Please join us in welcoming Alex Carr to Gather.
ALEX CARR is (under her real name, Jenny Siler) the critically acclaimed author of the novels Easy Money, Iced, Shot, and Flashback. She lives with her husband and young child in Lexington, Virginia. Read Alex's essay, NOTE ON THE BOMBING OF THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUT or an excerpt from An Accidental American, her latest book.
From Publishers Weekly
This thought-provoking thriller from the pseudonymous Carr features a heroine with an unusual background. Nicole Blake, the daughter of a Lebanese violin teacher killed by a car bomb and a corrupt American playboy whose primary contributions to her life have been U.S. citizenship and a prison term for forgery, reluctantly trades her quiet ex-con life in the French countryside for gunfire and skullduggery in Lisbon, where she tries to track down the players in a triple-cross that goes back to the 1983 bombing of the American embassy in Beirut. The smooth pacing is marred slightly by frequent flashbacks to her childhood and a long-ago romance, but the gritty atmosphere is perfectly drawn, and complex layers of lies and betrayal keep the reader happily guessing up to the end. Carr, the author of Flashback and three other novels under her real name, Jenny Siler, adds a timely postscript on the difficulty and value of writing fiction about real events. (Mar.)
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Comments: 61
Thanks for joining us today. I was wondering--your descriptions of Pakistan and Beirut seem pretty accurate. What is your experience with these locations, through travel or study?
Thanks!
Thanks for the questions. I have spent time in many of the locations in this book, especially Portugal. I also did extensive research.
To elaborate, the bookshelves in my office look the the guide book section of a Barnes and Noble. Plus, I spend a lot of time reading personal recollections. When it came to researching Beirut, I read a lot of stuff by journalists who had been there during the war.
If Alex Carr is a pseudonym, have you written any other books under another name (or names) we might recognize? I haven't recognized your writing style as another author's, but I'm curious.
Great question. I've spent a lot of time traveling. Also, we lived overseas when I was a child, so the feeling of being a displaced American is very familiar to me.
I actually see Nicole as being scared more than trusting. The things she does, like going to Portugal to find Rahim, she does out of fear. She has lived in the shadow of her mother's death for so long, that the idea of others being harmed in that way is terrifying to her. So I don't see it as that much of a contradiction.
Just to quikcly answer the question about research. It takes me a good 6 months usually before I start writing.
Yes, you're right. I definitely can empathise with people in a lot of different situations. And I can certainly empathise with peeople who are doing what they have to to gett by
It is a long time. I usually so extensive reading before I'm ready to write. Sometimes it's less than 6 months. And often I start that research while I'm finishing up another book, so the time over laps.
Well, I try not to make any overt political statements with my work. I really want readers to focus on the individual in these situations. For instane, what it means to be a human being living in a city at war. But I chose Beirut becasue of the many similarities it shares with the war in Iraq...
I would say both. I am certainly not as much of a cynic as Valsamis or Nicole. I do think Valsamis's cynicism is what makes him especially evil. But I do have a rather bleak take on Middle Eastern politics. And, I won't lie, I think we are in one hell of a mess in Iraq.
Thank you. I do think it's moer important than ever that we put ourselves in the shoes of others.
Wow! Well, it's a very tough business and I wish anyone starting out all the courage and luck in the world. I would say the most important thing is to be persistent. No matter how talented you are, there are folks who will tell you you are no good. Other than that, realize just how much hard work is involved in writing. I treat writing as any other job. I set my alarm each morning and go into my office and write on a consistent schedule.
"Okay....just letting you know I'm about halfway through the book and wow!!!
It seemed as though you could have and were going to go off in different directions, but I'm really liking the direction you are going. It starting to remind me of a Dan Brown novel without the ancient symbolism :). running, european excursions.
I will let you know I was worried a little bit that it was going to turn into a romance novel...but you are keep the mystery going. cool."
There are several reasons for the pseudonmy. This book definitely represents a shift in the style of my writing, so it made sense to switch now. Plus, I had just changed publishers, another reason why a fresh start maded sense. But I had always wanted to write under a pseudonym, especially one that wasn't necessarily a woman's name. The stuff I write is not necessarily tradtional women's genre fiction and I have always felt that some male readers chose not to read my books because they were written by a woman.
to clarify, my other books are thrillers, just of a slightly different type.
Thanks for the comment. No, I am definitely not a romance writer. It's my hope that the romance in integral to the book, but doesn't overshadow the plot.
Do you hope to sway people a certain way, politically, with this book?
As I said before, I really don't have a political agenda. I just want to show the indivudual experience as thruthfully as possible. And no, there was no attempt to time the book politically. In fact, the most difficult thinkg for thriller writers right now is how quickly the world changes. It takes a good year to get most book through production. That means a year from the time the author finishes it to the time it hits bookstore. A lot can change in the world in a year. That's actually why I set my novels in the past, or at least the recent past.
I'm late but I hope not too late. I'd love to see you do nonfiction but not dry, boring nonfiction, more like your fiction. Is that what you plan?
Beth
Yes, you absolutely must have an agent. A good way to get started is to publish smaller pieces on-line or in journals. There are lots of very reputable journals on-line these days. You can also meet agents personally at writers conferences and the like. But in the end, once you have a finished product, you will need to start querying agents on your own.
"I thought the sense of atmosphere was key to the book. I felt a clear difference among the locations and thought they added layers to the plot and character interactions."
Would you like to elaborate on your inspirations and reasons for selecting these locations? Did they drive character development, or vice versa?
This is a topic that could take up a lot of time, so I'll try to be brief. I think there are a lot of great women out there having lots of success. But the very particular kind of stuff I'm doing is definitely male, and I wanted to draw as many male readers as possible.
Yes, I love Mortalis, too. I have always written literary thrillers, but my more recent books really have a strong international component. This is what makes Mortalis such a perfect fit.
Do you have any tips for upcoming writers? Of course Gather cators to our need to share, but who do you approach or how when you think you have a great idea for a book - but to post it in a public forum could potentially lead to the idea being stolen?
Yes, lots and lots of index cards! :-)
I don't worry too much about people stealing my ideas. Really, all ideas are stolen one way or another. The important thing is how you express your idea. That's what matters and that's what separates a good piece of writing from a bad one.
also, that's a big myth that you can approach someone with an idea and sell a book that way. For fiction, you have to have a complete manuscript before a publisher will consider it.
If you'd like to talk more about "An Accidental American," drop by the Mortalis Mystery Group to read excerpts, book reviews and more.
Thanks for your time, Alex!
Thank you for your time and good luck in your endeavors!
Thanks again. It was a lot of fun.
Alex/Jenny
good luck to you, too. and thanks
Thanks to Gather for providing a forum for this discussion.