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An interview with Mari Sloan author of Beaufort Falls
Hello and welcome to 10 Quick Questions with Dave, I am your host Dave Tallman and chatting with me today is Mari Sloan author of Beaufort Falls.
Me:
I would like to thank you Mari for interviewing with me today. I so enjoy a good murder mystery and hope that everyone reading this interview takes the time to check out her work as well.
Mari Sloan:
And I thank you, Dave, for taking time out of your schedule and interviewing me. You have your new NING, "10 Quick Questions with Dave" keeping you busy, as well as your Fiction Writer Group.com pursuits. I also know that you are active on several other NINGS that we have in common, and that you spend a lot of your time helping authors, particularly new ones, like myself.
Me:
I enjoy getting to know all the wonderful people that I interview, it gives me such a thrill to know that I am helping, if even in just some small way, to bring readers and writers together. But enough about me, let’s begin with some background on you, how did you become interested in writing? And why the mystery genre?
Mari:
I come from a writing family, although I am the first one published. My mother, and my grandmother, both wrote about the family and their experiences. I began at the age of about ten writing very bad poetry, and I still believe that for a book to read well, you have to fine-tune your prose with the same due diligence you spend in developing a poem.
While "Beaufort Falls" is placed in the mystery genre, it is really a multi-genre book and could equally be placed in supernatural, or main stream fiction. It does have crimes committed, and there is a supernatural mystery which is solved in the end.
Me:
You have a new release, what is it and where can we find it? On the same note, is your novel a self published release or are you associated with one of the more traditional publishing houses?
Mari:
"Beaufort Falls" can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Target, all of the usual places online. It can also be ordered at any local bookstore using Book Title, Author Name, or the ISBN #. Delivery is usually 7 to 10 days and I know Barnes & Noble will send it directly to your home. This is particularly good because It's ME! Ink Press is just that...me and my husband, so we are self-published.
Me:
Most authors write what they know, they choose to take their subject matter from their own lives and extrapolate upon that to create their stories. What life experiences have you had that led you to create Beaufort Falls?
Mari:
"Beaufort Falls" is very much a product of my own experiences, my training in counseling, my time spent working with abused women and children at a shelter in North Georgia near Atlanta, and my life in the Old South (Southern United States).
In some ways it is a satire and a spoof, but it has a very serious message about the treatment of women and children and about domestic abuse. It is a fiction book in which my characters are pushed to the extreme of what each is capable of doing, but the abuse will ring true. Also my real life experiences in having to commit children to a mental health facility in Atlanta are reflected in my description of the process and the environment one of my young characters faces. Warehousing in mental health was the reality for a lot of years, and it was possible for children who belonged elsewhere to end up part of "the system".
Me:
When plotting out a novel such as a mystery like Beaufort Falls, what preplanning steps do you take?
Mari:
This was my first book, so I just started writing. It was a bit like hanging off the end of a cliff, in the dark, with no directional signs, and it took three years to complete the first draft.
What? Me scared?
There were long spaces in which I did not write while my characters were deciding how it should continue.
Me:
How do you go about the researching of your locations and settings? Did you base your local on a real place or is Beaufort Falls a purely fictional town?
Mari:
Beaufort Falls is a fictional town in middle to southern Alabama, but my descriptions of the area and of the Conecuh River are real. I lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for three years in the early seventies, and Beaufort Falls might as well be a real town. It is closely patterned after small towns nearby.
There is a sameness to living in little towns everywhere. Everyone knows everything about everyone, or thinks that they do. As a child in Georgia I experienced revival meetings, speaking in tongues, and heard about snake handlers. People “believe”, down South, particularly in the 50's, 60's and 70's. They believed in religion and they believed in ghosts.
Every town had its share of fanatics--and spirits.
Me:
Who are the principal characters in your novel? And how did you go about bringing them to life, do you create background stories or histories for your characters?
Mari:
My determined little ghost Eliza returns from the dead to avenge her murder, protect her living children and try to find her lost child. John Duke Parsons, her husband and murderer, is the current guardian of her children, Molly (8), and Tessie (5). , Charlie Callahan, her former lover and the natural father of her older child, (unknown to JD who thinks Molly is his own) is an itinerant preacher who has never succeeded at anything in his life. He becomes convinced that he has murdered Nathan St. Claire (the sheriff of Beaufort county) and leaves with the sheriff's head, which he taxidermies, and befriends.
With the sheriff missing, he finds it convenient to assume the missing man's identity. J. D. makes himself very unpopular with the hospital staff, which is unfortunate since Eliza keeps him in and out of the facility. He sues, the hospital hires a pair of hit men...soon EVERYONE wants J. D. dead. Eliza manifests herself through Molly, and Tessie, and the older child is sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, where she meets a clan of lost boys, who protect her. Anna Johnson, the social worker has her turn as sweetheart to J. D., as does Verbena, who has the misfortune to also hook up with Charlie, who finally at one point can only escape by cross dressing and getting a job as Charlene Baker at the mental institution, where he had formerly worked as Charlie.
And yes, it is a bit like a soap opera and the plot continues to weave from one character to the next, as they are more intertwined than kudsu.
Did I pre-plan these people? Ah, no. They live because they lived for me.
Mari:
Many authors have a particular time of day that they like to write. Do you have a set time or schedule that you follow?
Mari:
I wish. Since I work full time, I am a weekend, part-time, writer.
Me:
I have been interviewing Authors that have memberships or are associated with many different websites over the last few weeks, and the number of sites that I am working with just keeps growing. Do you have websites that you are affiliated with? What about writing groups or other writing associations?
Mari:
I am currently a member of twenty-eight NINGS, three local book clubs and I am a VERY proud member of Sisters in Crime/LA and national. My own website is www.beaufortfalls.com and hopefully I'll get the time soon to update it and make it what it should be.
Me:
I pulled up the You-Tube teaser for your novel, it was very well done. Did you create that on your own? And how has advertising in that medium aided you sales?
Mari:
My husband and I created that, and we are very proud of it. He and my boss composed and performed the music, and I found and framed the stills that made the video. Almost all of the stills came from the website www.morguefile.com , which operates under a "commons" license and allows you to use photos as long as you do not change any of them.
I got permission for the one that I did change from the photographer, Mike Nash, who was gracious enough to let me use his photo for the cover of my book. I elongated the trees to make them look more menacing.
I'm not sure that the video increased sales at all, but a presence on www.youtube.com has to be a good thing.
Me:
I like to end each interview with one common question, what’s next for you? Where do you see yourself a year from now? Five years from now and beyond?
Mari:
I'm working on a sequel for "Beaufort Falls", "Road Trip", and a chapter from the new book is included in the back of my current edition of "Beaufort Falls".
I'm also working on a book associated with the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago and that should be an entirely more serious fiction book. Five years from now I hope to be retired from my full time job and able to concentrate on my writing full time.
Book information:
ISBN/EAN : 978-0-9798583-0-7
Title : Beaufort Falls
Authors : Mari Sloan
Binding : Paperback
Publisher : It's ME! Ink Press
Publication Date : 2007-10-25
Pages : 368
List Price (MSRP) : 19.95
Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, anywhere online, and can be ordered by title from any local bookstore. Usually delivered in from 7 to 10 days.
Me:
I would like to thank you Mari for interviewing with me today. I so enjoy a good murder mystery and hope that everyone reading this interview takes the time to check out her work as well.
Mari Sloan:
And I thank you, Dave, for taking time out of your schedule and interviewing me. You have your new NING, "10 Quick Questions with Dave" keeping you busy, as well as your Fiction Writer Group.com pursuits. I also know that you are active on several other NINGS that we have in common, and that you spend a lot of your time helping authors, particularly new ones, like myself.
Me:
I enjoy getting to know all the wonderful people that I interview, it gives me such a thrill to know that I am helping, if even in just some small way, to bring readers and writers together. But enough about me, let’s begin with some background on you, how did you become interested in writing? And why the mystery genre?
Mari:
I come from a writing family, although I am the first one published. My mother, and my grandmother, both wrote about the family and their experiences. I began at the age of about ten writing very bad poetry, and I still believe that for a book to read well, you have to fine-tune your prose with the same due diligence you spend in developing a poem.
While "Beaufort Falls" is placed in the mystery genre, it is really a multi-genre book and could equally be placed in supernatural, or main stream fiction. It does have crimes committed, and there is a supernatural mystery which is solved in the end.
Me:
You have a new release, what is it and where can we find it? On the same note, is your novel a self published release or are you associated with one of the more traditional publishing houses?
Mari:
"Beaufort Falls" can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Target, all of the usual places online. It can also be ordered at any local bookstore using Book Title, Author Name, or the ISBN #. Delivery is usually 7 to 10 days and I know Barnes & Noble will send it directly to your home. This is particularly good because It's ME! Ink Press is just that...me and my husband, so we are self-published.
Me:
Most authors write what they know, they choose to take their subject matter from their own lives and extrapolate upon that to create their stories. What life experiences have you had that led you to create Beaufort Falls?
Mari:
"Beaufort Falls" is very much a product of my own experiences, my training in counseling, my time spent working with abused women and children at a shelter in North Georgia near Atlanta, and my life in the Old South (Southern United States).
In some ways it is a satire and a spoof, but it has a very serious message about the treatment of women and children and about domestic abuse. It is a fiction book in which my characters are pushed to the extreme of what each is capable of doing, but the abuse will ring true. Also my real life experiences in having to commit children to a mental health facility in Atlanta are reflected in my description of the process and the environment one of my young characters faces. Warehousing in mental health was the reality for a lot of years, and it was possible for children who belonged elsewhere to end up part of "the system".
Me:
When plotting out a novel such as a mystery like Beaufort Falls, what preplanning steps do you take?
Mari:
This was my first book, so I just started writing. It was a bit like hanging off the end of a cliff, in the dark, with no directional signs, and it took three years to complete the first draft.
What? Me scared?
There were long spaces in which I did not write while my characters were deciding how it should continue.
Me:
How do you go about the researching of your locations and settings? Did you base your local on a real place or is Beaufort Falls a purely fictional town?
Mari:
Beaufort Falls is a fictional town in middle to southern Alabama, but my descriptions of the area and of the Conecuh River are real. I lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for three years in the early seventies, and Beaufort Falls might as well be a real town. It is closely patterned after small towns nearby.
There is a sameness to living in little towns everywhere. Everyone knows everything about everyone, or thinks that they do. As a child in Georgia I experienced revival meetings, speaking in tongues, and heard about snake handlers. People “believe”, down South, particularly in the 50's, 60's and 70's. They believed in religion and they believed in ghosts.
Every town had its share of fanatics--and spirits.
Me:
Who are the principal characters in your novel? And how did you go about bringing them to life, do you create background stories or histories for your characters?
Mari:
My determined little ghost Eliza returns from the dead to avenge her murder, protect her living children and try to find her lost child. John Duke Parsons, her husband and murderer, is the current guardian of her children, Molly (8), and Tessie (5). , Charlie Callahan, her former lover and the natural father of her older child, (unknown to JD who thinks Molly is his own) is an itinerant preacher who has never succeeded at anything in his life. He becomes convinced that he has murdered Nathan St. Claire (the sheriff of Beaufort county) and leaves with the sheriff's head, which he taxidermies, and befriends.
With the sheriff missing, he finds it convenient to assume the missing man's identity. J. D. makes himself very unpopular with the hospital staff, which is unfortunate since Eliza keeps him in and out of the facility. He sues, the hospital hires a pair of hit men...soon EVERYONE wants J. D. dead. Eliza manifests herself through Molly, and Tessie, and the older child is sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, where she meets a clan of lost boys, who protect her. Anna Johnson, the social worker has her turn as sweetheart to J. D., as does Verbena, who has the misfortune to also hook up with Charlie, who finally at one point can only escape by cross dressing and getting a job as Charlene Baker at the mental institution, where he had formerly worked as Charlie.
And yes, it is a bit like a soap opera and the plot continues to weave from one character to the next, as they are more intertwined than kudsu.
Did I pre-plan these people? Ah, no. They live because they lived for me.
Mari:
Many authors have a particular time of day that they like to write. Do you have a set time or schedule that you follow?
Mari:
I wish. Since I work full time, I am a weekend, part-time, writer.
Me:
I have been interviewing Authors that have memberships or are associated with many different websites over the last few weeks, and the number of sites that I am working with just keeps growing. Do you have websites that you are affiliated with? What about writing groups or other writing associations?
Mari:
I am currently a member of twenty-eight NINGS, three local book clubs and I am a VERY proud member of Sisters in Crime/LA and national. My own website is www.beaufortfalls.com and hopefully I'll get the time soon to update it and make it what it should be.
Me:
I pulled up the You-Tube teaser for your novel, it was very well done. Did you create that on your own? And how has advertising in that medium aided you sales?
Mari:
My husband and I created that, and we are very proud of it. He and my boss composed and performed the music, and I found and framed the stills that made the video. Almost all of the stills came from the website www.morguefile.com , which operates under a "commons" license and allows you to use photos as long as you do not change any of them.
I got permission for the one that I did change from the photographer, Mike Nash, who was gracious enough to let me use his photo for the cover of my book. I elongated the trees to make them look more menacing.
I'm not sure that the video increased sales at all, but a presence on www.youtube.com has to be a good thing.
Me:
I like to end each interview with one common question, what’s next for you? Where do you see yourself a year from now? Five years from now and beyond?
Mari:
I'm working on a sequel for "Beaufort Falls", "Road Trip", and a chapter from the new book is included in the back of my current edition of "Beaufort Falls".
I'm also working on a book associated with the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago and that should be an entirely more serious fiction book. Five years from now I hope to be retired from my full time job and able to concentrate on my writing full time.
Book information:
ISBN/EAN : 978-0-9798583-0-7
Title : Beaufort Falls
Authors : Mari Sloan
Binding : Paperback
Publisher : It's ME! Ink Press
Publication Date : 2007-10-25
Pages : 368
List Price (MSRP) : 19.95
Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, anywhere online, and can be ordered by title from any local bookstore. Usually delivered in from 7 to 10 days.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sheila Deeth on
-
Nice interview. Thanks. I liked your comment about having to wait for your characters before writing sometimes Mari. I feel that way too.
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