When did you first know you were destined to be a writer?
LOL, I never realized I was destined to be a writer -- I fell into it. I'd written poetry for years, collecting it in notebooks stacked in my attic when I wrote one I wanted to keep. This led me to several online sites and ultimately to discovering the Muse Online Writers Conference where I hooked up with Linda Barnett Johnson and joined her writers forums. She required everyone to write both fiction and poetry, so, with much trepidation, I started writing fiction. Then I got hooked on it, wrote a chapter book, took the ICL course and actually learned how to write it. Then in 2010, I was seized by a desire to write a sci fi novel, so I spent six weeks or so on world building, mostly, with a bit of plotting thrown in for good measure.
Who would you cite as your influences?
I'm a way-back sci-fi fan, and Robert A. Heinlein influenced me heavily. I took a lot away from his writing, notably the value of surprising one's reader. I also love Lewis Carroll, both his Alice books and his poetry. I can still recite several stanzas of Jabberwocky from memory. Isaac Asimov and James M. Barrie are also early influences.
What advice would you pass on to beginner writers that you wish someone had told you when you were first starting out?
Don't let your vision of yourself as a writer be limited. I never, other than for English class, wrote a word of fiction before I joined Linda's writing forums. It simply never occurred to me that I could - or that I wanted to. A clear failure of imagination.
You bio says you read a lot of science fiction aimed at boys when you were growing up. There is a myth out there that science fiction is written by, and for, men. Do you think any progress has been made in the last few years about raising public awareness that women write, and read, science fiction?
Well, there is certainly lots more sci fi written by women now-a-days, and I do believe more women are reading the genre. But there were actually women sci fi writers when I was growing up -- Andre Norton and C.L. Moore, to name a couple. Do notice, however, the androgynous names. Things have indeed improved a bit since then. But I do believe that sci fi is viewed as a largely male preserve, just like, sadly, computer software engineering/
Where do think the human race will be a hundred years from now – utopia, dystopia, or the same place we are now?
About the same place we are now, truthfully. However, from a writers' point of view, this is probably the least interesting alternative {grin}, so my writing certainly won't reflect this rather mundane view of our future. As a writer, predicting disaster of one kind or another is a much more fruitful source. In my Aleyne novels, the backstory includes a collapse of technology here on Earth in about 100 years, due to riots that brought down the government and destroyed infrastructure.
Tell us about your latest release.
The latest release was Geek Games, which is actually the second Aleyne novel, in terms of chronology. It features a fourteen-year-old main character, Martin Samuels, who foolishly brings down the spaceport computer network, thus enabling the terrorists to set off a bomb which kills his friend's father. The third novel in the series, Broken Bonds, was released in July. It features Brad Reynolds, who is the Major in charge of the Federation Guard base on Aleyne. It takes place roughly four years after Geek Games.
What are you working on at present?
I finished the fourth book in the series, which is due out sometime later this year. It's another adult novel, a sci fi action-adventure romance, and the main character is Colonel Robert Walker, the man who (spoiler) arrests Brad for treason in Broken Bonds. I have a chapter book that should be out soon as well. And I'm working on a prequel to the Aleyne novels.
Five Fun Facts:
1. While in college and studying for exams, I would make myself forgo trips to the library. Driven by boredom, I would reread Alice in Wonderland. I can still recite the first two stanzas of Jabberwocky from memory.
2. When my kids were little, I read them Peter Rabbit so often I had most of memorized. It impressed my kids no end on boring car trips.
3. I am a native New Yorker, born and raised in Manhattan. When I was in elementary school, a friend and I collected a bag of rocks from central park, which was then stolen by a gang of boys.
4. I wanted electric trains but never got any, as my father was not interested in trains and was not at all handy. In fact, all home repairs were done by my mother or one of my uncles.
5. I had originally intended to study Spanish in school, but my father was so upset by the notion that I switched to French, which both he and my mother spoke.
Bio:
Born and raised in New York City, Margaret Fieland has been around art and music all her life. Her poems and stories have appeared in journals such as Turbulence Magazine, Front Range Review, and All Rights Reserved. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelines, was published by Inkspotter Publishing in November, 2011. She is the author of Relocated, Geek Games, and Broken Bonds, published by MuseItUp Publishing , and of Sand in the Desert, a collection of science fiction persona poems. A chapter book and another science fiction novel are due out later this year.
My author page on muse:
My author page on Amazon:
Where to find me on the web:
Linda, thanks for hosting me on your blog today.
ReplyDeleteA pleasure to have you here. I hope you'll send me more of your articles, etc.
DeleteThis was a fun and interesting interview, Margaret and Linda. I recognize Linda's name from Long Story Short. I have a few pieces in the ezine. Interesting, Margaret how you got started writing fiction. I enjoy sci-fi and fantasy, especially novels by Ray Bradbury. Also many of the movies we watch are sci-fi.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, Margaret on your novels.
Susan Bernhardt
Susan, thanks for stopping by. I like Ray Bradbury, too, but my favorite sci fi author is probably Robert A. Heinlein, followed closely by Isaac Asimov.
ReplyDeleteInteresting interview, Margaret. Always glad to learn more about an author.
ReplyDeleteMarsha, thanks for stopping by/
ReplyDelete