Your Writing Process

I am very curious about how you see short stories compared to the long form, i.e. what do both forms mean for you? Are there any insights you’d like to share, regarding your use of these forms?

That is a most interesting question and one I had to think about quite a bit to finally realize that my initial challenge to answering it is that I see no great difference between short stories or novels or screenplays, except for the way the story plays out on paper or computer screen. Story is what is important to me, and some just naturally fit in the short story medium, while others need more to happen and more time in which to let those things happen.

One thing I’ve learned through the process of writing in both forms for so long, is that I will usually know instinctively if a new story idea will work in a short story, or is it the beginning of a new novel.  

What writing process works best for you, Maryann?

When I first started writing I never thought of process. I just wrote stories as they came to me. The short stories often would come in a flash of an inspiration, and then I’d write the whole thing in one sitting. “Maybe Someday”, one of the stories in my collection The Wisdom of Ages came to me that way and only had minor changes during a few rewrites. It’s always a thrill when my muse gifts me like that, and it continues to be the way I write most of my short stories.

Much later, after I started writing novels and met up with other writers, I understood that I’m pretty much of a pantster when it comes to plotting and writing longer fiction. The genesis of the story might present itself in that same kind of flash of an idea, and then I start writing. Most often the leading character, or characters, come with that idea and concept, which makes the whole process work well for me. The characters will help drive the story as much as whatever plot ideas I have.

Which part of the writing process do you love, or hate, most?

Like most other writers, the creative process is the one I love the most, especially that first surge of inspiration when I can’t wait to get to the computer to start writing. It’s always a thrill, too, when the characters present a new idea or direction for the story that I hadn’t considered, and it’s a good one.

What do you intentionally avoid in your writing?

There are a number of things I shy away from in my stories: rape scenes, cruelty toward children, animal cruelty, and extremely graphic violence. The mystery and suspense novels do center on crimes, but I don’t paint the scenes with a lot of gore. That’s the only place in the narrative where I do a bit of “telling” as opposed to “showing.”

While writing I also avoid stereotypes as much as possible. For instance, in the Seasons Mystery Series, I purposely flipped the backgrounds of the two women homicide detectives, giving Angel a middle class, intact Black family, and Sarah having the kind of difficult, impoverished background most associated with Black families.

Have you tried writing all genres, or do you focus only on one or two?

It’s funny as I’ve never thought about picking a genre, especially when I first started writing. I just had stories I wanted to tell. My short stories are definitely mostly mainstream, with only a couple of exceptions, and the novels just fell into the genre classification after they were in process. Play It Again, Sam, the first romance I wrote was just a story based on an experience that a friend had and shared with me. I hadn’t set out to find a story to fit in that genre, it just did. The same was true for the genesis of One Small Victory, my first suspense novel. That story was inspired by a newspaper article I read about a mother of five kids bullying her way onto a drug task force in a small town in Michigan and busting a drug ring. The classification of genre came from the first publisher who actually labeled it romantic suspense.

The Business of Writing

Regarding genre, do you write for the market, or just follow your heart?

Writing for the market has never worked for me. A long time ago I had an agent who encouraged me to write romance, since that was easier to market at the time than mystery or short story collections. I tried. I really did. The agent sent guidelines from Harlequin, and I kept them on top of my desk for weeks, reading them over often. And I set out to write a story. I created a heroine and a hero. I outlined a possible storyline. I created a supporting cast. I did all the things the guidelines said to do, but the result was flat and uninspiring. Much later, after I wrote my first romance novel, I realized the difference. The central character came to me. I didn’t have to create her. This was Play It Again, Sam based on my friend’s experience. It was real. It all had substance. It had “legs”. 

How many WIPs do you have going at once?

It used to be that I only worked on one writing project at a time, although I would fit in editing for clients in the morning and work on a new story in the afternoon. Now, however, I have one novel, one nonfiction book, my memoir, and a couple of short stories in progress. I am going to have to settle on one to finish in the near future as having so many in limbo unnerves me. LOL

What’s your advice on how to manage bad reviews?

Over the years I’ve learned to ignore review that are not favorable, and now in the era of instant reviewing on Amazon, we have to have even thicker skin. Back in my journalism days when I wrote for newspapers, I was a reviewer. During that time, it was considered a gross breach of etiquette for an author to contact a reviewer to question or rant against a negative comment in a review. But then most review requests were handled by the book editor, not the author, so there was distance between the authors and reviewers.

In regards to reviews of my books that were sent out by the publisher, I seldom saw them unless I happened to see a review in our local newspapers. Sending a handwritten note of thanks to the bookpage editor that would often be shared with the reviewer was always considered a gracious and polite response.

Now, when I see a new review online, I try to thank every person when I can for taking the time to review, even if it wasn’t a positive one. Amazon used to allow us to do that right there as a comment on the review, and I think it was a mistake for them to stop allowing that. Whenever I see a mention on Twitter that someone posted a review of one of my books on Goodreads, I can thank them there, as well as on Twitter.

How do you celebrate good reviews?

It’s always a thrill to see a positive review of one of my books, and I especially like it when a reviewer really “gets” the story or character and points that out. Then I know it is someone who truly understands story.

Inspiration

Is there anything or anyone that has ever put you off writing? If so, what was the outcome?

Funny you should ask. 😊 My college literature professor tried to steer me away from pursuing writing as a career. He gave me poor marks on my papers based solely on the subject matter not the quality of my writing. I liked Steinbeck and Hemmingway and the professor loved James Joyce. I wasn’t, and still am not fond of Joyce. I know he’s considered one of the geniuses of his time when it comes to story and writing, but his style just turned me off. When I told the professor of my desire to be a writer, he shook his head and told me I should take up some other form of creative expression.

Since I’d been writing most of my life up to that point, short stories and essays, I couldn’t stop, but I did give up the dream of being a professional writer. That is until one day several years later, my husband came home from work early and found me scribbling away in a notebook. He read what I’d written, declared it good, and encouraged me to take some creative writing classes. Through all of our years together, my husband continued to be my cheerleader through all the years of rejections and helped me celebrate the publications and awards. 

Which book left the biggest mark on you?

When I read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, I cried, and then I read it again several times in a row. His ability to create characters that are so real and so engaging captivated me. In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Steinbeck said about writing and living, “Try to understand each other.” Even before I’d read that quote, I knew that understanding people, especially the common man, was a hallmark of his work, and I’ve tried to emulate that in my writing. And his writing is so simple, yet profound. I’m not sure if I’ve reached his level in either way, but I keep trying.

Do you prefer reading books by indies, or traditionally published authors?

When it comes to reading, I have no preference between indies or authors working with a traditional publisher. If they write a good, solid story that has been professionally edited, I’m open to any author’s book. Give me people I can relate to; give me wordage that is above the ordinary; give me a place I can see and feel; and give me an intriguing plot, and I’ll take that ride with you.

What are your plans for your next book/collection/series?

When I finish Brutal Season, the fourth book in the Seasons Mystery Series, I need to decide if that will be the final Seasons book. That’s a hard decision as I love the characters I’m working with, and readers seem to like them a lot, too. Still, I have a couple of story ideas that have come to me recently, one featuring a PI named Memphis. She just showed up one day while I was working on something else, and she’s prodding me to give her a story.

The Creative Grey Matter

Are you an introvert, extrovert, or both?

I’m pretty much of an introvert, which may seem amusing because I also love to play on stage. For some time, I wondered about that contradiction in myself, until I realized that when I’m onstage I’m not Maryann Miller, I’m that person in the play. When I’m giving presentations to library groups and taking part in festivals and writer’s conferences, I adopt a bit of that “playing a role” attitude to come out of the shell we introverts like to hide in. That always makes the presentations more fun than nerve-wracking.

Do you prefer writing about safe, or more controversial subjects?

While I don’t consciously seek out issues about which to write, civil rights has always been a cause that is dear to me, and that has been an ongoing theme in the Seasons Mystery Series. Open Season has a subplot of the use of deadly force by police that is never resolved. I’m not sure that social problem ever can be fixed in fiction. And now, ten years after that first book was released in hardback, the fourth book in the series I’m currently writing is again focused on Black people being killed by police and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

When I started writing “Beyond the Crack in the Sidewalk”, the title story in the collection most recently released by Next Chapter Publishing, I hadn’t planned to make the central character a homeless teen. I was responding to a writing prompt that had just the first few lines: “Beyond the cracked sidewalk, and the telephone pole with layers of flyers in a rainbow of colors, and the patch of dry brown grass there stood a ten-foot-high concrete block wall, caked with dozens of coats of paint. There was a small shrine at the foot of it, with burnt out candles and dead flowers and a few soggy teddy bears. One word of graffiti filled the wall, red letters on a gold background: Rejoice!”

Writers were encouraged to take those first few lines and write a story that could go in any direction inspiration took us. My muse gifted me with a central character, Hannah, and she basically told me her story of how she ended up on the streets and why that shrine meant so much to her.

What would you say is your most important attribute that’s reflected in your work?

One of my gifts is empathy and a sincere interest in people, especially caring about things that complicate their lives. My educational background is in sociology and clinical pastoral education, and that has influenced my writing immensely.

Is there anything not craft-related that you strongly recommend to writers starting off today, which you did not know back then?

Develop a thick skin. I clearly remember the first time I was edited and saw all those red marks in the galleys. I thought, “How dare she (the editor) change my words? It isn’t fair.” After letting me pace and rant for a while, my husband told me to sit down, have a glass of wine. Leave the galleys for a day or so, and remember that editors are there to make a book better, not pull all your fingernails out one by one. That was his way of reminding me that the mark-ups were about the book, not me. And the editor was not some ogre, but actually a very nice young woman. She edited all nine nonfiction books I wrote for the Rosen Publishing Group.

That thick skin is also important if a new writer joins a critique group. Our words are not our darlings, they’re just words. That’s a truism that’s hard to fully embrace because we have to love what we write if we want readers to love to read the stories, but our words are not carved in granite. They can change. I’ve learned to accept constructive critiques and my writing has improved as a result of some good feedback.

Life in General

How hooked are you on writing (and/or reading)?

Hi, I’m Maryann Miller and I’m a readaholic. I think that answers part of the question. 😊 As to the other, a writer friend once told me that writing is not simply what we do, writing is part of who we are. That’s why I never have stopped, from back in college to now.

What else is important for you, besides writing?

My family is the most important thing in my life. Before my wedding, my father took me out for a drink and this is what he told me after taking a small handful of change out of his pocket, “I may not have a lot of money. Or a fancy house. Or an expensive car, but I have you and your brothers and sisters. That’s all I need to be a rich man.” That was so many years ago, but I can still recall it almost word for word.

The Fun Part

Do you have any ‘co-writer’ pets?

My dog Dusty has a bed in my office where he naps while I’m writing. He’s not a lot of help. 😊 There are also two cats who come to wander all over my desk sometimes, especially when they think it’s time to eat. They’ve been known to step on the keyboard and add a run of letters to a sentence – ddddddddddddd. Also, not a lot of help, but I do love my pets. I’ve always had a cat or a dog, and I can’t imagine life without one.

Writers Just Starting Out 

What’s your message for writers starting out today, Maryann?

Don’t give up your dream and don’t listen to the nay-sayers. Take classes to learn the craft. We may be born story tellers, but we have to learn the craft, just like a musician or visual artist has to learn theirs. Read. Read. Read. We learn so much by reading other work, even subtly absorbing craft. Finally, if you plan to go Indie, hire professionals to do the editing, formatting, and graphics. We can do a lot of self-editing, but we need someone else to help fine tune the manuscript. Even though I’m a professional editor, I still hire someone else to do that final editing and proofing.

Finally, welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of writing and publishing. You’re in for quite a ride. Enjoy the highs and persevere through the lows.

                                            “Short stories that stir deep emotion” (5-star review on Amazon)

I find Maryann to be a highly inspiring author, and chatting with her opened my eyes to many aspects of writing. I am convinced that you too will come away from this chat feeling motivated and inspired like I was!  We wish you all the best on your writing path, Maryann!  If you would like to catch up more with Maryann, you can do so here:  

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