Ask the Author: Marjorie DeLuca
Answered Questions (9)
Marjorie DeLuca
As a child I was fascinated by Lewis Carroll's world of Wonderland in both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Everything there is so strange and topsy turvy with talking animals, squealing babies that turn into piglets and bizarre tea parties. I'd love to meet the Duchess who was portrayed as terribly ugly but turned out to be a friend to Alice and an opponent of the fearsome Queen of Hearts.
Marjorie DeLuca
Violet by Scott Thomas, Neverhome by Laird Hunt and Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
Marjorie DeLuca
I love Jay Gatsby and Daisy from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby." I love the way Gatsby creates Daisy as the Golden Girl, the romantic ideal, the girl he'll do anything to captivate. She also reminds him of a younger, more innocent time in his life when he was filled with hope and dreams for the future. Before his dream was corrupted by crime. For Daisy, Jay Gatsby is the complete opposite of the boorish Tom, her husband. She's dazzled by the lengths to which Gatsby has engineered his whole life with her in mind. He's waited for the perfect moment to see her again. She sees him as a romantic, a man who worships her and would do anything for her, unlike her unfaithful husband. It's also a tragic relationship but one that stays with you long after you've finished reading.
Marjorie DeLuca
As a writer you're constantly on the lookout for ideas and inspiration strikes in the most random ways. For example, I was browsing through cover designs one day and I saw the image that's now on the cover of LILAH. A question sprung into my mind - Why would a young woman in a wedding dress be running through the snow? The answer to that became the romantic suspense novel, LILAH. In the case of my historical novels, they're usually inspired by a fascinating person or incident in history. THE PITMAN'S DAUGHTER was inspired by my mother's memories of life on a street of miners' houses. THE SAVAGE INSTINCT was inspired by my reading about the life and trial of Mary Anne Cotton, a notorious poisoner from my own home town in England. I knew I didn't want to write novel about her, but I wanted to write about the impact the case had on Victorian society, in particular women who were extremely repressed. I asked myself, how would a woman, struggling with the after effects of a miscarriage and living with a controlling husband, come to terms with the graphic details contained in the newspapers at the time about a woman who dared to kill her own husbands and her children and stepchildren? And what if this woman lived in the same town and was able to gain access to Mary Ann Cotton in prison? I merged fact with fiction and the novel was born! In the case of A CREATURE OF FANCY, I read a fascinating written in the 19th century called "The Lady's Dressing Room" - all about how to be a healthy and respectable young lady and full of tips about skin care, staying slim, keeping clean etc. From reading that I imagined a scenario about the Victorian beauty business and a young girl who unwittingly becomes involved in a business that claims to transform plain young women into marriageable beauties. With my YA sci-fi trilogy, I used a "what if" question to inspire me. What if we could genetically engineer humans to stay young forever? The answer to that became the Forevers (Forever Ones). The consequences of such a discovery are the ideas that fuel the book. I imagined that there would be massive conflict between big corporations, big government and big crime to control the technology, so the story is about the young people (forevers) who try to break free and escape this conflict. Other stories can be inspired by something you see while you're out shopping or even something that someone says. One example of this was when I was out walking with my friend and her dog. I noticed how many people stopped to chat and talk about her dog. I then thought, well what if young single women used dog walking as a way to meet cute guys? And so my novel-in-progress, THE DOG WALKERS DATING CLUB was born. A short story I wrote called DOLL'S EYES was inspired by my son. When he was a little boy he had an Ernie doll. One morning he asked me to take it out of his room because "he didn't like the way it was looking at him"! So you see, there are many ways to get inspiration!
Marjorie DeLuca
I got the idea for A PROPER LADY when I was doing some research for my previous historical novel UNNATURAL (out for submission to publishers). I discovered this obscure little book written in 1893 about how ladies should take care of every aspect of their person, how they should eat, walk, care for their hair, teeth, skin etc. It was full of such quaint advice and fascinating recipes for potions and creams. It gave me several ideas for the story of a young farm girl who is scooped up by a rich, mysterious woman who uses these techniques to turn her into a beautiful young lady. She joins the woman in an enterprise to transform the plain daughters of rich women into attractive marriageable girls, but it turns out, however, that the enterprise is not exactly what it appears to be and our young farm girl finds herself in a very difficult situation!
Marjorie DeLuca
You get to lose yourself every day in fascinating worlds. You also get to put your dreams, ideas, stories on paper and share them with many other people. When you get a good review or a letter from someone who really enjoyed your book, it feels great to know your work made a connection with someone.
Marjorie DeLuca
I've taken a break from my self-published works to complete a manuscript my agent is waiting to submit to traditional publishers. It's historical fiction, set in the 1890's and is called A PROPER LADY.
Marjorie DeLuca
The first thing you need to do is read, read, read! Next you need to sit down and write. Every day for at least a few hours a day. Don't try to write to fads, write something that gives you an emotional charge, something that excites you and connects with you on a basic level. And don't be afraid of self-publishing. It's the greatest thing to happen for aspiring writers.
Marjorie DeLuca
I rarely experience it. I have the opposite problem - too many ideas crowding into my head and interfering with my focus. Sometimes, however, I do get stuck with a particular project and run out of steam. I do several things to combat this: go for a long walk and think about the story, watch a documentary or movie related to the genre or era of the story, or simply read a great book.
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