, was released in September 2006. She is the editor/author of Naked Came the Phoenix and I’d Kill for That, star-studded, tongue-in-cheek collaborative serial novels set in a fashionable health spa and upscale gated community. Marcia’s short stories appear in more than a dozen collections, including the multi-award winning stories “Too Many Cooks” and “Driven to Distraction.”Marcia lives in Annapolis, Maryland with her husband, Barry, a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. The Writerly Pause spoke to her on a recent Sunday afternoon.
The Writerly Pause: You’re one of the many writers who came to writing later in life. What inspired you to act on the impulse to write?
Marcia: I’ve always been interested in writing, and have kept a journal for many years—something I think is imperative for any writer. I’m a breast cancer survivor, and knew that I had to make a change if I wanted to write. Time was moving. I had been commuting an hour each way from Annapolis to Washington for my job (as a librarian), and was afraid it would kill me. The final decision to stop came when I was stranded in a snowstorm on the way.
TWP: Did you take courses, sign up for a writing program?
M: No, I joined a writer’s group. I found them at a bookstore—they wanted people to read in the mystery genre. We’ve been together for ten years now, though we did have to expel a couple of members during that time.
TWP: How does the group work.
M: We meet once a month. We e-mail each other ten to thirty pages, but don’t discuss more than three submissions at a time. Working with the group gives us a deadline. We discuss POV and plot, and big overarching issues. We help with query letters.
TWP: Are there any men in your group?
M: (Laughs) One or two. We want the diversity.
TWP: How did you find your first agent, get published the first time.
M: I was accepted into the Sewanee Writers’ Conference in Tennessee, and worked with John Casey. After he critiqued my manuscript, I threw away everything but the first chapter, and that became the first chapter of Sing It To Her Bones.
I later submitted the novel for the Malice Domestic Grant Award, and won. That got me my first agent and publisher.
TWP: What is your impression of publishing today?
M: It’s a very tight market, with only five major publishers. It’s harder for an agent to pitch a book with so few opportunities. And it’s strictly a business. If an author’s subsequent novels don’t show a modest increase in sales, she’s dropped.
New York City doesn’t know the next trend until it falls on them, but there are good, small quality presses.
TWP: Annapolis is the setting for your books. Is there any other place that you’ve traveled to that you would consider as a setting for Hannah Ives?
M: I’m working on a proposal where Hannah would go to England, but I would love to send her to the Bahamas.
I consider myself the Queen of Proposals, but in the past I tried to tell too much. Now I set the scene, talk about the character and get them in trouble. I don’t give away the ending.
TWP: Any advice about submitting manuscripts.
M: The query letter should be one page, about four paragraphs. Usually a synopsis of two to three pages is sent, and the first three chapters. The first sentence is very important.
TWP: How do you work?
M: I write after dinner. One of my rules is don’t fall in love with your prose, and that means cut. I read my stuff aloud. If it sounds wrong I cut it out. Everything has to move the plot forward, and I try to put in just enough detail. Writing short stories is a good exercise.
TWP: What did you read as a child?
M: Nancy Drew. So wonderful: an independent girl who solves crimes and drives a cool car. And Agatha Christie. She was my mother’s favorite. Agatha Christie is a textbook for writing the traditional mystery. I still re-read her for inspiration.
TWP: Who are your reading now:
M: P.D. James, Andrew Taylor, Phil Rickman, Cornelia Read. I especially recommend A Pale Blue Eye, by Louis Bayard. I also read historical fiction.
TWP: Has your style changed over time?
M: I’m not as afraid of putting my thoughts down on paper.
TWP: Any last advice?
M: Write what you’re passionate about, and don’t give up too early. One of my friends had 140 rejections before being published.
Marcia’s website is: www.marciatalley.com
View Marcia Talley
books on Amazon.
1 comment:
Go go go!
Nice, John. Nice choice of handle!
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