Author Marianne K. Martin with her second best girl, Pookie
Interviews
For the Amazon on-line interview with author Marianne K. Martin go to Amazon.com, then to Book Search, and type in the author�s name.
The Following is a Lambda Rising interview with the author held in the Rainbow Caf� in October 1999:
CAF� Monet: Marianne, can you give us a quick synopsis of your new novel NEVER ENDING for those who are unfamiliar with it?
Mhogeota (MM): Never Ending picks up the lives of Sage and Deanne four years after Legacy ended. They have a house together and Deanne is fulfilling her promise to write a chronicle of Sage�s heritage. In doing so she breaks a trust and contacts Sage�s estranged mother. Their relationship suffers from this, as well as Deanne�s sense of being shut out of an intimate part of Sage�s life. Sage, meantime, is consumed with a sense of responsibility to do whatever is necessary to keep her clan from dying. She and her sister are the last two women left of childbearing age, and Cimmie can�t conceive. I don�t want to spoil it for those who have not read it, but throw into the mixture Sage�s longtime ex-lover, an over-the-edge homophobic father and a guilt-ridden mother, and you never know what might happen.
CAF� Monet: This is your third book with Sage as a character, do you have more planned?
Mhogeota: None on the drawing board at this time. Maybe later if something occurs that could happen only to Sage Bristo.
CAF� Monet: So this book was planned all along?
Mhogeota: Absolutely.
Delishia96: Will your next book have anything pertaining to Sage and her relationship with her mother?
MHogeota: If there is another one with Sage, yes it will have to deal with their relationship.
CAF� Monet: Marianne, you delve pretty deeply into the Seneca/Iroquois traditions�Could you maybe explain your special interest in that?
Mhogeota: I�ve always been fascinated with the matriarchal Native American societies, and the Iroquois was the largest and most successful. Our Constitution was actually based directly on the principles in the Iroquois League of Nations, right down to the symbol of the large bird, but with one major difference � the control and authority was taken from the women and given to the men. I often wonder what our country would be like if it had been adopted as it was.
CAF� Monet: Fascinating. I didn�t realize that. So your research for this novel has been an ongoing thing regarding that subject.
MHogeota: Yes, it has.
Niccola71: Can you tell us how you conducted your research?
MHogeota: I read everything I could, from libraries, bookstores, the Internet. Plus, for the Indian research I have a Native American neighbor and two other acquaintances who let me ask them a ton of questions. I even visited a reservation. I am a detail person and accuracy is very important to me.
CAF� Monet: Your accuracy was evident in the novel. I learned quite a bit. You have the issue of trust between Sage and Deanne and there is also the issue of time/attention�both issues are key to successful relationships. Do you find that lesbians who have read your books, that this resonates with them?
Mhogeota: Yes, many have talked with me about those issues. They can relate.
JU LEZ1012: Can you tell us a bit about your next book? Also with so much in the media about gay and lesbian issues, are you interested in putting your spin on an actual event?
MHogeota: Good question. The next book is going to deal with a teacher and sexual harassment of one of her students. Close to doing what you suggest. I have put my spin on an actual event in Balance. The murders of the two women happened here in Michigan.
CAF� Monet: Yes, that was horrifying, I remember.
Vahark: Will we meet Kasey and Connie in the book?
MHogeota: No, not in this one.
CAF� Monet: Marianne, where do you pull your inspiration for you books? Personal experiences�headlines?
MHogeota: Much comes from things that happened in my own life or from people that I know. Anything that I use from news reports I try to find people to talk to who can give me a more personal feeling from a similar type of event.
CAF� Monet: There is a lot of �you� in Deanne�is Sage based on someone you know IRL?
MHogeota: No. Sage embodies a combination of characteristics that I envision in a modern-day woman warrior. She �Walk(s) tall with the pride of a warrior, yet butterflies rest on her hands.� Actually, her physical self is based on a woman I saw on a panel of lesbians on a talk show some years ago. She immediately struck me as the perfect vessel for my warrior.
CAF� Monet: She must have made a HUGE impression� There are two well known comediennes in your novel, Kate Clinton and Michele Balan. What was their reaction to being there?
MHogeota: Kate said she was �honored�. Michele has been a good friend for a number of years and is very pleased to be in the story. Everything I wrote about them actually happened.
CAF� Monet: And the �Katherine� you acknowledge in the forefront of the book is Katherine Forrest?
MHogeota: Yes, Katherine�s friendship has been a godsend. She helped me through my first major bout of writer�s block, my first bad review, and let me bounce ideas off her incredible mind.
CAF� Monet: That�s tremendous support, Marianne! How wonderful for you!
MHogeota: You bet!!
CAF� Monet: How many projects do you generally have going simultaneously?
MHogeota: Usually two, right now three. I never know when things are going to come together in my mind so I work from basic outlines and go back and forth until one takes off. Mirror, Mirror, my next book, was outlined early. But lately another project, Gray Skies Blue, has completely come together in my head and I�m tempted to change horses mid-stream. It needs a lot of detail research, though, so I will probably wait.
Vahark: When I read DAWN OF THE DANCE I felt I would meet Paige and the story of the murder. Is that one of the three?
MHogeota: It isn�t one of the ones I just mentioned, but it will probably be written in time.
CAF� Monet: Marianne, do you title your projects first and then it comes together?
MHogeota: It varies. Legacy and Never Ending were titled after they were written, and were changed from the original. Balance and Dawn emerged as the stories evolved. Mirror, Mirror has its title early on.
CAF� Monet: So how do you handle writer�s block nowadays?
MHogeota: Not well, I�m afraid. It makes me very frustrated and tense, which just makes things worse. I tend to work too hard during those times and get nowhere. I obsess until it makes the rest of my life miserable. So I�ve learned that I must get away from it however I can and let my mind relax. Going back and reading what I have already written and editing and rewriting also helps.
CAF� Monet: That�s how KVF helped you in that?
MHogeota: Yes, and lots of support that it is okay to get away, that everything will work it�s way out in time � shorter time than you think.
CAF� Monet: What about handling the bad review? How did she aid in that?
MHogeota: She said she handles reviews by reading them and the bad ones she thinks of as isolated cases, and the good ones as how most readers around the country feel. She assured me that no matter how good the work someone won�t like it.
CAF� Monet: How does your writing fit into your personal schedule?
MHogeota: I have no schedule really. I�m trying to finish my house, and I do photography part time, so I can be flexible. I try to set aside time each day, usually in the morning or afternoon, to write. The place doesn�t matter. I write in the car, the restaurant, the back yard. Once I was shingling my dad�s roof and was tired of running up and down the ladder, so when unexpected thoughts for my book came to mind I stayed on the roof and wrote on a piece of scrap wood. Duh, stick a piece of paper in your pocket.
CAF� Monet: I enjoyed your short story, Tattered Pages, in the new anthology. Where did the idea for that originate?
MHogeota: It came from a combination of experiences and emotions. I was very close to my great aunt, and she would tell me stories of her youth. She would show me pictures of my uncle and touch them tenderly with her fingertips. She was a strong, independent woman who lived alone for forty years. The rest of the story emerged from other family experiences and true stories I�ve read.
CAF� Monet: Do you find writing short stories more difficult than novels or vice versa?
MHogeota: I prefer to write novels. They are easier for me. The less room I have the more difficult it becomes � a precis is harder than a short story, a synopsis harder than a precis. Each word must be chosen so carefully because it must do so many things. Each sentence must be clear, purposeful, and interesting. It�s damn hard work if it is done well. I find, though, that the discipline of writing short stories, etc., improves my craft and ultimately my novels.
Dardar60: �I was wondering how long it took you to get published.
MHogeota: I was lucky I think. After I began submitting I think it took about a year. You have to wait a while between submissions sometimes because some publishers will not accept simultaneous submissions. You have to be patient.
CAF� Monet: Marianne, what to you is the most difficult aspect to writing?
MHogeota: Beginning a new novel KVF said it best ��when I begin a new book I quail at being Atlas picking up the world again.� Each time we are in essence creating a whole new world � molding and defining the people, creating their histories, giving them homes and jobs and crises, and guiding them through the story from beginning to end.
CAF� Monet: A daunting task indeed�
JU LEZ1012: I�ve always wondered�do you find it difficult to name your characters�are you ever concerned with associating your characters with people you know?
MHogeota: Oh, yes, I�m very careful about that. A name is so important and it is wise to pick a name that is not too common, yet not so weird that it in itself defines a character in ways you hadn�t intended. I�m always listening for that right name.
Niccola71: How do you approach your writing, do you write with your readers in mind/ for yourself?
MHogeota: I write what I feel for the most part. I am, however, conscious of how some words or actions may be insulting, annoying, or degrading. I try not to insult the readers, even unintentionally.
PMoore8951: How do you go about creating your characters, i.e.�making them personalities, not figures?
MHogeota: I give them certain personality traits which I try to keep consistent with their history and/or upbringing and experiences which I have given them, then I try to put myself in their shoes to react to the situation I�m writing.
CAF� Monet: Marianne, which authors (Naiad included) do you like to read?
MHogeota: I don�t have as much time as I would like to read for fun. So much of what I read is non-fiction research. But when I do have time, I like to read a variety of authors and genres, including Naiad books. Because I write romance I don�t read much romance. I think the list would be too long to name. Authors with whom I am in frequent contact I make time to read their latest � what we do is so close to who we are. I never miss a new KVF book � reading Sleeping Bones right now.
CAF� Monet: Any words of advice for the wannabe authors who are in attendance here tonight?
MHogeota: Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Also, a tough lesson to follow, but I think an invaluable one, is to go back over your manuscript and eliminate every adjective. Then read it again and replace only those essential to the story. It is amazing how powerful your remaining words become. It is also important to do a thorough grammar and spelling check. In other words, make it the best you possibly can before you submit, then follow the guidelines to the letter.
Niccola71: So Sage never gave you a zebrawood pen?
MHogeota: LOL. No darn it!
Pmoore8951: Going back to my question, do you decide in advance what traits you want them to have?
MHogeota: Yes, that way I can have them more true to character when they react to whatever I put them through.
DykeToo: Just wanted to say that �Tattered Pages� is one of my favorites in the new anthology.
MHogeota: Oh, thanks DykeToo.
CAF� Monet: I loved that story�it was great.
CAF� Monet: Marianne, thanks for being here!
CAF�Kieran: Thanks, Marianne, for a great interview.
