Indie Writing

Cindy Rinaman Marsch: A Conversation About Writing and Literary Fiction

July 7, 2016 by Jay_Lemming 1 Comment

Imagine turning a real life into fiction. Imagine creating a fictional marriage out of a historical 19th-century couple as complex and resonant as one we might witness in our time. As author Cindy Rinaman Marsch explains: “Sometimes I think we get the idea that we’re more advanced than people were a generation or a century or millennium ago, but the best writers (and painters) of history amaze us when they capture US in their subjects. I wanted to do that.”

In her debut novel, Rosette: A Novel of Pioneer Michigan, the unabashed writer of literary fiction Marsh assumes the role of epistolary sleuth, re-creating as closely, and with as much dignity, as possible the historical persona whose marital struggles more than 100 years ago may nevertheless seem familiar in the present day. An advocate of beautiful, poetic writing, and of the power of human experience to resonate over the years, Marsch balances creative discovery with historical fact.

Steve Bargdill: A Conversation About Writing and Literary Fiction

June 26, 2016 by Jay_Lemming 2 Comments

My series of interviews with independent authors of literary fiction continues this week with Steve Bargdill, itinerant writer and writing instructor currently hailing from Knoxville, Ohio. Steve is also an aspiring “PhD wannabe” (his words, not mine) whose knowledge of literature runs from an entrenched understanding of the classics to those works of literary fiction developed by independent authors in more recent times. The latter category, he believes, sadly faces an uphill climb in capturing reader attention due to the fact that the FIRST category was forcefully spoon-fed to those readers at an earlier time, thus developing in their sensibilities an instinct to recoil and avoid.

Steve also believes effective storytelling more than genre captures reader attention. He does consider himself a writer of literary fiction but recognizes the term carries such a weight that it distracts, puts off and generally doesn’t help writers hoping to market their work in that arena.

Here’s Steve Bargdill.

Linda Gillard: A Conversation About Writing and Literary Fiction

June 19, 2016 by Jay_Lemming_Test 7 Comments

This was truly a FUN interview to read! In addition to learning about the controversial nature of Linda Gillard’s novel, A Lifetime Burning, and hearing about different readers’ perspectives on the topic of transgressive love, I was given the chance to consider some cut-and-dry definitions of various styles of writing. Commercial fiction? “Meant to comfort”. Genre fiction? “Invented for the convenience of booksellers and marketing departments”. Literary fiction? “Literary fiction confronts”.

Will readers agree or disagree with Linda’s definitions? Has anyone else written on such a controversial topic, but in a way that was intended to not only disturb but to also show an understanding (and, indeed, compassion) for the characters involved?

There is so much else I would love to say about Linda’s exciting comments but I will simply turn it over to her. That is the point of these interviews, after all!

J.S. Watts: A Conversation About Writing and Literary Fiction

June 12, 2016 by Jay_Lemming 7 Comments

So J.S. Watts has put me in my place…in the best way possible! As this interview series with writers of literary fiction continues, the author of the novels Darker Moon and Witchlight challenges the very basis of my questions. “Why can’t a piece of writing be both genre fiction and literary fiction at the same time?”, she suggests, effectively turning my OR into an AND. She turns equally dubious at the possibility that a writer must be either visual OR conceptual.

Fortunately, I’m not the only one on the hook. In explaining the interrelationship between genres in her writing, Watts touts the independent publisher of her novels, Vagabondage Press, as having bravely taken the chance on a story that blends literary fiction with dark fantasy and psychological horror, among others. Speaking about the rejection of her manuscript before going with Vagabondage, Watts points out the casual complaints she received from OTHER publishers about the unfortunate number of genres that exist simultaneously in her story. Boooo!

Ladies and gentleman, here is the iconoclast, the binder of genres and the connector of writing approaches, J.S. Watts.

Kathleen Jones: A Conversation About Writing and Literary Fiction

June 6, 2016 by Jay_Lemming 7 Comments

The interview series with authors who participated in a survey about literary fiction continues with this intriguing conversation with author Kathleen Jones. Kathleen explores character sexuality, tragedy and compassion in a novel entitled The Centauress, which articulates a meaningful connection between two women in Croatia–one of whom has lost her family to a devastating terrorist attack while the other struggles to find peace with her sexual identity.

Kathleen has authored two novels and several literary biographies, and began her career as a poet. (She also is, I suspect, a fan of Tolstoy.) She bemoans certain aspects of the traditional literary establishment, especially those cut-throat, self-aggrandizing tendencies that make her feel fortunate to live in the north of England, far from the “magic circle” around London.

Dan Holloway: A Conversation About Writing and Literary Fiction

May 30, 2016 by Jay_Lemming 17 Comments

I’m excited to publish this interview with Dan Holloway, author, philosopher and Alliance of Independent Authors member. In fact, I’m excited for three reasons.

First of all, as a relatively new ALLi member, I couldn’t have anticipated a warmer welcome than the one I received from Dan and several other members. Dan has been an advocate over the past few days of a survey I launched profiling writers of literary fiction on their authorial works and the great themes that pervade their stories. To repeat, I’m a new member. I have done nothing to earn capital or goodwill from anyone in the ALLi community. And yet…and yet, he is helping out.