Interview with Amy Maida Wadsworth on 7-8-03

Marsha: My guest for this interview is author Amy Maida Wadsworth, whose maiden novel for the LDS market, Shadow of Doubt, was published in June, 2003, by Covenant Communications. Amy, what a delight to interview you. How did you get started writing?

Amy: I've always thought of myself as a writer. I remember being a seven or eight year old, trying to lift an old typewriter that weighed as much as I did onto the kitchen table so I could write my first mystery. I'd been reading Nancy Drew mysteries, and I figured I could write one just as good as the ones I'd read. I was a little disappointed when it was only two pages long, though.

Marsha: What a great start, though! How long have you been writing?

Amy: Besides the venture when I was a kid, I wrote quite a bit in high school. I won a couple of scholastic awards for my poetry and I was the editor of my high school's literary magazine. After I started having kids, I took a hiatus. I started writing in earnest about two years ago.

Marsha: What pivotal moment made you decide to write for publication?

Amy: During the summer of 2001, I decided the time had come to take my talent seriously. My kids were old enough that they entertained themselves long enough for me to write a little here and there, so I decided I would have something, anything, published before 2002. I wrote an article for the Church News's Living by the Scriptures column and it was published within a few weeks, on September 8, 2001. Three days later, of course, the Trade Towers and the Pentagon were hit. The article I wrote was on John 14:27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I was amazed by how timely the publication of the article was, and I felt strongly that I had been inspired to write that article and send it in at that time. Then, I realized I might have a calling as a writer, not just a talent.

Marsha: What were your first steps into publishing?

Amy: One day, I decided to check out Orson Scott Card's website. I love him, he's my favorite. I noticed he sponsored writer's groups on his website, and I joined one. The group I was assigned to had one other woman in it, named Terry Montague. She introduced me to ANWA, and I've been a member ever since. Through this group, and Terry's continued guidance, I learned what I needed to do to get my novel in a reader's hands. I followed every guideline I could, took the advice I felt was pertinent, and the rest is history.

Marsha: Who next published your work, and what was the piece?

Amy: After the article in the Church News, I started working on my novel in earnest. But there were moments of discouragement when I set the novel aside and worked on something else. During the spring of 2002, I wrote lyrics for an old friend of mine, who is a composer, and he produced these lyrics on his first CD. My husband and I also sang on the CD, and it was released in September 2002. It's called "Spirit of the Sabbath" by Thomas C. Baggaley, and it's available at Deseretbook.com. After that, I published a few recipes and a couple of vignettes in A Cup of Comfort Cookbook, which was released by Adams Media in August of 2002. By October, I was finished with my novel (so I thought) and I sent it to Covenant Communications. They accepted it by November, 2002, and after some revision it was released June 2003.

Marsha: What types of writing do you most like to do, and why?

Amy: I love fiction. I can be myself when I write, and yet not myself. It's very therapeutic. I also can use my imagination to discover what I might do in certain situations that, hopefully, I will never actually be in. Also, I find myself being less judgmental and more tolerant when I am writing fiction because I search for the whats and whys of life-why did he do that? Why does he think that way? What happened to make him strengthen that part of his personality or make that choice? I also search for more humor in life when I'm writing fiction. It helps me keep my perspective.

Marsha: What was it about your genre that interested you enough to choose to write in it and not in another genre?

Amy: The freedom of it. I can talk about anything I want to. They say to write what you know. That's essentially why I started writing in the LDS fiction market. I felt the freedom to talk about my faith, which I can't do in such an open manner in any other market. I can also explore the kind of people I'm not. I can split my personality into several different identities without getting put on medication.

Marsha: What sparks a story for you?

Amy: Conflict. Moral dilemma. Emotion. I look into myself and imagine a situation that would force me to grow or provide me with an opportunity to give up. Then, I imagine how I would react, what choices I would make. Then, I extend that scenario to people with different personalities than mine, and imagine what they would do. I write about that.

Marsha: What type of writer are you? Do you plan ahead, or plot, or do you simply dive in?

Amy: A little of both. I make a rough outline and stick to it as long as it still makes sense to me. My final draft is rarely like the outline I make at the beginning.

Marsha: Do you start writing with names, characters, a title, phrases?

Amy: I start with characters. I believe the characters should drive the story, even when you have a complex plot. That's why my stories often change from the original outline. As I continue writing, I get to know the characters better and their actions, their roles in the novel are often different than what I imagined at first.

Marsha: How many words or pages do you aim for each day?

Amy: I don't. I write when I have time, and my schedule moves around my family. Also, I've found that taking the time to rest-get away from the computer, read something-helps my writing because I can come to it fresh.

Marsha: Do you write best at a certain time of day?

Amy: Early morning and VERY early morning. I'll sometimes get a burst of creativity around three in the afternoon, too. It's strange.

Marsha: What type of writing schedule do you have?

Amy: A very fluid one.

Marsha: How do you handle life interruptions?

Amy: As far as my writing goes? I usually abandon my writing for a time, handle the interruption, then go back to my writing when things have settled down. Then, I use whatever has happened to me to fuel the things I write. I only have a finite amount of energy, and I direct it carefully.

Marsha: Do you get blocked? Any hints on how to stave it off?

Amy: I do get blocked, and I can tell what point of the story I've hit when I get blocked. The opening chapter and the climax are the hardest parts of the novel for me to write. One way to get unblocked (would you call this a writer's laxative?) is to read. I'll back away from my novel and lose myself in something completely different from what I'm writing. Harry Potter's been good to me.

Marsha: What is the thing you like most about writing? Least?

Amy: I love fan mail. I love it when people understand what I'm trying to do with my writing and have the ability to tell me about it. I don't like research very much, but I'm learning to like it. Also, the first draft is harder for me than the revision. Maybe when I'm out of stories, I'll become an editor.

Marsha: Has your writing changed from when you began?

Amy: Definitely. It comes easier, and it's better. I edit as I go, most of the time, unless I'm pushing through a writer's block. I like revision, once I get started, and I know I'll make it better when I revise.

Marsha: What is the best advice you've ever received?

Amy: Terry Montague recommended two books that changed the way I thought about novels. "Techniques of the Selling Writer" by Dwight Swain, and "Scene & Structure" by Jack Bickham. I also picked up "Characters & Viewpoint" by Orson Scott Card. Lots of people write for fun, for their families or for themselves. It's a completely different matter to write for the public. If you want your novel to be marketable, there are certain things you need to do, and these books talk about those things.

Marsha: What advice would you offer someone just starting out as a writer?

Amy: Listen to other people's advice, especially if the people offering advice have some experience with the field. Also, be willing to change your work. Too often, we writers are so attached to our work that we feel like it's an extension of ourselves, like a child. But it's not. It's just our work. Of course our emotions are poured into it, and we love the characters we create, but we have to be willing to cut away the things that don't need to be there. I've known writers who are unwilling to cut a scene or a character, or make necessary changes to a work because they are so determined to keep their work "pure." We are made perfect through repentance, change, work. Why should our writing be any different? When ideas come to you, they're just a jumping off point. They need to be refined in order for them to be palatable for the public.

Marsha: Who are your favorite authors? Which ones are your role models or inspirations?

Amy: I love Orson Scott Card. His characters are amazing to me, and there's something about the things he expresses that connects with me. I'm also impressed at his huge body of work, and the fact that he writes in different genres. He has a following inside the Church and outside of it, which is something I also aspire to. I devour his work on a regular basis.

Marsha: What are some ways you promote your books? In other words, what kind of publicity do you do to attract readers?

Amy: I've only been doing this for a month, so I have a lot to learn. I do book signings, and I've mailed flyers to my friends and family, letting them know about the book and where they can buy it. I have plans to speak at Enrichment nights, community programs to promote literacy, and I'm willing to travel to do this when my family's schedule permits. I've been broke too many years of my life to push my novel on anyone, and that probably makes me a weak marketer. I just hope the novel can sell itself, as unrealistic as that may be. (This is why I didn't self-publish.)

Marsha: Why did you write your current work?

Amy: I wanted to write a romance that made me happy to be married. So many of the romances out there (what, 99% of them) are between single people. When you're married and trying to maintain a happy marriage, you can't think about the first blush of romance because it happened a long time ago. In fact, I think some marriages fall apart because of people's unrealistic expectations to always feel the way they did when they first fell in love. My husband and I have discussed on many occasions what it is about our marriage that keeps us happy, and it's the mutual respect, trust, love we feel for each other. I wanted to write a novel about a couple discovering their mutual interests, and working to keep their marriage together.

Marsha: What have you always dreamed of writing, but haven't yet?

Amy: I've got a science fiction novel on the back burner. I think science fiction has tremendous potential, just like LDS fiction. True, a lot of it is poorly written, but the potential of moving, life changing stories is immense. We just have to work on our skills and make the stories deeper.

Marsha: What is your next project?

Amy: I just finished my second novel and submitted it to my publisher for evaluation. We'll see what happens with it, but I believe it's more interesting than my first novel. It has a much more complex plot, much more danger. I like working on two projects at once in case reading doesn't move my writer's block. I can move back and forth between the two projects. The other project I'm working on is still in the early stages, but I'll focus on it more in the next couple of weeks. It's a novel about a young family discovering one of their children is autistic. It's close to me because I have an autistic child, so I'm still trying to figure out how to approach it. I have two other ideas for novels that are percolating.

Marsha: For a newly-published author, Amy, you have a lot of good skills, and a tremendous lot of good sense. Thanks so much for sharing with us.

Amy: Thank you for asking me. I enjoyed it.