An Interview with Angela Myron

The Write Way Café welcomes author Angela Myron. She's exploring in her books the Eastern concept that love can be a pathway for spiritual development.

When did you first have the thought you'd like to write a book? Was that first thought related to writing romance?
     My first thought to write a book—that I remember—was in the second grade. I had a whole publication plan, a co-author/co-illustrator (another second-grader from church), and who today, is an accomplished author-artist, which is interesting, isn’t it? We both followed that dream.
     I’ve never really been one to think of myself as a romance writer. After all, I’m writing middle-grade fantasies at the moment, and there isn’t a lot of romance you can realistically put in the lives of eleven to thirteen year-olds—and rightly so.
     However, I have also been working on a paranormal mystery that has a romantic subplot. And the reasons I chose to include this part of the story—aside from most of my friends being romance writers—was a wish to explore the spiritual side of love. More specifically, the eastern idea that love can be used as a vehicle for spiritual development.

What was your path to getting this book written and published? What type of research did you do?
     My path to publishing started back when I was a corporate author-publisher, ie, a senior tech writer. I wrote, designed, published, and disseminated volumes for a couple decades before I mustered the courage to write what I wanted to. When that time came, I found I had little tolerance for the whims of traditional publishing. After all, I’d been publishing my own books for a very long time. So, with a great “harrumph!” I joined the billions of authors who were self-publishing. I attended a few conferences on self-pubbing and informed myself enough to do it properly, and put myself out there.
     Since then, I’ve learned a lot and have joined the wonderful author co-operative Patchwork Press. Self-publishing is like the Wild West, and it isn’t for everyone. At times it’s been thrilling, and at other times I’ve told myself to give it up and go back to civilized society, but overall it’s been a journey for which I’m grateful.

Why did you pick the setting you did?
     The world in this series isn’t discussed at length (yet—it is the subject for an upcoming novella) but I chose it to fulfill a desire I’d had for decades—to see our world in the distant future. So many fictional worlds are based in the past, or on another world, or in the somewhat near future, but none seem to place us humans tens of thousands of years from now. What would our world look like after the phase of pillaging the planet ends? Who will we be? What will we look like in 300,000 years, when the time of our evolution has doubled? My story doesn’t go that far, but these are questions that led me to choose a neo-medieval world set approximately 9,000 years from now.

Did you face any blocks while writing the book, and if so, how did you handle them? If not, what's your secret?
     My current block is the next book in this series. Though the first two books have been middle-grade and fairly light-hearted, the third will follow my heroine into the depths of YA. She’ll be struggling with her identity and darker themes, and to be honest, I don’t know if I’m ready. I had a lot of fun in middle-grade. I’m tempted to leave her there.
     Since this is something I’m struggling with now, I can’t really share how I dealt with it, but here’s my plan. I’m going to let it churn around the back of my head while I finish up my tasks with the current book, the audiobook, the anthology, and the mystery. I’m going to give myself a good three-to-four month break, then I’ll start. I have a feeling that I’ll have to remind myself of my heroine’s over-all arc of development, and the reasons I started writing about her. Then I’ll start with the logline and synopsis, and when I’m happy with those, I’ll plan several comedy scenes, then plot the remainder, then draft the (insert expletive here) in a furious frenzy.
     My secret is this: Chip away at the foundation of that block until the wall is weakened, then take a wrecking ball to it.

What did you learn? For instance, what did you learn about yourself, your process, the writing world; about necromancers, magic spells, and stolen artifacts?
     I learned that when writing a fantasy series, the bounty of ideas is wonderful, and paring them down while editing is absolutely essential.
     Also perhaps, while you definitely need to know why you are writing a particular story, you need to express that subtly. That one can be heavy-handed with theme, and no-one likes to be bludgeoned with morals.

What are some of your favorite books and why?
     I love the old fantasies of George MacDonald, and those of CS Lewis, and of course Tolkien. Anything that is rich with symbol and metaphor, and makes me read a line and then stare off into space as I contemplate its deeper meanings. Makes for slow reading, but it’s wonderful. I’d love to write like that someday.

What are you working on now?
     Right now, I’m feverishly getting my print edition together while trying to get some last-minute marketing done for my new release! Also working on the final stages of my first audiobook, planning some fancy new trailers for my book and some others for my fellow authors at PWP, and gearing up for an anthology. In a couple months, I hope to return to that paranormal mystery I mentioned and make it saleable.

Would you like to try your hand at writing a different genre?  Which one and why?
     I’d love to write some scifi. Because each time my husband and I sit down to a good scifi movie, (which doesn’t seem to happen often enough) he or I always say, “Why isn’t there more good scifi?”
Now I know, there are tons of great scifi books out there—and many, many excellent authors writing scifi today—and I know that it’s a genre that one doesn’t just “dabble” in, but that’s the impulse. I’d like to try scifi. Because not enough good scifi movies.

What aspect of writing gives you the most trouble?
     Time, for one. I wish I had more time.
     Secondly, social media. This goes back to the time thing. My readers aren’t even on the web for the large part, but I still need to be there so their librarians, teachers, and parents hear about my books. Anyway, I do what I can, and am grateful for all opportunities I have to talk with other authors and readers.

Who is your favorite hero/heroine?
     I’d have to say my current favorite heroes are Dean Winchester from Supernatural and Sherlock Holmes from the present-day BBC production. Favorite heroine? Mary from Downton Abbey. (I’ve got a sneaking feeling I’m spending too much time watching TV!)


Angela Myron was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1973. She grew up in the piney forests of southern British Columbia, studying tiny blue bells, dodging hidden cacti, and creating fantasy worlds in her back yard.

Angela studied biology and professional writing at the University of Victoria in Canada and San Francisco State University. She wrote grant proposals for nonprofits, technical manuals for software, and freelance journalism before writing fiction.

http://www.angelamyron.com/


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