Interview with: Tonya Plank
Author of: Swallow
Watch the trailer and read an excerpt at Blazing Trailers.
Why don’t you begin by telling us a little about yourself?
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona but have lived in New York for most of my adult life. I worked as an appellate-level criminal defense attorney in Manhattan for almost nine years. I'm also a former competitive ballroom dancer and a life-long balletomane, and I write a dance blog called Swan Lake Samba Girl, which focuses on ballroom, ballet, books, and anything else going on in New York that I find interesting.
Tell us a bit about your latest book, and what inspired you to write such a story.
My novel is called Swallow (so far it's the only one I have out!), and it's about a young, female Manhattan attorney who's suddenly stricken with the psychosomatic disorder, Globus Hystericus, or Globus Sensation. I wrote it because I suffered from that condition for a few years. I found writing about it to be somewhat therapeutic. Also, the main character, Sophie, is a public defender (a criminal defense attorney for the poor), as I was for many years. I felt strongly about certain things I encountered doing that kind of work, and really felt compelled to write about them.
Did your book require a lot of research?
A little bit but not a whole lot. I suffered from the disorder and I had Sophie's job, so many of the things that happen in the novel grew out of my own experiences, though I manipulated facts to make them more dramatic. But I did research Globus Hystericus, in order to find out what most people's experiences were like with the disorder, and what kinds of people suffered from it so that I could give Sophie a fuller range of experiences than I had myself.
Why do you write?
I write because I have stories that I want to tell people, things that I've experienced that I think they'd be interested in and want to know! Writing is also an exploration. If you're writing about a character very different from yourself (which I'm doing in my second novel), you really need to do a lot of research and delve into that character, immerse yourself in his or her world and really become them. You learn so much and it's such an enriching experience.
What kind of promotions do you do for your books?
I seek out reviews from professional reviewers (ForeWord Reviews, Midwest Book Reviews), from book bloggers, and from top 500 and top 1000 Amazon reviewers who've liked books similar to my own. I also do giveaways on Goodreads and Library Thing and on various blogs, and I did a few Blog Talk Radio interviews. For my first book, I also entered it into a lot of competitions for book awards, some of which it won! I really wanted a strong start to my writing career! I also advertise a bit, mainly on websites and newsletters that have a large audience of ebook readers. I know that since my ebook is priced low, it has a much better chance of attaining high sales than the paperback. For me, Kindle Nation Daily was an excellent place to advertise my Kindle version. I also promote my book on Kindleboards.com and Mobileread.com which are community boards frequented by ebook readers.
How do you research?
It depends on what I'm researching. For my research on Globus Hystericus, I read some psychology textbooks (and I had my own psychologist!) but I also went online and looked in on chat rooms and message boards to get a sense of how real people other than myself were experiencing this problem. Now I'm working on a book about a group of young men who all witness a shooting from various perspectives. Some of that I can base on my work as a lawyer (though I have to re-research the law because it's constantly changing) but I'm also reading lots of memoirs by police officers and by people who've grown up in poor inner-city areas and by people who've been in prison. I'm reading lots of rap lyrics.
When did you start writing? Relate an anecdote from your earliest writing years.
I've been writing ever since I can remember. My mother used to read to me all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I remember when I was a child I fancied that I was going to write a similar series, about my mother's parents and grand parents, and great grand parents, who all lived in very rural areas and had the same kinds of stories. I began several, and I kept them in little notebooks. But when I outgrew Wilder I also outgrew that project, sadly…
Do you belong to a critique group? How has this helped or hindered your writing.
Throughout writing my first book, I took several writing workshops at Gotham Writers Workshop and at the New School in New York. Those really helped me to see how people were reacting to what I was writing, how well they were engaged by it, what worked and what didn't. After those classes ended, a few of us kept meeting and eventually several people read my whole book. They were extremely helpful in terms of helping me think through the logic of certain plot points, making certain scenes more dramatic and characters more dynamic.
What other types of artistic talents do you have?
Well, I'm actually really excited about this book trailer that I just made! When I was younger, I really wanted to go into film. I don't know why I didn't. I think I just wasn’t enough of a risk-taker. But everyone I've shown the trailer to has really liked it and now I'm feeling like I missed my calling! I really loved gathering the images, putting them together to make a little story, manipulating the text and the images to make them more dramatic and movie-like. It was fun! I also designed my book cover. I really like working with images.
What type of writer are you—the one who experiences before writing, like Hemingway, or the one who mostly daydreams and fantasizes?
I'm definitely more like Hemingway. I don't have a very vivid imagination at all! I could never ever be a Stephen King. I really need to experience things in order to write about them.
As a writer, what scares you the most?
Not having anyone know about or read my books! It's too too easy to get lost in the huge crowd these days. That's why I try to do so much publicity, and that's also why I love the emergence of ebooks. You can really sell your ebooks inexpensively and get readers to take a chance on you - if you're a new author like me - that they might not be able to afford or wish to take with a higher-priced print book.
What book are you reading now?
I always read several books at once. Right now I'm reading John Grisham's The Confession, mainly for research for my next novel. I'm also reading Cleopatra, by Stacy Schiff - it's an autobiography. And I'm also reading a literary novel called Waiting for Spring, by a new author named R.J. Keller.
Why don’t you begin by telling us a little about yourself?
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona but have lived in New York for most of my adult life. I worked as an appellate-level criminal defense attorney in Manhattan for almost nine years. I'm also a former competitive ballroom dancer and a life-long balletomane, and I write a dance blog called Swan Lake Samba Girl, which focuses on ballroom, ballet, books, and anything else going on in New York that I find interesting.
Tell us a bit about your latest book, and what inspired you to write such a story.
My novel is called Swallow (so far it's the only one I have out!), and it's about a young, female Manhattan attorney who's suddenly stricken with the psychosomatic disorder, Globus Hystericus, or Globus Sensation. I wrote it because I suffered from that condition for a few years. I found writing about it to be somewhat therapeutic. Also, the main character, Sophie, is a public defender (a criminal defense attorney for the poor), as I was for many years. I felt strongly about certain things I encountered doing that kind of work, and really felt compelled to write about them.
Did your book require a lot of research?
A little bit but not a whole lot. I suffered from the disorder and I had Sophie's job, so many of the things that happen in the novel grew out of my own experiences, though I manipulated facts to make them more dramatic. But I did research Globus Hystericus, in order to find out what most people's experiences were like with the disorder, and what kinds of people suffered from it so that I could give Sophie a fuller range of experiences than I had myself.
Why do you write?
I write because I have stories that I want to tell people, things that I've experienced that I think they'd be interested in and want to know! Writing is also an exploration. If you're writing about a character very different from yourself (which I'm doing in my second novel), you really need to do a lot of research and delve into that character, immerse yourself in his or her world and really become them. You learn so much and it's such an enriching experience.
What kind of promotions do you do for your books?
I seek out reviews from professional reviewers (ForeWord Reviews, Midwest Book Reviews), from book bloggers, and from top 500 and top 1000 Amazon reviewers who've liked books similar to my own. I also do giveaways on Goodreads and Library Thing and on various blogs, and I did a few Blog Talk Radio interviews. For my first book, I also entered it into a lot of competitions for book awards, some of which it won! I really wanted a strong start to my writing career! I also advertise a bit, mainly on websites and newsletters that have a large audience of ebook readers. I know that since my ebook is priced low, it has a much better chance of attaining high sales than the paperback. For me, Kindle Nation Daily was an excellent place to advertise my Kindle version. I also promote my book on Kindleboards.com and Mobileread.com which are community boards frequented by ebook readers.
How do you research?
It depends on what I'm researching. For my research on Globus Hystericus, I read some psychology textbooks (and I had my own psychologist!) but I also went online and looked in on chat rooms and message boards to get a sense of how real people other than myself were experiencing this problem. Now I'm working on a book about a group of young men who all witness a shooting from various perspectives. Some of that I can base on my work as a lawyer (though I have to re-research the law because it's constantly changing) but I'm also reading lots of memoirs by police officers and by people who've grown up in poor inner-city areas and by people who've been in prison. I'm reading lots of rap lyrics.
When did you start writing? Relate an anecdote from your earliest writing years.
I've been writing ever since I can remember. My mother used to read to me all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I remember when I was a child I fancied that I was going to write a similar series, about my mother's parents and grand parents, and great grand parents, who all lived in very rural areas and had the same kinds of stories. I began several, and I kept them in little notebooks. But when I outgrew Wilder I also outgrew that project, sadly…
Do you belong to a critique group? How has this helped or hindered your writing.
Throughout writing my first book, I took several writing workshops at Gotham Writers Workshop and at the New School in New York. Those really helped me to see how people were reacting to what I was writing, how well they were engaged by it, what worked and what didn't. After those classes ended, a few of us kept meeting and eventually several people read my whole book. They were extremely helpful in terms of helping me think through the logic of certain plot points, making certain scenes more dramatic and characters more dynamic.
What other types of artistic talents do you have?
Well, I'm actually really excited about this book trailer that I just made! When I was younger, I really wanted to go into film. I don't know why I didn't. I think I just wasn’t enough of a risk-taker. But everyone I've shown the trailer to has really liked it and now I'm feeling like I missed my calling! I really loved gathering the images, putting them together to make a little story, manipulating the text and the images to make them more dramatic and movie-like. It was fun! I also designed my book cover. I really like working with images.
What type of writer are you—the one who experiences before writing, like Hemingway, or the one who mostly daydreams and fantasizes?
I'm definitely more like Hemingway. I don't have a very vivid imagination at all! I could never ever be a Stephen King. I really need to experience things in order to write about them.
As a writer, what scares you the most?
Not having anyone know about or read my books! It's too too easy to get lost in the huge crowd these days. That's why I try to do so much publicity, and that's also why I love the emergence of ebooks. You can really sell your ebooks inexpensively and get readers to take a chance on you - if you're a new author like me - that they might not be able to afford or wish to take with a higher-priced print book.
What book are you reading now?
I always read several books at once. Right now I'm reading John Grisham's The Confession, mainly for research for my next novel. I'm also reading Cleopatra, by Stacy Schiff - it's an autobiography. And I'm also reading a literary novel called Waiting for Spring, by a new author named R.J. Keller.
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