Ask the Author: M.J. Payne
Answered Questions (11)
M.J. Payne
Linda, your book sounds very interesting. I'm glad you were able to write it since it was a dream of yours. I'm not reviewing books right now as my schedule is full. When I start reviewing again I already have several books I plan to read, but do not know when that will be. I appreciate your interest, but it is going to be some time before I can consider it. Best wishes to you.
M.J. Payne
Hi Linda, what is your novel about? I'm writing a new novel so I'm writing a great deal more than dealing with social media at the moment, but if you can tell me about your book and bear with me about time I can give it some thought. Thanks.
--MJ
--MJ
M.J. Payne
My father's side of the family emigrated from Germany to a German colony in Odessa, Russia. I don't know how many generations lived there until they immigrated to the U.S. and lived in the Dakotas. Again I don't know how many generations passed there until they migrated to the West Coast. My great-grandmother produced fifteen children, one a genius and one an idiot. The mystery is how the heritage from the Russian colony produced a number of abusive adults, one my grandmother who abused both males and females and who produced two abusive male sons. The family was involved in strange, cult activities of a horrid and sadistic manner and in the trafficking of children. The mystery is what did the tightly knit family bring with them from the Odessa colony that led them to lead a double life of outwardly normal behavior and hidden cult involvement of abhorrent brutality.
M.J. Payne
My favorite literary couple were in many ways not a couple at all, nevertheless it is Brett, Lady Ashley, and Jake Barnes from Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises". Brett is a famous "bad girl" in literature and her doomed relationship with the wounded Barnes has what was described in a New York World Review by Stephens of the time as having a "sordid and futile loveliness". Part of the haunting nature of love is what it satisfies and the misery of the things it does not satisfy (name your poison). This relationship perfectly describes the human longing for connection, how it is often thwarted by problems inherent in life, its moments of beauty and its moments of hell.
M.J. Payne
Hi Michael! The most difficult aspects of writing "The Remembered Self" were dealing with the graphic subject matter, and pushing myself everyday past what was any kind of comfortable amount of writing to get the book written within the time frame I had. Since the book is a horror memoir and it happened to me I was also re-experiencing taboo subject matter as well. It is written in first person present so there was no squirming around to avoid it. I was working seven days a week on it so it was basically write all day and drop into bed after dinner and drinks. The novel I'm writing now, "Fulcrum of Desire" deals only with adults and has a romance component that is hot and loving, and also adult erotic content that is just that, for adults. It is also an intense book dealing with serious topics but there is some bling and ritzy fun stuff in the plot. It is easier on me in that I have more time at the moment and the plot is less complex technically because I am not using children as characters. I would call it a psychological erotic romance with powerful men and beautiful, troubled women. It's haunting and has a heroic Doberman in it that I am having a lot of fun with along with my fantasy characters!
M.J. Payne
The second one is not finished yet so I will answer with the first. I was subject to severe child abuse and I decided to write a memoir about it. It is graphic and I didn't shy away from that. Superficial books about abuse do not let the reader in the window. My window is wide open in "The Remembered Self: A Journey into the Heart of the Beast."
M.J. Payne
I am almost always inspired to write. If not, I read.
M.J. Payne
I'm writing a novel about a woman with DID ( dissociative identity disorder) what most people call multiple personality. She doesn't remember what she does. It is a love story and a hate story. She has relationships with two powerful men and one of them has a secret. It is called "Fulcrum of Desire". Adult content.
M.J. Payne
Writing is demanding. It demands that you are honest with yourself, willing to share experiences with meaning regardless of what other people think. It often pushes a writer beyond the comfort zone and sometimes into exhaustion. You have to work very hard, be a self starter and relentless editor. You have to be a reader and get involved with other people and their books. A degree in writing helps but don't let it stop you if you don't have it. Basically you need talent and a strong work ethic.
M.J. Payne
I enjoy crafting words and that is a satisfaction in itself. I would write whether I published things or not. Keeping a journal is good to remind myself of important times and it is also a good and fertile place to collect descriptions that I later use.
M.J. Payne
I work on another project then return to the previous one. Or I sleep on it. I also leave unwritten part of what I know I will write on a manuscript and that primes the pump for the next day. I find that my mind works on a problem when I am doing other things. When I return the answer is quite often there.
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