An Interview with indie author, Maria Savva

Today, I am hosting a Greek friend (well, Greek Cypriot to be exact!) from London, England. Please welcome Maria Savva, author of “3” (and a few other books actually!)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maria Savva lives and works in London. She studied Law at Middlesex University and The College of Law. She is a lawyer, although not currently practising law. She writes novels and short stories in different genres, including drama, psychological thriller, and family saga. Many of her books and stories are inspired by her years working as a lawyer, although she has not written a courtroom drama to date. Her most recent novel is Haunted, a crime fiction/psychological thriller. You can find out more about her work at her official website.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT “3”

A trio of short stories.

Memories from the past can haunt the present.

1. Never To Be Told – Tom and Amber are on a romantic date… but the past is always present.

2. The Bride – In this paranormal short, Olivia makes a chilling discovery.

3. What The Girl Heard – Victoria revisits a place that holds a dark reminder of an incident from her childhood. She had vowed she would never return.

Welcome Maria! Hope you’re up to a good chinwag! I’m sure we’d all love to hear as much as possible about your experiences as a writer so far! First of all, tell me, what has inspired you to write this book?

Of course I am! (she laughs). My inspiration comes from the world around me, really, life in general. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where my inspiration for any particular story comes from. I usually just get an idea for a story and begin to write it and see what happens. Later, I usually notice that certain things that have happened in my life, or around me, may have gone into contributing to the content of a particular story or novel. In “3” the stories are totally fictional and sprang from ideas that I had rather than being based on/inspired by any actual events. However, in the stories you’ll find elements of my own memories weaved within the plots. That just happens unintentionally.

Could you tell us a bit about your previously published work?

I have published five novels, a novella (co-written as an online experiment with Jason McIntyre), and four other collections of short stories. All the information about those can be found on my website.

Where can people purchase your books?

 There are ‘buy’ links for all of them on my website. Most of my books are available on all the usual online retailers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords etc.

What genres do you read mostly and what are you reading now?

I read everything and anything (apart from erotica and gory horror, just because those are not my cup of tea). I always have more than one book on the go. I’m reading a few at the moment, including The Red Dog Road, by Robert A. Hastings, Doppleganger, by Geoffrey D. West.

Tell us about your website. What will readers find there?

It’s the best place for people to go if they want information about my books and my current projects. There are excerpts from my books, book trailers, buy links, as well as a dedicated news page where I keep everyone up to date with any major events. There are links on the site to all my social networking sites and my blogs. I manage 3 blogs at the moment:

Bestsellerbound Recommends, which helps to promote indie authors.

Goodreads, where I usually post news from my writing world.

UK Music Directory, where I interview and help promote independent musicians.

What are you working on at the moment? Tell us a little about your current project(s).

I am juggling a few projects at the moment. Firstly, I am just about to release a new collection of short stories, “Far Away In Time”, which contains 8 mixed-genre stories.  One is a fantasy tale, one a mystery with a paranormal element, one is a reflective tale, and the rest are dark fiction. My other project is putting together a second edition of my novel “A Time to Tell”. I am hoping to re-release that one very soon. I’m also getting ready to embark on a collaborative project. Can’t say anything about that yet.

Do you have any advice for other indie authors?

Yes. You have to try to separate yourself from your work. This is hard for any artist because our work comes from a part of ourselves that we would normally keep private, but express through art. Harsh reviews are to be expected, and in fact most of them should be welcomed because you learn more from a critical review than a gushing “I loved it” type of review. You don’t have to write every day, contrary to popular belief and various quotes on Facebook. You’re not a machine. To produce good writing, you have to also live a life where you can be inspired by the day to day goings on. Sitting in front of a computer and expecting inspiration to come is not the best way of going about it. It’s very unlikely you will be able to quit your day job. Writing, contrary again to popular belief, is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Writing is hard work and you have to be prepared to put the work in. Make sure you use an editor, beta readers, and proofreaders… all of them. Especially when you are starting out. It’s very quick and easy to publish something these days, but takes time to produce anything worth reading. Don’t publish your work until you are sure it’s the best it can be. You’ll regret it if you do. Writers, no matter how long they have been writing, are always learning. It’s a constant learning process. Each time I write another book, I learn more about how to write something better. Looking back at earlier work can make you judge yourself harshly. Don’t be too hard on yourself. The main thing is to keep improving, keep working at becoming better. It’s not easy being an indie author. There are still people in the publishing world who consider anything self-published to be rubbish and will write you off before bothering to read your work. You need a thick skin. Read a lot. Learn from other writers. Join a writers’ forum/group where you can chat with other writers. I’m part of BestsellerBound.com, and that group has been invaluable in terms of support and assistance with my writing and publishing. There’s lots more advice I could give, but I’ll end up writing a book about it, so I will stop here.

Do you plot your novels beforehand or do your stories unfold gradually as you write?

 I always have an A4 page with an outline as to how I want my novel to progress, but sometimes I start writing the novel just with an idea, and when I’m a few chapters into it I can then formulate a plan. The plan is more like a security blanket really, because I don’t usually stick to the plan. What will happen is that one or more of the characters will inspire me to write something different. I never know how my novels are going to end until I get to the last few chapters, and sometimes I don’t know how they’ll end until they do. I’m often surprised by my endings. This is truer still of my short stories. When I’m writing short stories I never have a plan, just an idea. I always feel like I’m walking blindfolded, not knowing what will happen next, but somehow I get there and finish the story.

Thank you Maria for being here with us today.  It’s been a pleasure having you and if I may comment, your book trailer for 3″ is fantastic! Don’t miss it guys! (Find it at the bottom of this post)

LINKS

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Maria-Savva/171466979781

Facebook Page for “3”: https://www.facebook.com/3shortstories

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/Maria_Savva

Website:  http://www.mariasavva.com

Blogs:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1418272.Maria_Savva/blog

BestsellerBound Recommends: http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerboundrecommends/

UK Music Directory: http://ukmusicdirectory.com/category/blog/maria-savva/

Purchase link for “3”: http://www.amazon.com/3-Maria-Savva-ebook/dp/B00EUM59XM/

Book Trailer – link: http://youtu.be/ezKxjPs-FIU