Joanne O'Sullivan On Finding Inspiration

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today's guest for the WHAT is Joanne O'Sullivan author of BETWEEN TWO SKIES. Joanne is a journalist for the Asheville Citizen-Times. She lived in New Orleans for several years and returns to southern Louisiana frequently. Between Two Skies is her debut novel. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband and children.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I tend to pick up threads for several places and weave them together. When Hurricane Katrina hit, I tried to understand the full impact it had had on the people in an area I love. I started to draw a parallel between the people displaced by Katrina and the characters in one of Louisiana’s most iconic stories “Evangeline:” an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow’s “Evangeline” starts in Acadia (what’s now Nova Scotia) at the time when the French-speaking population is being driven out by the British, becoming refugees and eventually settling in Louisiana. It struck me that there was a new exodus of people leaving Louisiana. They were called “Katrina refugees” and like the Acadians (the original Cajuns), many ended up far from home. My mom is an Irish immigrant, and I grew up listening to old Irish ballads filled with heartache and longing for a home you could never return to. I think those songs subconsciously supplied a melody for my story in a way, while “Evangeline” supplied a bit of the lyrics. 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

Because I had Longfellow’s “Evangeline” as a very loose inspiration, I had the idea of a painful separation in a young love. That led me to envision a new Evangeline and a love interest for her. The plot around that had two obvious poles: coming together and separating, but everything else in between took some work! The family story was interesting: I knew that there would be tension; that everyone in the family would want something different in the face of the disaster. That turned into some interesting opportunities for character development. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Oh, absolutely! In fact, when I met my wonderful agent Claire Anderson-Wheeler, she suggested a major plot change from the original story I showed her. When you’ve been working with one idea for a long time, it can be hard to see a story any other way. But once I let myself imagine something different for these characters, I realized she was right: it was what was needed to keep the story moving forward. 

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I get loads of ideas, but a lot of them are fleeting. I feel like I would never have enough time to write all the stories I’ve come up with. 

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

That’s a great question. I give it time. Whichever idea sustains my interest over the long term is the one I pursue. Because I know I’m going to be spending a lot of time with it, I’ve got to be really invested. 

I recently got stitches in my arm and was taking mental notes the entire time about how I felt before, during, and after the process of being badly injured. Do you have any major life events that you chronicled mentally to mine for possible writing purposes later?

I try to be in the moment during major life events, so I’m not great at being meticulous about my observations. I’m better at remembering the details of smaller moments and everyday interactions: the snatch of conversation I overhear in line at the coffee shop or a look exchanged between two people. The major life events I remember more in impressions and feelings, but that can actually be really helpful in guiding a narrative, too. 

Sarah Nicole Lemon On Empowering Female Characters

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today's guest is Sarah Nicole Lemon, author of DONE DIRT CHEAP. Born and raised in the Appalachians, she spent the first fifteen years of her life doing nothing but reading and playing outside, and has yet to outgrow either. When not writing, you can find her drinking iced coffee in a half-submerged beach chair near her home in southern Maryland.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I joke that DONE DIRT CHEAP is a book made entirely out of the pond scum of my life—all the slick, weird stuff that coagulated at the top. Sounds incredibly sexy, I know, but let’s just pretend the pond of my life is a magical one in the forest between worlds (The Magicians Nephew/ C. S. Lewis) and if you skim the weird off the top, it smells like a chip-on-your shoulder and honeysuckles. 

Joking aside, it all began with jealousy and failure and writer angst. 

I kept trying and failing to sell a novel. Everyone loved my writing, no one wanted to spend money on my books. They were not commercial. There was great gnashing of teeth and shaking of fists on my part, but when it was all said and done, I packed up my kids and went to lick my wounds at my parents’ house in southwest Pennsylvania. One late summer afternoon, sitting on the front porch swing, I mulled over what I was going to write next. Because, of course I was going to write something next. A crit-partner had recently told me “Lemon, you need to write the book of your heart.” Okay, it was Renee Ahdieh, she deserves the credit for both the gross sentimentality and absolute truth of that advice. Despite the guidance, the only part of my heart I could find was “it must involve a motorcycle” –and I was trying to think of something more, when my dad roared over the crest of the hill on his bike, coming to pick my mom up for a ride. 

There were two things that struck me in that moment. The first was my mom’s response, because it’s been the same response for thirty years. She practically wagged her tail and ran off to get boots on. It reminded me of being a teenager and listening to all her stories about their romance. Like “he had this blue Chevy Nova and my dad hated it.” And “my boss knew him from the bar” which would be followed by a giggle. My mom considers herself a good Baptist church girl, and this was her epic romance with a partially reformed bad boy. It always ended with a groan-worthy “isn’t your father so cute?” (Seriously Mom, WHY do you ask me that question?). 

None of this was new that afternoon. It was pleasant backstory. Adorable and embarrassing. But when I turned from my mom, I was just in time to see my dad barreling away. He’s not patient enough to wait for her to put on shoes, so he circles the block before coming back. The sun was setting right at the end of the road and for a moment he looked like every idyllic image of a man (because it’s always a man) riding into the literal sunset. His hair ruffled in the breeze, and the brap of the engine echoed back down the hill. Because yes, he was riding a street-to-trail dirt-bike on the road and not wearing a helmet. 

Children, don’t try this at home. 

He always says something about wanting to die, not live and suffer, if he wrecks—which please don’t tweet me about how stupid this is, he knows. That’s just what he says when someone asks. I don’t think he believes he’ll wreck. I think he believes if he wrecks and dies, it was his time to go anyway. That he’d be dead no matter what he was doing. 

That afternoon on the swing, while I watched him disappear into the sun with that trust in his own fate and the power to disregard for anyone who might disagree—it made me insanely jealous. It was more than just the bike—it was everything. He might have passed on his personality and intensity to me, but they were changed under the mantle of womanhood and motherhood. His power was a kind I’d never had, always wanted, and couldn’t find. As a girl, I’d thought I’d grow into it. But as a full grown woman, with three small children, I realized that power had never been intended for me. And right then I knew what the book of my heart was. It was a book about motorcycles. But also about girls determining their own stories, their own fate, and their own power. 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

My struggle with writing is always the plot. I had this idea—this ephemeral grain of sand in my soul--and no idea how to give it shape. I was literally staring at the wall, thinking about it, while my husband was in the next room yelling at me about why all the bikes on Sons of Anarchy were the same? I quit watching Sons after the baby was stolen to Ireland. (You do not fuck with kids for real is a TV rule, I thought!), but had enjoyed Charlie Hunnam and the fast plotting. I had motorcycles, I had girls, and listening to Sons in the next room, I had….

The Wardens. Or something that I hoped might end up being a plot. 

My books are like a witch’s brew, I throw a bunch of shit in and stir until I get an explosion. 

This time it worked. 

The caveat is, this was a world I was semi-familiar with. I grew up riding dirt-bikes, there were always clubs around somewhere. Even in church! I know exactly what those men, in real life, were like. I understood the world. I knew the people. The rest was just details. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Only always! 

My first draft of this book was nothing of the book I have now. Though I’m very pleased with where I ended up, I’m not even sure how I got here. Probably a lot of lying on the floor with a bag of chips, staring at the ceiling and thinking “what the fuck is the story of my heart?”

That explains why I’m violating the terms of my own blackmail agreement to write it. (re: pond scum, except this bit is churned up from the bottom and smells like Black’s law books and terror)

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I have a hard time coming up with ideas. I always have one ready when I need it, but never a backlog competing for attention. Sometimes I’m afraid I’ll run out of ideas, and will just be left with useless words. But then I always hear Amy March (movie version) in that scene where she tells Meg “you don’t need scores of suitors, you only need one, if he’s the right one.” And I feel like that applies to stories. 

I usually have a cat or two with me while I write. They’re good for a pet if I need a moment away from the screen, and don’t seem to mind if I ignore them completely as long as I’m sharing body heat. Do you have a writing companion? 

Three children, who are very much like cats in that it’s impossible to herd them anywhere. And a pit-bull named Maggie who hogs my heater in the winter. Sarah Nicole Lemon On Empowering Female Characters

Interview with Katie Bayerl

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today's guest is debut author Katie Bayerl, whose book A PSALM FOR LOST GIRLS releases today! Katie is a proud graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts Writing for Children and Young Adults program and teaches in Grub Street's creative writing program. She has an incurable obsession with saints, bittersweet ballads, and murder. It’s becoming a problem. You can find Katie on her site, Twitter, and Facebook.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

YES. Well, actually there were a few different experiences and obsessions that fed this book (insert long backstory about my Catholic childhood, struggles with being labeled a “gifted” kid, lifelong obsession with female religious figures, etc), but the bits came together and sparked into a story while I was visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal—the site where three children claimed to see the Virgin Mary in 1917. I made my visit in 2008, the same year Pope Benedict decided to hurry up and beatify Lúcia Santos, the last of the Children of Fátima to pass away.

A little backstory on her: Lúcia was 10 years old when she and her two cousins saw the Virgin Mother. The cousins died soon after, leaving Lúcia to carry this legacy on her own. She joined a convent (which, I guess, is what you do when everyone around thinks you’re a saint) and remained a cloistered nun until she died at age 97.

Now, by all accounts (including her memoirs), Lúcia was a woman of deep faith, but as soon as I learned the bare bones of her story, I became consumed with a completely fictional question: What if a young girl got stuck with a reputation of sainthood when all she wanted was to be a normal girl?

That question became Tess. 

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

Well, so, if you’ve read the description of A PSALM FOR LOST GIRLS, you know the main character isn’t Tess. It’s her younger sister, Callie. So the story’s concept shifted a lot.

I had the Fátima question knocking around in my head when I began studying at Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2008, but I wasn’t sure yet what type of book it would be, and I had three other novels I wanted to write first. But then I had a workshop deadline and cranked out—what I thought was—a completely different short story about a semi-delinquent girl rebelling in the wake of her holy sister’s death. Ha. Hahaha. 

(Fact: I am terrible at short stories. They always want to turn into novels.) 

got excited enough about Callie’s story and decided early on that the plot would center around an investigation, with Callie going up against her community. I had a sense of where it would end and some of the things Callie would need to do to get there, but… the first attempt was a mess. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper

All. The. Time. I especially seem to have a lot of discoveries around page 100 or so. I will often cycle back a few times to sort out the opening before I can see to the end.

This novel had more drafts than I know how to count, thanks to all of the circling and some smart feedback. My first draft included chapters from dead Tess ‘s point of view (think: The Lovely Bones), looking down on, and into the minds of, her community. And she was amazing! But several readers pointed out that this voice robbed the story of its main mystery—i.e., whether Tess was truly a saint.  

So I took out her voice and felt sad about it, even as I kept working on getting Callie’s story right—and then I landed my wonderful agent, Erin Harris, who asked: Would you be up for a revision? What if you tried including Tess’s voice? When I was done laughing, I realized Erin really shared my vision for the book and, suddenly, I saw a way to bring Tess into the story in a way that wouldn’t be such a spoiler. The original sparkle came back, and I fell in love with both Callie and Tess in a much deeper way. 

And then I met my brilliant editor, Stacey…

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I have way more ideas than I can handle. I had another one last night! Sometimes it feels like a traffic jam of ideas. Because, see above, it takes me a loooong time to execute a truly finished draft. (I keep hoping I’ll get smarter and more efficient.) (Don’t laugh. A girl needs to dream!) 

Anyway, shiny new ideas = my favorite. It’s a little like an amazing first date. I lose my head a little, getting caught up in the imagining, day dreaming and scribbling notes when I should be working on bill-paying things, stopping in the middle of sidewalks to leave myself voice memos. (Voxer is my savior!) 

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

So far I’ve been guided by stubbornness. The next story I work on seems to be the one that I’ve been working at longest and that I’m too hardheaded to drop. I do cheat on my main projects sometimes just to mix things up. (That’s how I ended up with four substantial projects in the pipeline.) But it’s been a long time since I questioned which one was next. I’m kind of head over heels for the book that comes after PSALM (title is, ironically: WHAT COMES AFTER), and I needs/must finish it soon!

I usually have a cat or two with me while I write. They’re good for a pet if I need a moment away from the screen, and don’t seem to mind if I ignore them completely as long as I’m sharing body heat. Do you have a writing companion? 

Two cats over here! One on each arm. But let’s keep that between us, eh? If my physical therapist caught wind of what’s going on, I’d get zero sympathy for this creaky shoulder and wrist.