with it, a new and different breed of criminal defense attorney.

Gideon’s Children (G.C.) is the exciting story of the young men and women who upon this ignition emerged to fuel those final fires on the provided battlefield of the courtroom. Framed in time from the Summer of 1970 to the Autumn of 1972, these “children” of Gideon are placed under a microscope for the reader’s observation. And from the collective scene formed from individual sightings, the author creates an intense drama spawned by a brutally realistic look into the unique and often bizarre world of criminal law that lives and breathes its life amidst the more civilized elements of greater society, who unknowingly are subject to inhalation within its borders upon a moment’s notice.

Viewed primarily through the eyes of five young Public Defenders, the reader is swept down onto the floor of the embattled courtroom where he-she walks amongst the remaining cast of judges, prosecutors, and cops within the frightening but fascinating atmosphere of murder, rape, and robbery---heroin, marijuana, and Seconal. Entranced by the spine-tingling realism of the human conflicts that jump off the page at the reader from start to finish, the author, beneath this veil of excitement, and still in terms of human experience, subtly educates him-her with respect to arrest, arraignment, preliminary hearing, trial, and the other working parts of the American system of criminal justice. Then, having outfitted the reader with the working tools so that he-she is equipped to formulate a judgment, the author presents the novel’s primary thesis that it is the dark aspects of human nature which pervert not only the legal system, but also man’s greater living experience which the legal system serves to accurately mirror at a chosen point in time. Delving even more deeply into the mystery of the human living experience to illustrate G.C.’s hypothesis, the author carefully constructs a stage upon which his painstakingly developed characters act out a “revolution” from within the legal system.

In writing G.C., my research was actually far less than for “An Irish Experience.” This resulted because having been a Deputy Public Defender for four years, I was able to draw upon my experience in handling thousands of cases, as well as having first-hand knowledge of numerous other cases handled by fellow Public Defenders, whereas with respect to Irish history, for example, I needed to read extensively in the area.

E.I. As a writer do you ever feel pressure or insecure, or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

HGF: I often feel “insecure,” especially during rewriting. I am always nagged by the demons: Is this particular work the absolute best you can make it, HGF? And even if so, is it good enough to warrant the attention of an audience? To me, a writer is asking a reader to give him or her the most valuable of all things, time, because it cannot be replaced. So the obligation to reward that investment with both entertainment and education is a heavy responsibility that weighs on me. In the end, of course, one can only do the very best that one can do, and pray it’s enough.

E.I. Mr. Franklin, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

HGF: Thank you, E.I. , for gifting me with the opportunity to share with other authors and readers.

As for writing tips, I have two that I follow religiously: First, be honest. Don’t be afraid to strip yourself naked page after page after page. And secondly, while striving to always increase your vocabulary, never, ever include the words, give up, in striving to accomplish your goals.

Photo Howard G. Franklin by Image Express

For more information on Howard G. Franklin, please visit his site.

To purchase An Irish Experience online today, please click on one of the following:
Amazon.com
Barnes&Noble.com
Inkwater Books
Borders.com

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

It's time to take a short break - to kick back and relax.  So here's wishing one and all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.  Have a good one. 

INTERVIEW: Margaret Maron - Author Of Award-Winning Mystery Novels

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing their views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Margaret Maron, she was born and grew up in central North Carolina. She has also lived in Italy. She and her husband, artist Joe Maron, lived in Brooklyn before returning to her home state where they now live.

She is the author of numerous short stories and more than 20 mystery novels to date. One series of novels features Sigrid Harald, a loner lieutenant in the NYPD whose policeman father was killed in the line of duty when she was a toddler. Another series follows the adventures of Judge Deborah Knott, attorney and daughter of an infamous North Carolina bootlegger.

Her 1992 novel Bootlegger's Daughter was a Washington Post bestseller and has won nearly every major prize given to mystery fiction for her novels about North Carolina judge Deborah Knott.

Her awards includes the following: Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity awards. She has since won additional Agatha’s for Up Jumps the Devil (1996), and Storm Track (2000).

Her works have been translated into a dozen languages and are on the reading lists of many courses in contemporary Southern literature.

Ms. Maron is a founding member and past president of Sisters in Crime and of the American Crime Writers' League, and a director on the national board for Mystery Writers of America. She was a keynote speaker at the Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave in 2004 in 2004.

E.I. Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Please tell us more about Margaret Maron -- the woman behind the summer job at the Pentagon, a founding member and former president of Sisters in Crime, former president of MWA, and award-winning writer?

M. Maron: Who I was as a teenager? Shy, awkward, insecure, beset by the usual teenage angst, angst that was complicated by always feeling like an outsider even though I was fairly popular. The Pentagon (Joint Chiefs of Staff) was huge fun though. Lots of single young officers floating through the halls. I was secretary to the colonel who headed the communications department, which was manned by several of those s.y.o.'s, including the naval lieutenant I married. At the time of our first date though, I was dating two other lieutenants, both army.

After marriage, I wrote dozens of short stories but up until my second novel was published, some ten years into my career, I had never met any other writers. This was before mystery conventions and conferences that encourage beginning writers to come and meet their future peers. I never had the nerve to write to one of those mystical creatures and ask for mentoring or even for a cover quote, so I struggled in solitude. With the second book, I stuck my toe into MWA waters and finally found my tribe! It was so wonderful to connect to people with similar interests and enthusiasms, who didn't look at me as if I were crazy when I asked, "If you were going to murder your husband, would you try to make it look like an accident or a robbery gone wrong?"

Getting involved with MWA and then with Sisters in Crime was a way to contribute to the mystery community.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing that enchants you the most?

M. Maron: I always told myself stories from my earliest memories, but they were ephemeral and evaporated like the morning dew. To be able to write down these imaginary people, these imaginary scenes, and know that they will survive a little longer is extremely satisfying. And occasionally you'll write something that is so satisfying, so dead on, that you sit there awestruck and wonder where did that came from? Unfortunately, those moments are very few and very, very far between.

E.I. Many writers describe themselves as "character" or "plot" writers. Which are you? And what do you find to be the hardest part of writing?

M. Maron: I'm definitely "character." I like to take my characters, put them into an unfamiliar setting and then watch the plot grow out of the interaction of the characters. The hardest part? Keeping the plot and the motivations believably logical. I just can't take the easy way out and let my characters act against the moral code and intelligence I've given them simply because I can't figure out a realistic motivation. Sometimes that means going back and changing the character. More often, it simply means I haven't worked hard enough.

E.I. How do you imagine the audience when you are writing? Do you have sheets of newsprint covered in a story boards all over your walls?

M. Maron: I honestly never think about my readers when I'm writing. I'm telling the story for my own personal pleasure. I begin at the beginning and write straight through to the end. This is why I can't outline. If I knew where the story was going from page one, I'd be bored. I often begin a book without knowing the victim or the killer. In Shooting at Loons, the killer changed four times over the course of the book. I no longer let this worry me. I just go with the flow. So no, no story boards or outlines before the fact. The closest I come to outlining is with a box of old business cards. Whenever I think of a factoid that needs to be worked into the book somewhere, I'll jot a note about it on the back of the car. When I'm ready to begin a new chapter, I'll thumb through the cards to see if this is where that item belongs.

E.I. What was your biggest challenge in writing Death's Half Acre? How did you decide what level of details your reader will accept? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story? How did you overcome these challenges?

M. Maron: If you're asking about the act of murder itself, I seldom dwell on the grisly detail and I try not to sensationalize, so it wasn't much of a problem in that book. In Hard Row, the book before this one, the motivation for that murder came straight out of an actual news story about illegal use of pesticides on one of the large factory farms in our state. I was so horrified and angry, that I literally butchered the victim. As a rule, I don't get very graphic, but I was so emotionally involved in that story that I couldn't help myself. Several of my readers wrote to complain and I was sorry I had shocked them, but the man's crimes were shocking and I got so caught up in the story that when the gore and grisly discoveries continued, I just had to write it down. By contrast, the murders in DHA were almost bloodless.

E.I. In Death's Half Acre, how much of Candace was planned out in your head? How do you know where you will go next with your story?

M. Maron: Candace began as a simple black-and-white character with no redeeming qualities. By the time I got to know her though and to realize how her childhood formed her moral fiber, I could feel a little sorry for her and could understand where she was coming from even though I never really condoned her actions. But my growing sympathy for her did change the way I thought the story was going to go. Again though, when that happens, I just go along for the ride.

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from Death's Half Acre is there one that you would personally select to share with your fans? And why?

M. Maron: I never deliberately write a scene with the idea of having something to read when I give a book talk or do a signing, but I find that there is always something in each book that can be read without spoilers. Often it's one of Deborah's court cases and usually it's something amusing. In this book, that courtroom scene came in Chapter 4 when Deborah hears the case of two women who got into a knock-down-drag-out fight over a chicken that the other woman's dog had killed. I'm always amused by city people who claim to love the country and want to live there, yet are dismayed to find that their cul-de-sac backs up on a working pig farm or that the roads will be clogged with tractors and farm equipment.

E.I. How do you weave so much suspense and elements of information into your stories and yet you keep them so fast-paced?

M. Maron: Suspense? Me? I've never felt I was much good at creating suspense. I do think I'm pretty good at conveying all the information a reader needs to know without breaking the flow of the action, but I've never consciously analyzed what I'm doing or how I'm doing it.

E.I. What did you find to be the hardest part of writing the book? What was your biggest challenge in developing your characters, Candace Bradshaw and Deputy Sheriff Dwight Bryant? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story? How did you overcome these challenges?

M. Maron: As I said before, the hardest thing is to keep it all logical and, at the same time, to allow for serendipity so that the characters can unfold and blossom. I liked it that Candace evolved from a cut and dried static figure to one that eventually evoked sympathy. As for Dwight Bryant, he's been around from the very first. Bloody Kin was a stand-alone and he was the lead detective in that book. Seven years, when I came to create Deborah Knott for Bootlegger's Daughter, he was already in place and has been in almost every book since.

E.I. You are well known in the writing community as a former president Mystery Writers of America, a former president of Sisters in Crime, and as an award-winning writer. Do you ever feel pressure or insecurity, or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

M. Maron: I never felt pressure or insecurity presiding over MWA, but there were some tense moments at the helm of SinC when we were getting so much hostility from certain parts of the mystery community because they didn't understand that being pro-women writers did not mean we were anti-male. All we wanted was our fair share of the pie, be it reviews, advances, or promotion. I never felt insecure in what we were doing though because I had the board's support and advice and I have always believed in "sunshine" rules— in open discussions and keeping a clear paper trail to document any actions. (Very few things done in secret remain secret, as too many of our national leaders and celebrities are constantly being reminded, so you might as well keep everything open and aboveboard from the beginning.) I will say that the two years I gave to SinC, first as VP and then as president, probably cost me at least one book and a couple of short stories. The experience and the friendships were worth it, though.

E.I. Ms. Maron, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

M. Maron: The only advice I could give is FINISH THE BOOK! Don't even think about editors, agents, advances, publicity tours or any of the other elements until you have a finished book that is the very best book you could possibly write.

To learn more about Margaret Maron, please visit her web site

To purchase her books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble

Conferences, journalism and voice-recognition

Attended a conference in Melbourne at the start of the week.  One of the highlights was listening to Sushi Das, senior writer with The Age.  Enjoyed hearing someone with so much journalistic integrity describe her approach to writing news stories and feature articles.  This seminar also had me taking note afresh of the similarities and dissimilarities with writing fiction - things which can be learned or borrowed from journalists to sharpen fiction.

Have been playing around with Dragon Naturally Speaking across the last fortnight.  Wanted to try this program for years, but finally got round to loading it recently.  Was a little sceptical after hearing of Mrs T's difficulties with this Voice-Recognition software over at her Witty Ways blog, but given that stories grow out of an oral tradition, it seemed a reasonable idea to try and take story-telling back to an oral approach, as long as the Dragon and I were compatible with one another.

Thought I'd try reciting Jack and Jill as one of my first exercises, before cracking into a lengthy short story I've been telling for years but have never written down.

First time I tried, it came up with:

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To Japan across the water...

Hmm, not sure how it managed that.  Second and third time it did exactly the same. To Japan across the water.  Thought maybe I'd read too much Haruki Murakami of late or that it was having difficulties with my peculiar blend of accents, so did some retraining.  This involved reciting all of John F Kennedy's speeches to Congress, or some such, along with a couple of comedy sketches that the program obviously enjoyed hearing read aloud.  Anyway, a couple of hours later, I try Jack and Jill  once again.

This time it comes up with:

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To bitch about the water...

It might not be 100% accurate, but at least it seems to be on a similar wavelength to me.  If I had to climb a hill every time I wanted to fetch a pail, I'd bitch about the water too. The program stays. It can shape the grittier, less-tolerant voice behind my next story. 

INTERVIEW: Larry Gonick - Best known for his book “The Cartoon History of the Universe”

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing his views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Larry Gonick. He is a cartoonist, best known for his book The Cartoon History of the Universe, a history of the world in a comic book form, which he has been publishing in installments since 1977.Mr. Gonick has also written The Cartoon History of the United States, and he has adapted the format for a series of co-written guidebooks on other subjects, beginning with The Cartoon Guide to Genetics in 1983. The diversity of his interests, and the success with which his books have met, have together earned him the distinction of being "the most well-known and respected of cartoonists who have applied their craft to unravelling the mysteries of science" Drug Discovery Today, March 2005.

Since 1990 to 1997, Mr Gonick penned a bimonthly Science Classics cartoon for the science magazine Discover. Each two-page comic discussed a recent scientific development, often one in interdisciplinary research.

He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT in 1994 through 1995. In 1997, his 14-issue series, Candide in China, published on the WEB, described Chinese inventions.

Larry Gonick also writes the Kokopelli and; Company comic that appears in the magazine Muse and the satirical, anti-corporate comic “Commoners”.

E.I. Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Please tell us more about Larry Gonick-- the man behind the award-winning writer and now a comic author?

LG: I grew up in Phoenix, where there was a lot of space to play outdoors. As little kids, we lived near huge vacant lots that were great places to make forts, run around, and step on these huge thorny burrs we called bullheads. Our feet got very tough in summer. My grade school, Grandview, had a 440-yard track, a couple of baseball diamonds, and many outdoor basketball courts. I was outdoors a fair amount. But I was basically a bookish kid, and rather shy. Not into tinkering or hardware. More on the theoretical side, though I can fix a faucet if I have to. Good student. Somewhat alienated, though I didn't feel this so acutely until high school. It came as a great relief when I finally met a few other outsider-intellectuals, who became proto-hippies soon thereafter.

Growing up, I had no specific goal for adulthood. Part of the reason was that I knew very few adults who weren't teachers (as my parents both were), so there was a lack of role models. I used to say I'd be either a writer or a mathematician—I was pretty good at both—but really had little idea what that would look like in real life. In college, I kind of backed into majoring in math, because I could get A's in it, and there wasn't much support for creative writing at Harvard in those days. Four years flew by, and I suddenly found myself applying for graduate school in math, which in those days pretty much meant going on to an academic career, without ever having consciously chosen that life path.

But I always liked to draw, too, and after college I picked it up again. One thing led to another, and in 1972 I dropped out of math and into cartooning.

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing cartoon text books that enchants you the most?

LG: What one thing? One? Thing? Um... it's a thing with several ingredients. Let's put it this way: the medium's ability to combine text and images into a narrative rhythm that delivers humor, opinion, and information all at once—in a way that's hard to forget!

E.I. What do you find to be the hardest part of writing it? Do you have sheets of newsprint covered in a story board all over your walls?

LG: No, the walls aren't covered. I do a page breakdown of each "volume" (a 48-page unit) on a single sheet of 9 x 12 sketchbook. And that's one of the easier parts. The hardest thing by far is writing the first draft. It's always too long by a factor of 3, and I'm conscious of that fact as I write. This generates an uncomfortable running internal argument with myself about nearly every sentence. I put down a few words and then think "but...", and then agonize about it a while, and then coach myself to follow through with that sentence and worry about editing it later, after it's written, etc. Just exhausting! Everything else is more or less fun.

E.I. What was your biggest challenge in writing “Cartoon History of the World”? How did you decide what level of details your reader will accept? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story? How did you overcome these challenges?

LG: The level of detail is pretty much determined by one consideration: does the story make sense? I aim to put in everything necessary to make the story coherent, and very little else. In retrospect, I think I could have left more out of Modern World, Part
2. There's always a tradeoff between details and the big picture, and when you see the big picture, often really good jokes pop up. So, if I had to do it again, I think I'd put in more humor and less about, say, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

In a work of this complexity, pretty much the entire narrative framework is developed ahead of time. I used to wing it more, but now I'm convinced it pays to get organized.

E.I. How do you know where you will go next with your story? All the fascinating historical events and topics that have managed to slip through the gaps of common knowledge?

LG: In some sense, the main impulse for doing cartoon histories was to highlight the stuff that slipped through the gaps, as you put it. I'm a revisionist historian, or was when I started. Part of the point is to satirize received historical wisdom and the historians who promote it, especially when that received wisdom contains tendentious distortions, in other words, not to put to fine a point on it, the received wisdom serves the interest of the ruling class. And believe me, it isn't hard to find neglected and important information. When I started out, decades ago, there was a gold mine of data about women, minorities, and the underclass that had barely entered mainstream historical discourse. Later on, of course, this became mainstream historical discourse, at which point a lot of important narrative history dropped out of books, so paradoxically, by the end I was trying to restore some of the national-history type material that seemed absurdly traditional when I started out!

For example, I was horrified to discover not long ago that an 8th-grade history class had never heard of Magellan. I mean, really!

It also soon became clear to me that a lot of European history made much better sense in the context of Eurasian history, and this pointed me in the direction of Constantinople, first as a Byzantine capital and then under the Turks, not to mention China and India, which were the real centers of the world once upon a time. In the current book, this shows up in the very important role played in 18th-century European affairs by the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

Another example would be the British abolition of slavery in the early 1800s. I'm not aware of a parallel development anywhere, so it seemed to be a fruitful subject of study, and I spent many pages discussing it.

Another would be the birth of the Dutch Republic, which I covered in Modern World, Part 1.

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from “Cartoon History of the Modern World” is there one that you would personally select to share with your fans? And why?

LG: I just flipped through the book, and I really couldn't pick out just one. I like 202-203 for graphics. P. 39, introducing Napoleon, may be a good start. Not too complicated, and summarizes his exalted opinion of himself.

E.I. You are the most well-known and respected cartoonists in the writing community who have applied your craft to unraveling the mysteries of science, you were a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and now an award-winning writer. Do you ever feel pressure or insecure, or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

LG: I always feel pressure and insecurity, but it has nothing to do with upholding a reputation. It's more about all the inadequacies I see in my own work. I'm a perfectionist without the time or ability to perfect things.

E.I. What would you tell those authors considering applying to an M.F.A. program? In your opinion how important is it for a writer to have a writing degree?

LG: This is one I have no opinion about. It does seem to be important to have a writing degree if you want a day job teaching creative writing. But whether or not writing programs produce a certain kind of writing is a question I'm not qualified to answer.

E.I. Mr. Gonick, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

LG: Edit yourself mercilessly, but not while you're in the middle of writing.
The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part 2
Raw Materials

To learn more about Larry Gonick, please visit his website

To Purchase his books, please visit AMAZON and Barnes & Noble

Stories, commas, Vampire Weekend and stuff

Am putting a few workplace hours into exploring and discussing the whole business of story-telling at the moment, as well as developing some short stories of my own at home.  Editing too, having left Number Two to rest in a dark cellar for a few months.  It's now time to dust it down and edit the wee beastie before it goes to print.

Across at The View From Here, we're beginning to build a new Opportunities page, to list forthcoming Opportunities, Competitions and Awards for writers.  As well as getting ready to profile a publisher (and what submissions they're looking for) on a regular basis.  So, if you know of any Opportunities, Competitions or Awards that would interest the writing community, email me and we'll do our best to include them:

opportunities at viewfromheremagazine dot com

Didn't use an Oxford comma above (that little comma that sometimes precedes 'and' or 'or' to simplify meaning in a list), although I'll happily use them when occasion demands.  To be honest, I didn't know that the little blighter even had a special name until recently, and then - Shazam! - a couple of weeks after discovering what an Oxford comma was and a couple of weeks after being interested by a band I'd not come across before, I come across the same band singing about Oxford commas.  Serendipity, eh?

Here's Vampire Weekend.

INTERVIEW: Claude Izner - French Author of Murder on the Eiffel Tower: A Victor Legris Mystery

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing his views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Claude Izner, who is actually the nom de plume of two French sisters, Liliane Korb born in 1940 and her sister Laurence Lefevre born 1951 who wrote hugely successful books.

After colorful and separate careers they started working together as secondhand booksellers on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris many years ago. They are experts on nineteenth-century Paris.

The sisters have been writing together for over ten years. Their early novels written together were targeted at younger readers, and the two sisters turned to detective fiction since 1999. They jointly write the popular Victor Legris series of crime novels. Legris is a bookseller in the late 19th-century Paris, who is also an amateur detective. The books were originally bestsellers in France.

Liliane initially worked as chief editor before becoming a bookseller. She has participated in writing several of audiovisual performances and plays.

Laurance becomes a bookseller at the same time as her sister in 1970’s. Alongside her work as publisher she wrote two novels for adults in which from the society of men of letters an award.

E.I. Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Please tell us more about Laurence Lefèvre -- one of the women behind the Claude Izner num de plume?

C. I. When I was a teenager ? Well, I was a rather lonely person, who liked to dream and above all to read, all sorts of novels, plays and poems. Not only mystery stories, but also science-fiction, XIXth century english litterature such as Dickens and the Brontë sisters, American novels (Steinbeck, Erskine Caldwell, Richard Wright, Carson Mac Cullers,etc...), Russian novels (Tolstoï, Dostoieveski) or plays (Tchekhov), and so forth. But also comics (Tintin by Hergé !)

And who liked to go to the movies. I still do !

E. I. What is it about the art form of writing detective mystery that enchants you the most?

C.I. Lilian and I like to give us challenges : will we be able to invent a mystery and to solve it ? It gives us a frame inside which to put everything we are fond of, humour, tenderness, popular language, and of course a little fear (not too much !) And our love for old Paris.

But we wrote many other kind of books, in particular for children, so we do not consider ourselves "crime specialists"!

E.I. How do you imagine audience as you are writing your detective novels? Do you try to do character development, chapter outlines, various novel-related brainstorming? Do you have sheets of newsprint covered in a story boards all over your walls?

C.I. We do not imagine our audience, let them forgive us ! We think that we must first entertain ourselves, in order to please other people. We talk a lot. We make "sketches" exactly as, I think, a painter. We try some "tricks", if we are not satisfied we cut them off, we try other ones ! It is long and tiring but worth while! It thrills us.

The walls...I live in a small flat, so the papers are in drawers or on the table where my computer awaits me!

E.I. What was your biggest challenge in developing the character of the Parisian bookseller, Victor Legris in your book “Murder on the Eiffel Tower”? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story? How did you overcome these challenges?

C.I. The bigest challenge ? To make Victor and Tasha, and all the characters around them, as real as possible, To re-invent 1889 Paris so as to insert in all that stuff a non-realistic story - as are almost all criminal stories!

We had no ideas of what would come off the magical hat ! It was like building a house : you have to put a brick after another...and look at the result : is the house a solid one ?

E.I. How much of Victor Legris life is planned out in your head? How do you know where you will go next with any of your characters?

C.I. Nothing is planned. Of course, each year we write a book taking place in a chronological suite, from 1889 to 1900 (we are now in 1898). We know that some changes will happen in Victor's and other characters'life, but we invent by and by ! We try to ignore where we go, to be "fresh" and inventive...except with the central plot which is the main bone of the skeleton...and the biggest challenge !

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from “Murder on the Eiffel Tower” is there one that you would personally select to share with your fans?

C.I. The page that I would choose would be the first I wrote, the very first of the series, which begins in the american edition p.5 by these words : "Wearing a tight new corset that creaked with every step, Eugénie Patinot walked down Avenue des Peupliers.". I wrote it in summer, without any documentation except an old map of Paris, and without guessing what would be Eugénie's fate ! We still know this phrase by heart ! Then, some weeks later, Lilian wrote the prologue.
And the adventure began, for us !

E.I. How do you weave so much suspense and elements of information into your stories and yet you keep them so fast-paced?

C.I. It is for us a mystery ! We choose a short part in one year, we invent a plot, a plan, chapter after chapter. Then we search in old newspapers and books what happened during these weeks. Then...the ideas some !

We have to try to put some order in all these informations ! We like a fast rythm. Do not forget that Lilian was a film editor, and that we both loved cinema, especially old films (for instance americain classical ones). We are "visual", we have to see the scenes.

E.I. Many writers describe themselves as "character" or "plot" writers. Which are you? And what do you find to be the hardest part of writing?

C.I. Without characters, no plot. Without plot, no book ! I do not know if we are more gifted for this or that. I think that in fact we could manage with any plot, because we could fit it to our own mind, which is a fantaisist one !
We for instance love Hithcock and his "Mac Guffins" !

Anyhow, the plots...they is a limited number of them ! What gives savour to a story ? The characters, the way you show them, the way they think and talk, the errors they make, as Victor, who is not a great sleuth ! This is our authors' small credo...

E.I. You are well known in Internationally as a former chief editor before becoming a bookseller, you also participated in writing several of audiovisual performances and play? What is one thing you would change if you can do it all over again?

C.I. It is Lilian, not I, who was a former chief editor. She worked with great documentarists such as Jean Rouch, Joris Ivens, also with Peter Brook, Maurice Pialat, among others. Maybe she would have liked to direct movies, but it is very difficult, many reponsabilities. Writing is more simple, no producers, no comedians...

I, myself, do not regret the life I had, selling old books gave me freedom.

E.I. Your book has been translated into different languages and has been published all over the world and now a bestselling author. Do you ever feel pressure or insecure, or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

C.I. It seems a dream, being translated : we never thought this could happen ! But we stay the same as before. We still doubt of ourselves. Of course, we separate our anxiety (it is rather frightening, even if exciting) from the writing process. When the book is finished, now, we sometimes pity our translators, so many jokes and popular expresssions !
Maybe, being "Claude Izner", that is a third person, helps us to feel more secure !

E.I. Ms. Lefevre, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

C.I. Advice ? I do not consider me a teacher...All I would say is : be yourself, forget the teachings, read a lot, create what you like. Then...work, do not be sure to be the greatest writer, be humble and believe in yourself at the same time. Choose to write science fiction, or fantasy, or love stories, or criminal investigations, or poetry, if this is what you prefer. Do not be too serious ! Do not hope to change the world...but be happy if some people appreciate you.

There is not one unique way, life is a rainbow even if the sky is often very cloudy. Choose your colour and try to feel joy, because life is also very short...

Photo of Claude Izner (Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefèvre)by Monika Katz

To purchase their books please visit AMAZON

INTERVIEW: Mark Wolverton - Author, Science Writer and Playwright

Welcome to “Up Close and Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing his views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Gifted science writer, Mark Wolverton. He is also an author and a playwright. He has published three books. Among them are "The Science of Superman” “The Depths of Space: The Story of the Pioneer Planetary Probes”, and A Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

His book The Science of Superman provides scientific explanations of the physiology of Superman being different from humans, and how he developed powers beyond the limit of mortal men. Everyone knows that Superman is Kal-El, the infant son of Jor-EL from the planet Krypton. “The Science of Superman” describes and analyzes the powers and characteristics of Superman through the lens of real science. Mr. Wolverton successfully extracts actual data and theories necessary to explain how Superman's powers could and could not work. ‘The book was published in 2002.

His second book, The Depths of Space: The Story of the Pioneer Planetary Probes, is an informative historical overview of the Pioneer space probe fist mission program launched in August 17, 1958. It is also about the misfortune to blow up 77 seconds into a lift off. This book is a tale of human achievement', that emphasis very much on the project and the people that made it possible and how they did it. The book was released in December 2004.

His latest book A Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer is about the developer of Atomic Bomb. He is also the professor of physics at the University of California in Berkeley. He is the man best known as the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, nuclear weapons at the secret Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, where his team first tested the bomb. The book is about J. Robert Oppenheimer the Father of the Atomic Bomb. The book was released November 2008.

E.I. Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager? What were you like? Please tell us more about Mark Wolverton -- the man behind the science writer, playwright and now an author?

MW As a kid I was pretty much your standard social outcast who spent too much time on his own, read too much, and was probably too smart for his own good. Hmm... come to think of it, I haven't changed all that much...

E.I. What is it about the art form of writing that enchants you the most?

MW There's a definite magic in the awareness that, through your work, you have the ability to entertain, inform, and move people. I became particularly aware of that through my theater work, because that medium offers perhaps the most immediate and direct connection with one's audience. It's a sobering, scary, and altogether exhilarating experience to sit in the back of a theater and watch a live audience laughing, crying, and being otherwise affected by something you've written. (Sitting in the back also makes it easier to escape if necessary...)

E.I. How do you imagine audience as you are writing? Do you have sheets of newsprint covered in a story boards all over your walls?

MW It depends on what sort of writing I'm doing. When I do an article for a particular magazine, I have a pretty clear idea of my audience, because I'm already familiar with that publication and their readers. If I'm writing a play or some other fictional work, the idea of audience is somewhat broader and more hazy. I can say, however, that I never allow myself to forget that I *am* writing for an audience, not just myself. It's true that as a writer you always have to write for yourself first, but you have to do more than that if you want to be published or produced. Otherwise, you're just talking to yourself.

E.I. What was your biggest challenge in writing “The Science of Superman”? How many years of research did you do, and how did you decide what level of details your reader will accept? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story? How did you overcome these challenges?

MW It's rather ironic that you mention "years of research," because my biggest challenge in writing "The Science of Superman" was probably the fact that I had to do it in about three months! That project didn't originate with me, but was brought to me by my agent, who learned that Byron Preiss of iBooks was looking for an author to do it. Since I had a background in both science and science fiction, I was a natural candidate for the gig. It was a fascinating project because it demanded what amounted to a general survey of almost the entire range of science: biology, obviously, but also astronomy, geology and geophysics, classical and quantum/relativistic physics, and even psychology and sociology -- and I had to make it accessible for everyone from a high school audience to adults. It was also a rather humbling experience to think that in writing about Superman, I was playing around with, and perhaps adding something of value to, a true cultural icon, Superman.

E.I. In your book “A Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer”. How much of J. Robert Oppenheimer is planned out in your head? How do you know where you will go next with your story base on your research?

MW "A Life in Twilight" grew out of my long-standing interest in Oppenheimer as a scientist, a public figure, and a human being. I've always found him a complex, contradictory, and wholly fascinating individual, and since I'm also intrigued by questions of moral ambiguity and motivations, he was a natural subject. I decided to focus on his life after he was publicly disgraced since that seemed to be where previous books about him always ended -- and I wanted to know what happened next. My main primary research source was his personal papers in the Library of Congress, which comprise a fascinating treasure trove of information not only on Oppenheimer but on much of the history of 20th century politics and science. Once I'd decided to concentrate on the last 13 years of his life (his "twilight years"), the structure of my story was fairly clear, and I was able to direct my research to that period.

E.I. If you were asked to read a page from “A Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer ” is there one that you would personally select to share with your fans? And why?

MW Hmm...just one page? That's a tough call! But if forced, I'd probably choose to read either from the Prelude in the very beginning of the book, since it sketches out the basic core of the story, or perhaps something near the end, when Oppenheimer was facing his impending death with great courage and composure.

E.I. Do you think that the vindictiveness of J. Edgar Hoover and Lewis Strauss was just paranoia?

MW It was definitely paranoia, based not only on their sincere political and ideological convictions but also, especially in Strauss's case, a decided personal animosity (perhaps even hatred) for Oppenheimer. There's no question that Hoover didn't trust or like Oppenheimer, but then he felt that way about a great many people, including many that he pursued with more alacrity. With Strauss, however, it was definitely personal, and he managed to build up that personal dislike to such a degree that he convinced himself that Oppie was literally a threat to America itself. Once he had convinced himself of that, he was relentless and resourceful in moving against Oppenheimer. Few people have ever been better at holding a grudge than Lewis Strauss.

E.I. What do you find to be the hardest part of writing “The Depths of Space: The Story of the Pioneer Planetary Probes” and “The Science of Superman”? How do you weave so much suspense and engaging elements of information into your books?

MW The hardest part is having to stop the research and start the writing -- because I'm painfully aware that if I just had a little more time and resources for the research, there's always someone else to talk to or some interesting material to uncover. But when I come to that inevitable point where the research must end and the writing must begin, I strive to find the story in the mass of facts I've gathered, the real human beings who did the things and made the history I'm writing about. Whether you're doing nonfiction or fiction, it's always about telling a story, first and foremost.

E.I. You are well known in the writing community as the science writer, author and playwright. Do you ever feel pressure or insecure, or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

MW Pressure? Insecurity? All the time! But that's simply part of writing, or indeed any creative endeavor. It comes in many forms: deadlines, financial insecurity, the continual drive to improve one's own work. The key is to not let those feelings overwhelm you, to not take them so seriously, to be able to set them aside and do the work anyway. As a friend of mine is fond of saying: "Feelings are not facts."

E.I. What would you tell those authors considering applying to an M.F.A. program? In your opinion how important is it for a writer to have a writing degree?

MW I'll probably annoy some people by saying this, but in my opinion and experience, it's not important at all to have a writing degree. Whether you're doing fiction or nonfiction, editors care only about the quality of the work, not your academic credentials. Having said that, however, I'll add that I think an M.F.A. or other formal credential can certainly be valuable for other reasons, chief among them the opportunity that school provides for meeting other writers and building peer and mentor relationships. And of course, if you're looking to teach and work in academia, it's a must. But in the end, it's all about the work -- the words on the page.

E.I. Mr. Wolverton, Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

MW To be a writer (at least, on a professional, making-a-living level), you need an extremely high tolerance for insecurity, both financial and emotional; a prodigious capacity to shrug off rejection and indifference; a keen self-awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses; and an incredible amount of persistence (some might say stubbornness). Flexibility and versatility are also important, meaning the capacity (and the humility) to try something else when something's not working, on whatever level -- another rewrite, another project, another market, another genre, another style of writing. Realize that there really isn't any one best way to do it: every single professional writer finds his or her own path, and it's unique for every individual. (So if anyone tries to tell you he has the "one true secret to success," he's lying.) Know that talent, however much you may possess, isn't enough -- a lot of this business, probably more than most would like to admit, is based on sheer chance and luck. You can help your odds by being good, by being professional, by being persistent, but in the end, it's out of your hands, so you have to be able to accept that. You should also know that it's an ongoing process --you never really "arrive," because there's always another mountain to climb. Aspiring writers often think that if they just get their first story published or sell their first novel or whatever, the rest is gravy. It ain't. It never gets easier -- it only gets harder in different ways.

Photo of Mark Wolverton by Jodi Weisberg

To learn more about Mark Wolverton please visit his WEBSITE
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