Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
A1. I am the author of SAVING PHOEBE MURROW and STRANGE SHAPE OF LOVE; both fall into the category of suspenseful women’s fiction and deal with the dark side of social media. My short stories and memoir have been published in anthologies and literary journals. My short and long fiction has received assorted awards, and I’m also the founder of Chrysalis Editorial, where I’ve worked with hundreds of writers. As a writing coach and editor, I have helped dozens of writers get their books published. I have also ghostwritten three people’s memoirs.
I was born in Yugoslavia, lived in Germany, then moved to the US at age seven. I was an adventurous child, exploring my world on bike and on foot, and grew up to be an adventurous traveler and have continued on that path to discover the various people and cultures of our planet. I recently went snorkeling in Palau, an island nation in the Pacific north of Australia. What an unbelievable world lives just under the surface of the ocean! I’ve traveled widely in South America and Europe. I’ve been on safari in Africa, an adventure hike in Patagonia, numerous river cruises, and still have a long list of places to visit. India, the Galapagos, and Egypt top my list. Before my writing and editing career, I co-founded Safe Kids Worldwide, an organization dedicated to the prevention of unintentional injuries to children.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “Strange Shape of Love”?
A2. I struggled for a bit about where to set the story and the age and career of my protagonist, Charlotte Cooper. Initially, I set the story in multiple places — the US, Istanbul, an archaeological site on the border of Turkey and Syria, London, even Nicaragua. Charlotte was in her mid-forties and a human rights activist. Some feedback from one of my publishers prompted me to rethink this. Eventually, after a couple of drafts, I ended up with a younger Charlotte, age 30, and the story mostly takes place in London, and briefly in New York. Now, I feel it’s set exactly where it ought to be, and I admire Strange Shape of Love’s protagonist.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
A3. I’m an avid, even voracious, reader. I wouldn’t exactly say that specific authors have influenced my writing, but I’m a careful reader and learn from all of them, even the bad ones. I enjoy everything from literary fiction to thrillers, to memoir and some non-fiction. Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors, also love Emily St. John Mandel. On the non-fiction front, I’m a fan of Ronan Farrow and Michael Finley, and admire Natasha Trethewey’s memoir. In terms of authors who write fiction similar to mine, I’d include Kimberly McCreight, Liane Moriarity, Jodi Picoult, Paula Hawkins, and several others, whose novels I enjoy. In a sense, every author has influenced me. Even the author of the original Nancy Drew series, which I devoured as a child, and Victoria Holt novels, that I loved as a teen.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
A4. I don’t have a single favorite spot, but I do love nature, and the Naples Botanical Garden is a “happy place,” as is Big Sur in California.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘Strange Shape of Love’?
A5. I was shocked to learn that some people post or threaten to post nude photos of someone they once loved on social media/the internet…this is now referred to as revenge porn. It’s a way of getting revenge, of regaining control of the narrative of your relationship. It’s really another form of cyberbullying and sexual harassment. Two things triggered my desire to write about this. One: an incident I read about in which a couple of guys hacked into female celebrity’s phones, stole their nude photos and posted them online. This was such an invasion of privacy that I wanted to write about it. Related to this was a book written by Ronan Farrow—Catch and Kill, which is about sexual harassment in the workplace, especially in the media and Hollywood. I explore these elements and bring them into the story of Strange Shape of Love. I also wanted to incorporate a love story in this novel, and also the various ways people “love”—hence, strange shapes love takes!
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘Strange Shape of Love’?
A6. Honestly, too long. I wrote a couple of other versions of this novel before landing on the final story, which took me a couple of years to complete.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
A7. It is available on Kindle and other e-readers. Of course, the print book is also available at Amazon, Bookshop.org, Walmart, and Barnes and Noble.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Strange Shape of Love’?
A8. The title came to me quite a few years ago. Originally, I titled the book Her Other Life, but then out of thin air, Love Takes Strange Shapes came to me and then over time I preferred Strange Shape of Love and it stuck. Jason Henderson, my publisher at Castle Bridge Media (CBM), liked it too. In Churl Yo, his partner at CBM, designed the cover. They sent it to me, asking what I thought. I loved it right away and gave it a thumbs up. I’m not sure what In Churl’s process was, but I think he nailed it!!
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself.
A9. I follow the protagonist’s journey without projecting too much of my own ideas onto him or her. In suspense fiction, surprising things happen. Otherwise the story can become boring and predictable. Bad guys/evil characters emerge. I was pretty surprised by how some aspects of the plot twisted and turned. And that a psychopathic character showed up on the page.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
A10.You really have to make space in your mind and in the course of your day for your writing. It won’t happen otherwise. Obviously. I do a fair amount of pre-writing…some scenes, some dialogue, some character profiles before I begin writing the novel. This was true for both Saving Phoebe Murrow and Strange Shape of Love.
Sassy Reviews 