Kissed By Venus

Ruth Perkinson

By Editor Alexandra Wolfe

20 QUESTIONS IN THE HOT SEAT

1. Why do you write?

I guess that question could also be: why does a painter paint, a sculptor sculpt, a dancer dance, an orator orate, a cartoonist cartoon? Is cartoon a verb? Okay, I’ll shut up on that one I write because somewhere along the line someone told me I wasn’t a very good writer. It must have been a few jaded English teachers in 7th or 8th grade. They bled out on my papers with scratchy scrawls of maniacal inkdom in a language I could not and did not understand. I would stare dumbly at the comments and edits and wonder what the carat meant and what parallel construction was anyway. How does one split an infinitive without hurting something or someone?

In 9th grade, I had an English teacher who saved me. She read aloud from one of my essays one day in front of the class. I thought I might slip out the door and run down the hallway and scream: hallelujah! I do have something to say. But, didn’t know what hallelujah was then, so I didn’t.

I write today because of the characters instilled in me. I do not pretend to own it: that is, my writing. I just try and give voice to a character who has a story to tell.

2. What genre do you feel most comfortable working in?

Just plain old contemporary fiction…that’s really it. I think most writers fall in that category somehow.

3. What was the first thing you remember writing?

A poem for my Mother on Mother’s Day when I was very young. It was about a mouse and it rhymed and she read it like it was the coolest thing she’d ever laid eyes on.

4. How do you work? That is, how do you approach a new project? Do you write different scenes and put them all together or do you just go from point A to point B and you’re done?

I’m up in my head all the time. The project comes into to me through different lenses. But, mainly, I try to think of a character who’s been silenced or hurt in some way (something that really makes me angry), and then I try and get them through the pain/wound by virtue of something else.

I’m not a linear writer, that is point A to point B. I’ll scratch a bad outline on a piece of paper or a post-it note and use that as my stepping stone from point to point. Usually, I just let the keys dictate to me how my fingers should run across them at any given moment.

5. Do you talk to your characters?

They talk to me.

6. If you could have an afternoon with any one of your characters, who would it be and why?

Gracie-Mac (the dog from Vera’s Still Point). I would have her back because she’s really modeled after my deceased dog, Scout, who died of cancer right before I wrote Piper’s Someday. I would have her back to see her once again.

7. What’s your favorite story that you’ve written?

I would have to say it’s a hard toss up between my first and second book…hmm. I’d say that I’m very partial to both, but the little girl in Piper’s Someday is more of what I used to be. When I wrote about her smoking in her fort, it cracked me up. So, maybe it’s pieces of both stories. VSP rings home…especially the very hard ending to that book. I sat in my classroom one day in late 2004 and wrote that final scene and wept.

8. A new fiction writer approaches you at an event and asks you for advice. What do you tell him or her?

I tell him/her that if you want to write a book badly enough, then you will find the time to do it. You will also find the way to get it published. I tell them it took me twenty years; however, the wait was very worth it. I also tell them, to e-mail me and ask questions if they want.

I also tell most people who want to write that you can get most anything done in 10 minutes a day…but you have to be disciplined. The hardest part about writing is opening the computer and turning the darn thing on.

9. What’s the hardest thing for you about writing?

Opening the computer and turning on the computer.

10. If you couldn’t write, what would you do?

Travel and visit all the people I want to visit like Walt Whitman did over 100 years ago…just follow the Open Road and see where it lands me. Perhaps become a bard or a rhapsode…I don’t know. Now, that sounds dorky. If I didn’t write, I would find the money to help start a foundation for GLBT youth who need a place to run…a safe haven for a while. Perhaps something like that. And, I’d play the guitar and learn how to sing…yikes.

11. Anne McCaffrey writes to music and occasionally, she includes the music she was listening to during her writing in the acknowledgments. Do you write to music? Or do you have certain writing rituals that you do before/during/after your writing sessions?

I pray…a lot.

12. Do you share your writing with others as you’re working? Or do you wait until something’s complete? What are the benefits to either approach?

I share with two people I’ve come to regard as really good base-line readers for me. Then, I send it to the editor and pray some more. The benefit of this approach is that I sometimes think that too many cooks in the kitchen might spoil the broth. So, I stick with two readers and then let my editor do the very hard job of editing my manuscript.

13. Sometimes writers work internal issues out through their narratives. Have you ever written a scene or character that “hit too close to home” for you? How did you handle that?

For God’s sake, yes. If you read Piper’s Someday…jeez. This one is close. Also, my third book, Breaking Spirit Bridge nearly tore my soul in half after I’d completed it. I handle it with gratefulness that the expression of each book saves me a little.

14. What are some of the things you do to improve on your craft? Do you attend conferences? Take workshops? What works best for you to improve how and what you write?

I read what other people write and ask myself this: how did they do that? What does that word mean? How did they put that scene together? I’ll ask authors or writers and just try and take away a snippet or two I know will help my own craft.

Yes, I attend writer’s conferences like GCLS.

Listening helps me improve and I read, read, read.

15. Let’s talk a little bit about the business end of writing from an author’s perspective. What do you look for in a publisher?

I look for a publisher who wants to wrap a cover around my book and sell it to the world. This is how I found Spinsters Ink. I also look for a publisher who wants my type of work…otherwise, it’s rejecto-munde.

16. What, from your perspective, are some of the most common mistakes beginning authors make with regard to approaching a publisher?

I still feel like a beginning author…I don’t know if I can answer this question except for to say that this may be a good question to ask publishers themselves.

17. Talk a bit about marketing. Publishers can’t do everything for you in that regard. So what are some of the things you do to drum up audiences for your work? What do you think are some of the most effective things (and cheap!) an author can do, besides write good material?

(i) Press releases: you can learn how to write one and the fax that puppy to anyone you want

(ii) Connect with other authors who are wiser than you are. I have learned from KG MacGregor, Karin Kallmaker, Katherine V. Forrest. I ask them questions and learn from them.

(iii) Web site: get one done before the book comes out, spend the money to get a decent one (between 500 – 1000 dollars)

(iv) Send out a monthly newsletter about what’s going on with your book and your life…people want to know.

(v) Send bookstores notes. Call them…go in person…tell people in line at Starbucks (handout a business card with all your books on it)…tell people at the vet…tell people everywhere you go…ask people if they read books…most of them want your card!

18. Do you make some of your writing available online? How do you feel about e-publishing and e-books? Would you go that route? Why or why not?

I haven’t yet. But I will. E-books are just another way to get your story read, why not?

19. What were your best and worst experiences with an editor?

Actually, all of my experiences have been excellent. Editors always make me a better writer. I always listen to their constructive feedback. Always.

20. And finally, what’s your favorite thing about being a writer? What, for you, totally sucks about it?

My favorite thing about being a writer is this: when my mother and sister opened my first book, Vera’s Still Point, and saw that I had dedicated it to them. When you take away everything…the beauty is that you can tell someone how much you love them in a dedication and hope that thousands will see the same and think, “Wow, they must be pretty cool people.” And, of course, they are.

And, nothing, sucks about that.

—

Thanks to Ruth, for taking some time to chat with us here, at Kissed By Venus.

Author Profile:

Ruth Perkinson is relatively new to the publishing scene of lesbian fiction, but she’s a name you won’t soon forget. Her work is deeply moving, thought provoking, and touches you in a way most lesbian fiction fails to. With stories, characters, and situations that reach right out and punch a hole in your chest. Ruth Perkinson is a story-teller to watch, a star on the rise…

You can find out more about Ruth, and her passions, by visiting her web site, here: RUTH PERKINSON.

Currently, Ruth has two novels in print, PIPER’S SOMEDAY, a novel I must say I’m really looking forward to reading, and VERA’S STILL POINT. Her third novel, Breaking Spirit Bridge, is due out in May.

Ruth’s novels are available from:
• Spinster’s Ink
• Amazon.com
• Bella Books

All photos copyright: Ruth Perkinson, and supplied by kind permission of Ruth Perkinson.

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