Ask the Author: Lillian Marek
Answered Questions (13)
Lillian Marek
Sherwood Forest.
When I was 10, I met Robin Hood, in the Pyle version, and I've been devoted to him ever since. Fighting for justice, protecting the poor and helpless—can there be a more perfect hero?
When I was 10, I met Robin Hood, in the Pyle version, and I've been devoted to him ever since. Fighting for justice, protecting the poor and helpless—can there be a more perfect hero?
Lillian Marek
I'm trying to persuade Amazon to do that. If it helps, it's about the same length as me previous books. (I seem to think in 75,000-85,000 chunks.)
Lillian Marek
Hi Joanna-
I aways have plans for another book! Then next one coming out will, I think be the parents' story, A Match for the Marquess, a sort of prequel to the Victorian Adventures series. If all goes well, it should be coming out in May or June.
I aways have plans for another book! Then next one coming out will, I think be the parents' story, A Match for the Marquess, a sort of prequel to the Victorian Adventures series. If all goes well, it should be coming out in May or June.
Lillian Marek
I apologize for taking so long to answer, but I’ve been thinking about your question. Now for the first part, the only way anyone gets to be a writer is by writing. Being a writer may sound easy and glamorous to people who don’t write, but we all know the sheer slog of sitting there staring at the blank page when you can’t think what the next sentence should be. We do it because every now and then comes the euphoria of seeing exactly what should come next.
As for all those rejections—forget about them. Yes, there are people who accumulate enough rejection letters to paper the wall, and there are famous authors like Stephen King or Margaret Mitchell who keep going despite that.
Never worry about the market. If you try to write whatever is selling at the moment, it will be dead in the water by the time you finish your manuscript. Write the stories you want to tell. That’s the only way you will write anything good.
If you are having trouble getting ideas, write anyway simply as an exercise. Describe your living room from the point of view of your Aunt Matilda, who thinks you have lousy taste. Then describe it from the point of view of your father, who is glad to be home after a brutal day at work. Look online for writers’ prompts.
Join a writers’ group. If there aren’t any convenient for you to get to in person, join an online group. You will benefit from having your work critiqued and you will benefit from having other people’s work critiqued. Most of all, you will be energized by being in a group of people who write.
Good luck to you.
As for all those rejections—forget about them. Yes, there are people who accumulate enough rejection letters to paper the wall, and there are famous authors like Stephen King or Margaret Mitchell who keep going despite that.
Never worry about the market. If you try to write whatever is selling at the moment, it will be dead in the water by the time you finish your manuscript. Write the stories you want to tell. That’s the only way you will write anything good.
If you are having trouble getting ideas, write anyway simply as an exercise. Describe your living room from the point of view of your Aunt Matilda, who thinks you have lousy taste. Then describe it from the point of view of your father, who is glad to be home after a brutal day at work. Look online for writers’ prompts.
Join a writers’ group. If there aren’t any convenient for you to get to in person, join an online group. You will benefit from having your work critiqued and you will benefit from having other people’s work critiqued. Most of all, you will be energized by being in a group of people who write.
Good luck to you.
Lillian Marek
Amelia sighed in resignation when the airline clerk told her that her flight would be delayed for seven hours. Then it struck her—she had nothing to read!
Lillian Marek
On the one hand, I haven't led a terribly adventurous life—except in my imagination, of course. I've had all sorts of wild and exciting imaginary adventures.
But it real life, the only mystery would be, "Who is Lillian Marek?"
Because, you see, I write under a pen name.
Now that could be a plot. I definitely enjoy mistaken identity, masquerade, and imposter tales, like the one I wrote in "A Scandalous Adventure." But imposters make a great story. I loved "Brat Farrar" when I read it years ago. (For that matter, I loved everything Josephine Tey wrote.) Or Mary Stewart's "The Ivy Tree."
Then there are real life cases like the Tichborne Claimant or Perkin Warlock. Or the mystery about Edward II—was he really murdered or did he escape and become a saintly hermit in the Italian Alps?
There are decided plot possibilities in uncertainty about identity.
But it real life, the only mystery would be, "Who is Lillian Marek?"
Because, you see, I write under a pen name.
Now that could be a plot. I definitely enjoy mistaken identity, masquerade, and imposter tales, like the one I wrote in "A Scandalous Adventure." But imposters make a great story. I loved "Brat Farrar" when I read it years ago. (For that matter, I loved everything Josephine Tey wrote.) Or Mary Stewart's "The Ivy Tree."
Then there are real life cases like the Tichborne Claimant or Perkin Warlock. Or the mystery about Edward II—was he really murdered or did he escape and become a saintly hermit in the Italian Alps?
There are decided plot possibilities in uncertainty about identity.
Lillian Marek
Daphne and Rupert Carsington from Loretta Chase's Mr. Impossible. This may be partly because that book was the first Romance I read, and the glow still lingers, but mainly because she's intelligent and self-reliant and honest and he's humorous and protective and brave and honest.
I don't mind if the couples in Romance are gorgeous, but I don't actually think about that when I'm reading. It's their non-physical qualities that attract me. I sometimes wonder if other readers react the same way.
I don't mind if the couples in Romance are gorgeous, but I don't actually think about that when I'm reading. It's their non-physical qualities that attract me. I sometimes wonder if other readers react the same way.
Lillian Marek
That's easy. I like to read stories like this, and I have now found out that it is great fun to write them too.
Lillian Marek
I suspect that the only way to deal with it is to sit down at the keyboard and write. You may produce a few pages of junk, but you can revise them. If they're so bad that they aren't even worth revising, at least you've eliminated one possible path, and that may be enough to show you the right way forward.
Lillian Marek
You never get bored. Even if you're stuck in traffic or waiting in the dentist's office, you can lose yourself in the story you're planning.
Lillian Marek
Read everything you can get your hands on. That's how you learn to write. Even the books you dislike will teach you what you want to avoid.
Lillian Marek
At the moment, I'm working on an adventure taking place in an imaginary kingdom where an English girl is masquerading as the princess—a variation on The Prisoner of Zenda.
Lillian Marek
That's actually a hard question to answer. A scene seems to pop into my head and then I start trying to figure out the characters and how they might have gotten to that point—and where they are likely to go next!
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