Ask the Author: Phyllis T. Smith
Answered Questions (4)
Phyllis T. Smith
I strongly advise getting in a writers’ critique group. If attending a group in person isn’t an option, you can find one online. It is great if group members have skills they can teach you—for example, I learned a lot from a member of one of my groups (I now have two) who worked as a newspaper editor and is a genius at tightening copy. It’s important just to get feedback. Writing is communication. The novel in your head may be wonderful, but did you get it down on paper? Do people read your words as you intended them? You need other eyes to correct for any blind spots you may have.
Also, if you are just starting out, expect to spend some time learning your craft. Maybe there are a few people who automatically grasp all the essentials of novel structure because they read a lot. But I had to take a lot of writing workshops and read numerous books on craft before I was ready to publish. There are things that you just need to learn. The good part: they aren’t all that hard to learn, if you put in the time.
Final bit of advice: Persist. Set aside time for writing and for reading and learning, and hang in there. My theory is that a lot of what is called talent is actually just having a strong desire to be a writer, the kind of desire that keeps you working at it. (And if you love writing, you keep working and trying to get better with each book you publish.)
Also, if you are just starting out, expect to spend some time learning your craft. Maybe there are a few people who automatically grasp all the essentials of novel structure because they read a lot. But I had to take a lot of writing workshops and read numerous books on craft before I was ready to publish. There are things that you just need to learn. The good part: they aren’t all that hard to learn, if you put in the time.
Final bit of advice: Persist. Set aside time for writing and for reading and learning, and hang in there. My theory is that a lot of what is called talent is actually just having a strong desire to be a writer, the kind of desire that keeps you working at it. (And if you love writing, you keep working and trying to get better with each book you publish.)
Phyllis T. Smith
Hi Jim,
It makes me so happy to hear that you loved I Am Livia. I do think we can hear echoes of what happened then now, in our own time.
There has been some talk of a mini-series in the future but I never considered a stage play. You gave me something new to think about!
I loved the audiobook of I Am Livia. It’s a thrill for an author to hear his or her characters coming to life, the next best thing to play. The narrator who played Livia, Joyce Bean, is absolutely great. She has the role of Livia again on the audiobook of The Daughters of Palatine Hill. That new novel has three narrators, and other actresses will take the roles of Julia, Livia’s stepdaughter, and Selene, the daughter of Cleopatra.
Thanks for your question!
It makes me so happy to hear that you loved I Am Livia. I do think we can hear echoes of what happened then now, in our own time.
There has been some talk of a mini-series in the future but I never considered a stage play. You gave me something new to think about!
I loved the audiobook of I Am Livia. It’s a thrill for an author to hear his or her characters coming to life, the next best thing to play. The narrator who played Livia, Joyce Bean, is absolutely great. She has the role of Livia again on the audiobook of The Daughters of Palatine Hill. That new novel has three narrators, and other actresses will take the roles of Julia, Livia’s stepdaughter, and Selene, the daughter of Cleopatra.
Thanks for your question!
Phyllis T. Smith
I belong to two writers’ groups that each meet twice a month. They keep me submitting work on a regular schedule. I find that even if I feel blocked, if I sit down and make myself write, knowing the groups are expecting my work, I can invariably produce something, and when I read it over later, it seems as good as what I write when I feel more inspired. I love this quote from Jane Austen: “I am not at all in a humor for writing; I must write on till I am.”
Phyllis T. Smith
My first novel, I Am Livia, ended after Caesar Augustus defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra. My interest in Rome in the time of Augustus didn’t end there. My new book, to be released February 16, was born out of my continuing fascination with the characters that peopled Livia’s world. In The Daughters of Palatine Hill, I focus on Livia’s stepdaughter Julia, and Antony and Cleopatra’s daughter Selene. They were almost exactly the same age and both lived eventful, dangerous lives.
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