Lisette Brodey

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania. After high school, I moved to New York City where I attended Pace University and studied drama. After ten years in New York, several of them working in the radio industry, I moved to Los Angeles, where I held various positions at Paramount Studios in Hollywood and CBS Studio Center in Studio City. Back on the East Coast, I worked for many years as a freelance writer, specializing in PR and the entertainment industry. To make a long story short, in 2010 I returned permanently to the Los Angeles area.

I have written four novels: Crooked Moon (general fiction), Squalor, New Mexico (young adult), Molly Hacker Is Too Picky! (women’s fiction), and my latest, which I’ll talk about in the next question.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent book, Mystical High, was just published in October 2013. It’s the first book in my new YA paranormal trilogy, The Desert Series. I’ve always had an interest in the paranormal, and I wanted to write more YA. That’s what brought me to the genre. Because I live in southern California and have spent time in different parts of the desert, I was inspired to set the series in a locale that felt to me as if it could be the keeper of many secrets.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m asked this question so often in interviews that I’ve been tempted to make up something really silly, like “I hide under my desk and scribble in a notebook,” or “I write each chapter in a different color depending on my mood,” but I guess I’m pretty boring in that department. However, having learned that authors have very different writing processes, I may have unusual habits other people consider unusual.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
For many years, I mostly read the classics: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Sinclair Lewis and many more. I would say those authors inspired me and influenced me.

What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m writing Chapter 9 of Book 2 in The Desert Series. When I finish that, I’ll write Book 3.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think Twitter is by far the best way to make relationships with people all over the world. A lot of people have said to me, “I prefer Facebook to Twitter.” Well, they both do very different things. That is why I use Twitter and have a Facebook author page, too.

But I think it’s really important for authors to remember that it’s also what not to do that is every bit as important as what to do. We all want to sell our books, and judicious self-promotion is fine. But too many authors are presenting themselves in an all-about-me fashion that is regarded by many as being “all about spam.”

An example: sending a direct message to a new follower on Twitter with a link to your book is a very bad idea. You’re basically saying, “I don’t care about you; just buy my book.” Another example: joining an author’s group on Facebook or another site and posting nothing but links to your work. That’s a great way to get the wrong kind of attention.

For me, the most important thing is to build relationships on social media and take the time to appreciate what others are putting out there, too. I’m a big believer in cross-promotion.

As far as other promotional methods are concerned, you never know where that lucky break might come from. I think it’s important to reach new audiences and to try new things.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Remember that every published writer was once an unpublished. I know that most authors offer the same advice, “Write, write, write,” but it makes sense. Remember this: you can’t edit a blank page. Even if you don’t like what you’re writing, keep the words coming. Don’t ever forget that great ideas often evolve out of bad ones and that your skill will grow with experience. Just keep writing, and realize that you’re accomplishing something wonderful just by not giving up.

I also think that new authors should be very mindful of who they share their work in progress with. Showing their work to too many people often leads to too many opinions and a lot of confusion and self-doubt.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you have a passion to write.

What are you reading now?
These questions.

What’s next for you as a writer?
When The Desert Series is complete, I will go back to a novel I started last year. It’s in the general fiction genre and is a story that I started writing as a teenager. It has evolved over the years, just like I have.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh, probably some super-long books I never get time to read these days—maybe War and Peace, Bleak House, and … And Ladies of the Club. I do hope to read these books someday without being stranded on an island, though.

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