Kissed By Venus

Bobbi D. Marolt, Interviewed

Posted by Editor Alexandra Wolfe | Filed under Interviews

It was a delight to chat back and forth, via email, with up and coming new author, Bobbi D. Marolt. Here’s what she had to say to a number of questions I posed to her.

KBV: First of all, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

If I must, but first let me say I’m honored that Kissed By Venus has asked for this interview. Thank you, Alexandra.

Your first is the toughest question! I’m not good at talking about myself but I’ll list some things. I’m much too honest for my own good. I’m originally from a tiny town in Pennsylvania – population around 800. I would rather lose my legs than my hearing. I consume too much peanut butter. Someone in NYC told me I’m the devil – and she meant it. The day I win Powerball (not holding my breath), I’ll have a house built around a Steinway concert grand piano. I have the attention span of a lightning bolt. I’m single and live in New England.

KBV: Have you ever thought about using your time in the Army as fodder for a novel?

It never crosses my mind. I had a wonderful time playing army, but I doubt anything interesting could come from it.

KBV: What, for you, was the hardest thing about writing Between The Lines?

Gail’s character needed a past, something that completely stopped her from falling in love. I highlight a ketchup bottle throughout the story and, although I knew it held the key to Gail, I had no clue why that bottle meant so much to her. When I wrote the reveal, that’s when I found out. I worked blindly with that important portion of the story line. That was the toughest part – building Gail’s history with the bottle, determining why that bottle meant so much to her, and then going back and adding things regarding the bottle.

May I mention this? — There’s a scene where Tannen is holding, toying with, comparing it to Gail, saying the bottle could be Gail, in a “man against himself” kind of way. Two of my favorite, simple sentences come from Gail’s thoughts during that scene. Tannen asks Gail about the bottle: “What’s inside, Gail?” Gail hears the sentence two different ways: What’s inside, Gail? and What’s inside Gail? The answer surprised me when I came up with it — 40,000 words later. I hope readers find the answer just as surprising.

KBV: Between The Lines isn’t your first novel, what else have you written?

In 1997 I had a short novel published. The book was the first time I’d attempted publication and I feel fortunate it was accepted, as I do with Between the Lines.

Coming Attractions is about a newspaper columnist and her new relationship with a concert pianist. A sub-plot revolves around the columnists desire to have a live show where celebrities will reveal they are gay/lesbian on the night of the show. The book is OOP, but you can get a used copy for a buck ninety-eight plus shipping, on Amazon.

Because of Between the Lines, I now get email/feedback regarding Coming Attractions. It amazes me that people are still buying the book. It’s equally amazing that some of those copies are listed at more than thirty dollars! Heck, send me five dollars and I’ll send you a copy of the WORD file!

KBV: What, if anything, inspires you to write?

The “O” word: Obsession. With Between the Lines, I was obsessed with a female actor, and hers was the face I used for the character Tannen Albright. Tannen is 20 years younger, though. Both are British, blonde, and known for nude scenes. Can I say that much without finding myself in court? I’ll add that my character is her own person and not the real actor. I don’t know anything about her.

In Coming Attractions, I obsessed over another female. The character of Helen Townsend is not anyone specific, but a particular face kept the story going for me. I needed an outlet for that obsession, so I wrote her out of my mind. At the same time, celebrities were publicly playing around with their sexual identities and I wanted them to say they were gay and to stop bothering me with innuendo. I coupled the character Helen with my anger toward celebrity identity games. Coming Attractions was the result.

In writing both stories, I exorcised the demons, so to speak.

KBV: How do you like to approach your writing when starting a new project? Do you do outlines and breakdown scenes, or do you just leap straight into writing the narrative?

I write. I generally know who, when, where, and what, but not how and why. For both books, no notes existed. On the manuscript The Virginal, I’ve recently found some scribbled notes I’d made last summer. Interestingly to me, the notes are quite accurate to how the story is told, aside from a few ideas I’d decided not to use. I like to “wing it” because things can change very quickly.

KBV: How do you create your characters? Do you start with a basic outline of personality type, or work them up as you go along—I’m thinking Grace here?

Ah, such a slick question! The simple answer is: characters “happen.” I don’t plan them and that, to me, is what makes writing fun. Everything is a wild-assed guess, but so far it’s worked for me.

The long answer is sometimes another obsession takes over and I’ll create a sub-character similar to someone well known. A good example is in The Virginal. I’m “all about” the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. I wanted a character, Diane (or perhaps myself), to experience a portion of that festival up-close. I created Faith Thompson, who looks much like a musician who performed at Woodstock, but that’s the extent of their similarities, except for their penchant for using the F word a lot. Am I going to prison yet? Developing Faith was major fun, and she became integral to the story, which surprised me. Faith is brassy, vulgar, but also fun and caring. The scene I wrote for Faith’s Woodstock appearance is 100% fiction and a freaking masterpiece of writing! Of course, that’s just in my mind, but it is my favorite scene.

Usually, personality types are parts of me. Among other things, Gail shares my “never been in love” facet and we’re also guarded with our emotions. Tannen shares my (nearly) “honest to a fault” facet. Karen is not one bit of me, but I just love the hell out of her. I may have stolen her personality from Coleen Camp’s editor character in the movie Sliver. At least she is who I heard when I wrote Karen. Karen is funny, in Gail’s face, and helps keep Gail in line.

KBV: How does your love of music influence you, if at all, when writing?

Just reading the question makes me smile. I grew up with most family members who could play a decent piano. Music came from many places at home: piano, organ, clarinets, guitars, violin, drums, and vocals — aside from the typical stereo and radio. My brother had his own band; I was in three different bands. My favorite instrument, one that I couldn’t come close to getting right, was the piano. My hands wouldn’t obey at the same time, although I could read music.

That inability made me decide Cory Chamberlain would be the classical pianist that I could only fantasize. Happily, through Coming Attractions and writing Cory, I took piano lessons and finally learned to get it right, at least enough for my liking.

In Between the Lines, I mention at least four songs, and a few classical pieces for various reasons. There is also a brief character and she’s a classical pianist. Originally, there was one song in particular I’d used, but as a cop-out for writing out Gail’s emotions. I had to edit that piece from the story and write the tough emotions. For the record, it works much better in the story.

My desire to have witnessed the Woodstock show plays an excellent part in The Virginal. Also, that story is about a pianist/music teacher who inherits a five hundred year old musical instrument — a virginal, similar to a piano, but sounds like a harpsichord.

Shall I go on? *s* After The Virginal, I’m thinking about a story which I’ve titled Curtain Up! but I’ve nothing more than a title and a character with red hair. I may steal Marty Jamison, from Coming Attractions, for the lead. This story will be about a female Broadway actor. My money is on a piano showing up. Do I see a trend here?

KBV: I see you are almost finished writing your next novel, The Virginal. Would you like to explain to our readers what it’s about, without giving too much away.

Love to! The Virginal is my favorite story. It’s about a musician who inherits an antique musical instrument — a virginal. The quirky thing about this instrument is its’ capability to act as a time travel portal. The story is not a romp through history. It’s about a woman who has experienced great lose and must travel to four precise moments in time to get over her lose and on with her life. She travels backward and forward in time. At the same time, she helps another person in need of a better life.

I nearly stopped writing the story when it came time to wrap it up. The aforementioned scenes were so wonderful, I felt I couldn’t write an ending as well as I’d written those scenes. I’m still not sure the ending is good enough, but it’s written.

KBV: On the more mundane side, what are some of the things you do to improve on your craft? Will you be attending any conferences this year?

This question made me cringe, but I’ll be candid. I refer to myself as a black sheep of writing. I’ve never attended creative writing classes beyond those of high school caliber: you know — English Comp., journalism, things like that. Probably the only thing I do to improve my writing is listen to feedback from readers, beta readers, reviewers, and especially editors. You won’t find profound thought in my books, or drawn out descriptive passages, and you won’t find stories to end all stories. I write simply and, I hope, clearly, with strong characters. I like hearing negative feedback, when it exists to someone. It could help the next story.

No conferences for me. I just want to write when the desire shows up. I’ll never be the “must write books always” type (and there is nothing wrong with that type), so why fill my head with information? I’d probably fall asleep at a conference, anyway. Some people are tempting me with GCLS but I suspect I won’t attend, although the heat of Florida and hanging with new people is awfully tempting. I’m a Gemini, so I can be painfully shy and desirous of companionship at the same time. *s*

KBV: What, from your perspective, were some of the most common mistakes you made when starting out in the business?

Having the audacity to think my first novel could go mainstream, but even receiving rejection letters from agents was informative. They reinforced the idea that the story wasn’t bad, that somebody would like to read it, and they pointed me in the right direction.

KBV: How do you see your work developing in the future?

I haven’t the slightest clue. Whatever happens, I’ll go with that.

KBV: If you didn’t write, what would you be doing, if anything?

I would listen to music, think about characters, or watch the History Channel. I’m terrible around people, in that I tend to take a backseat from them, so I don’t socialize a lot. I like going to movies and catching my favorite reruns on AMC. I’ve also become a slave to Facebook, but I’m slowly getting away from it. I also have an on-line Hearts addiction. Physical activity? Nah.

KBV: And finally, what’s your favorite thing about writing? And what, for you, are the worst aspects about it?

I love manipulating characters, their lives, and watching them fall in love. It’s challenging and fun to set them up and see how I write them into or out of a scene. I like running into surprises along the way. The ketchup bottle is one example, and the character Meredith, that showed up for the end of The Virginal is another example.

The worst aspects? I’m a dialogue person and cringe when I have a need to write narrative. In her Nobel Prize address, Toni Morrison said, “Narrative is radical.” I say it’s boring and I usually skim through long narrative when reading. I’m probably Narcissistic in that respect. I don’t want my words skimmed over. I like writing dialogue and want dialogue to present the story. Perhaps I should write screenplays.

My attention span gets in the way, too. I’m easily distracted and it takes forever to complete a manuscript. I also have a tendency to write something that’s fun or interesting to read, but really has no bearing on the heart of the story. Ah, editors — they do come in handy.

Author Profile:

Bobbi Marolt was born in Pennsylvania and upon graduation from high school enlisted in the United States Army, specializing in telecommunications. After an honorable discharge and two and a half years in Texas, she ambled into Connecticut “to go to school.” That stunt landed her between New York State and Connecticut for the next several years, jammed into quality assurance positions in various types of manufacturing. Her interests include film, classical music, and she’d give anything to spend three intensive weeks training with maestro Gisele Ben-Dor and then conduct the London Symphony for one performance, but two would be better! Her program would include various works by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Johann Strauss, Beethoven, and J. P. Sousa.

The just released BETWEEN THE LINES, published by Bold Strokes Books (May, 2009) is technically Bobbi’s second book. Her first, COMING ATTRACTIONS, was released by Rising Tide Press. Her third, THE VIRGINAL, is still awaiting a publisher.

To find out more about Bobbi, visit her web site: BOBBI D. MAROLT

Read an excerpt of BETWEEN THE LINES.

Tags: between the lines, bobbi d. marolt, coming attractions, Interviews, writers

Permalink | Comments (0) | May 29, 2009

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