Today I'm taking a bit of a departure from my usual topics. I'm talking to author and blogger, Fiona Leonard about her first novel, The Chicken Thief published to Kindle. Fiona's self-confessed gypsy soul has taken her from a career as an Australian diplomat to foreign and trade policy consultant to freelance writer, blogger, home schooler and author living and writing in Ghana.
Your first novel is an extraordinary ride of emotions, quirky characters and wonderful telling. I found that the voice of the protagonist, Alois, was so strong that I often forgot that it was a white Australian woman who was the author.
How did you find the voice of this young, black African man – a bureaucrat who left his job to be a chicken thief?
Ironically, in many ways Alois (pr: Al-o-is) is a very autobiographical character. I drew on a lot of personal experiences to make his emotions ring true. For example I confess to mining many of my own feelings about being a bureaucrat to help Alois articulate his desire to leap out the window and run away! (I should note I never considered turning to a life of crime though!) To give him an African voice I drew inspiration from African proverbs. Alois uses a lot of proverbs about chickens to explain what’s going on in his life. That language and sentiment gave me a starting point to find my way into his head.
I notice that while the protagonist is a young man, he is surrounded by a group of strong women.
Why did you choose to make the protagonist male? And then surround this young man with so many women?
For a long time I thought about this book as a very male story. And I think when I first started writing it, it was. But then over the years more and more women have appeared in the story. Rose, the love of Alois’ life, stepped out of the shadows very late in the piece, and demanded to have more of a say! I liked being able to use all of the women as a mirror to different aspects of his life.
I tend to come to stories through characters, rather than having a plot I need to fit people into. I had Alois as a character and I had Gabriel, and I was really drawn to both of them. The more I got to know them the more the other characters and the plot grew up around them.
While your novel is set in an unnamed African country, the political machinations are broad enough to for readers to find parallels in other nations.
Where did you find the inspiration for the political events of the novel?
Some of the events are drawn from specific events in southern African history, going back to the Independence struggles. Some were more current, drawn from events that occurred while I was living in Zimbabwe in the late 90s and more recently.
There’s even some Australian political history in there – when I was developing the relationship between the President and his Finance Minister, I often looked to the Howard and Costello machinations for inspiration!
The novel is littered with wonderful images of Africa and Africans that ring true, and contains some terrific metaphors that seem entirely African in their nature.
Do you think there is an international market for such specifically African content?
When you are writing about one country/continent and then marketing it internationally you need to strike a balance between making it true to the setting and also making it accessible to the reader. I like to think that if a reader picks up a book set somewhere unfamiliar then they already have a sense of adventure and curiosity that makes them receptive to exploring somewhere new.
It’s an exciting time to be writing about Africa. With the events unfolding in northern Africa, there is considerable media attention focused on the continent and a genuine interest in the hopes and aspirations of the region
Self-publishing has been around for as long as the publishing industry itself, yet it has been slow to gain mainstream popularity. Despite authors like Oscar Wilde, Irma Rombauer and Christopher Paolini choosing to self-publish, many authors today seem to prefer to duke it out for limited places with large publishing houses.
Why did you choose to go down the self-publication route?
Cold calling has never been my strong suit. I would rather establish a relationship and see what evolves, instead of the first words out of my mouth being ‘please publish my book!’ So I’ve never felt comfortable with pitching to agencies (and have not been particularly good at it to date!). On the other hand, I really believe in this book and wanted to find a way to get it into readers’ hands. E-publishing felt like the right way to achieve that goal.
With so many options for self-publishing available, why have you chosen to e-publish with Kindle?
Quite simply - location, location, location.
Plus, Kindle Direct Publishing makes the mechanics of actually getting your book into the marketplace incredibly easy. There is also a very strong author community behind the scenes at Amazon where authors can exchange ideas and information. That’s an attractive support mechanism when you’re starting out.
Are you planning to publish through other means in the future?
I intend to publish in hard copy later in the year, but that will take a bit more time as it will involve sending proof copies around the world. One of the things I like about Amazon is that they offer print-on-demand, which is great for self-publishing because it means you don’t have to carry your own inventory.
What do you think are the advantages for aspiring authors in e-publishing?
I think pricing is a huge factor. Because you don’t have the overheads that publishing houses have, you can keep the price of your book right down. Many first time authors are e-publishing at $2.99 or lower. This puts you into an accessible price bracket where readers are more willing to take a risk on an unknown author because they can buy a book for the price of a cup of coffee!
I also think being forced to do your own marketing is a fantastic experience. Being your own publicist means you have to be clear about what you are selling and who you are selling to. It’s a steep learning curve but helps you to develop incredibly valuable skills whether you stick to self-publishing or approach publishing houses.
How do you think e-publishing, specifically, is useful to aspiring authors from countries in Africa, Asia and so on – countries outside of what would be considered the western world?
E-publishing, especially through a platform like Amazon, gives you the opportunity to put your writing on a shelf alongside everyone else. You don’t have to wait to be discovered, you can discover yourself! And as long as you have an internet connection, you can do it from anywhere in the world.
Social media also offers an unprecedented marketing opportunity for new authors. Apparently 70% of Facebook users and 60% of Twitter users are outside the US so these really are global platforms that are there to be capitalised on.
If you could go back six years, what advice would you give yourself with regard to writing and publishing?
It’s funny, on one hand I would like to go back and shake myself and say ‘Stop worrying and just write already!’ (with a few expletives thrown in for good measure!) There’s a part of me that is frustrated that I took so long about it. But on the other hand, I think I needed to take six years to write this story. My plot and characters needed time to evolve, I needed to grow as a writer, and I needed to find the burning desire to write.
So perhaps I would say ‘Relax, go live a bit and come back when you’re really ready to enjoy it.’
So what’s next for you? Can we expect to see another novel from you in the near future?
One of the people I had reading drafts of my novel, asked early on in the piece whether there would be a sequel. At the time I had no intention of writing a sequel, but when it came time to write the ending, I specifically left a door open just for her! I will be sitting down to start writing again in a month or so, but whether it’s a sequel, or whether I finish one of the many half written novels I have lying around, I’m not sure yet! Either way, my aim is to have another novel ready to publish by the end of the year.
I’m looking forward to starting on a new novel though. Plotting and writing is the part I really love doing, and I’m itching to get back to it.
I can't wait to see what comes next from this clever author and wish Fiona all the best luck with her current novel. I urge you to head over to Amazon and have a look at The Chicken Thief - with a free sample and at only $2.99, it's a bargain!
No comments:
Post a Comment