Marva Dasef is a writer living in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and a fat white cat. Retired from thirty-five years in the software industry, she has now turned her energies to writing fiction and finds it a much more satisfying occupation. Marva has published more than forty stories in a number of on-line and print magazines, with her stories included in several Best of anthologies. She has six published books. See a complete list of her work at http://marvadasef.com/.
Her most recent release is "The Tales of Abu Nuwas." She'll be giving away a free ebook to blog visitors who leave a comment.
Q: When did you first decide to become a writer? What was that like?
I decided to become a professional writer in college. I was actually forced into it by getting a student job at the Computer Science Department. The head asked if I'd write technical manuals for using the various computer equipment. In addition, the student programmers were working on an NSF (National Science Foundation) grant to develop user-friendly software. That was one big reason the department head wanted an English major. I ended up taking computer science courses along with my lit and writing courses. Voila! I received the first technical communication degree (I think anywhere) with an English major and Computer Science minor.
I scattered some fiction writing here and there over the intervening years until I retired from a programmer/analyst job and decided to write stories instead.
Q: Who were the writers who inspired you when you were younger?
Science Fiction writers like Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Niven, and many, many more. SF combined my interests in science and literature. How perfect is that?
Q: What kind of obstacles did you face when you first began writing? How did you overcome them?
Not really an obstacle, but I had to overcome my learned terseness as a tech writer. Description in tech documentation tends to be sparse. "The cursor is shown as a blinking underscore." Ahem. Boring, eh?
Q: How long and how many drafts does it usually take to finish a novel?
I don't count drafts. I have a first draft, then I revise, but rarely rewrite huge chunks of material. Mostly, I add that color writing I tend to skip when getting the plot down.
Q: What kind of obstacles did you face when you first published? How did you overcome those?
Naivete. I thought any publisher was a good publisher. I had to wait out two-year contracts to get my rights back on two books. When I did, I went with self-publishing since nobody wants a reprint.
Q: What are your thoughts on self publishing vs. the traditional route?
I learned to self-publish from necessity. In addition to the two books I wanted to re-issue, I had a book of related short stories based on my father's boyhood in West Texas during the Depression. Again, nobody wants a book of short stories. I did submit the individual stories to magazines and sold seven of them. That's when I decided to put all the stories together in a single book and came out with "Tales of a Texas Boy." This is still my best-selling book. It's funny and nostalgic, reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn in that it's written in first person as an eleven-year-old boy. With dialect.
Q: What are you working on currently? Can we see a bit of it?
I have gotten too far into my next book because I've got four books already at a publisher. I'll be very busy working with the editors, cover artist, trying to get my publicity act together. My most recent release is the re-issue of one of those books released from contract. I added a frame story a la 1001 Arabian Nights to pull together the seven adventures of a girl and her genie. It's "The Tales of Abu Nuwas." I'm giving away an ebook or two to people who comment on this blog. I've included an excerpt below.
The four upcoming books are:
Missing, Assumed Dead - a mystery/suspense set in Eastern Oregon scheduled for release in July.
The Witches of Galdorheim series: Bad Spelling, Midnight Oil, and Scotch Broom. This is a MG/YA fantasy set in the real world of the Arctic, Norway, Finland, Siberia, Scotland, and other places you can find in an atlas, and some only in my mind. If I working on anything, it's a fourth book in that series, but is still in rough outline form.
Q: What advice do you have for aspiring novelists?
Do your research at places like Absolute Write, but don't discount small, independent publishers. Very few will get an agent and a contract with a big New York publisher. Certainly, give that route a good shot first. That is the ideal situation, but if a year goes by without getting an agent, decide whether you want a trunk full of unpublished books or do you want to be published.
Ebooks have made it easier to get contracts with up and coming small publishers. They're hungry for good writing.
Q: Where do you see yourself ultimately taking your career?
I expect I have achieved the height of my career already. I've learned a lot about writing fiction. I have a terrific publisher. I think I'll just keep on with what I'm doing.
“The Tales of Abu Nuwas”
Available in ebook format through:
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/35634
(Use coupon DR46W to buy for 99 cents)
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGKf-yOGkXk
Blurb:
Abu Nuwas sits in the bazaar telling stories to the passersby he can tempt to pay. When Najda, a poor girl, offers him a packet of spice for a story, Abu Nuwas launches into a tale about a girl named Setara and her genie. As did Scheherazade, he leaves the girl hanging in the middle of each yarn to keep her coming back for more. While relating the fantastical accounts, Abu Nuwas learns more of the spice girl's life, then finds a way to save her from a forced marriage and find a better life.
Excerpt:
Setara slumped to the cave floor. What, she wondered, could these superstitious tribesmen think was a mountain demon? Cloistered she may be, but she was well educated and did not believe in demons. These were old men’s tales to frighten children. It made no difference, really. Dead was dead, whether by a demon’s talons or a mountain cat’s fangs.
She smacked her head against the rock wall and realized she had dozed off. How stupid of me. I’m waiting here for something to eat me and I take a nap! She edged toward the entrance, kicking herself mentally. Why hadn’t she simply tried to push the bushes aside and get out?
She found the answer in the inch-long thorns on the shrubs, tied down so she couldn’t move them. When she had pushed on them with her tied hands, she got a gash for her effort. Now, the mountain cats would smell blood, and it would be all over.
Backing away from the thorns, she pushed her body into the wall. At least she could face the lions when they came.
A loud crash, followed by a slither of loose gravel sounded no more than twenty feet from where she crouched. Setara pressed herself harder into the cave wall, closed her eyes tight and clenched her teeth.
Her eyes and mouth popped open simultaneously at what she heard next.
“Why can’t they clean up these blasted caves?” a deep voice rumbled.
Suddenly, a torch flared, and Setara could see the source of the voice. An eight-foot tall figure loomed in the light. A turbaned head nearly touched the now visible cave roof. Setara gaped at the man. Or was it a man? While his features were man-like, the three-inch fangs, sharp talons, and beastly snout belied his humanity. Dressed in the old style, with ballooning trousers tied at the ankles, a brocaded vest opened to reveal a broad, hairless chest.
The creature held up the torch, which Setara could now see was a flame jetting from his upraised index finger. The monster glanced around until his gaze rested on Setara.
Thanks for allowing me to litter your new blog with a promo for my MG/YA fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI hope I can return the favor soon.
Hi Marva, great interview! :-) You're where I would like to be right now: with time on my hands for writing. Go you! and congrats on all your releases, past and upcoming.
ReplyDelete