AUTHOR: Mary
Vensel White
BOOK TITLE: The
Qualities of Wood
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
Authonomy
Please tell us about yourself?
I live in Orange County,
California, a place known for its fabulous weather and crazy housewives. But I went to college in Denver and
Chicago, so I do have distant memories of being cold and wearing shoes that
covered my toes. I have four children close in age and for many years, the only
writing I did was grocery lists and pleas for help. I still do those, but the
kids are in school during the day so I can write longer things too. The Qualities of Wood is my first novel.
When and why did you begin writing?
I started writing when I was an adolescent. I wrote poems
about heartbreak and yearning, poems I’m glad no one has ever seen. In college,
I started working on short fiction and even had a few stories published in
small journals. I actually wrote The
Qualities of Wood while I was in graduate school, along with two other
novels. I sent it out, even had an agent for a while for one of the other
books, then I became a full-time mom for several years. When I pulled the books
back out and started working on them again, The
Qualities of Wood was the one that seemed to rise to the top.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
It’s funny, but in many ways, it’s still hard to think of
myself that way. Having the book published, especially by such a big publisher,
is very gratifying. I know that people are reading it because they tell me. But
it’s all still a bit surreal, and suddenly, I don’t have very much time to
write at all!
What inspired you to write your first book?
The first novel I wrote was heavily autobiographical (most
are, I suppose), and it centered around a young woman and her search for her
biological mother. The novel focused on three main characters—the woman and her
two mothers—and how their meeting affected the course of each life. I was adopted
as an infant and when I was twenty, I found my biological parents. That novel
has been restructured and edited many, many times and during this process, it
became less and less autobiographical and I feel, much stronger. I hope to get
the book out there some day; I think it has real worth. Of course, at the time
I wrote it, there weren’t many stories like it and that has changed!
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to
grasp?
I don’t know about a message, but the main theme of The Qualities of Wood is perception. I
was intrigued with relationships and memories, and how everything is filtered
through our own lens. Things not being what they seem to be, people and history
at the mercy of each person’s interpretation.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your
own life? (Has anyone ever
realized it?)
The book isn’t really based on anything from my own life,
except for the setting. When I wrote the book, I had just moved to Chicago and
I was interested in the urban landscape versus a more natural, country setting.
In the city, nature is really contained in small areas and it isn’t until you
head out and are surrounded by trees and greenery that you realize what you’ve
been missing. The first image of the book was just this: Vivian’s plane landing
amidst fields of green and her mind sort of relaxing, spreading out.
What are your current projects?
I’ve just finished a novel called Fortress for One. It’s about Gina,
who, over the course of a weekend in March, is disrupted from her life of
routine by a shock from the past and the promise of a changing future. That's
the short statement. The book moves from Chicago to Korea and back again, as we
follow Gina on a liberating journey of discovery. I’m also working on a
collection of interrelated short stories called Human Stories.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your
writing?
For me, the most difficult thing is still just in finding
the time to sit down and do it. I can almost always find time to do a blog post
or something short like the answers to this Q&A, but to find enough
uninterrupted time to work on a novel is hard. It takes so much concentration
and you really need a long block of time. I’ve got ideas collecting in my mind
for a new novel and so far, I haven’t even found the time to start a notebook
and get them down on paper. When I’m working on a novel, I really have to shut
the rest of the world out and devote myself to it, often for weeks at a time.
Do you ever have problems
with writers block? If so how do
you get through it?
So far, I haven’t had this
problem. For me, I almost have too many ideas and not enough time to work them
out. Maybe that will change one day…I look forward to a time when I am sitting
at the computer, waiting for inspiration!
What do you do when you’re
not writing/editing or thinking about writing/editing?
My first job is mom,
which, as mothers realize, is a full-time job with endless responsibilities.
Now that my kids are school-age, I spend a lot of time driving around town. Baseball
and soccer practices, dance classes, music lessons and the never-ending play
dates—I sometimes miss the days when we just sort of hung around the house or
walked to the park, even if one of them would invariably fall into the mud or
have a fit. I read quite a bit, always have, mostly fiction but I like history,
essays, other things. I like to exercise—aerobics, yoga, and I do a bit of
running. Our family sometimes does races together. I like to travel when I can,
and watch movies, and I never say no to a day at the spa.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really
strikes you about their work?
One of the few authors whose work I seek out is Per
Petterson, and because I just finished I
Curse the River of Time the other day, I’d have to choose him as my
favorite for now. His writing is about family and relationships, and the
difficulties of making it through life, basically. They unravel almost like a
mystery, but the mystery is the characters and what they mean/have meant to
each other, what has happened between them and how they will move forward. He
writes in a simple, true manner, pointing out small details and searing images
that will stay with you. He notices things that are beautiful and
heart-breaking at the same time. It isn’t often I read a book slowly on
purpose, because I don’t want it to end. And it isn’t often that I cry over a
book and think about it for days afterwards. He’s a wonderful writer.
Who is your publisher and
how did you connect with them?
I posted the novel on authonomy.com,
a site run by HarperCollins for unpublished authors. Books are rated accorded
to member support and at the end of each month, five books are chosen for the
“Editor’s Desk” and receive reviews from a HarperCollins editor. After almost a year, my book reached the
desk and was sent for review. A couple of months later I received a very
positive review and shortly after that, I was contacted by the editor who had
read and reviewed my book. By strange coincidence, he had just been put in
charge of the authonomy site, and he was looking to start a new imprint with
books from the site and wanted mine to be the first. The book was released as a
digital original in January and will have a print edition if sales warrant it.
HarperCollins is hoping to publish 10-12 books from the site each year.
How can we find you? Website,
Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc. - please share your public links.
Blurb:
A girl is found in the woods and a tangle of secrets unravels. Can Vivian trust her impressions? Can she trust anyone?
When Vivian and her husband Nowell are enlisted to prepare his late grandmother’s house for sale, they decide to take a break from city life. Nowell leaves before his wife to begin work on his second mystery novel, and by the time Vivian joins him in the country, a real mystery has begun. A local girl has died in the woods behind the house. Nowell’s brother, a shiftless and rough sort, arrives with his new wife, and details begin to emerge about the girl. Vivian is enmeshed, even after the death is ruled an accident. She can't forget it, can't ignore the strange behavior of the lonely bachelor who lives nearby. Meanwhile, cracks appear in her marriage, as Nowell loses himself in his work and Vivian seeks purpose and truth.
This is such a great interview. I had a similar journey to novel writing- through angsty poetry and shorter fiction- and wonder how common that is.
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