Interview with Erica Miner, author of FourEver Friends

Bio: Violinist turned author Erica Miner has had a multi-faceted career as an award-winning screenwriter, author, lecturer and poet. A native of Detroit, she studied music at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music. After experiencing a variety of highs and lows in her quest to forge a career in New York City, Erica won the coveted position of violinist with the Metropolitan Opera Company, a high-pressured milieu but the pinnacle of her field.

When injuries from a car accident spelled the end of her musical career, she drew upon her lifelong love of writing for inspiration and studied screenwriting with authors and script gurus Linda Seger and Ken Rotcop. Erica’s ten screenplays, one of which is based on her award-winning debut novel, Travels with My Lovers, have won awards and/or placed in such competitions as WinFemme, Santa Fe and the Writer’s Digest.

Inspired by her journals written during her travel adventures in Europe with and without her children, Erica penned Travels With My Lovers, winner of the fiction prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Erica has written both the novel and screenplay of her suspense thriller, Murder In The Pit, which takes place at the Met. Currently she is working on the next novel in her ‘FourEver Friends’ series chronicling a young girl’s coming of age in the volatile 60s.

Erica has also developed a number of writing lectures and seminars on writing, which she has presented at venues across the West Coast and on the High Seas, where she is a ‘top-rated’ speaker for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Topics range from “The Art of Self Re-Invention” to “Journaling for Writers: Mining the Gold of Your Own Experiences” and “Opera Meets Hollywood.” Her writings have appeared in Vision Magazine, WORD San Diego and numerous E-zines.

Thanks for this interview, Erica, and congratulations on the release of your new book, FourEver Friends. Tell us a bit about it.

Thank you for the kind wishes, Mayra. I’m excited about this story. It’s about four teenage girls at a high school for gifted students in Detroit in the 1960s. They bond through their passion for classical music and their raging hormones – quite a combination! Set against the background of the social and political unrest of this volatile decade, that’s definitely a recipe for intrigue.

What was your inspiration for the story?
It’s loosely based on my teenage journals and my experiences at the real high school where the story takes place, Cass Technical High School. This school, kind of like a combination of New York’s High School of Music and Art and the Bronx High School of Science, with a plethora of other specialties added to the mix, was a unique opportunity for kids of that age to ‘specialize’ in their field of interest, and ‘major’ in a curriculum of their choice. Some of the students in the Music Curriculum went straight from high school to the Detroit Symphony; that is an example of the extraordinary level of education afforded by this school. College was almost a let-down for me after that. In four years being in that orchestra, whose conductor was my mentor, an amazing Russian man who was totally devoted to his students, we studied and/or performed all of the major symphonies and other symphonic works of the great masters: Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky – I could go on ad infinitum. It was a life-altering experience for me. Even now, whenever I hear a piece I had played there, the first thought that occurs to me is: ‘I played that at Cass Tech.’ What a wonderful foundation for my subsequent musical life! AND the three closest friends I bonded with during those years – my ‘FourEver Friends’ – well, we’re still each other’s closest friends. The book is a love letter to them, and I wanted to share our story with the world. There’s so much love there!

Do you think music has the power to bond people?
Absolutely! Life is all about music, when you think of it. Music pervades our lives, influences us, whether it is classical, spiritual, jazz, blue grass or rock. Do you know anyone who doesn’t have a passion, or at least an admiration, for some kind of music? It is at the essence of our being; it’s what humanizes us.

I love books with references to classical music and detailed descriptions of violin playing. Is your book of this type?
Oh, Mayra, you can hardly imagine how huge a part classical music plays (no pun intended) in this story. The music itself is a character in the book. When preparing for my book launch last week in LA, I prepared some CDs of excerpts from the book to play at the event. I put together three CDs, and I barely scratched the surface of what is included in the book. And I have vivid descriptions of violin playing, practicing, studying, performing, you name it – from the perspective of the main protagonist, Jessica, who is a violinist in her heart and soul and the others she performs with. I’ve also written episodes describing orchestra playing, band playing, choral singing. The list goes on. I’d better stop here, or I’ll get carried away. But what an immense pleasure it was for me to write about that music that I hold dear, and all of the friends who shared it with me during that time!

What have you been doing to promote the book? Any strategies you’d like to share with our readers?
One thing I learned from my first novel (see next question) is that promotion and marketing needs to be started way before the book is published. Everything I learned from my previous experience informed my promotion so far with this one. I contacted bookstores and libraries about book signings, got the word out about the book to all of my ‘fans’ of the previous book (that’s how I was able to arrange for a book launch venue for this one), and have been tirelessly getting the word out in online networks from Facebook to my high school Alumni ‘nings’. I consider myself first a musician, second a writer, and third a business person. Some advice I remember from before was that writing is 5% writing and 95% promotion. Truer words were never said. I’m planning on going back to Detroit to do a book signing at my high school. So it’s as if things have come full circle.

This isn’t your first book revolving around music, is it? Can you tell us about your first one, Travels With My Lovers?
FourEver Friends is almost a ‘prequel’ to Travels With My Lovers, in the sense that the former gives background about the woman who has become a musician and seeks her musical roots on her European travel adventures. Having grown up and matured into a woman with a passion for music, her fervor is expressed through a passion for the opposite sex. In her travels she discovers just how international the languages of music and of love are. I think that’s appropriate, don’t you?

How has your music background influenced your writing?
Everything I’ve ever written has been informed by my musical background. Every novel and screenplay, either its characters or setting or background, centers around music in a major way. It’s who I am – and they say write what you know. So it was inevitable that music be the basis for my writing.

Anything else you’d like to say?
Part of my path in life, I believe, is to try and spread the word about classical music to as much of the world as I can. It’s my passion, everyday of my life, from the moment I wake up in the morning till the time I go to sleep – and sometimes even in my dreams. I think the lives of people who know at least a little about classical music are enhanced and enriched by it. So I’d like to continue to make sure classical music remains an important part of people’s lives – in any way I can! (Murder In The Pit, anyone?)

Thanks, Erica! I look forward to reading your book soon!

Interview with Robert Shlasko, author of Molly and the Sword

The children’s book, Molly and the Sword, tells of a young girl who, with the help of a mysterious horseman, overcomes obstacles on the road to success as a violinist. It has garnered rave reviews from music and education magazines. Here to talk about the book is author Robert Shlasko.

Thanks for this interview, Robert. I understand this is your first book.

Yes, but I’ve been a writer all my working life — science, international trade, business, speeches … pretty much any sort of writing where I could make a living.

Anything for children?

Some — when my own children were young. Fiction and non-fiction. For example, my articles on chess appeared in a leading children’s magazine.

So where did the idea for Molly and the Sword come from?

It started as an incident that had happened to my mother in the first World War. I moved the story back about a century. Then, to advance the plot, I added the violin since that was the instrument my son played. Curiously, after the book came out, I met a woman who told of a similar incident that happened to her grandmother.

Art imitating life and life imitating art.

That’s what I tell the students when I read in the schools.

Do you visit schools often?

Every chance I get. I’ve read in private and public schools, at a Montessori school, at a United Nations school. In two weeks I’m returning for my third visit to an elementary school in a multi-ethnic section of Queens, New York.

What ages are the students?

I’ve read in everything from the first to the fifth grade. As you can imagine, the discussions get a lot more sophisticated in the upper grades. But each level brings its own questions and its own pleasures for me. I say the book’s for ages 7-12 – although I know that’s a big range.

Yes, I read one reviewer who even stretched that age range a bit.

Both up and down. In fact, I get letters from adults who respond to the story. A 25-year-old violinist in the Iraqi National Symphony wrote that she uses the book as a defense against stage fright. And I’ve received notes from adult men who’ve admitted to shedding tears at the emotions raised in the story. Yet there’s nothing depressing or frightening in the plot. I find it surprising that, if anything, fathers seem to react more emotionally than anyone to the story.

Yet the book is dedicated to “brave girls.”

Yes, but boys really respond to it too. One fourth-grade boy who’d come from India wrote that he would “tell my sisters to be brave like Molly.” And at another school reading, a third-grade boy handed me a piece of garnet he’d collected with his father and ran off before I could give it back. As you can imagine, the dedication to girls raises lots of discussions during my school visits.

What other subjects do the children raise in the schools?

I’m usually with a group of students for about an hour. After I’ve read, I let the children move the discussion in any direction that want. It varies widely. The major themes in the book are having confidence in yourself, how courage shows itself in many ways not just in fighting, and the idea that enemies can become friends. About that last point: I try to tie it to how they relate to schoolmates they may not get along with. And in almost every session something unexpected comes up.

Such as?

Well, at the very beginning of the book I mention that Molly’s mother was pregnant. At a Montessori school in South Carolina a young girl wanted to know what happened to the baby. I reassured her that mother and child were doing well. Whatever the questions, we manage to touch on their own writing and its importance to their futures.

So you do discuss writing per se?

Absolutely. It often comes up in the context of having confidence in yourself. I tell of writers they’ve read who had the courage to go on even after receiving one rejection after another. Of course, that applies to musicians too.

I notice you have many of the letters, from all over the world, on your website.

Yes, plus items on education, violins and music in general. In fact, this interview may push me into updating the site with fresh items sitting on my desk. Not every letter gets on the site. For example I haven’t yet posted a wonderful letter from a 10-year-old girl in Canada who ask why Molly’s violin didn’t have a chin rest like hers did.

That sounds like a good question.

Indeed. I explained that before my artist started working on the book, I checked with an expert on violins at the music department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York. He sent me an article on the invention of the chin rest in the early 1800s. So we felt comfortable leaving it out of the illustrations. This research led to more information on music history, and into women in that history, which finds its way on to the website and into my class readings.

Do you play an instrument?

Alas no — thus far! But two of my grandchildren play the violin and one plays the cello. And all play the piano.

Whether you play or not, your book is in many performing arts centers.

Fortunately yes. I dropped it off at a concert hall gift store in New York and it just spread out from there. It’s at the gift shops of Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Boston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and so on all across the country.

How about retail outlets?

Music stores carry it and it’s available on order from the bookstores and the usual suspects – Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other websites. But as a first-time author/publisher, I made many early mistakes that hurt distribution – especially with the general bookstores.

As opposed to music bookstores?

Exactly. But as you pointed out in your terrific review, the book is not just for violinists or other musicians, it’s for all children. That’s what I aimed for when I started writing the book. And the reaction in the classrooms confirm this.

Yet limited distribution must have hurt your income.

Indeed. In fact, last year a girl asked if I arrived at her school in my limousine. I guess they all know of J.K. Rowlings. But I had to tell the class that I arrived by subway and, in fact, don’t own a car. Still, putting out the book has been a great experience – especially the interactions with schools, the music world, publishing and parents all over the world.

Do you have other writing projects in the works?

A painful question. Actually, I have a number of manuscripts: another children’s book, an adult mystery, a play and a teenage adventure story — all waiting for final editing. Again, your interview may push me into action.

Thanks for the interview and good luck with your book!

Interview with Kristy Kiernan and review of her novel, CATCHING GENIUS

Today on Violin and Books is talented author Kristy Kiernan, whose first novel, CATCHING GENIUS, has garnered some stunning reviews. Kristy talks about inspiration, music, her working habits, finding a publisher, and her other works. At the end of the interview is a review of CATCHING GENIUS by author/violinist Terez Rose.

Please tell us about your book, Catching Genius. What was your inspiration for this story and what prompted you to make the protagonist an amateur violinist?

Catching Genius is about sisters; Estella was diagnosed as a genius at seven, and Connie, five at the time, became a violinist in an effort to draw her father’s attention back to her. Now in their forties, the sisters must come together and work things out, which is made harder by the facts that they’re both hiding the reality of the current lives from each other and that Connie’s youngest son, Carson, seems to have inherited some genius of his own.

Connie being a violinist was a decision made right at the beginning of my brainstorming. I have always yearned to be able to play the violin, but in many ways, the yearning itself was enough. Sort of like a crush on a movie star, I felt that the fantasy of it was likely more exciting and mysterious (for me) than the reality. I knew that even to become proficient a player must put in hours of work every day, and that sort of passion in my life was reserved for writing. I’ve never been good at multi-tasking when it came to creative energy, so this was a great way for me to explore that other fantasy life I occasionally indulged myself in, in the medium I chose to express myself in.

Sneaky way to live your dreams, huh?

Tell us about the writing process while working on this novel. How much time passed from the actual idea to the published book? Did you get caught up at times or did it flow evenly from start to finish?

Hahahahaha…ahhhh, sorry, it was that whole “flow evenly” bit that got me! From actual idea to published book? Five, six years maybe? But keep in mind, that an actual idea might fester for years before it becomes impossible to ignore, and that the publishing process itself (selling, editing, proofing, typesetting, production, distribution) often takes over a year. This book, from first word on the page to selling to a publishing house took two years.

And yes, I absolutely got “caught up.” I got caught up in the research for months at a time, for both the math aspects as well as the music aspects. Perhaps an eighth of what I learned during that time is in the novel. Maybe a sixteenth. At one point I was sitting in bed at three in the afternoon, still in my pajamas, hair wild, surrounded by open books on Tesla, math theory, and the nature of genius, and watching “Pi” a black & white movie about numerology, Jewish mysticism, and the stock market, and I realized that I thought I might be on the verge of decoding the secret of the universe.

Yeah.

That was when I knew it was time to put the research away and finish the book!

From violin-related novels I’ve read, I know it’s very difficult for a non-violin player to write effectively about the violinist’s ’soul’. What type of research did you have to do in order to get into the mind, heart and soul of a violinist, and to get all the details right?

You and your readers might find this horribly egotistical, but hear me out first: I didn’t find the violinist’s soul at all difficult to write effectively about. I would find it incredibly difficult to write effectively about the soul of someone who wasn’t deeply invested in the creative process. Don’t you, as a violinist, feel connected to others who make their living (financially or emotionally) in a creative field?

Our disciplines might be different, but I can’t help but feel that our passions are the same. We want to get lost in the beauty of what stirs us, we strive to perfect it to the best of our ability, even when we know perfection is an illusion, and we come back to it, over and over, even when our imperfection breaks our hearts.

What is your working environment like? Do you write in longhand or at the computer? Are you disciplined?

My hand cramps even when I just sit down to write out bills! No, no longhand for me. I love the computer, I love the decisive sound of the keyboard. I started out on computers fairly early, in the eighties, so it’s a very natural thing for me. My working environment, aside from a keyboard, is pretty fluid. I work on a laptop, so at any given moment I am working on my sofa (as I am right now, two throw pillows behind me, legs up, TV on, glass of chardonnay on the coffee table), or I could be in bed, on the patio (I live in Florida, so I can work outside most of the year), in a hotel room, on a plane, etc…

I am disciplined when I need to be. I tend to take discipline in doses. Deadline? No problem, never missed one. Lots of time? Well, then I’m a daydreamer. I think a lot before I sit down and do the thing. When I know it’s time, I set a daily word count goal rather than a time limit, usually 2,000 words a day, and then I am militant about it. I swear my husband has to call to remind me to eat.

Some authors walk for inspiration, others keep daily journals or listen to music. What helps you to unleash your creativity?

Music is huge for me. Most often rock, heavy rock. AC/DC inspires me, as does Eminem and Metallica. The I have my Van Morrison and Peter Gabriel times, and my dear friend Terez Rose, a violinist and an extraordinary writer in her own right, made me the most exquisite classical CDs that I put in when I’m need another mindset. I find that my musical tastes change with what type of scene I’m writing or what stage I’m at in the book.

If I’m stuck, thinking too much about the business end, or growing despondent about my abilities it’s: Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel, Lose Yourself by Eminem, You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC, Here I Am (Come and Take Me) by Al Green, Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen, I Feel The Earth Move by Carole King, Wooden Ships by CSNY, The Cover of the Rolling Stone by Dr. Hook…yikes, there’s a lot of them. Maybe I should do a whole article on the angry music of determination?

Anyway, different music for different parts of the book, the different stages of the process.

The competition is tough in the publishing world, and a lot of new authors have tremendous trouble finding an agent or publisher. How was this process for you?

Tough. I found an agent on my second book. I didn’t know anyone, didn’t have any contacts, just did it the old fashioned way by sending out a single-paged query letter explaining what my book was about to agents and hoping for a reply.

We (my agent and I) didn’t find a publisher until my fourth book, which was Catching Genius. From the first word on my first book, to holding the published version of Catching Genius in my hand was seven years.

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever got?

The best business advice I got was from Pat Conroy. He encouraged me to help others, which I was already doing, but then he cautioned me that helping others couldn’t come at the expense of my own writing. I spend a lot of time encouraging other writers, especially debut authors, but I try to remember that if I take too much time away from my own work, I won’t have any wisdom to impart to them. It’s a difficult balancing act, and I’ve had some tough times working it out.

The best advice about the craft came from my husband. He told me to stop worrying about what his mother would think when she read it.

Would you like to tell our readers about your other novels?

Well, I don’t know why I wouldn’t and thanks for the opportunity! My next novel is called Matters of Faith and it’s coming out August 5, 2008. It’s about a dysfunctional Florida family (seeing a trend here?), and here’s the description from the back of the book:

Kristy Kiernan made a stunning debut with Catching Genius, her compelling depiction of two sisters facing their mutual past. Now she explores the life of a boy whose search for faith threatens to drive his family apart.

At age twelve, Marshall Tobias saw his best friend killed by a train. It was then that he began his search for faith; delving into one tradition, then discarding it for another. While his parents were at odds over his behavior, they found common ground with his little sister Meghan, whose severe food allergies required careful attention.

Now Marshall is home from college with his first real girlfriend. Meghan is thrilled to have her around, but there is more to Ada than meets the eye—including her beliefs about the evils of medical intervention. What follows is a crisis that tests not only faith, but the limits of family, forgiveness, and our need to believe.

The only music in this one is the daughter, Meghan, is a pianist, and her concentration takes a different turn toward the end of the book, but it’s not a main theme. However, I can’t imagine any book I write not having music, ion one way or another, in it. It’s too important to me, always has been from the time I was a small child, just like writing.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about you or your work?

Buy it or I can’t keep doing it? *sigh* Sad, isn’t it? No, I suppose there comes a point where you have to let the work speak for itself. I hope people enjoy it. I never wanted to write a book, I just always wanted to be a writer. I imagine it must be like being a musician. Do you want to play just one piece? Or do you want to immerse yourself in the music itself, do you want to surround yourself with music, glean what you can from other musicians, talk music, breathe music? That’s how I feel about writing. It’s not The Book, it’s every book, every story, every character.

Is there any violin-related book (fiction and/or nonfiction) that you’ve read and would like to recommend?

Wow, I wouldn’t want to presume to tell a musician what to read, as I imagine a musician might be loathe to tell me what to read about writing, so I’ll just tell you what I did read, and what I enjoyed: 1) The first, the obvious, An Equal Music by Vikram Seth, lovely 2) The Savior by Eugene Drucker 3) The Rosendorf Quartet by Nathan Shaham. There were more, many more, both fiction and non-fiction, but those are the ones that stand out.

Hey, thanks so much, Mayra! I enjoyed this, several questions I’ve not been asked before!

I’m glad you did, Kristy. Thank YOU for taking the time to answer my questions!

Interview by Mayra Calvani, author of The Magic Violin.

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Short review of Catching Genius
by Terez Rose

“I’m sick. I might die,” seven-year-old Estella confesses her younger sister Connie, in the prologue of Kristy Kiernan’s debut novel. “I have eyecue. It’s bad. I have a lot of it.” When Connie rushes to her beloved sister and friend, Estella holds up her hand. “Don’t. It might be catching.” And thus begins Catching Genius, the irresistible story of two sisters whose relationship and lives are irrevocably altered after one is diagnosed as a math genius.

Fast-forward thirty-five years. The sisters, who haven’t spoken for eight years, must meet, as per their mother’s request, to pack up the family’s Gulf Coast home and ready it for sale. Both sisters are reluctant—their lives have taken divergent paths and Connie still harbors resentment over the way Estella and her genius “stole” their father’s attention and affection. Connie’s youthful attempts to regain her father’s attention by playing the violin—which she learned to do with great proficiency but never brilliance—fell short, relegating her to the sidelines throughout her youth.

The two sisters, now pressed into each other’s company, must address the memories and contentious issues that separate them, as well as dealing with new issues springing up. Estella, currently a math tutor, suffers from a mysterious malady. Connie is struggling with her husband’s infidelity and the challenges of raising two boys. Her teenaged son, an increasingly hostile stranger, is failing math, of all subjects. Carson, her youngest, has been listening to the music Connie still plays and performs, absorbing it and creating his own. When Carson’s music teacher raves about the boy’s prodigious talent—both as a clarinetist and a composer—Connie, well aware of the havoc such a diagnosis can wreak on a family, reacts violently, rejecting both teacher and his words.

Kiernan writes about family, forgiveness and the allure of the Gulf Coast with authority and assurance, producing a smoothly plotted story peppered with revelations that lead to a rousing, heartfelt finish. Alternating points of view between the sisters help the reader understanding the key issues of contention and misunderstanding. Connie’s troubled relationship with husband Luke is brilliantly depicted—complex and achingly real. Likewise, Connie’s mother is well portrayed as a firm but loving matriarch who’s lively, outspoken, and reacts to her daughters in a way that is never clichéd or overdone.

Humor punctuates the story nicely, lending levity to tense moments, such as the scene where Connie speaks with a lawyer over the phone regarding her husband. She stands surrounded by the orchids that Luke enjoys presenting to her, always first “running his fingers along the lips, caressing the throat, gazing at me slyly.” Upon hearing the details of his financial irresponsibility, however, Connie tears up the entire orchid collection, in a Hitchcock-esque frenzy, that afterwards leaves her staring at the petaled carnage. “All around me plants lay unrecognizable, a battlefield of awful dismembered limbs. My fury settled into something approaching satisfaction when I realized that at least I no longer saw sex when I looked at the orchids.”Estella’s method of narrating—short musings that are focused, economic, almost geometric in their precision, offers the reader fascinating glimpses into the mind of a gifted mathematician. She experiences and processes life through the filter of her numbers, a trait Kiernan depicts brilliantly.

I walk back down the stairs. Passive-aggressively. Purposely hitting every squeak I know—there are six of them.
Three facts about six:
Six is the first perfect number.
All numbers between twin primes are evenly divisible by six.
Six is the product of the first four nonzero Fibonacci numbers.

I reach the tile, step carefully to the center of each one. Every third one, I skip one to the right—forty-three in all.
Three facts about forty-three:
There are forty-three three-digit emirps.
Forty-three is the smallest prime that is not the sum of two palindromes.
There are forty-three verses in Beowulf.

This kind of writing is what makes Catching Genius rise above the pack in the crowded women’s fiction market. Clearly meticulous research was required, but the novel never suffers from an excess of academic explanation or mathematics jargon. Kiernan’s successful melding of math and lyrical prose lends the novel invisible depths that provide an intellectual as well as emotional charge to the novel.

Kiernan’s description of Connie, as a violin player, offers an equal amount of insider information about playing the violin—the hickey on the neck, the clipped fingernails, the frustrations of tuning a recalcitrant violin and the sacred nature of a good bow and its hair. Scenes between her and the trio members she performs with are true to life. Connie, however, falls short of demonstrating the intensity that turns a violin player into a violinist. And yet this flaw is perfectly in line with the story. Connie admits she isn’t the most dedicated violin player, and is never to be found immersing herself in the hours-long daily task of scales, études and arpeggios that most violinists see as mandatory. She leaves her violin behind in the car (violinists, cover your ears: in Atlanta, in the summer). Playing the violin is a diversion for her, not a calling. Her son Carson, however, it becomes clear, lives to play music, to experiment with music, to find music in everything. He can’t not play music. He is indeed the music prodigy in the family, an irony that affects Connie on many levels.

The story might have profited from a flashback scene that would have “showed not told” Dad’s rejection of Connie in favor of Estella and her gift, but aside from this, it is well-balanced and focused. Chosen as an Ingram Reading Group Selection for February, Catching Genius is a novel that will appeal to music and math enthusiasts, women’s fiction readers, and anyone who wants to escape for a few hours, pull up a beach chair, smell the sea and enjoy a good story.

-Terez Rose’s stories and essays have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Literary Mama, Espresso Fiction, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and various anthologies. She has reviewed book for Mid-American Review, Peace Corps Writers, Midwest Book Review and MostlyFiction.com. An adult beginner on the violin, she maintains a violin-related blog at http://www.violinist.com/blog/terez. Visit her at www.terezrose.com.

Interview with Author & Violinist Corinne Demas

Corinne Demas has written many books in a variety of genres. A violinist herself, music has influenced her work. She is a Professor of English at Holyoke College and Fiction Editor of The Massachussets Review.  

Welcome to Violin and Books, Corinne. Let's start by talking a little about your violin-related children's book, Nina's Waltz. What is it about and what was your inspiration for this story?

School Library Journal—in a wonderfully insightful review, called Nina’s Waltz “A hymn to the transforming power of music,” and it’s a perfect description of what I hoped to do in the book.

Nina’s dad, Nick, writes her a fiddle tune as a birthday gift “a tune that would get inside you without you realizing it—the kind of tune you’d find yourself humming when you walked along a country road on a star-filled night.” They head off to a fiddle contest together, where Nick plans to play the waltz and win the prize money, which the family desperately needs. But he gets stung by wasps and can’t play. Nina is terrified of performing in front of an audience, but she gets up on stage to play the tune in his place.

I wanted to write about a father who couldn’t afford to buy his daughter an expensive present for her birthday, but gives her something of far greater value. What better gift that music? Nina’s gift to her father is that she overcomes stage fright so “Nina’s Waltz” can be heard.

When did you start playing the violin? Do you still play?

I started playing the violin when I was in elementary school, and have been playing—on and off–ever since. I started taking lessons again when I began teaching at Mount Holyoke College and heard Professor Linda Laderach play Bach in a recital. She kindly took me on as a pupil. (All my bad techniques had years to solidify.) When my daughter started Suzuki violin at age four I went through the course of music with her. She’s now a far better violinist than I could ever hope to be.

What is it about the violin that is so alluring and mysterious when you compare it to other instruments?
I had started taking piano lessons when I was child, and began the violin later. In my memoir, Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948—1968, I describe the difference between the two : the violin was “an instrument,” the piano “seemed more like a piece of furniture.” With a violin “you had to create the notes. At the piano you simply pushed down the keys. I loved the violin, the way the wood curved and the grain rippled in the light, the S holes that let me peer into the secret depths.”

Have you written any other violin/music related books?

That’s an interesting question. As I look over the books I’ve written I see that music plays a part more often than I’d realized.

Two Christmas Mice is a picture book about two lonely mice who discover they are neighbors on Christmas Eve when Annamouse plays “Silent Night” on her violin, and Willamouse, hears her playing through the wall (“Only a mouse could play that well.”) Both mice claim “Mouzart” as their favorite composer, and Santamouse brings Annamouse a silver violin charm. Stephanie Roth illustrated this story and her violin-playing mouse is adorable.

In my memoir, Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948—1968, there’s a whole chapter called “Music,” and music is a theme in a number of my short stories in both my collections. “Lifelines” in Daffodils or the Death of Love is about a woman who takes up the violin as an adult. “Ears” in What We Save for Last, is about a woman who is a page-turner, and travels with her violinist lover, turning pages for his accompanist when they are on stage. “Memorial Day,” in the same collection, is about a divorced couple who are together when their daughter plays her trumpet with her school band.
In my picture book The Boy Who Was Generous With Salt the characters sing sea shanties (The music for “Cape Cod Girls” is in the back of the book.) The Title of my YA novel If Ever I Return Again comes from the refrain of a sea shanty that is sung during the story. In Hurricane! the Daddy in the story plays his harmonica to comfort the little girl during the storm.

Do you listen music while writing? If yes, what is your favorite 'writing' music? Any composers or pieces that you find particularly inspirational?

I don’t listen while I’m working at my desk, but I do listen while I swim laps at the pool and work on ideas in my head. My son gave me an amazing little player that works under water. I’m currently doing the crawl and the backstroke to Beethoven symphonies.

I understand Nina's Waltz includes violin music which was played by your daughter. How did this come about? Was it your idea or your publisher's?

The tune was composed for the book by my cousin, Alex Demas, a fiddler, and the editor decided to include the music is in the front of the book, so anyone can play it. I wanted everyone who read the book to be able to hear the tune, even if they couldn’t read music, so I had the idea of making it available on my website. My daughter, who was around the same age as Nina in the story at the time, plays the waltz.

Where is the book available?

Unfortunately the publisher let it go out of print, so people have to find it on the internet. I’ve bought some copies there myself!

Do you enjoy reading violin-related fiction? Any title you'd recommend?

Tolstoy’s “The Kreutzer Sonata”

Do you have a website where readers may learn more about you and your work?

Yes! http://corinnedemas.com

Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?

Wishes for a music-filled holiday season!

Interview with Blenda Bligh, Author of Stradi’s Violin

Tell us about your book, Stradi’s Violin. What was your inspiration for this story?

It started when a friend told me this incredible story of a deaf relative that played the violin in the symphony. She brought me pictures from the newspaper showing her great-aunt with her violin and the story was validated. My interest was piqued, and at the time I was reading a little history about the Great Depression. Inspired by what I was reading, and the story of my friend’s relative, I begin to write. The characters came to vivid life little by little in snippets of time; I wrote in between my busy family life and my administrative office job.

Do you play the violin?

Sadly, I do not play any instrument, but I am a great admirer of those who do.

What was it about the violin that inspired you–why not some other instrument?

Well, as I said before it was the story my friend told me, and since the violin was the instrument, I stayed with it. Besides it is a beautiful, soulful instrument that stirs passions!

Did you have to do a lot of research about music and violin playing in order to write this novel? What sources did you use?

I did read a lot about the great violinmaker Stradivarius. I felt that the violin in my story should be very special, and what better than one made by the genius himself? I read about his violins, and others using resources on the Internet.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, who’s your favorite composer?

I don’t normally listen to music while I write – I am too busy thinking about the character, and what he or she would say or do. I tend to loose myself in the story.

Do you do an outline before you start the actual writing, or are you more of a stream-of-consciousness writer?

I often wondered why I couldn’t seem to write the more conventional way, but I’ve got to be honest – I don’t care for outlines. I’m definitely a stream-of-consciousness writer!

Have you written other books?

This is my first published work. In my younger days, I wrote lots and lots of poetry, but nothing that I ever tried to have published. I guess for me writing is more of a hobby, and writing is a very liberating exercise of the mind.

Where is your work available?

My book is available from Publish America, Amazon Books, Barnes & Nobles, and through wholesalers Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Brodart Co.

Do you have a website were readers may learn more about you and your books?

Thanks for asking! Yes, please go to stradisviolin.com.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Only this, if you have been thinking about writing, but keep putting it off, stop right where you are and start writing! Take it from me – I am an ordinary person – nothing special. No unusual skills or talents. However, I am a very blessed person. Today, this grandmother realized a lifelong dream to be a writer. My first book has been published – an epic tale of depression-era perseverance, love and a young girl’s unique gift.

Thank you, Blenda!

Blenda has agreed to send me a copy of Stradi’s Violin and I will be posting my review here soon.

Interview with Erica Miner, Author of Travels With My Lovers

A former violinist, Erica Miner is now an author, poet and screenwriter. The violin has always been an inspiration and important part of her life and her works are proof of that. In this interview Erica talks about how she first became and author, violin music, and her novels.

Tell us about your musical background and how you became an author.

I always wrote, from the time I was a kid. When I was seven I was placed in an after school special Creative Writing program and loved it. Then when I was nine I started studying the violin, so I kind of put writing on a back burner. My dad, though not a professional violinist, was my first violin teacher. There was always classical music in the house. My dad and mom listened to it nonstop. My mom especially loved the Saturday afternoon Met Opera broadcasts. Ironic, isn’t it, that I ended up there. But I’m getting ahead of myself. When I started high school, I first began journaling, and it was a huge part of my life even after I reached adulthood. Some of those journals eventually became fictionalized into my first novel, Travels With My Lovers, which is about a woman who is a violinist. In fact, everything I’ve written since the car accident that ended my musical career revolves around music in some way, whether novel or screenplay.

How has the violin inspired your work?

In addition to the above novel, I’ve written several screenplays with protagonists who are violinists, both male and female. I just can’t seem to get away from that. It’s a huge part of who I am, and as they say, ‘write what you know.’ The only problem with that is that sometimes my characters are too close to the real me. I have to work on that.

Do you write while listening to violin music?

I do, but I also listen to chamber, orchestra and opera. It all inspires me. There are times, though, that I need complete silence in order to do the kind of wordsmithing that will be most creatively effective for me. When I’m not listening to music on the radio or computer, I’ve always got something musical going on in my head – I can’t escape it!

Who is your favorite composer? Your favorite violin concerto and why?

Oh, what a question! Okay, you’ve got to take this in the right context; there is no simple answer to that one. But overall, I would say Brahms is my ‘true love’ composer. However, as far as my ‘desert island’ pieces, that would have to include of course some Mozart, as well as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Beethoven, Dvorak, Verdi and Puccini. I guess you can see where I’m going with this. As far as my favorite violin concerto, it’s a toss-up between Sibelius and Beethoven. The latter is just the most sublime, in my opinion, but also terribly difficult to perform ‘perfectly’ – a real challenge. The Sibelius is the most passionate, and the closest to my heart. Whenever I played for someone, tried out a violin, etc., it was always Sibelius that I would play first. By the same token, the Bach Solo Sonatas and Partitas, though not concerti, are on a par with anything I would list as ‘favorites.’ I just LOVED playing those.

Tell us about your books and especially about Murder in the Pit? What is it about? Did you listen to any particular piece of music while writing it?

Travels With My Lovers is the story of a professional violinist in a New York opera company who’s a mom and suffers a huge loss in her life when her husband leaves her for another man. She travels to Italy, the birthplace of opera, to find herself and ends up finding trouble instead – by falling into romantic adventures with some pretty intriguing European men. It’s a fun romp to read, a great escape, whether you travel by plane, train, or armchair; but it also shows a woman’s journey of self-discovery.

Murder In The Pit is the story of another violinist – this time a young prodigy who nabs a position in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at a tender age. Her mentor, a famous conductor, is assassinated right in the middle of a performance, and her best friend is accused of the murder. She takes it upon herself to seek out the real killer, and in the process she herself becomes a target. All of this takes place against the background of a prestigious musical institution where the reader can get a rare and intimate glimpse into the workings behind the scenes. Lots of twists and surprises there, and great fun to write!

I listened of course to lots and lots of opera, studying libretti and drawing upon my ‘inner music’ as I went along; even more so when I was writing the screenplay, which is now finished and being marketed (see below.)

Do you do an outline first or do you come up with ideas as you write?

I’ve tried both ways, but especially with my screenplays (see below), I find I absolutely must outline. Of course I do come up with ideas as I write, and the outline keeps getting updated, but I really need that blueprint to keep on track, and I’m constantly referring to it as I go along.

You've also written screenplays. Tell us about this.

I’ve completed eight screenplays, in a bunch of different genres: drama, romantic comedy, thriller, et al. I am working with my Agent and Manager to market them, which as you may imagine is a huge challenge. Screenwriting is an entirely different kind of writing than novel writing, or even playwriting. It entails a great many years of studying the genres and the techniques you need to master in order to write those scripts. It’s been a great challenge for me, but I absolutely love the process. I’ve written screenplay adaptations of Travels With My Lovers, Murder In The Pit, and another novel I’ve ghostwritten, Dawn’s Early Lite, which I adapted into a screenplay called Belle De Nuit. You can read about the other screenplays I’ve written on my website. 

Any more violin-related books in the horizon?

If I can get an agent and/or publisher to sign on to Murder In The Pit, I have a number of sequels in mind; which means the violinist-protagonist will be very busy solving murders! In addition, I’ve written the first four novels in a series about young high school musicians and how their daily lives and coming-of-age journeys differ from other ‘normal’ youngsters. The protagonist is also a violinist, and yes, it is semi-autobiographical. It seems I’ll never get away from that!

Do you have a website where readers may learn more about you and your works? How does one subscribe to your newsletter?

Well, since you’re asking…:-) I’d like to invite readers to log on to my website, where they can find all kinds of info about me and my work. There is a link to my newsletter at http://www.ericaminer.com/newsletter.htm. I’m on a bit of a hiatus from the NL at the moment, in order to market all of my work, but I am planning on sending out a ‘holiday blast’ issue around the 1st of December, which should be a lot of fun.

Is there anything else you'd like to say about yourself?

Wow, Mayra, you’ve been so thorough I can’t imagine adding much else. But I would like to say that I welcome emails from readers and will answer questions as best I can (within reason) about myself or my work. And it I’m allowed to suggest it, with the holidays coming, an autographed copy of Travels With My Lovers would make a great gift for your favorite musical traveler.

Writing is a wonderful creative outlet, and I feel blessed at being able to express my love for music within that form. As my kids would say, ‘it’s all good.’