Elizabeth Miles is one to watch…
Elizabeth Miles is on Facebook, Twitter @milesbooks, and www.elizabethmilesbooks.com
What were you like as a kid?
I’m an only child. My parents are both educators. They were
very supportive of my academic interests. I was a big reader and writer as a
child. I was really into playing pretend which makes sense given my theater
interests now.
Where I grew up was very affluent and concerned with
superficial things in some ways, but it was also a great school system and so I
feel it was kind of “normal”. I wasn’t really emo or dark and I wasn’t really
sporty or a cheerleader. I was
kind of like an average girl.
What was your best memory from childhood?
My parents have this house in the Berkshires in Western
Massachusetts. We used to go there every weekend. I would find these little red
orange salamanders and collect them in a coffee can and try to bring them home
with me to Chappaqua to start a colony there. It never worked which is really sad
for the salamanders, but I can remember finding great joy in those
salamanders. And my dad would help me
find them, so, yeah.
Have you always wanted to become a writer?
Definitely. I was always writing little stories and binding
them into little books. I found
such solace in books and reading. Looking back on it, it seems so
natural that this is what I do now. Certainly, there was a big gap of time when
I didn’t think I’d ever be an author. I was so focused on journalism. It wasn’t
until 2010 that I decided to try fiction writing.
So, how did you evolve into writing fiction?
My friend, Lauren Oliver, the author of the Delirium series and Before I Fall, which are YA novels, was starting a literary
development company called Paper Lantern Lit. She suggested that I send in a
writing sample. I had been exercising the creative side of my brain with
theater and I thought ‘OK, I’d
like even more of a chance to get creative and delve into that less fact-based
side of me.’ So I sent in a sample and they liked it.
The Paper Lantern Lit. Can you explain exactly what they do and how it
works?
They find generally
unpublished writers, who need some sort of help – plotting, discipline,
whatever – and if they think the raw talent is there, they will use that as a
spark to develop a book. I worked with them to craft the outline for Fury and then wrote it and it was sold
as the trilogy.
So do you pay them for their services?
No. They’re the middle man between Simon & Schuster and me.
They get a cut of my advance. It’s been terrific. They’re like a really helpful
critique group.
Your trilogy is Fury, Envy and… ?
Eternity. I just
finished writing the actual first draft and submitted it to Simon &
Schuster, so there will be editorial notes. It felt cathartic to write the end
and it’s funny, I’d been wondering throughout this process ‘Am I going to have
another idea when this is done?’ And as
soon as I finished writing Eternity,
something else popped into my mind. It was like my brain had the space.
Will you share that idea?
I found this old account of a pair of young ladies during
the 1600s who cross-dressed to get onto a pirate ship and to join them.
Anne Bonney and Mary Read?
Yeah, exactly. I had been wanting to write about girls
dressed as boys in colonial times and then I found this and people love
pirates. So, I’m going to do some serious research and see where that goes.
Where did the idea for the trilogy come from?
I had always been interested in mythology and I knew that I
wanted to write something scary. I thought the furies were under-represented and in my mind, they were the
perfect villains because the idea of revenge is so terrifying. Taking
the creative liberty to make (the furies) evil, unrelenting and disproportionate
in their sense of justice seemed to be a really great catalyst for some scary
stuff.
Is your character JD based on a real character?
In the acknowledgements to Envy, I say to Keagan that I used to think a guy like JD was too
good to be true, and then I met you.
(JD’s) not really based on anybody in particular, he has
lots of traits of guys that I’ve loved and respected. I think he’s so smart and
funny, but he really does, especially as the trilogy progresses, have a
backbone and he demonstrates that. In the first book he acts a little bit like
a doormat, but he’s not and I really like that about him.
Have you decided how you feel about forgiveness? Is sorry ever really
enough?
I definitely
have come to the realization that you should be judged only by the person who
your misdeed affects. The idea of being judged by some over-lording
entity is a scary one. Gabby has every right to be furious and feel hurt and
betrayed for good and I think that she chooses to forgive Emily is much more
powerful than any outside condemnation that she could have affected.
What keeps you focused and motivated?
Coffee. (she said with
a laugh)
It helps
that I really love to write. Sometimes I don’t feel overjoyed to
approach the computer, but there is a zone I get into, as every writer does,
and I can muddle through the hard times knowing that I’ll get into a zone
sooner or later.
About how many hours goes into working as a journalist and how many
hours do you spend writing fiction?
Well, I work a typical 40-hour work week as a journalist and
then about twelve additional hours a week working on the books. I stick to a
very strict schedule of two chapters per week. And then I send them
periodically to the folks at Paper Lantern Lit and then I’ll do a week of
editing. So, it’s more manageable when I get to the end, so it’s not totally
raw.
Have you ever experienced writer’s block?
Yes. Since I work on an outline, what I’ll do is skip ahead.
I try to get the beginning of the next chapter done. If I start to feel productive, I’ll feel more equipped
to go back and tackle the problematic area again. It’s like I have to
build up my own confidence and then once I’ve achieved that then I can tackle
the harder parts.
The other thing that keeps me motivated is reading. I try to
read a lot. It’s inspiring to
read something deliciously good. And that makes me want to go to my
computer.
What do you like about writing?
I was giving this talk about freelancing the other day and I
was talking about even when you have the stupidest assignment it can still be
fun because there’s always a
magical combination of words that when you hit them, you know it. You
feel tingly. It’s really exciting to know that if you work hard enough at it
you can express something real through words.
I’ve always been a big letter writer and email writer and I
think I process a lot of my emotions through writing and I think that’s a
really important part of who I am. So,
yeah, that’s what I like about writing.
Is there anything you don’t like about writing?
I don’t think there’s anything I dislike about writing.
There are parts about being a writer I’m not crazy about: the inevitable
comparison to other writers, feeling that I’m not being productive enough.
Do you have any advice for writers? Or for those considering a writing
career?
The typical stuff: practice and write all the time and read
as much as you can, but everybody says that. I think one of the most helpful
things for me has been to not get too carried away. It’s just something that I
like to do and so I’m doing it. I think if you just approach it as
realistically as possible and don’t think ‘I’m going to be the next Stephanie
Meyer’…
The other thing is to keep trying. Don’t be overly emotional
about what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. Yeah, just write.
Additional
Facts:
Birthday:
December 8, 1982
Born/Raised
in: Chappaqua, NY
Lives
in Portland with: her boyfriend Keagan – a carpenter and a Mainer— and Ender
& Bean, her two cats named after the two main characters in Orson Scott
Card’s Sci Fi Ender’s Game.
Occupation:
journalist, author
Hobbies/Interests:
theater: acting/directing & producing
Elizabeth cofounded
a small theater company which performs modern takes on older shows. She
plans to direct their winter show, an intense
retelling of the myth of Philomela and Procne, called If We Were Birds, by Canadian playwright Erin Shields.
Dates:
Fury:
Available now!
Envy: September 4, 2012
Eternity: Fall 2013
#ElizabethMiles #Fury #Envy #Eternity #author #YA
