Ask the Author: Alice Bloch
Answered Questions (4)
Alice Bloch
Writing is how I find out what I think and feel. Also, I tend to live in my thoughts, and writing forces me to observe the world around me and helps me connect with others.
Alice Bloch
Write what you want to write, rather than writing something that you don't care about but you think will be a best-seller. With very, very few exceptions, writing is not a lucrative career, so you might as well write what you care about. If you "sell out" and then your writing doesn't bring in much money (the likeliest outcome), what will you have and how will you feel about it?
Alice Bloch
A novel titled Volcano Music, about a family trying to heal from trauma. Volcano expert Victor Scarlett dies in Hilo, with his daughters and second wife squabbling at his side. Sixteen years earlier, he led a disastrous field trip in South America, and his daughter Carla still struggles with the after-effects of that horrific incident. The characters include a lesbian geologist, a Jewish tuba player, an accountant who was once a stripper, a hair stylist with a gift for Hawaiian chant, a bitter ex-wife who stages houses for sale, a hula master, a web manager with a passion for opera, and a beautiful equestrian.
Alice Bloch
I got the idea for the title Mother-Daughter Banquet when I was in my 20s, and I'm now in my 70s. (Sometimes that's how long it takes.) Originally, I envisioned the book as the story of my mother's life and death. Much later, I began to write about the other mother figures in my life, and to organize those writings into the book in its final form.
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