Interview with the Author of Beneath a Sunless Sky, Jessica Alter. Sunday, May 13, 2007:

Q: Tell us your latest news?

A: Well, my first book, Beneath a Sunless Sky, is available internationally. That's pretty big news right there!

Q: What got you interested/started in writing?

A: I know this is a hackneyed answer, but . . . I loved to read. Sometimes stories would end in ways I didn't like, or there would be no sequel, or the sequel book would be written in a direction I didn't feel the story should have gone. I wrote because I loved the worlds I visited when I read and I wanted to make new ones.

Q: How long have you been writing?

A: I've written small snippets of story since I was able to write. My first piece I can really remember was in fourth or fifth grade, about a mouse who went to a birthday party. When I was in fifth grade, I even tried writing a musical play. Unfortunately, since musicals demand the ability to read and write music, I was unable to do more in the project than the really awful lines. I do still have an idea for a Broadway musical which I think would be absolutely bizarre and kind-of fun to do. It's about the signs of the Zodiac (Western Zodiac, not Chinese) and how our birth signs really don't determine a damned thing, despite wanting to have our lives guided by the heavens.

Q: Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?

A: Yes, I suffer from writer's block most of the year, actually. When I need to write and can't think of what to write, I read novels. Right now, I'm trying to read the classics I've missed. Sometimes it's difficult because unfamiliar terms or unwieldy turns of phrase suck the emotion from the piece, rendering it thick prose to be waded through instead of a story to be enjoyed.

Q: Who is your favorite author and why?

A: Me. Okay, I'm kidding a little, but to be truthful, the reason I started writing was because I wanted to read the stories locked in my head. I have favorite authors of each genre, and most have perhaps one or two books I really enjoy.

However, I will confide that the author I most consistently enjoy reading the works of is science fiction author, Ray Bradbury. His work is a central reason I was drawn to science fiction. While John Christopher's Tripods trilogy affected me intensely (being the first science fiction novels I remember being introduced to), Ray Bradbury's imagery really speaks to me.

Q: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

A: I don't have a mentor, sadly. I mean, a dozen different authors have works which affected my tastes in terms of Science Fiction.

I will say, however, that I would love to have a chance to be at a small dinner party where Ray Bradbury was a guest in attendance. With prose, it feels like there's the author's side of the page and the reader's side of the page, almost like looking through a one-way mirror. I'd love to have the other side illuminated for even just a short time. I'd like to know the kind of person who could write in a manner which touches his reader so profoundly.

I would never want a one-on-one with Mr. Bradbury because I'd feel so tense -- as if I had to either interview him or come up with something sublime to say. I know I wouldn't want him to know I was a writer at the party. Everybody always ends up being a potential novelist when they talk to authors. The only thing that's worse is one with a manuscript who begs for access to the author's agent! You just see an author's eyes glaze over. He or she smiles so obligingly; it makes the spine twinge and twist and the nauseous discomfort rise when it happens.

And when a person just gushes about being the author's "biggest fan"! I really like the way he projects the human condition through his prose, but I'm not out there trying to find the woolen socks he wore when he compiled his short stories for October Country listed on eBay . . . ugh, I hope there's nothing like that on eBay.

Q: What book are you reading now?

A: Solaray Dawn, because I have less than a year to edit it before publication and it needs it. I'm between pleasure reading, though I plan to pick up my copy of Fahrenheit 451 tomorrow and settle on the couch with coffee and a pair of comfy socks. The most recent book I read was In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen.

Q: How did you deal with rejection letters, if you received any?

A: I actually went the independent route, so I've received no rejection letters. My publisher and distributor is Lulu.com. I've been informed they're the fastest-growing publication house, and having explored the site, I believe it. There are many vanity press and print-on-demand houses available -- some honest and some not so reputable. In 2005, Lulu.com offered the winners of National Novel Writing Month a free paperback copy of their winning novels. A friend of mine, Brian, had his novel printed. When I saw his novel, I decided Lulu.com was the company I wanted to use for my book's printing.

Distribution through Lulu.com was a decision made later, when I was encouraged to get an ISBN for the books because I started seeing demand for my book even before it was published.

Q: So, you chose to self-publish through Lulu.com, then. How do you feel overall about self-publishing?

A: Well, I chose self-publishing because I didn't want to release my story to an authority I was unsure would help me maintain the book's integrity. My chance at failing on my own has about the same amount of chance failing as it does if published by one of the big publication houses. I decided to go around the stress of hoping I hit an agent or a publisher on a good day and just did it myself. Why add yet another manuscript to an already too-thick slush pile, right?

I do have manuscripts which will be sent to publication houses when I'm done with the Dome Trilogy, so I'm sure I will see my fair share of rejection letters for my 2009 Halloween costume.

Q: What do you feel is one major benefit to self-publishing your book?

A: Content control. I went the “indie” route because of it. I have had a lot of criticism from people, especially other writers, because it's been seen as a breakout novel. I just couldn't have someone neuter my book so it would fit its market better. That said, because I was the one in control of the content, I had to become dreadfully honest with myself about which scenes worked and which didn't. I also spent months poring over grammar, punctuation, and writing texts to improve my style. I had to become a better writer because I didn't have the strength of a recognized publishing house to support my book.

Q: Would you encourage or mentor someone to become self-published?

A: Yes. I'm going to be honest, here. Don't choose to become a novelist for the money, because there is no money to be had in fiction unless it's your turn for the lightning strike. Walk through a mega-bookstore and note how many authors you don't know in comparison to those you do know. Consider that each of those authors has readership who don't know your favorites . . . and that some authors never even made it to the shelf this year. It's about visibility, and that's all about marketing the author.

Few people read for leisure any more. I've heard horror stories of novelists damaged by contracts they don't understand. Whether or not the stories are true (promotion costs taken from profits, owing publishing houses advances of non-sales, inability to find a publishing house once a book fails to meet market projection), it's enough of a caveat for me.

If you're not going to make money at it, anyway, why allow others to control your content? Why spend years putting out a story which will take years and years being rejected. Think of all the wonderful stories which would never have been published. Think of all the stories which never are.

Become your own editor and proofreader. Learn to cut instead of explain. Keep what you believe in, and trust your readers. Remember there are more failed novels than successful ones, and since you're going to be spending money and fighting for your share in the market as hard as you would with a publisher? Consider it as a real alternative, because all publishing is vanity publishing, and the only real vote out there is the money a person puts down to try your work.

If one's goal, however, is to write for the purpose of being signed, then go the traditional route. Some people have the charisma to sell themselves along with their products. I just don't possess it, and my efforts would be a detriment instead of a boon.

Q: What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

A: A compelling story, sympathetic characters, and the ability to see your own bad writing. When I started writing novels, I found myself explaining to my reader what a section meant via conversation. I know it seems like one shouldn't have to have common sense as an epiphany, but I did have a moment when I understood that the work had to stand alone or not at all. I couldn't be over every reader's shoulder explaining. If I couldn't make a scene clearer, I cut it. If a conversation didn't make sense, I cut it. If it needed to be in, I clarified it using the space I had created with the cuts. And sometimes, in the end, I cut it anyway.

Q: How do you develop your plots and characters? Do you use any set formula?

A: I'm a bit of a Walter Mitty type – I find myself imagining situations, often playing them out in my mind. Thinking of the character, I extrapolated what that person would do or say in reaction to an event or other character's action. When I first started writing, it was like transcribing a play. The characters were in complete control and were generally melodramatic.

I have no real set formula, but there was one trick I learned while writing the Dome Trilogy for publication: If things are too comfortable or too pleasant for the main character, I make conflict for the main character. The happier the main character is, the nastier the downfall.

Q: What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted/when you first saw the cover of the finished product?

A: Since I didn't go through the standard publication house procedures, I suppose the closest thing would be when the book passed the publisher's checklist and showed up on Amazon.com as being an available title mid-May (of 2007). I was elated. Then I wondered how I would get the other two books out on time and how I would survive marketing the book.

When I first saw the cover which graces the book today, it felt real. It felt like a book which could sell.

Q: Who created your book's cover?

A: The back cover was done by my husband -- it's just a book summary. The front cover was drawn and inked by Brazilian graphic and commercial artist, Julio Cesar-Mari. I still feel the story would translate well into a graphic novel, and when Julio Cesar-Mari sent the cover, it was better than I imagined. It's been pointed out that the cover is not entirely accurate to the book, but it's closer than a lot of covers that have been put into publication and it possesses the tone of what I was trying for. I've seen sketches for the second and third books' front covers, and I'm really pleased with them, as well. You can see the cover for the second book (not inked) on his website, under commissions. The tendril of hair down the center of her face is being removed before it gets inked; it's a gorgeous cover, and I can't wait to see it inked (and on tee shirts and chachkis).

Q: What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?

A: New writers need a computer, a little internet savvy, and a web presence. Internet dictionaries and thesauri make finding the proper word faster and easier than pulling the big bound dictionary out and finding where one most recently lost one's thesaurus. I use a 12-inch Macintosh PowerBook, and I rely heavily on the Oxford American Dictionaries Dashboard widget to find the precise word I want. Also, a website is a must-have for an author. It doesn't have to be Flash animation and flying baloney, but it certainly needs to be neat. Mine isn't particularly fancy, but it works on nearly every browser made, including PDA browsers.

Q: What do you do to unwind and relax?

A: I write. That sounds so stupid, but writing isn't a job or a task for me – it's a vacation. When I have writer's block, I read. I also make hemp jewelry for fun, do tarot readings, collect vegetarian recipes, and bake. I like to make pecan sticky rolls, but I never seem to have the time before it's too warm to bake them to send them in to work with my husband.

Q: Tell us a bit about your family.

A: I'm married to the most amazing man. We have two sons and a dog.

Q: Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

A: The participants of National Novel Writing Months 2003 through 2006, especially Jen and Brian.

I used to live in the same town as Jen until I had to relocate. Jen was there for my first two National Novel Writing Months. She and I met weekly for that first year after NaNoWriMo 2003. We'd sit in the coffee shop at our write-ins, and she often would be making Christmas presents. The next year, when I ended up in charge of the region, I called them Write-Offs simply because I liked them to be more about socializing than writing. She helped me understand my main character's journey better as real life compromised the life she had once hoped to live.

Once I relocated, I met Brian. He is this amazing 21st century guy who does it all -- husband, Daddy, provider, friend, handyman, novelist, and he's none too shabby with computers. He has these great novel ideas and is charismatic enough to get the agent once he gets enough time set aside from his very busy life to write. He's a real get-it-done kind of guy and has quite a lot to do every minute of every day. This last year, he almost didn't cross the finish line because life got in the way. With a serious push during nook-and-cranny moments, and some caffeine-induced cheerleading by me (and normal cheerleading by his other friends), he succeeded. Because of an offhand joke Brian made about my prolific tendencies, I wrote three novels last year, drafting 223,100 words in a 30-day period. I'm not doing it again, because it left my brain numb for days.

Between the framework to write the first draft of Beneath a Sunless Sky, the friendships I made in two different places, and the connection to Lulu.com which made possible the publication of the novel as it is, National Novel Writing Month is the reason I am a published author.

Q: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

A: Science Fiction is one of those special genres where "Write what you know" is distilled to its basest meaning. The main character starts as a defiant and immature woman who has just been introduced to actual revolutionary thought. She has to change because her naive black-and-white justifications cannot explain what is happening in the world around her. I wrote it because I experienced it. Beyond the basic journey from rebellious girl to accomplished woman, Remy's story is her own.

Q: Are you working on any other books/projects?

A: Well, there are two more books in the Dome Trilogy: Nightmare Specters and Solaray Dawn. Those projects are chiefly on my mind as they both need more editing and proofreading before their release dates of October 15, 2007 (for Nightmare Specters) and April 15, 2008 (for Solaray Dawn).

For fun, I write Chick Lit for my friend, Jen. The pieces are drafted quickly (about 70,000 words in 5 to 7 days). There are many errors in them, but they're light writing after editing the dense and often intense writing of the Dome Trilogy.

After the second book comes out, I'm going to relax in November and participate in my fifth National Novel Writing Month, hopefully writing only 50,000 words this year.

Q: What genre are you most comfortable writing?

A: Chick Lit is easier because it flows out more easily, is humorous, and very fast-paced. That said, I prefer writing science fiction, though it's much harder work.

Q: Do you have a specific writing style?

A: Though I think my voice is recognizably mine in both genres, my Chick Lit is in colloquial English and my Science Fiction is in high style.

Q: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

A: I don't write from an outline -- I only know where the main character starts from and finishes, and even that can change. I'm a prolific writer who tends to sit at sixteen hour stretches (I've been known to write until I fall asleep) for a two-week period. Then I have a year or more of repairing errors in continuity and often spend a week trying to write out a calendar. Because I write as I go along, sometimes backstory needs to be changed. At this point, the first novel is "canon", and the others have to conform to it, now. It's probably the hardest part of the editing process, having part of the work hardened so that the malleability of the whole trilogy is gone, now.

I also worry about declining interest in the written word. People I've spoken to have admitted (with pride) they use television for their sole source of information, rarely read for pleasure, and almost never write. It scares me that we're encouraging an illiterate society where a very small percentage of people are left who can read and write proficiently.

Q: Do you see writing as a career?

A: Being a writer is neither a hobby nor a career to me; it's who I am. I write because I write. I published only because others showed an interest in reading it and paying me for it. I had already written two novels before I started this one, but neither of those projects was interesting enough to captivate readers from the beginning. This book I wanted to be able to read, to feel its weight as a project I completed. The distribution was something I wasn't sure about, but now that the first book has reached distribution, I think getting the ISBN was a really good idea.

Q: What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?

A: I finally completed something of my own, which I rarely do. I always worried I would never succeed at anything – you know, add something to the world. I feel content; making it to publication was the important part of the journey. As wonderful as reaching this goal was, I appreciate the lessons I learned rather than the dreams I realized.

Q: What lessons did you learn from writing your book and what were they?

A: I learned I'm never going to make a living at writing fiction, but it's not an issue because hardly anyone does. What is important is that I put a piece of original work out in the world which wasn't there before. I have something I can heft in-hand and say, "This was created by me: Jess." Now I get to learn about marketing the novel -- a new adventure altogether, and one I'm not entirely ready to take on, but I know I have to.

Q: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

A: I've spent 4 years changing it. I've spent a dozen revisions changing it. I bought a galley copy and covered it with marks changing it. I think it's time to let the book succeed or fail on its own merits -- once people know it's available, of course!

Q: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

A: Well, the primary theme of the first book is 'home'. Who is our 'real' family? What is a home to us? When do we feel we have reached home? Where do we belong? Why do we even seek a place to belong? How do we define family and home?
I suppose the message I want readers to understand is that there are certain ugly realities about humanity which transcend the past, the present, and the future.

Q: Any recent appearances that you would like to share with us about/any upcoming ones?

A: I haven't started doing interviews yet, but I'm just starting to publicize the first book. I know I'm going to deal with a lot of trial-and-error, and I've been researching how to publicize a novel on a budget. If you would like an interview or ask more questions, please contact me at jalter (at) dometrilogy (dot) com.

Q: What advice would you give to writers just starting out?

A: Unfortunately, I think most writers starting out already know what they need to: work on perfecting your craft and be willing to edit without mercy. Sometimes those scenes you can't live without really belong in a different book. I'd say “write every day”, but I don't write daily (except emails and forum postings), so giving advice I don't take seems hypocritical.

Q: If you could leave your readers with one legacy, what would you want it to be?

A: A 'legacy' . . . ? That sounds so pretentious! [laugh] Upon the event of my untimely success/failure/death, my one bequest for my very kind readers is this: NaNoWriMo

Please join me and tens of thousands of other potential novelists from around the world this November to do battle with the blank pages of word processors. Our lofty goal is to put out fifty thousand words of original prose in thirty days: a novel. The book my readers hold was first drafted in 2003 (working title: Remy, and was a National Novel Writing Month winner, after having been lain aside at least a half-dozen times from the story's inception in 1996. National Novel Writing Month is the reason my novel is published today – I never would have written it without the deadline.

If you need someone to cheer you on as you slog toward fifty thousand words, I'm here at jalter (at) dometrilogy (dot) com with whatever encouragement you need. I actually do reply to email, as long as it's not asking me to give my bank information for a million dollars or want me to enlarge a body part I don't possess.

Q: And lastly, do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

A: Thank you. Thank you for reading the first four chapters of the first two books. Thank you for picking up the book on Lulu.com or Amazon.com or wherever you bought it. Thank you so much for wanting to hear more, for writing to me to tell me you liked the relationship between two support characters, for asking if the trilogy would for sure be published. Thank you for choosing this book to add to your reading queue. Thank you for sharing it with others. Thank you for setting down more money than it would have cost had I been able to go through a publishing house. Thank you for investing in me. Thank you for being there when I need you the most, right at the beginning.

Dear Reader: I'm your biggest fan.

All text, graphics, and works on these pages except the covers are Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Jessica Alter. All rights reserved. Covers are Copyright © 2007 Julio Cesar-Mari, Jessica Alter. All rights reserved.