Joining the small publisher Breakwater Harbor Books has allowed me to get to know some really awesome writers. I'm happy today to get to interview one of those writers, Lela Markham. I haven't yet finished reading the entire book, but her Celtic high fantasy novel The Willow Branch is truly fascinating so far. Since reading Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain as a child I have loved Celtic tales, and The Willow Branch is a story all lovers of Celtic myth will enjoy.
Lela, tell us a bit about yourself:
Thanks for having me, Ted. I grew up and still live in
Alaska, where my family has lived off-and-on since the 1930s. I've traveled,
but this is home and an adventure like none other. I live in a small city with
all the modern conveniences, but I'm half-an-hour from real wilderness where
the wildlife is in charge. And since my husband insists upon going out into
that wilderness, I've had plenty of adventures and raised two fearless offspring.
I envy you, as I've always wanted to visit Alaska. Hopefully I can someday. When did you begin writing?
My mother claims I told stories as soon as I could talk,
but a teacher in the 5th grade made me write one of them down. I hated the
assignment – it was planned and felt really stilted – but I got the highest
grade in the class and the teacher said I had talent. Talent will only get you
so far, so I decided to rewrite the story for my own pleasure. I think it was
still horrible, but the exercise ignited something in me – a passion for
writing that has never gone out. I've kept working at it, trying to hone my
skills (which is shaped talent) for four decades now. I trained as a
journalist, worked as a small-town reporter and then decided I'd rather work
for a living wage and write fiction for my own pleasure. I try to learn from
others, but also recognize that my voice is unique and sometimes I have to with
what it says.
What's your favorite thing about writing?
That I can choose or create where I want to go in my head
and populate it with people and settings that I want to explore and that I can
take other people with me.
What inspires you to write?
The world provides plenty of inspiration – news, movies,
conversations you overhear in the grocery store, my pastor's sermons, the
anarcho-capitalists of Fairbanks …. I used to work in the mental health field
and a psychiatrist told me once that the only difference between writers and
schizophrenics is that writers (usually) know there's a difference between
what's going on in their head and actual reality and I think I represent that.
Writing flows out of me and demands that I create. Wherever I go and whatever
I'm doing, I get inspiration and that translates into stories and I jot them
down in a stenographer's pad for later use in whatever story I end up
developing.
What is your writing process?
When stories first start to develop, there's no plan or
even a plot. Usually, a character will start to form in my head while I'm doing
something mundane – washing dishes or filing at work. That character will start
to tell me his/her story. If that character hangs around for a while (and they
don't all do that), then I'll write something about them to see what follows.
If a world starts to develop around that character, then I will start to
outline and bring in other pieces of writing from the “notebook cache.”
Eventually, I'll decide that this story needs a direction and an ending and
I'll begin to fashion the story to flow that way and step up key milestones and
determine which characters are willing to do what at any given point. Since my
characters really write themselves, often my writing process is about figuring
out what they will and will not do, because they have their own personalities
and limitations and it is up to me as the writer to find out what those are.
Where do you like to write?
I don't have a favorite place to write. For many years,
we lived in a tiny cabin where my computer was in the main living room, so I
grew used to writing with people around and televisions blaring in the
background. Now that I have a laptop, I write during my breaks at work, on
planes, in the bedroom, by the wood stove, in the kitchen, in coffee shops, on
the deck in the sun, sometimes during water breaks on hikes (I use a paper
notebook for those last two). I'll jot down ideas that come to me when I'm watching
movies with the family. Some places tend to lend themselves to certain stories
and others don't, but I will literally write anywhere and anytime. Generally, I
drink coffee or tea while I'm writing and I don't usually eat because I hate
crumbs in the keyboard. When I'm getting down to the serious parts of writing,
it's usually just me, my laptop, music in the background, a cup of coffee, and
the continuity notebook for whatever book I'm working on.
I admire that tenacity. I'm so picky about writing that I have to have silence and I only work in my office at home! What is something you've written that will never see the
light of day?
In high school, I wrote a lot of fan fictions for my
friends based on TV shows we all liked, but were ultimately awful or maybe
great because they got canceled. I think maybe I improved on them. My husband
found a box of it and stuck it in a binder, but it will never be published
because of copyright concerns. It was actually a great exercise, taking so-so
episodic writing and making it better, giving minor characters fuller
attention, finishing stories that were canceled mid-season. Call it
weight-lifting for writers.
What's the hardest thing about writing for you?
Ending a story. Even when I've decided how it will end, I
often do not want to say goodbye to the surviving characters. I think I write
series for that reason. I know how the Daermad Cycle is going to end, but I
have a nice long while before I get there.
How many books have you written and which is your
favorite?
I've written dozens over the decades, but I've officially
finished only four and those are in various stages of revision or
restructuring, except The Willow Branch. The door is shut on that. Onward to
Mirklin Wood. My favorite is probably my dystopian A Well in Emmaus, which will
be a series. I get to bring in a lot of threads from political philosophy,
history, anarchism, faith, psychology, even economics and I really love that. I
think the Daermad Cycle is my second, and again, because it is so intricate.
What are some of your favorite books?
Zenna Henderson's People collection were my first
introduction to fantasy (they called it sci-fi back then, but it isn't really).
I have a soft spot for it still. Madelein L'Engle's books remain favorites,
especially The Young Unicorns. I have a library full of classics – Austen,
Dickens, Hemingway. I love the letters of the American Founders. My favorite fantasy
authors are Katharine Kerr and Kate Elliott. My favorite sci-fi authors are
still Bradbury, Heinlein and Asimov. I re-read Fahrenheit 451 last year and was
surprised at how prescient Bradbury was – he described ear buds and wide-screen
media rooms 50 years before they existed and his take on the alienation of
modern America is stunning.
Since we're both new to Breakwater Harbor Books imprint, tell me about your
experience with them.
I've known Scott Toney and Cara Goldthorpe from Authonomy
for a long time. I think Scott's Ark of Humanity might have been the first or
second book I read on the site and I backed it to the ED for a year. Scott gave
me lots of feedback on The Willow Branch right after I came out with a major
rewrite. Then we sort of lost contact until he found me or I found him on
Facebook a few months ago. I checked out the BHB website and complimented him
and then he asked me if I was interested in joining the imprint. I had already
done most of the work on The Willow Branch. Scott Butcher, who is not part of
BHB, acted as my editor for it -- it was a read-swap that went above and
beyond. I literally agreed to join BHB three days before the ebook launch.
Since then, it's been a warm and welcoming atmosphere and I've picked up a few
author interviews from the relationship (both interviewing me and then my
interviewing others, which drives traffic to my blog). Scott was moving houses,
so things were quiet for a while, but now I see how being a member of a group
of writers will allow me access to alpha and beta readers, critique on cover
art, and help with promotion. Ivan appears to be a Twitter warrior, which I am
ambivalent about, but I enjoy blogging, so I could support him there. That sort
of thing. It's tough being an indie author, but if we can find ways to work
together, to play off of each other's strengths, then we become better
publishers as a group.
Promo Blurb from my press kit --
Lela Markham is the pen name of an Alaskan novelist who
was raised in a home built of books. Alaska is a grand adventure like none
other with a culture that embraces summer adventure and winter artist pursuits.
Lela has been a journalist, worked in the mental health
field and is currently works for the State of Alaska, but her avocation has
always been storyteller.
Her first published book The Willow Branch begins
an exploration of the world of Daermad where a fractured kingdom leaves two
races vulnerable to destruction by a third and opens the opportunity to mend
old wounds. Lela drew inspiration from Celtic mythology, Alaskan raven legends
and the Bible to craft a tale of war, faith and reconciliation. And, don’t
forget … Celtic goddesses, sentient animals and dragons.
Lela shares her life with her adventuresome husband and
two fearless offspring and a sentient husky who keeps a yellow Lab as a pet.
 |
| Lela in the lovely Alaskan wilderness |
Back Cover Pitch:
A healer must mend a fractured
kingdom and bring two enemy races together before a greater enemy destroys them
both.
Fate took Prince Maryn by surprise, leaving Celdrya to tear itself
apart. A century later an army amasses against the warring remains of the
kingdom as prophesy sends a half-elven healer on a journey to find the nameless
True King. Padraig lacks the power to put the True King on the throne, yet
compelled by forces greater than himself, Padraig contends with dark mages,
Celtic goddesses, human factions and the ancient animosities of two peoples
while seeking a myth. With all that distraction, a man might meet the True King
and not recognize him.
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