Interview Mary Brockway

by

Kelly Mooney

1)  How did you come up with the idea for your story?

I lived a lot of St. Annie's Corps, for I trained as a nurse when we worked directly with patients from the onset. Several incidences are from my own experience with those patients, including  having one of my first die!

2)  When you write are you an outliner?

Only a rough one.  I find my characters tend to run away with my outlines! I do plan a beginning, middle and end, however.

3)  For writers of new and old, what advice would you give them?

I have directed two writing groups for twenty years, and I tell them the foremost thing is "write". Write a lot and don't stop to edit while you are creating words. Do that later after it sits awhile.  Join a critique group.  Also don't quit your day job expecting to be Stephen King in a year!

4)  What do you like best about creating characters?

I like people and being with people so I fear some of that gets into my characterizations. So, watch out folks, I am taking notes!

5)  How do you come up with your character's names?

Somehow, they just come, and stay. It is hard to change someone you have grown to know.

6)  What types of books do you read?

Almost everything; history, biography, politics, mystery, some romance genres,  but historical novels are my favorites. 

7)  How did you become a writer, what or who influenced you?

My grandmother was a columnist for many years for two newspapers. I, at first, just wrote letters to editors, and essays, then short stories, and then books.

8)  Do you listen to music while you write or do you prefer silence?

I prefer silence when I am really creating words.

9)  What are you working on next?

An English historical trilogy, based  upon my own family. I  also have two mysteries completed.

10. Do you stick to one genre or do you like to crossover?

I crossover as my current Wings  book, St. Annie's Corps, a World War II nurse story, does from my first, Persimmon Bayou, a novel set in 1868 about the reconstruction in the south.