Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Melissa Marr | Secret Passages & Mirrors? Not So Much.
Uncategorized / December 11, 2007

As a writer, I’ve found the misconceptions about writing fascinating. Now, as a rule, I don’t tell people what I do, but somehow or another it almost always eventually comes out–at which point there are several typical responses. 1. “Who’d you know? You have to know someone to sell a book.”– This is utterly false. I wrote a book, researched agents, queried, wrote another book, queried some more, signed with an agent who shopped my book. Then I accepted an offer. There were no secret passageways, networking, muttered passwords, or any of those things. No tricks. Write, research, repeat as needed. It’s pretty straight-forward.2. “Who are you in the book?”– I’ve been astounded by how many people ask this. I write multiple points of view, so there are various guesses. Ash likes photography, so do I . . . so maybe she’s “me.” Hmm. I have friends who like photography too, but I’m not them either. Having an interest in common with a character isn’t being that character. Those commonalities help me write the characters, but each character has something of my beliefs or interests or ant-interest or anti-beliefs. It’s an exercise in adding veracity, not a mirror into the…