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Post by catherine daly on Jan 25, 2005 9:16:19 GMT
Marisa will be online on Tue 1st Feb from 8pm Irish time. If you can't be with us on the night, you can post a question beforehand. Marisa will answer as many as she can!!
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marie
Full Member
Posts: 84
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Post by marie on Feb 1, 2005 10:47:36 GMT
Hi Marisa
I'm sure you've been asked this many times but how did you first get published?
Best wishes
Marie
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Post by Leah on Feb 1, 2005 14:17:05 GMT
Hi Marisa
Sorry I won't be able to be online later so I wanted to ask you my question in advance.
I really like your short stories, those on your site plus the one you did for Irish Girls about Town a few years ago (sorry to see you were missing from Irish Girls are back in town last year - come to think of it, so were so many good authors like Cathy Kelly, Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchy)
Anyway my question is how do you get the ideas for your short stories - do you have any tips you can share with us? How long should they be for example...
Thanks a mil, Leah
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Post by Joan on Feb 1, 2005 14:33:57 GMT
Hi Marisa, sorry I won't be able to join you tonight - well actually this morning (Wednesday) in Australia. Which brings me to my question - I had a peek at your website and noticed you like to travel - wondered if you'd ever made it "downunder" to Australia? We need to have more Irish authors' books available in Australia. Unfortunately I haven't seen any of yours, here Marisa - more to add to the wishlist, I think.
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Post by lisa on Feb 1, 2005 15:31:49 GMT
Hi Marissa, Unfortuantley I wont be able to make it tonight - big time bummer!! My french Classes have started back up and Ive missed a few before Christmas and really cant miss anymore! (especially as my boss is paying for it!) Ive read"So long Mr. Wrong" and "Mr. Right for the Night" and enjoyed both of them. Ive still to read "Mile High Club" though, must get stuck into that actually as ive been moaning ive nothing to read. my question is this Marissa, when you have an idea for a story in your head, does it just be the the main outline of it? LIke do the best bits come to you AS your writing or do you have a fair idea of what your going to put in before hand? Also, you used to be a air hostess for Aer Lingus, when did you realise you had an amazing talent to write, and how did you get time to write and be up at 3.00am!! I could bombard you with questions here Marissa but god, I wouldnt do that on you. Im going mad i cant be here tonight, but look forward to reading it tomorrow. Enjoy it, you'll have fun, were a great bunch really! only some of us bite!!! take it easy, Lisa xxx
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Post by Mary on Feb 1, 2005 18:33:36 GMT
Hi Marisa, you'll be sick of answering my questions. I'm forever asking! Anyway, in case I don't get to be around at 8pm (collecting kids from school trip)....here's a few that I haven't seen asked before. 1. A writer's voice.......we all hear alot about this, and what I want to know is can you develop one, or are you born with it? 2. Should a writer keep their tone distinct from the way they speak themselves? 3. Old one, but here goes....which comes first - characters or plot?
I'm sure by now you want to hit me, tell me to get off the computer and start writing, but if you get the chance Marisa, I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks, Mary
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 19:59:33 GMT
Hi Marisa- welcome on board! You've plenty of questions to be getting on with I see- and there seems to be quite a bit of interest
Have fun!!
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:02:30 GMT
Hi Marie, I first got published as a result of a meeting with the wonderful Deirdre Purcell. My mother got me tickets for a talk she was giving and at the end of it I went up and told her I had written a book. She kindly rang her editor the next day who in turn rang me within a week i had a deal! Deirder's book Children of Eve has just been published and went straight to number one. I was lucky enough to go to her book launch last week and it was a wonderful evening. Among her many fans were Gay Byrne and authour Marita Conlon McKenna.
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:07:45 GMT
Hi Leah, thank you so much for the compliments. I was so flattered to be asked to take part in Irish Girls About Town. I was so nervous about being in a book alongside the fabulous Maeve Binchy, Marian Keyes and Cathy Kelly that I spent six weeks working on the story to make sure it was a suitably high standard. It was actually the first short story I ever wrote (apart from stories I had written in school!). I often find short stories are harder to write than books as you only have a certain time frame to write a beginning, middle and end. I wrote and rewrote the ending many times to get it right. At the launch of Irish Girls about town, I was invited to read my story out loud as Maeve Binchy (who had initially been asked had lost her voice!). I remember at one stage looking down at Maeve Binchy listening to me as I read and I thought 'Oh My God! This is just one of the most amazing, surreal experiences!'
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 20:11:00 GMT
within a week i had a deal! That's so tragic (not)- it means you don't have great stories of all the hundreds of rejections you had to endure!!
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:15:49 GMT
Hi Joan! Which part of Australia do you live? My sister used to work as a doctor in Australia in a place called Mackay, north of Brisbane. I went to visit her for 3 weeks and I actually wrote a good chunk of my third book there on her laptop by the pool. Then I emailed it to myself. The best thing about being a writer is that you can literally work anywhere in the world! When I was in Mackay I visited the bookshop (of course!) and I noticed they had lots of Cathy Kelly books, but not very many other Irish writers unfortunately. I really hope my books will be published in Australia next year. They will be published in America, UK, Scandinavia, Germany and Italy, which is really exciting. So far they have only been available in Ireland and Japan. Also Joan I noticed that books in Australia are very expensive compared to Ireland. I wonder why this is? What Irish writers do you like? I'd love to know. There are lots of Irish living in Australia so there is no reason why our books shouldn't be more available there. Oh God, even thinking about you over in Oz makes me long for some sun. The weather is awful here and I've just seen the weather forecast. We're due snow and sleet for the weekend. *Sigh*
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Post by claire on Feb 1, 2005 20:19:01 GMT
Hi Marisa Any chance of your books being published in Dutch? They are alos very hard to get here in english
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Post by Mary on Feb 1, 2005 20:22:13 GMT
Hi Marisa, I'm just back from collecting boys. Hope you don't mind my questions. God, you were the lucky one with publishing! Well done - obviously your book stood up for itself.
Can I ask yet another question: Do you love writing? How much time do you spend writing each day?
thanks again, Mary.
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 20:22:37 GMT
Hi, I see we have a new member- welcome Donnah- and a few guests tuning in. Don't be shy- join in!
Don't try to start new threads in this topic (you won't be able to!!) but just hit 'reply' at the bottom of the thread.
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:24:49 GMT
Hi Lisa, I agree your boss wouldn't be too pleased if you missed your French classes. I studied French in Uni and loved it. Also lived in France for a couple of years. Now, to answer your questions, writing as an air hostess was extremely difficult. I would often have to get up at 3 and write until 4 or 5. The Aer Lingus mini van would collect me at five and I'd check in at 6 for my flight. After my flight I wouldn't be fit to do anything except fall into bed. I told everyone at work I was writing a book. I don't know if this was a good thing because for 2 years everyone would ask 'how's that book coming along?' but it put pressure on me to finish a book. I suppose it's like telling people you're on a diet. If you told people that and then you didn't lose weigh you'd feel like a failure. I likened writing a book to going to Weight Watchers! Thank you for telling me I'm talented. It's funny but I'm always terrified of putting my books out there because I worry that people won't think I'm any good. Getting a compliment like that makes it all worthwhile. The night before a book comes out I always feel a bit sick. I'm terrified that it'll be savaged by critics. Thankfully though in 3 years I've only ever had one really nasty review. It was for Mr Right for the Night and the reviewer said it was 'a silly novel'. However that silly novel went to number one so it can't have been too silly. When you put a book out ther it's like putting your baby on the shelf. Anybody can bring it home for a tenner. You just hope and pray that they like it and don't use it to light a fire or anything...
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:37:04 GMT
Hi Mary, how are you keeping? Let me see... when they tell you to find your own voice, I think it's the best piece of advice. When Angela's Ashes came out I thought I would write a very sad tale about growing up in poverty, with alcholism and a bit of violence thrown in. I wrote 100,000 words of depressing drivel about something I knew nothing about. You see, I was trying to be a femle version of Frank McCourt and not me, Marisa. I sent it off to about 30 publishers and got about 30 rejections. Every time the postman used to post my rejected manuscript through the letterbox another piece f me just died. My sister felt very sorry for me and told me to just write about what I knew. Well, I thought, what do I know? Well, I knew what it was like to have met lots of unsuitable men who made lots of promises but failed to deliver. I knew what it was like to have my heart broken and to have been led a merry dance by a married man, whom I didn't know was married. I knew what it was to meet men who seemed great the first night I met them, and then turned out to be absolute lunatics. I was singe (I still am by the way!) and I was coming up to my ten year school reunion. I knew most of my class were married and that they'd all be quizzing me about my non existant love life - then bingo! I had an idea for my book. My heroine Anna has four months to fing Mr Right for the Night to bring to her school reunion. And finding a perfect man in Dublin is like... well, have you ever tried looking for a needle in a haystack?
To anser your second question, I always have a vague idea about where the story begins and ends but i'm never sure until I reach the end! To me, that would be like going to the cinema, knowing the end! My books are definitely plot driven and the characters just appear out of nowhere! Sometimes they just arrive and don't go away. I know that might sound weird but when I'm writing a book I just go into my own little world and sometimes I even dream about my characters. They become my friends and family. My own family think that's really weird! I'm the only writer in my family and Mum keeps asking when I'm going to get a proper job!!!
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 20:38:20 GMT
Looks like MArisa's gone off line- hope she hasn't a problem with her internet connection- don't goway though- any one got any other questions?
No sooner do i post, and she comes back!!
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:45:15 GMT
Hi Claire, no I don't have a Dutch publisher but I'm definitely going to try! Which writers are popular in Holland at the moment? I have visited Holland many, many times and have had great fun there. The Dutch men are party animals and I think the Dutch have a fantastic sense of humour. My best friend and I spent a week in Amsterdam two years ago. We went to this great nightclub and left at 2. My sense of direction is appaling (most writers suffer from this I think!). When we left the club my friend asked me if I knew the way back to the hotel. I said 'I think you just follow the canal.' We couldn't get a taxi and walked for 2 hours and ended back outside the club at 4. We had walked around in a circle for 2 hours and it was absolutely freezing! My friend nearly murdered me! But apart from that unfortunate night, everything else about Holland is fab... especailly the towns outside Amsterdam which are so pretty...eh sorry for going off on a tanget there... I have a terrible habit of doing that!
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:46:30 GMT
Oh no Catherine! I'm still here. Keep asking questions. This is good fun actually!
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Post by claire on Feb 1, 2005 20:50:20 GMT
Hi Marisa & Catherine I'm sorry I'm not much good at this question thing, I'm the kind of person that just sits in the corner listening. I've enjoyed reading your stories on your website and hope someday in the not to distant future to read your books.
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 20:51:07 GMT
Will you tell us what your next book is about- and when it's out. When do we get to see the cover or read an extract?
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 20:52:35 GMT
I'm sorry I'm not much good at this question thing. There must be something you want to know.... Just ask- we don't have to answer- or we can always lie. Lie- did I say that???
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 20:58:56 GMT
Mary,
Thanks a million for logging on! I really appreciate it! I might have given th wrong impression that I was lucky about getting a publisher but it wasn't that easy. I had sent Mr Right for the Night to a UK agent. She wrote back after about 2 months and said it was good but not good enough to be published. She asked me was it okay if she shredded it. I was out that night in a pub with friends and somebody asked me how my book was coming along and whether I had found a publisher. I remember bursting into tears. I couldn't believe Mr Right for the Night had been rejected after me waiting for so long. I had put my heart and soul into that book. Bu then I met Deidre Purcell 2 months later and luck intervened. That same book, which I had been told wasn't good enough for anything but the shedder went to number one and remained a top 10 bestseller for 14 weeks. So NEVER be put off by rejection. Hope this helps! luv, M PS. No, I don't write every day. I wish I could but some days I just can't face it and end up watching Oprah, Judge Judy and Emmerdale instead!
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Post by claire on Feb 1, 2005 21:00:37 GMT
Well the best know irish writers at the mo are Cathy Kelly and Maeve Binchy. We even got Angelas Ashes in dutch! Most of these books come from "the house of books" publishers. I've even seen one!! Dierdre Purcell book. I live way down south in holland near Maastricht. We did live nearer to Amsterdam and I too loved the city. That's agood one, just follow the canal back to the hotel, how many canals did you think there were in Amsterdam ;D God I miss that city. Irish pubs are all over the place here, just like the Irish. One night in Amsterdam my husband got talkin to some fella from Dublin and to cut the story short he turned out to be the best friend of an ex boyfriend of mine!! You just can't get away from them!
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Post by claire on Feb 1, 2005 21:05:54 GMT
Ok,one question , what's this 'Celtic Tiger' thing? I keep reading about it but just don't what it is or meant by it.
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Post by Marisa on Feb 1, 2005 21:09:06 GMT
Hi Claire, glad you're here and eenjoying the 'conversation'.
Catherine, my new book is Chinese Whispers and it's about a gossip columnist called Fiona who decides to make her flatmate into a 'star' by writing about her all the time in her column. it starts out as a laugh but then Bunny, the flatmate, actually start to believe her own publicity and thinks she's too good to hang around with Fiona! Last year I was the gossip columnist for Evening Herald, which Is Ireland's evening paper. I spent so many nights in dodgy venues with an even dodgier glass of wine, being told by PR people that Bono might show...
Of course Bono never did show and I often was in a panic thinking 'who will I write about?' I often used to think I should just make up a celebrity so I'd have someone to write about... and then I got my idea for my next book. I got my cover yesterday. I'll email it to you later Catherine so tomorrow you can all give me your opinion. I was out in Eason wholesale yesterday and the buyers like it so I've got the go ahead. It will be out in May. They say 'never judge a book by it's cover' but believe you me, in the book industry, this statement couldn't be more wrong. A customer wandering around a shop has nothing else to go on ...
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Post by claire on Feb 1, 2005 21:12:32 GMT
It helps if the cover is eye catching, but I like to take my time picking out a book. I spen more time on that doin my makeup in the morning!
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 21:15:44 GMT
what's this 'Celtic Tiger' thing? I keep reading about it but just don't what it is or meant by it. Um yes, we all refer to it without really thinking that people outside ireland mightn't have the slightest clue what we're on about. It's a copy of What they used to call the really successful economies in the far east -(and would you believe that right now I can't remember what that was- anyone remember? the oriental tiger, the singapore tiger, something like that) Anyway in the mid to late nineties, the irish economy began to look very similar- high growth rates based on highly skilled workforce and technology companies- hence we were the new tiger economy!!
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Post by catherine daly on Feb 1, 2005 21:17:12 GMT
but I like to take my time picking out a book. I spen more time on that doin my makeup in the morning! Book Browsing- my favourite pasttime. ;D Unfortunately I don't get enough time to indulge
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Post by claire on Feb 1, 2005 21:21:30 GMT
Wel thanks for that. I often think that I left Ireland a little too soon. When I read about places like Temple Bar and all the great resturants , bistros and bars and clubs, I'm reading about a different dublin tha I grew up in. I long to go back, without the kids just to check it out.
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