[Interview] Rai Aren

Rai Aren lives in Calgary, in the province of Alberta, Canada.

She made her debut as an author with the publication of Secret Sands (RFS Publications, 2007), a novel she co-wrote with Tavius E.

The novel has been described as "fast, furious and absolutely mindblowing."

In this interview, Rai Aren talks about her concerns as a writer.

When did you start writing?

I have always loved writing; I started by writing my own Nancy Drew stories (early fan fiction) when I was 10. Throughout school, I always had a very easy time with essays, any kind of written question.

Then, about seven years ago, my co-author and I started talking about how we wanted to do more with our lives than just earn a living, we wanted to create something larger than life, to follow in the footsteps of the epic stories that we love.

From conversations we had over the course of a year, and a program I saw on the Discovery Channel came the inspiration for Secret of the Sands.

How would you describe your writing?

These stories are mystery/alternate historical fiction/speculative sci-fi tales.

The trilogy that we have planned, starting with Secret of the Sands, is like a combination of Indiana Jones meets The Mummy (the ancient part at the beginning of the movie) meets National Treasure. There’s the camaraderie of the main characters, the mystery at the heart of the story, and an exploration of a fictional past that is woven into actual historical events and monuments.

Who is your target audience?

Our target audience is people interested in adventure novels, especially those who are interested in Egypt’s ancient past. This series is suitable for anyone, ages 12 and up.

We write for this audience because these are our favorite books. Secret of the Sands is the type of story that we absolutely love and would scoop up in a heartbeat.

Who influenced you most?

For me, I would say that the movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars, are my big influences. Those stories captured my imagination so completely, so wonderfully when I was a kid, and they have stayed with me. Their popularity is directly linked to the heart at the core of those movies.

The story of the Lord of the Rings is also a big influence because of the stakes the characters face, how they handle it, how things are not perfect. There is tremendous personal courage at play, but also terrible loss and doubt.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

It flavors every major character and conflict that I write. Literally. It imbues the characters and situations with life, with emotions that I feel and have experienced.

For the setting of Secret of the Sands, it is dealing with subject matter, Egyptology, which I have been fascinated with since I was in grade three.

For the solo novels I have planned, they are all exploring aspects of our society that I feel passionately about. They come from my observations of, and strong opinions, about our world.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

Just to be widely accepted and appreciated.

I am very clear on what I write, why, and how to go about it. I just want it to mean something to the world at large, in addition to myself, and those I am close to.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

On one hand, it’s the seemingly endless waiting to hear back from agents and publishers.

On the other hand, it’s how to manage all of the ideas I have for novels, figuring out the balance to life that is needed for personal responsibilities to others, book promotion, and writing time.

When did you decide you wanted to be a published writer?

I decided that about twenty years ago. It was one of the things I wanted to achieve in my life, to be a novelist. It’s just something I respect deeply and am fascinated by.

When my co-author and I started talking about writing a story together, getting it published was one of our main goals. We want it to be out there, we want people to read and enjoy it, so we started sending it out to publishers, but the wait is long.

After getting a handful of rejections, we sat down and seriously re-worked the story, edited and whittled it down from about 173,000 words. We felt we had a winner at that point, so we decided to self-publish it and start building a readership base.

That has turned out extremely well, so we are actively seeking a publisher for a mass-market paperback edition of Secret of the Sands. We’d love to have a hard-cover special edition released one day too.

Do you write everyday?

I do something for the books every day, either writing or promoting. I just start as soon as my personal responsibilities allow, and only stop when I must, either I am falling asleep or duty calls. It’s the thing I love doing most.

How many books have you written so far?

One finished (Secret of the Sands), the sequel to it is over half-finished, and I have one solo novel, also about half done.

Which aspects of the work that you put into Secret of the Sands did you find most difficult?

For me, personally, it’s letting go of things that I have written.

I write tons more than makes it into the final draft, so there is always a lot that needs to be edited out. It’s deciding what the essential core is, and allowing the rest to be edited out. I dream about one day releasing the rest of the story, a la Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales …

Which aspects of the work did you enjoy most?

Getting into the ‘zone’ -- where I am writing, but then it’s no longer just me sitting there trying to write a story, the story takes on a life of its own. That is so exciting, so rewarding. It’s what I call my ‘magic carpet ride’ -- where I am not thinking it up ahead of time, when scenes and characters just spring to life. The way I describe it is like reading a story you love, but it’s way more intense, you are experiencing it, feeling it come alive, and it surprises you. Quite enchanting.

What sets the book apart from the other things you've written?

This is a collaboration, and as such, I really feel it is much more than the sum of its parts, more than either of us would have achieved on our own with this story. There were many more things to consider with this, because both of us had to be satisfied and agree on the final draft.

In what way is it similar to the others?

It’s subject matter that I love, and will never grow tired of.

What will your next book be about?

The sequel Destiny of the Sands, carries on from where Secret of the Sands leaves off.

We also have a third instalment planned.

Each story gets progressively darker, the stakes grow higher and no one is safe.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Finishing the first novel and having it be something I am incredibly proud of.

I have re-read it many times for editing purposes, and I never grew tired of it. I think we created something to last.


Related books:

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Related articles:

• "Author-2-Author Interview: Secret of the Sands", by Christopher L. Vaughn, American Chronicle, June 3, 2008.
• "Rai Aren & Tavius E.", AllTheseBooks.com, March 26, 2008.

[Interview] Petina Gappah

Zimbabwean lawyer and author Petina Gappah has been writing from an early age.

Some of her work has been published in anthologies that include Laughing Now (Weaver Press, 2008), Women Writing Zimbabwe (Weaver Press, 2008) and One World: A global anthology of short stories (New Internationalist, 2009) .

Her debut collection of short stories, An Elegy for Easterly (Faber and Faber, April 2009) has been described as "a stunning portrait of a country in chaotic meltdown".

In this email interview, Petina Gappah talks about her concerns as a writer.

When did you start writing?

Like most writers, I started writing as a child.

I was not, however, as precocious as some that I have read about who started writing at age 5 or 3 or even before they were born. I started writing at about 10 or 11, and my first published anything was a story in the St. Dominic’s Secondary School magazine when I was 14.

I started writing seriously in May 2006. I joined the Zoetrope Virtual Studio, a story I posted there caught the attention of an editor at the online journal Per Contra, I entered some stories in competitions, I did well in one competition, and when I was sufficiently confident, I looked for an agent who looked for a publisher on my behalf.

Becoming a published writer was not so much a decision as it was the consequence of my writing.

How would you describe your writing?

I write literary fiction. There are various kinds of writing within this broad genre, for instance, I recently came across the term hysterical realism, which I thought was a wonderfully apt description for a certain type of contemporary fiction. I will leave it to critics and others to further categorise my writing within literary fiction, but I am disappointed to say it is not hysterical realism.

Which authors influenced you most?

I never really know how to answer the question about influences, so I will say I have enjoyed reading many writers, and have been influenced by any number you can think of in different ways, from David Lodge to Charles Mungoshi, from J. M. Coetzee to Ian McEwan, from Toni Morrison to Paul Auster.

What writers write is as important to me as how writers live, the writers that I am trying to emulate are those who manage to combine writing with a full time, unrelated occupation, writers like John Mortimer who very sadly died recently, and P. D. James.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

Most of what I write is based on something that happened to me, to someone I know, or something I overheard or read.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My main concern, which is probably not as lofty as this question assumes, is to write every day, to finish whatever I am working on at the time, and to find time and space for the next bit of writing.

As I have a full time job as a lawyer, and I also have a young son, my biggest challenge is to find time to write. The solution I have found is to sleep as little as I possibly can.

Do you write everyday?

I try to write every morning before I go to work, I stop when I have to get my son up and prepare him and myself for school and work.

I work directly on my computer, sometimes transcribing from notebooks. When I revise, I find it easier to do so in longhand.

How many books have you written so far?

I have written one book, An Elegy for Easterly, which is published by Faber in April 2009 in the U. K. and Commonwealth and June 2009 in the United States.

It will also be published in France, Finland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Easterly is a short story collection about what it has meant to be a Zimbabwean in recent times, it attempts to particularize through the stories of ordinary people what it has meant, on a day-to-day basis, to be part of a crisis that has gripped the attention of the world.

How long did it take you to write the book? And, how did you find a publisher for it?

I wrote the stories over a period of about one and a half years. They were written at different times, I had no idea I was writing a book, I was busy working on my novel. Then my wonderful agent Clare sent out the stories together with some chapters of the novel, Lee Brackstone and Mitzi Angel, two editors at Faber absolutely loved them, so the decision was made to go with them before the novel.

Why Faber? When they made the offer, I had no hesitation. In fact, I felt more than a little dizzy at the prospect of being a Faber author: Faber is just about the last of the great independent literary houses.

I received a very warm welcome from Stephen Page, Faber’s publisher, and the whole team has just been absolutely fantastic. The most wonderful thing about being published by Faber has been working with my two editors who are both committed, gifted and brilliant. If my stories hummed before, they sing operatic arias now.

The only disadvantage is that Faber is the house of T. S. Eliot and William Golding, of Ted Hughes and Ezra Pound, of Paul Auster and Orhan Pamuk. To paraphrase Stephen Page, the weight of the ghosts of Faber’s past is more than a little daunting. I can only hope that I will not disappoint.

What sets An Elegy for Easterly apart from other things you've written?

This is the first book that I have published, so unlike the other “novels” and book ideas in my head, notebooks or computer, it is word made solid, corporeal, concrete.

What will the next one be about?

My next book is called The Book of Memory. If all goes well, it will be published in August 2010. It is set in Salisbury/Harare between 1960 and 2000.

That is as much as I will say as I do not want to jinx it by waxing lyrical prematurely. The last novel I talked about enthusiastically died from all the exposure.

Who is your target audience?

I do not have a target audience. My work is for anyone who enjoys reading.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

I would say it is being published by Faber. Oh, and being read, and approved, by J. M. Coetzee. That is a huge achievement.

Related resources:

• Author's website
• Author's blog
• Author's page, Faber & Faber
• Author's page, Macmillan Books
  

Get your copy of An Elegy for Easterly at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Possibly related books:

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Related article:

[Interview] Zvisinei Sandi, Conversations with Writers, March 15, 2009

[Interview] Brett L. Abrams

Brett L. Abrams was born in Newark and South Brunswick, NJ. He lived in Wisconsin, Philadelphia, and Boston before settling in Washington, DC where he earned a doctorate in U.S. History.

His interest in gender, sexuality and culture in the media of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to the publication of his first book, Hollywood Bohemians: Transgressive Sexuality and the Selling of the Movieland Dream.

His second book, Capital Sporting Grounds: A History of Stadium and Ballpark Construction in Washington, DC focused on the rationale and controversy surrounding the construction of stadiums in Washington.

In this interview, Brett L. Abrams talks about his writing.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

One challenge involves needing to be an acrobat. I want to strike a balance between including stories that are amusing and entertaining with analysis that shows links between where the culture was and where it is today.

Then there’s the challenge of creating a public presence for the book. How does an author find a niche for his book let alone reach a large number of the history reading public?

Do you write everyday?

Yes, but I’m not at all scheduled about writing. I tote my notes, pad and pens around and take them out when I feel inspired. I shut down as quickly as I start up.

How many books have you written so far?

Two.

Hollywood Bohemians: Transgressive Sexuality and the Selling of the Movieland Dream (McFarland, 2008) describes images of gay, lesbians and adulterers who appeared in Hollywood promos to titillate audiences and promote the location as unique during the 1920s and 1930s.

Capital Sporting Grounds: A History of Stadium and Ballpark Construction in Washington, DC (McFarland, Jan 2009). Economic development as a rationale for building a stadium is only a recent phenomenon. Stadium advocates have used a variety of reasoning for needing new stadiums -- from bringing the Olympic Games to Washington to memorializing Thomas Jefferson. The book captures those efforts and the wild political atmospheres in which they occurred.

How different are the two books from each other?

Unlike the first book which focused on images that appeared in publications, Capital Sporting Grounds contains plans that never materialized.

The book is a cultural history that features people and businesses who promoted images and plans in an attempt to shape the development of their city.

In what way are they similar?

The efforts of the studios to give Hollywood a wild image and of politicians to make Washington a sports city both aimed to garner attention for the city and broaden the city’s appeal to tourists.

Which aspects of the work that you put into the book did you find most difficult?

I struggle with writing as clearly as I would like to. I edit my own work three or four times.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

It was through journalism.

I started a school newspaper in junior high and then later on wrote about our student hockey league for the local paper. I completed a journalism degree but soon found the field was not for me. I worked in business and then decided that I could resume writing by getting an advanced degree in history.

After getting my doctorate, I wrote articles for journals and newspapers on a variety of subjects, ranging from labor strife to the late Jerry Falwell’s labeling of Teletubby Twinky Winky. I turned my dissertation into a book for a broader audience. Then I wrote a book sparked by the controversy over spending taxpayer money to build a baseball stadium where I live in Washington, DC.

How would you describe your writing?

I write history for the reading public. The stories are usually sparked by current events. I try to look for an angle that hasn’t been covered and see if the documents exist to support my perspective.

There is a large reading public interested in history. Many of these readers seek to connect life today with the past. I hope to contribute to the great US intellectual tradition that began during the mid-twentieth century, providing background and context for events of the day.

I want an active and informed citizenry shaping our world. Historical articles help frame issues that are raging today for the body politic. These stories also help readers see the development of current perspectives as well as the alternatives that might have been or could be.

In the writing you are doing, who influenced you most?

I enjoy Tom Wolfe’s ability to exhibit real life personalities within an equally vibrant yet informative context. The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test told me so much about the Grateful Dead and the hippie movement in a very memorable way.

How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?

I write history because I love learning about people and their actions. I’m gay, which sparked my interest in examining the gay and lesbian imagery I describe in Hollywood Bohemians.

What will your next book be about?

I am researching the descriptions of Washington, DC as a travel location over its two centuries of existence. The book will show both perceptions of the US capitol and changes in the development of the travel industry.

I enjoy researching through source materials because I am a ferret who loves to dig into things. The more digging I do, the greater the chance for uncovering a gem that can become the centerpiece of a chapter.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

I enable readers to learn about things they take for granted and hopefully inspire them to be more inquisitive.

Possibly related books:

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Possibly related articles:

• "Q & A with author Brett L. Abrams", by Bil Browning, The Bilerico Project, November 26, 2008.
• [Review] "Hollywood Bohemians by Brett L. Abrams", Footnotes & Errata, January 9, 2009.

[Interview] Zvisinei Sandi

Zimbabwean writer, academic and civil rights activist, Zvisinei Sandi teaches on politics and literature in Southern Africa at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University.

She has also worked as a journalist and was secretary general of the human rights watchdog, the Society for Gender Justice.

Some of her short stories have been published in anthologies that include Creatures, Great and Small (Mambo Press, 2005) and Women Writing Zimbabwe (Weaver Press, 2008).

In this interview, Zvisinei Sandi talks about her writing.

When did you start writing?

I started out as a very little child, at about six, seven years old. I used to make plays about my parents and friends and the colorful years back then -- the last days of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, the Cease Fire, the Assembly Points and the changes in lifestyle for everyone.

When did decide you wanted to be a published writer?

Very early really, in high school, although my parents fought it. They were afraid that my writing would get in the way of my studies. They did all they could to stop me, including taking away my manuscripts and giving me extra chores. When I got the Randalls National Essay Writing Prize in 1990, they were furious with my teachers for encouraging me. However that prize, handed over to the hardly formed seventeen year old girl who never before had been to a city, determined the course of my life. I decided then that I was a writer, and would always be a writer.

How would you describe the writing you are doing?

It’s about the parts of the world I have seen …

Who is your target audience?

The world is my audience.

Every person lives a separate life, and hopes and aspirations and dreams that only they can tell to the rest of the world. I often find that I have a lot to say.

Who influenced you most?

My family has had the biggest influence on me -- they taught me to love my country, and to value everything that is good and beautiful and decent. They taught me to love music and hard work and to dream. And my writing is mostly comprised of these.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

I would say, a great deal. I remember as a little girl, my first, faltering, almost ridiculous attempts at writing, and father telling me that what I really needed at the time was not to bury myself in a manuscript, but to go out there, and learn, get the certificates that would be my passport to the world, and see the world and then, if I still wished it I would have something to write about.

Now, having grown up, passed through grad. school and traveled, I believe I have something to say. I can write about pain, anguish, despair or joy with conviction because I have experienced these things and can talk about them with authority.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

Zimbabwe has had a challenging decade, and in an economic meltdown, the publishing sector is always the first to go. At the moment my main concerns are about finding publishers for all the writing I did while in Zimbabwe. This includes a number of novels, short story and poetry collections.

Do you write every day?

Every night at 2 a.m., I wake up. That’s when my mind is clearest and I sit up to ponder on the dynamics of my world. That is when I do my writing. It’s a pattern I established long ago, as a young girl growing up in the Zambezi Valley, and the days where too full and fast to allow even a single moment of reflection.

How many books have you written so far?

I have written about four books, though I have not yet managed to find publishers for all of them. Two of the books, Through Hararean Mazes, and Tales of the Wild Savanna have been serialized in the weekly newspapers The Southern Times and The Sunday Mail (Namibia and Zimbabwe).

I have also had short stories published in the anthologies Creatures, Great and Small, published by Mambo Press in 2005, as well as Women Writing Zimbabwe, published by Weaver Press in 2008.

Various articles and poetry selections have been published online.

My novels, Vagrant Souls and Flight from the Inferno are still waiting for a publisher.

What is your latest book about?

That would be Flight from the Inferno. It’s a fast-moving adventure story that starts in Harare, in 2000, and makes its way into the crowded market places of Lusaka, and then moves into war-torn [Democratic Republic of Congo] DRC.

The book virtually carves a path through Central Africa. When I started writing it, I had never been to any of the places. Carrying out the research was one of the most challenging jobs I have ever attempted. However, with the help of my college classmates, most of whom are now scattered in various countries across the African continent, it all came out beautifully. And, now that I have travelled the world, and actually seen these countries, I can present them with authority.

Which aspects of the work did you enjoy most?

It was an exciting adventure putting the thriller together, building into it all the energy and color of the incredible Central African environment.

What sets the book apart from other things you've written?

It’s that excitement you find in it -- that zazazu you find in the thrill of fear, and danger and that “Go! Go!” feeling you get when you encounter a life struggle.

What’s similar between this work and all writing, the world over, is the effort that went into it. Yes, you have a powerful story, and a clever way of delivering it, all that would amount to nothing without all those long, grinding hours. In the end, you do have to put in a lot of hard work.

What will your next book be about?

At the moment, I am working on another colorful short story collection, covering all the places I have been to, and the exceptional people I have encountered.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

My most significant accomplishment? Well, that's challenging for me to say, because you know what? It’s still coming. I see myself as just starting out my writing career, and when I am 90, curled up in front of a fire, surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren, then I will close my eyes and -- this I promise you -- I will tell you of my greatest accomplishment ever.

Related books:

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Related articles:

• "Zvisinei Sandi: Writer and Political Exile", by Vinita Mohan, Justice, Social Memory and Story-Telling, September 26, 2008.
• "Repression in Zimbabwe and the South Africa Connection: An Interview with Zvisinei C. Sandi" by Russell Berman, Telos Press, May 29, 2008.
• "Zvisinei Sandi", Munyori Literary Journal.
• "Zvinisei Sandi", Poetry International Web -- Zimbabwe

[Interview_1] Sue Moorcroft

Creative writing tutor and author, Sue Moorcroft was born in Germany and spent much of her childhood in Cyprus and Malta.

In addition to teaching creative writing classes, she has written and published five novels, among them, Uphill All the Way (Transita, 2005); A Place To Call Home (Magna, 2007) and Family Matters (Robert Hale, 2008).

Her short stories have been published in anthologies that include Sexy Shorts for Christmas (Accent Press Ltd, 2003) and Scary Shorts for Hallowe'en (Accent Press Ltd, 2004) .

She is also the editor of Loves Me, Loves Me Not, an anthology of short stories by the members of the Romantic Novelists' Association, which seeks to celebrate the RNA's 50th birthday in 2010. The anthology is to be published by Mira Books, in hardback in Autumn 2009 and paperback in February 2010.

In this interview, Sue Moorcroft talks about her writing:

Do you write everyday?

I normally write, or do something associated with writing or teaching writing, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday. But I'm flexible and will sometimes take a day out in the week and work at the weekend.

Sometimes I work all seven days! It depends on what I'm doing and how much work I have on.

I tend to begin each day with e-mails and keeping up with writers' forums because they're valuable in networking and information gathering. Then I move on to students, then to writing.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

Making a living is always a concern. So I work hard and, I hope, with intelligent application, and that seems to bring enough money in, one way or another.

As I indicated at the beginning of the interview, I write in several areas. If I just wrote one novel a year I wouldn't make ends meet unless I miraculously got a wonderful contract, one that has escaped me until now.

Sometimes I find it hard to get going and I have to give myself a talking to, otherwise I'd spend all day writing e-mails and surfing the Net.

In the writing you are doing, who would you say has influenced you most?

Good question. I don't really have an answer to it as I have so many influences upon me: other writers, the wants of my agent or an editor, the state of my bank account ...

How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?

I like to write about things that mean something to me.

My first published novel, Uphill All the Way, is set partly in Malta. A bit of my heart will always live in Malta because I lived there as a child. I have set other works there and got a good response from editors and readers and I enjoy sending my characters there -- so it seems sensible, as well as enjoyable, to carry on.

And one always draws upon one's own emotions, of course. How can you describe being frightened if you've never had a fright?

On the other hand, what I don't know I research or I imagine. I think I'm quite empathetic and that helps in knowing how my characters will feel in a certain situation. My fiction is always about characters who could be real in situations any of us could find ourselves in.

My second novel, Family Matters, is about the effect that money can have on people. Some people will sacrifice a lot, friends and family, just so they can get their hands on some money. I'm not talking about to have enough money to eat, I'm talking about extra money so that they can have extra things. This happened in my family and gave me a bit of a disdain of people like that. I can see that money is useful to have, of course! But it's not the be all and end all.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

It's like almost anything -- I work hard. I put the hours in, I pitch work to editors, I do work 'on spec' that may never be bought. I may be lucky in that my response to even a huge emotional incident is to bury myself in work.

Rejection is difficult, of course. If you've done your very best work and it is rejected, that's a horrible feeling. It can sometimes be a challenge to try again. Self-belief is part of my make up, happily.

Who is your target audience?

Most of what I write is for mainstream fiction and probably appeals more to women, although men do read my stuff and enjoy it. I often have male viewpoint characters.

I suppose I write roughly what I like to read and so I write for people roughly like myself.

How many books have you written so far?

I've written a lot more than I've published! Uphill All the Way (Transita, ISBN 978-1905175000) was published in April 2005 and is a book about recovery. In it, Judith has to get over losing her younger lover, her life in Malta and most of her money; Adam from losing three fingers, two homes and one wife. It's about a giant mid-life wobble and that there's life after it.

Family Matters came out in hardback with Robert Hale (ISBN 978-0709085232) in March 2008. It's about money and family and who thinks which is most important. It begins with a helicopter crash, one of the most difficult things I've ever written but it gets a good reaction, and that proves to be the catalyst for many secrets spilled...

A Place To Call Home (Magna, ISBN 978-1842625446) was a serial and it's out now as a large print book and follows the Randle family after they lose their nice life in Germany and have to return to the U.K. It explores how you start all over again when your old life crumbles through no fault of your own. It proves that it can be done!

Between Two Worlds was a serial, too, and it will be coming out as a large print book, but I have no details yet. It explores the modern phenomenon of two people marrying, a second marriage for each of them, and making two families into one. In this case, they come from very different backgrounds and have a lot of adjustment to make.

How did you chose a publisher for your latest book?

My latest published book is Family Matters. It took quite a while to write, maybe 18 months, because I began it four times before I was happy with the way it was going. There was a lot of research involved, too, particularly concerning a young character, Tamsin, who has some emotional and behavioural problems. I enjoyed working with her. I liked the central character, Diane, too, as is someone who will only take so much from people before she loses her cool. She is loyal to her husband for all of their marriage, even though some of his decisions seem to disadvantage her and their daughter, Bryony -- but once he lets her down, all hell breaks loose.

Family Matters was published by Hale in the U.K. in March 2008.

'Choosing' a publisher isn't really an option -- my agent sells my books for me. If she ever had the happy situation of more than one publisher making an offer then I would have a choice to make. But not till then.

Hale produce a great book and is professional to work with. However, the company only produce a hardback and it's difficult to get them to reprint when the first print run sells out, even if it sells out quickly, as mine did.

Which aspects of the work that you put into the book did you find most difficult?

I think it was the scope of the book that troubled me. Initially, it seemed too shallow with just one viewpoint character -- Diane -- and it was when I included viewpoints from Gareth, James and Tamsin that the book began to come alive.

One can only solve a problem like that by thinking it through and maybe talking it over with like-minded friends.

Which aspects of the work did you enjoy most?

Researching helicopters! I like helicopters! And planes and cars...

What sets the book apart from other things you've written?

I think it dealt with quite a hard subject and I'm quite proud that it didn't point the reader at a conclusion. There's room in the book for different attitudes and I think some readers will think that Diane was right in what she did but some will see the point of view of her husband, Gareth. I think it makes a good reading group book, for that reason.

In what way is it similar to the others?

Relationships! I like relationship books.

What will your next book be about?

Actually, it's about an aeroplane ... No, it's about learning to forgive yourself.

I've given Brenna an awful lot of things to contend with, a husband who goes missing, a building project that has gone wrong, losing her job, struggling with her teenaged son and also her older learning-disabled sister, Libby. Brenna feels guilty about Libby as she is convinced she was instrumental in the accident that left Libby with traumatic head injury. (But there really is an aeroplane in the book, the Unforgettable Juliet of the title.)

When did you decide you wanted to be a published writer?

I suppose I wanted to be seen as good enough to be published. I also wanted to earn money as a writer so I didn't have to do a 'proper job'.

It was a slow process.

After the first couple of novels, I began trying short stories because I read that if you had a track record of about 20 short stories with national magazines, a book publisher would take you seriously. This did work for me but I had sold 87 stories before I sold the first book!

I expand my areas of writing all the time. As well as short stories and books, I write articles and profiles for writing magazines and courses for the London School of Journalism. I have ideas for non-fiction articles and a non-fiction book that I haven't yet attempted. But the day will come.

I found building this body of work hard but rewarding and 'doable'. I learnt, through my course, through writing magazines, how-to books, conferences and seminars, how to approach editors, how to study the market and write for it. Then I did it!

I work with students all the time but am certain that only a small number send their work out to editors, agents or competitions. Editors rarely come knocking on the door to ask if you have anything in your desk that they might like to publish and pay for.

I learn about writing and publishing by staying in contact with those in the industry, reading what I need to read and putting it to intelligent use.

How would you describe the writing you are doing?

Hard work but enjoyable.

This week I have finished drafting the final episode of a serial called One Summer Night in Malta for a U.K. magazine, The People's Friend. I have sent that to a writing friend to read before I polish it. I'm not convinced that the ending is yet strong enough and anticipate that there's more work to be done.

I have also drafted a profile of a fiction editor of a new American fiction magazine and got together the visuals and sidebars for that. I've sent out four stories to overseas markets, stories that have been published in the U.K. already and needed some revision to suit the new market (and have sold one of them already).

In the back of my mind is my current novel, Unforgettable Juliet, which is also awaiting revision. But I've had a bereavement this summer and find I don't have the emotional energy for the novel, right now. It can wait.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Um ... doing it, I suppose. Making it stick. Making a living. It's not a success in the J. K. Rowling category but it's still a success.

*This article is based on an email interview with Sue Moorcroft which took place in September 2008. Since then, the non-fiction book she referred to in the interview, one that was only an idea at the time, is now a reality and will be published in January 2010 by Accent Press as Love Writing: How to Make Money Writing Romantic or Erotic Fiction.

Possibly related books:

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Possibly related articles:

• An Interview with ... Sue Moorcroft, by juliemt, Single Titles, April 12, 2008
• The Story Seller, Interview by Myra Kersner
• Sue Moorcroft, Wired Malta (formerly known as Wired Temples), April 15, 2005
• RNA Special Part 2: An Interview with Sue Moorcroft, by Mike Atherton, Great Writing, July 7, 2005

[Interview] Ivor W. Hartmann, author and editor-in-chief of StoryTime

Ivor W. Hartmann is a Zimbabwean writer, visual artist and literary activist. He is also editor-in-chief of StoryTime, an ezine that seeks to showcase new African writing.

In this email interview, Hartmann talks about the ezine and about how it is being received by emerging African writers.

What is StoryTime all about?

To quote the StoryTime About page mission statement if I may, since I put the effort into re-writing it recently:

The StoryTime African New Fiction FreEzine is all about new African fiction reading and writing. For our readers we provide a free weekly ezine showcasing the works of some of the hottest new African fiction writers. For our writers we endeavour to find them, and then encourage free online fiction publication at ST, as a multi-purpose means to improve writing ability and their exposure.

For the ST readers, my aim is to publish at least one great fiction story every week from an African writer, usually early morning Sunday (+2GMT).

I also do the occasional special edition on days like Valentines, or like the last one on President Robert Mugabe's Birthday. ST featured a cutting edge farcical story written for the occasion by Zimbabwean author Masimba Musodza ("Robin Hood & The President's Birthday Bash").

Also in the works is an annual ST Book Anthology called African Roar, which is set to be published by The Lion Press in early August 2009. It will then be launched at a new Zimbabwean Writers Festival in that same month being organised by The Lion Press.

For the writers, I actively look for new and established talented fiction writers to showcase at ST, and welcome all fiction submissions within the ST guidelines. Once the authors are accepted into ST, I then provide an interactive online home for them and their stories. Firstly, we showcase their stories by publishing them in the ST ezine.

In addition to that, for each ST author, I create a special author bio page that showcases them specifically. This includes an autobiography with their picture, all their stories at ST, and as many related links (I updated them monthly) to good content about the authors and/or their works. It includes, extra to the main ST feed, a specific feed only about them from ST.

The author page also gives them a space and the freedom to communicate with their readers in personal posts at their page, and in comments on the story itself. Taken all together, ST hopes to serve as a promotional interactive conglomerate of their online authorial presence and work.

How did StoryTime come about?

Like most ideas, this one grew out of necessity, or the dearth of good fiction-only magazines, coming out of South Africa and understandably, Zimbabwe. Not that there aren’t any, but they are fewer and far between in comparison to the rest of the world.

Frustrated as a new fiction writer madly writing with so few local outlets for my work, I started thinking about how I could remedy this dire situation.

Being strapped for cash back then (as a new-ish dedicated full-time writer and living in a new country), basically made me realise that a proper print magazine was out of the question to start with. So I took a look at online publishing which led me to Google's Blogger framework, and so the first incarnation of StoryTime was born.

Right from the outset my intention was to use the Blogger framework to publish a real ezine. I also definitely wanted to avoid personal blogging in the ezine and feature only fiction works, even if they were only mine to start with.

How long have you been working on the project?

I published the first ST ezine in June 2007.

Initially, I wanted to create a fiction ezine that would consist of an eclectic collection of world fiction, run directly by its authors for their readers, and create an online home for all the authors involved.

Over time and after gaining a bit of experience in this new field of online publishing, I came to realise what I wanted ST to be. That being, primarily a focus on the poorly represented and yet amazingly rich and diverse, fictional literature coming out of Africa and from the far flung African Diaspora. So I changed the ST emphasis to African writers only and the rest was history.

How do you find contributors?

I actively seek out talented writers and invite them to ST, and constantly look for free ways to promote ST and all our authors by all means at my disposal, on and offline. Then there's the relatively new development of the ST book anthology, African Roar, something I have wanted to do since the very beginning. In this regard I have just put out the call for ST fiction submissions to be published first in the ezine, and thereby gain entry into the selection process for the printed anthology. This came about thanks in no small way to Sarudzayi Barnes at The Lion Press, who secured us the funding to print publish with LP, from the U.K. Arts Council. Though in the long run I'd like the anthology to not only pay for itself, but also offer a decent percentage return for all the authors published in it.

Which writers are you currently working with?

This is a great question and maybe I can also explain something of how ST works. Firstly let me do the honour roll for everyone ST is actively working with:

Igoni Barrett, Adesola Orimalade, Ayesha Attah, Ayodele Morocco-Clarke, Beaven Tapureta, Chris Mlalazi, Colin Meier, Esi Cleland, Emmanuel Sigauke, Masimba Musodza, Nigel Jack and Sarudzayi Barnes.

It is these authors who have made ST what it is by joining, contributing and working with ST. Two members of prime contribution are Emmanuel, who is co-editing the upcoming ST anthology with me, and Sarudzayi, whom I mentioned earlier.

Now when I say our authors work with ST, what I mean is unlike traditional publishing, ST runs under a Creative Commons 3.0 licence (Attribution, Non-derivative, and Non-commercial). This means that in effect, the author joins ST and then together we showcase their work in the ezine, directly under their own names and copyrights. The authors then, forever, have complete access to all their works at ST and can edit them or remove them entirely if they so choose. This I feel is an important part of the capabilities of online publishing, giving the authors direct control over their work.

Hindsight can also be very illuminating, especially as one improves as a writer with each new work. At ST as the author you may make changes, normally reserved for a second revised edition in the print world. So the ST authors are their own editors, and I approve their works for publishing in the ezine as editor-in-chief of ST.

What challenges do you meet and how do you deal with them?

ST always presents many daily challenges which I try and deal with as swiftly as humanly possible. But I suppose the prime challenge from the beginning, has been my choice of the Blogger framework to publish ST for free. In doing so I have had to constantly search for ways to present ST as an ezine and not a generic blog. Luckily though, I am also a visual artist and have tried to make ST on the whole look as un-blog-like as possible. Not to mention the utter helplessness when faced with problems beyond my control, because it’s a free service. However, that's also the good thing about ST in its current form, apart from my own time and that of the authors; it's totally free for us and therefore our readers. This might change in the future, if we can ever afford a dedicated .com domain name and full website etc., which will bring its own set of new challenges no doubt. Though, unless we start printing a magazine solely, I'd like to keep the ST ezine free for the authors and all our readers.

There is also an inherent challenge in letting your authors have complete access to their works. One only has too view MySpace to see how out of hand this can get if left unsupervised. So behind each story I work a bit of hard-learned but simple HTML magic to make sure it complies with the ST layout standards, and doesn't jam the feed readers.

In general though, I have found the ST authors more than willing to help solve any problems that may arise, which makes life a lot easier.

How would you describe the standard of writing at ST?

So far, I think we have maintained a fairly good standard of writing at ST, but I can only believe that this will become even better as ST grows. It is also my intention with the first anthology to raise the bar significantly, by only print publishing the 'eclectic' or very best, of all the works published in the ezine since our beginnings. Subsequent to the first anthology it will be the best of that year.

Who is your target audience?

On the whole I'd say we already have enough variety to satisfy nearly every fiction genre taste, and so this would put us squarely in the fairly broad realm of all those who read fiction/literature magazines and ezines.

Furthermore, with our solid presence on Facebook and by using the Blogger framework, we are introducing ST and our authors to whole new generations of online fiction readers.

Which aspects of the work do you enjoy most?

There are quite a few reasons why I was motivated to start ST, but one of the big ones was to start communicating with my fellow Zimbabwean writing peers in Zimbabwe and those spread throughout the world. I had the idea that together we could do what artists are at least in-part meant to do, and that is being a voice for the voiceless; to bring to the world light, the very real catastrophe of our Zimbabwean situation through our arts, in this case, writing. Therefore, I have slowly but surely opened the lines of communication between several Zimbabwean writers and myself, and together we have achieved some measure of real progress. This is surely what I enjoy most, seeing and being a part of something greater than myself, which actually does cause positive change.

Ultimately, like most Zimbabweans, I have a great desire to return home permanently from what is effectively an economic exile.

What sets ST apart from the other ezines and literary magazines?

It would have to be the complete control the authors have over their work, and the strong sense of close community that ST engenders in both its authors and readers. We like to help each other out where we can, and most of us bring an existing entourage of readers to ST when we join. I believe it is this spirit of openness and community, tempered with real authorial control, which draws readers and serious writers to ST. This, therefore, raises the bar with the addition of each new talented writer, and our growing experience in online and print publishing.

Possibly related books:

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[Interview] Lucien Black

Lucien Black currently resides in Orange County, Ca with his wife and children.

He started writing in 1991 and helped to produce an independently published comic book. His own first book, No Vacancies, Vol. 1 started off as a series of comic book scripts.

Currently, he is working on the second volume of No Vacancies.

In this email interview, Lucien Black talks about his concerns as a writer.

When did you start writing?

I started writing in 1990. I had no aspirations to be a writer at first, but after a writing course in high school I started to enjoy the idea. My teacher at the time, Terry Fugate, was a great influence and after I graduated I started composing scripts for comic books.

I joined up with a few friends and about two years later we published our first independent comic book. We were very excited but our investor backed out at the last minute and left us to fend for ourselves. We were able to get book one printed, but subsequent issues were shelved.

I eventually tried to move out on my own and get my own comic book scripts published. I had four or five story lines I was developing and really wanted to break into that industry. I submitted work to all the major publishers like Marvel and DC Comics and even the smaller shops but no bites on the work.

So I continued to write as a hobby and started and restarted my stories over and over again until about two years ago.

My wife convinced me that I should convert my scripts to short stories and publish them that way. After some hemming and hawing I started re-writing them and developed the first version of No Vacancies. What I decided to do was keep the serial feel of the comic book and develop some stories that would continue in future volumes of No Vacancies.

How would you describe your writing?

My works are fictional stories with action adventure, horror and superhero themes. Future works will include other genres but for now the majority will focus on those.

I love the superhero genre and try to find new ways to tell those types of stories.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone that likes action adventure stories like Indiana Jones, horror, comic books, short stories, mysteries.

I truly think my work can lend itself to a pretty wide audience. I think that anyone that can be hooked in by an action packed story with fantastical occurrences will enjoy the work. Once they are hooked, I believe they will come back for more.

Which authors influenced you most?

It's difficult to narrow down one or two main influences to my work. There are many comic book writers such as Chris Claremont and Alan Davis that were very inspirational to my earlier endeavors. Beyond that Lee Child, Lorenzo Carcaterra, Stephen King, Stephen J. Cannell, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, etc.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My biggest concern as a writer is definitely confidence in my work. I am without a doubt my own worst critic and tend to really be hard on my work.

Writing a story that draws the reader in, gives them an exciting ride and leaving them wanting to either know more about a particular character or to read the next part of a story and doing it well is a major obstacle. In the end I just have to let the chips fall where they may and see what turns out.

How have your own personal experiences influenced your writing?

Absolutely, yes. I think what personal experiences bring is that absolute sense of realism. One of the main problems in comic book writing is that many writers miss adding in those life experiences. If you are trying to accept characters as real, there has to be that human element.

Divorce, death, loss of jobs are all critical aspects of life that should be blended in with the action or horror. When I started re-writing these stories and redeveloping my characters, I added in many elements from my own life that I thought would add that sense of realism.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

Simply finding the time to get the work developed. Thankfully, I have time during my lunch hours to focus on work, but between work, school (still working on my degree) and life it is difficult to find time to focus.

How many books have you written so far?

My first book, No Vacancies, Vol. 1 was published in October 2008 by Lulu.com.

I took cues from the serials of old, and used the concept of serialized fiction to introduce readers to my work. No Vacancies is a compilation of four short stories and some poetry that somewhat fit into each tale. The genres are action adventure, superhero and horror tales.

"One More Sunday" follows Detective Sam Arkwright as he attempts to put together the missing pieces of a murder. "Outcast and Devotion", which is set in the fictional city of Hudson, NY, and in which a serial killer is leaving behind mutilated bodies and the police are baffled. In "Devotion", Dr. Alastair Cromwell struggles to resurrect his late wife, Annette. Will he succeed and at what cost?

Part 1 of "High Stakes", introduces a louse of ma, Jack Ander. Abused by his father; branded a coward. Is he destined to be a hero?

Do you write everyday?

I work a full time job outside of writing and I actually use my lunch hour for writing. It is a solid hour of me focused on just my writing and what is great about it is that I actually have it scheduled every day. There are days when I am not in the office so I may lose a day here and there but that isn't necessarily a problem.

Outside of that time, I generally write in the early morning on the weekends, when the house is quiet.

I find that I have to really focus myself to get quality output.

Since I am working on various short stories at any given time, I tend to flip back and forth between writing one or the other. I find that if I get stuck, it helps me to step away from one story and gain some momentum on another. Typically when I come back to the story I skipped, I am refreshed and have all sorts of new ideas to jot down. I also keep a journal close at hand when ideas pop into my head, this way I don't lose them; especially dreams.

How did you chose a publisher for No Vacancies? Why this publisher? What advantages or disadvantages has this presented?

It was published by Lulu.com in October 2008. It has great advantages to an independent writer to complete a script, submit the book and cover art and then within a few short hours the book is available to the public.

The disadvantages are mostly on the marketing side. Finding ways to publicize my work is difficult. There are some packages you can purchase through the publisher but that takes time. At this point, it's basically word of mouth. I have a few other ideas for marketing but it will simply take time to get everything into place.

Which aspects of the work that you put into the book did you find most difficult?

Making sure that the reader was left wanting more. I always want a book or story to end and my first response to be, "Where can I read more about that character".

What did you enjoy most?"

Researching settings. In the story, "High Stakes, Part 1", there is a scene where young Jack Ander, the main character, is waking up and he hears a radio program. So I researched which radio program would have been on the radio at the moment he woke up and who would have been singing/talking at the time. That is a part of the writing process I have only recently added to my work and it just adds so much depth to the story.

What sets No Vacancies apart from other things you've written?

Since this is my first novel, I think it sets the stage for my future works.

Writing these in a serial type format gives me the avenue to explore multiple stories and worlds in each volume. I like having the freedom.

What will your next book be about?

The next book is another volume of No Vacancies which will contain parts two of both "Outcast" and "High Stakes" (two on-going short stories). I will introduce a new on-going short story that is an espionage thriller and two additional self-contained short stories.

I expect that to be completed in the next four to six months.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Without a doubt, publishing No Vacancies, Vol. 1 was one of the most amazing feelings. When I got the first copy in hand, I was like a little kid with a huge smile. To see my own finished work was an awesome feeling.

Possibly related books:

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[Interview] Sarudzayi Barnes

Sarudzayi Barnes was born in Zimbabwe and was a student at Domboramavara Primary School before going on to Monte Cassino Mission and Harare High School. She is currently studying Law with the University of London.

She runs a publishing company, The Lion Press Ltd, which specialises in African and Afro-Caribbean children's stories in particular and other African and Afro-Caribbean literature genres in general. She also distributes and promotes books written in African languages.

Her books include The Endless Trail (Author House, 2008) and The Village Story-Teller: Zimbabwean Folktales (The Lion Press Ltd, 2008).

In this interview, Sarudzayi Barnes talks about her concerns as a writer.

When did you start writing?

I started writing when I was doing Lower 6 at Harare High School in 1990. I participated into a short story writing competition which was facilitated by the Curriculum Development Unit, which was based at the University of Zimbabwe, I think, but I am not sure. A few months after the competition, I received a prize of $50, which was a lot of money then. The judges invited me to go to the CDU because they wanted to encourage me to take writing seriously, and they also wanted me to develop the story further, but I ignored them. I did not go, I cashed my cheque and blew it up on something else.

In 1996 I wrote a play which I called "Sarudzayi", which I set at the University of Zimbabwe campus, because I thought U.Z. students were detached from real life out there. As students, we lived in a fantasy land, expecting well paying jobs, driving good cars, renting or owning immaculate flats or homes.

When I graduated with my B.A. in 1995, I was posted to teach in a rural school in Mavhuradonha, at Mavhuradonha School, that’s when it hit me that a university degree was not a passport to good living. But luckly for me, I soon left that job and got a better and more challenging job with the National Archives of Zimbabwe. I decided to re-write the play "Sarudzayi", but sadly I could not get a publisher. I wanted the play to be turned into a ZBC TV drama, and I gave a guy called Shoko my manuscript, and he just disappeared with it when he left the ZBC. My hopes were shattered, so I turned my mind away from writing.

In 2002, I was already living here in the U.K., I decided to write Zimbabwean folktales, I wrote about twenty of them (I still have the manuscript), and I began hunting for a publisher. I gave it to a friend, who said the way the folktales ended was too violent and no publisher was likely to publish them. Because I usually ended the folktales with the wrong-doer being punished, either being chased from the village, becoming insane or being killed, just like we were told these stories. I was frustrated and put the manuscript in a suitcase under my bed.

I was participating in a demonstration at the Lords Cricket Grounds in London in May 2003, because we wanted the England Cricket Board to boycott cricket games with Zimbabwe, and because I was one of leaders of the demonstrators, a guy called Ian Noah came to interview me. By then he was working for Intermedia Press, or I think it was his company I really don’t know. We spoke about human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, and I told him about my desire to write something about Zimbabwean politics. He gave me his business card and said he would love to work with me, guide me on the project and help me by publishing my book. So I came back to Coventry full of ambition and hope, that at least I found someone who could help me air my views through writing. I started working on How Mugabe Mugged Zimbabwe (and Made Mugs Out of the Rest of the World), a title Noah suggested, straight away. I was documenting things from a journalistic point of view, so Ian Noah advised me to put a bit of analysis into the book. I approached a Zimbabwean academic called Collin Zhuawu who has a Masters in International Relations and together we worked on the book. We signed a contract with Noah, the book was due to be published on 10 December 2003 as print-on-demand, but that’s when we last heard of Ian Noah. We phoned his mobile several times and left several messages until we got tired, but he did not return our calls. The book appears on online bookshops but we never managed to buy copies of the book. I don’t really know what happened. Ian Noah was very keen to see the project succeed, and many of our friends who ordered the copies never got to get any, so I don’t really know what happened to Ian Noah. I don’t think he sold any copies at all. Whatever happened, I think, was something beyond his control, because he was a genuine person. Again after the failure of this project, I shelved writing, but in 2007 I decided to write again, because I had learnt about self-publishing. I thought of what could be a more pressing issue among my fellow Zimbabweans, then decided to write about problems faced by Zimbabweans who emigrate to the U.K., S.A., Canada, Australia and America etc, for both political and economic reasons, how they are leaving children to fend for themselves in Zimbabwe, or husbands and sometimes wives, for many years while they work and send money to their broken families. I thought about things like immigration issues, HIV and AIDS because the whole separation process bring in temptations. I also realised that HIV and AIDS are things many Zimbabweans are not comfortable to talk about, yet it’s something affecting us. So I wrote The Endless Trail and paid Author House £635 to have it published. They gave me 20 copies for free, and I sell the book through Lion Press Ltd.

My book was published on 13 March 2008. I was thrilled when I received the first copy. I went everywhere with it, showing anyone who cared to listen or to see it. But there are some people, I thought they were my friends, whom I gave free copies and up to now some of them haven’t even bothered to read the book! That’s when I realised that a lot of Zimbabweans don’t have a reading culture. I told myself that if I am to continue writing, I should aim to make my writings international and not Zimbabwean centred.

In July this year I decided to register my own self-publishing company, The Lion Press Ltd, so now I self publish my books and I also help other writers to get published. On 30 September 2008, I published The Village Story-Teller: Zimbabwean Folktales (which is basically that manuscript I had put in my suitcase in 2002 because I could not find a publisher). I improved on the stories and published them. The book has been well received by African children here in the U.K., some African-American children as well, who got the copies through my friend who is a talk-show producer, Fritz Kanyile Ka-Ngwenya of the Afrodisak Show. The book has been well received.

How would you describe the writing you are doing?

I write about what I see everyday. I fictionalise things that I see or hear. So my work is a kind of socio-economic history. In The Endless Trail I wrote about real historical events, the formation of the MDC, the 1998 and 1999 ZCTU mass stay-aways, the queues for fuel, the tense political situation in Zimbabwe leading to the brain-drain.

I wrote about how Zimbabweans in the U.K. see Gatwick as maenzanise, where everyone works side by side, the Zimbabwean educated and those who were selling crafts in neighbouring countries or vegetable vendors; former house-maids now working side by side with their former employers in nursing homes and factories.

Who is your target audience?

Initially I wanted to target Zimbabweans and other Africans. Now I write for everyone, and I have changed my writing language and style as well, because in The Endless Trail I wrote a lot of Shonglish to retain the Africanness flavour, now I write standard English for all communities to read.

In the writing that you are doing, which authors would you say influenced you most?

Tsitsi Dangarembga, Alexander Kanengoni, Alexander McCall Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kei Miller (especially), Andrea Levy, Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiongo.

I love Caribbean literature and I want to write my next book in Jamaican Patois. Kei Miller writes about everyday in Jamaica. He writes about the plight of gay people, gangsters, Rastafarians, oppression etc. I am a Rastafarian Sistren myself, and I kind of identify with a lot of things he writes about. When you read his books it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction. When people read The Endless Trail, they ask me if it’s a true story, and I say, no, it’s fiction, and still they want me to tell them what happened to Jenny, because I leave them in suspense, and I say I don’t know. So they want me to serialise the book. So now I am working on Just Another Day, which a sequel to The Endless Trail.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

It is very difficult to get published. If you do self-publishing, marketing is another big hurdle to cross. Unless you are well known and well connected, you can easily become frustrated. People generally look at your book, if it is published by a very big company. To make matters worse, it is difficult to get a wider African readership. They would rather read Danielle Steel than look at a fellow African writer, and it’s worse if they know you. They judge you by your appearance. I am not really bothered about making money through writing books, because I have realised that one can’t make a living from writing alone unless you become big like J. K. Rowling, so I will continue to write, work hard and self-publish, give a few free copies away and sell a few. One day my turn will come. Someone out there will realise my talent and who knows? Besides, when I write, it’s a legacy for my children.

How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?

I write about things I see and hear. That influences my writing. I studied history, and I write social history through fiction.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

The biggest challenge is writing something which is appealing to my readers. I overcome this by circulating my manuscripts to a few people of different backgrounds to get their opinion. In The Village Story-Teller: Zimbabwean Folktales I asked a few children to read my stories and asked them to jot down comments. So I got five children between seven years and 13 years to review my book, all from different backgrounds.

How many books have you written so far?

• How Mugabe Mugged Zimbabwe (and Made Mugs of the Rest of the World) by Sarudzayi Chifamba-Barnes and Collin Zhuawu (Paperback - 10 Dec 2003).
• The Endless Trail (Author House U.K., March 2008).
• The Village Story-Teller: Zimbabwean Folktales, The Lion Press Ltd, U.K. September 2008 by Sarudzayi Chifamba-Barnes, Lynne Sykes, and Jeffery Milanzi.

Do you write everyday?

I don’t write everyday. I might go for weeks without writing. I write when I feel the urge to write, like a mother giving birth when she feels the urge to push. If I plan to write something, I sit by my computer and only end up playing Mahjong Solatire online. I end when I feel that my head is empty. I don’t stop until I empty my ideas on paper. I can go for the whole day or night, or just for an hour or less. It depends.

How did you chose a publisher for your latest book?

My latest book is The Village Story-Teller. I self-published it under my own publishing company, The Lion Press Ltd because I don’t want to go about looking for a publisher again. I want to control my sells, my profits or my losses. I like it. The disadvantage is with marketing. I am not good at marketing. I am good at telling stories.

Which aspects of the work that you put into the book did you find most difficult?

Everything was cool with me. I work with a team of illustrators and I use the same editor. Raising money for production costs is the only difficult thing, but I have a steady job even though I don’t like it.

I enjoyed writing the stories, because I am a natural story-teller.

What sets the book apart from the other things you've written?

I wrote it for children, especially African kids in the Diaspora because I realised that with the amount of work we do here, it’s a ‘shift’ all the time and parents don’t have time to tell their children those kind of stories we were told under the moonlight in an African village. So I have kind of assumed the role of the village story-teller.

What will your next book be about?

I am writing a sequel to The Endless Trail, which focuses on the daily challenges faced by people in Zimbabwe, health issues, political issues and social issues.

I am writing about the challenges faced by the HIV-positive main character, Jenny, in her day-to-day life in Zimbabwe, the challenge of caring for two HIV-positive daughters, one who was raped by Tito, the gardener and infected with HIV when Jenny is in the U.K. where she is working as an illegal immigrant, and the other daughter who acquired HIV through mother-to-child-transmission. Through Jenny, I want the world to understand the plight of Zimbabweans who struggle to survive for each day, that’s why my book is called Just Another Day.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

To get Lord Chris Smith (former Culture Secretary under Tony Blair’s government) to write a review for my book. I felt highly honoured. And also to get Professor Terence Ranger, who is a Professor at Oxford University, to write a review for The Village Story-Teller: Zimbabwean Folktales. I feel highly honoured. It’s not easy to get such big names to sit down and write a review for a book. It is encouraging. Also to see people reading my books. It’s a great achievement. And just to see and touch the book itself and tell myself, this is me, this is my work! It’s a great achievement.

Related books:

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Related articles:

• Introducing Sarudzayi Barnes, Author/publisher, Wealth of Ideas, November 28, 2008.
• Gary Albyn [Interviews], Conversations with Writers, December 4, 2008.