The Xlibris Blog unearths another literary gold mine from its growing number of treasured authors. Xlibris Author Margaret Sisu deserves our author spotlight for a well-received first novel The Nude and her impressive writing background that led her to create a winning story.
Writing Roots
“Picture a chubby five year old in a hallway full of books trying to decide what she’ll read today—by herself. Picture a reedier nine-year elbowing her out of the way because she’s taking too long. Picture parents calmly reaching over their heads to grab something for themselves and leaving them to their own devices. In my childhood home, if you were old enough to ask what a book was, you were old enough to start learning to read it for yourself, to the adults—not the other way around.
Growing up in a book-filled environment (my father was an English teacher and school principal—enough said) my sister and I became inveterate readers. At lights-out, the illuminated cone under the blanket was us sneaking in another chapter. Throughout later life, reading has remained a bulwark-and-reprieve we come back to like home base.
I went a step further and conjured up stories in my head but the past time took a back seat as my medical career advanced. Inevitably writing floated back to the surface in the last several years.
Since my mother always said—’If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it properly,’ (she was a bit prissy) — I took a year of fiction writing to learn the art of its finer nuances. Then I spent another year plodding through the first draft of my first ‘real’ novel. I feared criticism so ripped the band-aid off by finding a ‘real’ editor—someone who would pick up my fledgling effort with disdain, criticize without heart, and itemize my literary abominations, forcing me to put my effort back together again minus the bits that didn’t work. I wanted learn to write like the authors I admired—Ludlum, Christie, Steele, Moseley, Morrison, Dickey, to name a few.
That first novel—The Nude—I self-published because I figured agents were unlikely to take on a nobody. Then I chose to get official book reviews but chickened out when the email arrived and wouldn’t open it for a week so as not to ruin my Christmas.
When I finally sucked it up, Kirkus had given it a star, calling it ‘a masterful debut. An enthralling first novel.’ Whooppee! Writer’s Digest remarked, ‘This book was extremely well-written. The plot was fantastic.’ And Readerviews said, ‘[The Nude] is a perfect combination of romance and intrigue…Readers are sure to be surprised.’ It was even recommended on USAToday.com. That’s all well and good—and vital—but I’m looking now on getting sales where it really counts. And I’m onto my second book, feeling more pressure, not less.”
On Her Literary Influences
“By my early teens, I was reading Toni Morrison, Archie comics, Stephen King, and poetry. My indiscriminate reading made me less genre-focused. If writing is good, it’s good, whether it’s series romances, erotic fiction, graphic novels, Pulitzer-prize fiction, or biographies.
Writing, however, I lean towards melodrama but I want my words and my plots to be equally strong. I admire Toni Morrison’s and Eric Jerome Dickey’s lyrical language and ability get into the heads of characters and depict what drives them; I like Carl Hiaasen’s and Terry Pratchett’s ripping tongue-in-cheek humor. Brilliant Mary Balogh and Sandra Brown elevated romance to an art form. Robert Ludlum and Agatha Christie did intrigue worlds, eras, and settings apart and both were equally gripping.
My focus, hence, may be a little muddled but I’m working to straighten that out. I wanted to learn to write like the authors I’d come to admire—Ludlum, Christie, Steele, Moseley, Morrison, Dickey, to name a few—and to my crashing disappointment, I haven’t yet learned to write like them.
Instead, I am learning to write like me.”
The Nude
“The Nude is about a young photographer, Gwen, who enters into a love affair with an older, globetrotting and very talented artist Adam, until he discovers that she’s the daughter of a man he once knew—an artist whose brief spotlight was shattered by his own destructive narcissism. Gwen in turn discovers one of Adam’s works—a stunning nude—hidden away in his closet which he refuses to exhibit or even discuss. When the painting does find its way into a prestigious New York exhibit and garners international acclaim, Gwen finds out that it’s connected to secrets in her family’s past, and her digging to uncover those secrets brings down a storm on her and Adam’s heads even as those around them begin plotting their own agendas for the now famous painting.”
Story Inspiration
“I love art—paintings and sculpture—and it’s a great high stakes setting for a plot. Plus I’ve always liked the idea of the unexpected hero—they don’t all have to be leggy beauties or muscle bound alpha-males. Most of all, I dislike cliché and prefer when plots don’t follow the usual lines and usually that’s something disappearing or someone being murdered and the story centers on the hunt to locate what’s missing or uncover the killer. I wanted to try flipping the script—have something valuable suddenly appear and pose the question, ‘Where did it come from?’—and have a dead body be part of the resolution, not the question, but in a way that still raised plot tension. The Nude was the result.”
And The Plot Thickens
When asked about the one message she would like to convey readers about her book, Margaret leaves plenty of room in the readers’ imagination.
“It’s not going where you think. This story is about the plot twists.”
Learning the Tricks of the Trade through Self-Publishing
“Self publishing is a rewarding way to learn about the industry form the inside out and keep control of your end product. But it’s very hard work because you are your own chief cook and bottle washer.
I am not (yet) a hardened veteran, but I believe in sound common sense in all things and my decision to self-publish was taken pragmatically: Every day that passes is past and I could either a) write a manuscript, spend years hoping to find an agent then hoping they find a publisher then hoping the publisher doesn’t issue a restrictive contract while still expecting me to cover all my own promotion costs and perhaps even reimburse them if the book doesn’t sell as well as they expected OR b) in the same length of time, I could write a couple novels, invest in a proper editor to make my works the best they can be, garner a few good reviews, and start my own momentum, getting my name out there, and see who notices. That’s what I’m doing. Let’s see if it works.
I do dislike the swarm of paperwork that comes with self-publishing, but it’s necessary and I now take it in stride because I’m not working on fixed deadlines so I have some leeway to prioritize and organize.
I’m working on my second novel and plan to self-publish again. Second time around, I feel more confident and can widen my focus to look more closely at things like which specific tools, in the final analysis, are the most cost effective in making sales and getting your name out there. After all, the whole point is to sell my work. Marketing is costly and it’s important to learn which tools give the best bang for buck versus which ones look glamorous but don’t really deliver.”
The Editor is Always Right
“It hurts to be criticized but if you want your book to be good, get a good editor. Even before a good publisher, even before planning your marketing campaign, get a good editor. Yes, there are books out there on editing yourself, but you won’t be the one buying your book and you need objective eyes that will assess your work as a reader who doesn’t know you will assess it. Those close to you will coddle your self esteem, and that’s builds you up short term, but a professional editor will improve the standard of your book and long term that will raise your self-esteem even higher.”
Know more about Xlibris Author Margaret Sisu on the second installment of her Xlibris Blog feature. You can also check out her Facebook and Twitter profiles.
Explore more featured Xlibris authors at the Xlibris Indie Authors Roundup. Plus, be the writer that you’ve always dreamed of with writing, editing, and book marketing tips at the Xlibris Writer’s Workshop.