31 Days of Monsters - INTERVIEW

Oct 17, 2013 14:29

GRRRRRRRRRR! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! MONSTER DAY SEVENTEEN


Welcome to our second installment of author interviews. Today we are pleased to welcome author and psychologist M. R. Glass to our virtual interview lounge. A psychologist and published author, her story Grace Abounding is her first published work of fiction.

STORY SPRING: Tell us, please, how did you get your start writing fiction?

M.R. GLASS: I wrote my first ever piece of fiction in the fall of 2007. I was absolutely terrified but electrified at the same time. The story was written for a fanfiction exchange and it was called, “In Dreams.”

STORY SPRING: Whose writing, or what sort of book, moves you? What are you reading now?

M.R.: I’m a longtime reader of science fiction and fantasy, but any story that includes themes of transformation, interpersonal magic and awareness moves me. I love all sorts of writers for different reasons. I can enjoy a fast paced, well plotted story like the Silo Series by Hugh Howey or any of John Scalzi’s books (I just finished “Fuzzy Nation” which was excellent.) I adore Patrick Rothfuss’s storytelling and writing style. I can sink my teeth into a complex story with multiple characters on a long, twisty road like GRR Martin’s “Game of Thrones” or read and reread a series like Lainey Taylor’s “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” (which is the first) for its sheer magic of characterization, plot and magic. I’m waiting on tenterhooks for “Allegiant” to be released next month.

STORY SPRING: Would you say any monsters scared you when you were young? How about now that you’re older?

M.R.: I don’t remember being afraid of horror movie/book monsters. I’m more afraid of the monsters we can’t see. The ones who fool us and draw us in only to tear us up from the inside.

Story Spring: Very interesting, especially since so much of Grace Abounding has to do with the mind, or takes place in the mind. Would you say that in general, your writing is reflective of your other career?

M.R.: Without a doubt. I don’t think I can help writing with an eye to internal experience and interpersonal transformation. It’s so wound up in how I think, the themes show up even when I’m not aiming to put them there.

STORY SPRING: I was impressed that your story seemed fully monster-ish, yet at the same time un-monster-ish. How do you view Anna - is she a monster?

M.R.: I’ll risk being cliché and say that Anna was closer to being a monster when she was human and part of the lynch mobs in Prague--failing to see the ‘other’ as fully human. I see her journey since that time as a low process of becoming more ‘human’ in the emotional and interpersonal sense. So, “monster” may be a fluid category, one which can be entered and potentially exited as well.

STORY SPRING: Considering Anna’s history, it seems that you are offering Grace to her, literally and figuratively. Please talk about why you named your main character as you did.

M.R.: Fabulous question. I think that Anna had to reach for Grace herself. That moment of empathy was what allowed Anna to (metaphysically and metaphorically) turn from being a monster back to the path of being human. Those moments of connection and relationship are key. So Anna felt something and acted on it by reaching for the child (Grace) to share some of her mother’s memories with her. That choice (to connect, to be empathic, to share memory and history) ultimately granted her grace. That the character Grace allowed herself to be available this way speaks to her receptivity and empathy.

STORY SPRING: What words of advice would you give to new writers?

M.R.: Give yourself the space and the chance to figure out what sort of process works best for you. There are a million books on writing (and I have roughly 90% of them on my shelves) and they have some fabulous advice. However, not all of the advice is going to be helpful to all people. I could sit with a pad of paper in front of me for days and still come up with a totally anemic outline. But if I turn on the music (very low on repeat) and start to write with a general idea of what scene or scenes I’m drafting, I find far more depth and breadth and direction in my story than when I try to decide ahead of time what will happen over the long-haul. Yes, I rewrite/hone/layer my story a lot. It works for me, despite the prolific whining.

Also, let yourself have fun with your story and characters. The internal censor is your worst enemy. Write first, edit later. You’ll be amazed what shows up on the page if you allow yourself to write without the internal critic.

STORY SPRING: Can you tell us a favorite quote?

M.R.: Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.

STORY SPRING: And if you could have any super power, what would you choose?

M.R.: I’d love for the magic wand and crystal ball in my office to work. :)

STORY SPRING: Oh, I’ll confess to having wished for that more than a time or two, myself!

Thank you so much to M.R. Glass for joining us to celebrate 31 Days of Monsters, and the release of Thoroughly Modern Monsters, in which her story, Grace Abounding, appears. We appreciate you sharing yourself with your fans, in whose number I certainly count myself. And a reminder to all our friends, there will be an expanded version of this interview published tomorrow on the Story Spring Publishing blog.

M.R. Glass has been escaping into fantastical worlds for as long as she can remember. Using the threads of myth, legend, archetype, and fairy-tale to weave those worlds into words and images that others can share is one of her greatest joys. She is a psychologist by day and a writer by night and lives in the US Midwest with her husband, three kids, and two extremely furry cats. You can find out more about her (and her cats!) on her FaceBook page, her Twitter account, or her blog, Storyglass.

tmm, interview, 31 days of monsters

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