The Carpe Annum Interviews: Lesley Livingston

We usually have a bio at the top of the interview when we host a writer on Novel Matters. We, of course, have all the info on Lesley and her works, but the really important stuff is in this video:



Lesley is a writer and actor living in Toronto, Canada. Captivated at a young age by stories of mythology and folk lore, past civilizations, and legendary heroes, she developed into a full-fledged

Celtic Mythology Geek, steeped in stories of the Otherworld, Faeries and King Arthur. Lesley went on to earn a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Toronto specializing in Shakespeare and Arthurian literature.

For almost three years, Lesley hosted weekly late-night movie marathons on the nationally broadcast television show, SPACEBAR, as the Waitron-9000, a sparkly holographic waitress with an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure B-movie trivia. She is also a founding member and principal performer with Tempest Theatre Group.

Lesley is an unrepentant egghead – a character-trait that somehow doesn’t interfere with a love of shoes and shiny things. She is the author of the Wonderous Strange Trilogy, Starling Trilogy, and Once Every Never Trilogy, as well as the newly released, How to Curse in Hieroglyphics. 

(Full disclosure: Lesley Livingston and Bonnie Grove went to high school together. They met in 10th grade, hated each other, then, one day when the drama teacher never showed up, they began quoting lines from the movie Airplane to each other and were inseparable after that.)

Novel Matters: Lesley, you write YA fantasy novels that are read by all age groups. What do you love about YA?

Lesley Livingston: I love writing YA. I love the readership (which is both young and young-at-heart) and I love the stories I get to tell. There is a freshness and a vibrancy to the YA perspective that I find energizing.

NM: How so?

LL: It’s a literature of “firsts”. First kiss, first love, first heartbreak, first lie… and while it does require a bit more of a hectic writing pace (if you’re writing a teen trilogy, you can’t really take years between books), that’s part of the fun of it.

NM: It was the right choice for you as a writer?

LL: I get to plunge into these stories and stay in them for an extended period of time. I like hanging out with my characters. So, yes. I guess you could say I’m happy with my choice. (Occasional whining about crazy deadlines, notwithstanding. Heh.)

NM: I usually whine about my office smelling like gym socks. It’s a weird sort of treadmill of success, isn’t it? It’s a great life, the writer’s life. And you’ve been writing your butt off for a long time now. You have an impressive back list.  

LL: Here’s the link to my Goodreads page, which has all of my books/series listed and links to synopses and buy buttons, etc.

NM: What are you working on now, and when will it be in reader’s hot little hands?

LL: I just launched my very first co-written project, which is also my very first Middle Grade project. It’s called HOW TO CURSE IN HIEROGLYPHICS and I wrote it with Jonathan, with illustrations by Steven Burley. It was a ton of fun and it’s available now!

I’m also neck deep in revisions for the third book in my Never series, EVERY NEVER AFTER, which will be out in April, 2014, and I just finished writing the third book in my Starling series.

NM: How To Curse in Hieroglyphics may be a departure from YA, but it’s written in your distinctive style. Recently, I was rifling through a box of old stuff looking for who knows what, and I came across a handful of papers—notes you and I wrote each other in high school when we were supposed to be paying attention—I had a laugh, then was struck by how clear and honest your voice comes across, not just in the hilarious high school notes, but in your novels. Reading Wondrous Strange, there were times I could hear your voice in my head. Does it come naturally? Was it a product of letting go and trusting yourself?

LL: Ah, good times… good times… that was mostly math class, wasn’t it?

NM: Er, certainly we only wrote notes to each other on lunch break and after school. Not during math class, which we never, ever skipped. Ahem. Back to your remarkable writing voice.

LL: Voice, to me is everything. (And thanks for saying that!) I’m not even sure I can separate it out as a distinct function of how I write but I do think a lot of it is facilitated by the fact that I was an actor for so long and that developed my ear for things like dialogue and pacing and flow. Usually now I just know when the voice of the story (and every story has a different one) sounds right. And it doesn’t always. Not right away. But I can sense when it’s wonky and that usually comes from trying too hard. When I can hear myself over the characters, that’s when I go back into the prose with a garden rake. And sometimes a blow-torch.

NM: Speaking of blow-torches, let’s talk the public life of a writer. One day you’re an Amazon 5-star, the next you’re on your way to the bargain table. Always, every day, however, you’re an artist. The story must be written. How do you—do you?—separate yourself from opinions to give your creative self for another day of writing?

LL: I was an actor for years before I was a writer. I’m so very used to criticism (good and bad) and rejection (yay auditions! Bleh.) that it all pretty much just rolls off my back by now. It’s not always easy and sometimes I read a review and mutter unkind things but the truth is, if you’re going to believe the good reviews, you’ve got to believe the bad ones, too. It’s just what you said—opinions. Once the book is out there, it’s no longer just yours. And everyone who reads it has the absolute right to there opinion of it. (No matter how wrong they are!! Ha!)

           

NM: It's amazing how wrong they can be! So, if a writer decides to read reviews of her work, a thick skin is required. Let me ask you, if tomorrow were the first day of your career, what advice would you give yourself?

LL: Go to bed early for once, will ya?

NM: Still working on that one, eh? You've done well to stay awake through this so far. Fingers crossed. Let’s touch on the Great Writer’s Debate: Outline vs. No outline (planners vs. pansters). Which do you go with your gut? Or hammer out the novel before writing it?

LL: I used to gut it. Now that I’m at the point where I’m pitching projects that aren’t written yet, I’ve learned the value of the synopsis because I’ve had to. Which is not to say that there is no longer epiphany. I surprise myself constantly. In the outlining stages, the writing stages, the revising stages… 

NM: What's the one thing (be it a technology, a notebook, a wristwatch, or pen) that you can't be without as a writer?

LL: My Mac AIR. It goes with me everywhere.

NM: Who, besides the obvious agent and editor, do you turn to for advice when things are rocky on your writing journey?

LL: That would be my guy, Jonathan Llyr. He’s been my creative partner for years—ever since he was directing me in plays—and he has an ability to look at large-picture issues with story and helps me figure out how to untangle all the plot knots I write myself into. He’s encouraging and helpful and, at the same time, never lets me feel sorry for myself when things get tough or my brain gets scrambley.

NM: For the record, Jon also does The. Best. William Shatner impression on earth. Just saying. Okay, you’ve traveled a ways down the writer’s road. What advice do you give to writers who are looking to seize the year and take control of their writing career?

LL: Do it. That’s the whole thing with carpe-ing. The act of seizing is a willful act. You pretty much just have to do it. Write. You can’t edit a blank page. You can’t revise an empty screen. The lion’s share of writing is re-writing. Get the words down. Then put them in the right order. For me, it comes down to writing every day. As much or as little as I can, but every day. If I’m away from the story for a day, it takes me twice as long to get my head back into the game.

           

NM: Love that. “You can’t edit a blank page” is my new mantra. The theme this year on Novel Matters is Carpe Annum: Seize the Year! Tell us about a turning-point time in your journey as a writer when you took hold of your career. What did that look like? How did that moment change you as a writer?

LL: It was the moment when I was maundering on about not getting an agent for the book I had written and had spent the better part of a year querying. Jonathan, having heard this same refrain from me for, er, awhile at that point turned to me and said, “Write another book.” I, taken aback, sputtered something about “What?! I am!” He said “No you’re not. You’re whining about not getting an agent for this book. Didn’t you tell me that writers write? You’re not doing that.” I sputtered some more. Then I thought about it. And he was right. I had gotten so caught up in the business of trying to get published that I’d forgotten that core truth of the writer’s life. Writers write. So I did. I wrote another book. It got me an agent. The book after that got me a publisher. Writers write.

Lesley, thank you for hanging out with us today. It was fun, and inspiring. We’re grateful for your insight and we’re cheering you on!

Lessons from the Cheap Seats

Last weekend my hometown hosted a Word on the Street event downtown. I’ve never attended, being the shy, socially reserved type that I am. Then, my long-time friend, Lesley Livingston called and said, “I’m coming to town for Word on the Street!” Thus, I attended her reading/signing event. (FYI: Lesley will be interviewed on our blog October 28. She’s brilliant, funny, and short.)

Truth.

Much shenanigans occurred during her all to brief sojourn, but I’ll restrict myself to the relevant bits. Okay, just this one irrelevant bit: writers, dinner, a near sword fight over mimes—had we but possessed swords, and I used the Force to cause Arthur Slade to change his dinner order. (Art will also be on Novel Matters later in October. Just know he’s sensitive about mimes.) Oh, oh, just one more: I’m still geeking out because Guy Gavriel Kay and I split dessert (he paid)! Oh, and Lesley is hysterical and short. And we used to call her Fluffy in high school.

Back to the relevant bits.

Lesley writes YA novels. (She has a MG book coming out soon, but that will not preoccupy us at this juncture. But it’s called How to Curse in Hieroglyphics and it’s smart and funny and smart and funny.) For her reading, she chose to read from the opening of the second book of her Starling trilogy, Descendant.

My family and I sat near the front. In front of us were two girls I’d peg at around sixteen years old. They clutched a stack of Lesley’s books, whispered fervently to each other, and had—very much—the look of two girls about ready to burst from excitement. Like Rock Star excited.

Lesley took the microphone, cracked wise and funny, then read from Descendant. She’s also an actress, so her reading was stellar. (Word to writers who do readings or hope to do readings—study acting.) I was fascinated to watch the two girls in front of me. Every time Lesley mentioned a character’s name the girls would—and this is the only way I can describe it—squeeze together in a fit of restrained hysteria. Put their heads together and mime a frantic concert scream. (One character in particular had this effect: handsome half-dead fellow named Fennrys.)

What happened next is the bit that matters.

Finished with the reading, Lesley took questions. There were several, and the two girls had their hands up immediately. They couldn’t have cared less about Lesley’s writing process, how she came up with ideas, or what inspired her. All the cared about were the characters in her books.

They loved Lesley inasmuch as she was the only conduit to which they could gain additional access to the characters they loved.

I talked to Lesley about this at dinner that evening and she agreed, the people who love her books couldn’t care less about her—the author—they care only about the books. (Except, of course, they care about her. Because she writes the books.)

It’s all about the book.

In redesigning my website recently, I put this knowledge to good use. The home page features my novel—not me. Sure, you can read my bio by clicking on a link, but the part that matters, the novel, is front and center. I chopped out all the extra stuff. When a new book hits shelves (are you listening, God?) that cover will be on the home page.

Because when someone has heard great things about you, they go to your website and look for the book they heard about. When they see the book on the front page, they know they are in the right place.

This feels particularly freeing to me after years and years of believing I had to market myself as a sort of uber-product. It’s not about me. It’s about my books. Put them front and center.

Do I still have to be fabulous?

Yes. I have to be online. I have to give stellar book readings, and be nice at book signings. But I also have to remember: it’s not about me. It’s about the book.

Whew.

I learned a great deal more from my weekend with these gobsmacking writers. I'll share more in future posts.