Interview With Author Martha Burns
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been working at this for a while. My two published novels are Blind Eye and Across the Narrows. In between working on those two novels I worked on one other novel that did not make it out of the bottom drawer. I love short story so I also wrote those when stalled on a novel or preparing for a workshop or because I thought I had a good story to tell.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My novel Blind Eye was inspired by actual events. I was inspired to write this novel because I knew it was a story with many layers. I did tons of research and visited all the locations in my novel before I even started writing it. Being about to visualize a story is what inspires me.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am probably not that different from many writers but I love to pick up a writing craft book before I jump into actually writing. A day with a book like The Half Known World by Robert Boswell often kick starts me into writing. I also tend to go back and pull a novel off my shelves to see how my favorite writers start a novel or a chapter. I write in long hand and in a coffee shop where I can zone out.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So so many. William Maxwell influenced me for the art of telling a story about loss. I have read everything Howard Norman wrote and his lean style influenced my style. He often has a historical event buried in his novel as do I and his sense of place is enticing to the reader. I think that the “sense of place” is the sixth sense and so I look for that in what I read. How writers write about place influences me.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a novel set in Hawaii in the summer of 1985. At the heart of this novel is an actual event. A young dance instructor goes missing—just vanishes — and is never found. It is not a mystery but rather the story of the community when this young girl vanishes. I am taking the reader back to Halawa Valley on Oahu, Hawaii forty years ago and investigating what it means to go missing.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best method or website is https://www.marthaburnswriter.com/
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Of course I would advise any new writer to read but also to find someone to read your work and then read the work of other writers—find a writing partner and be honest and take all the advice you can. And revise, revise, revise. I was told years ago that that revising does not mean mere editing. It means re- envisioning where you need to and tossing out what does not work. Be accountable to one other writer and hold them accountable. They will thank you.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
That the first draft is only your FSD —First Shitty Draft.
What are you reading now?
Come to the Window by Howard Norman… actually I am rereading it. Like revising I think rereading is a must.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing my Hawaii novel – Blue Sense.
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?
What is Left the Daughter
So Long, See you Tomorrow
The Gentleman from Moscow
Angle of Repose.
And I hope I’d get to take a pencil or pen so that I can underline what I love.
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