Interview with Until the Skies Fall's Liza Granville

Liza Granville lives in Gloucestershire, UK with her own personal bodyguard, three monstrous Persian cats and an over-active imagination. Her work is published in many magazines and anthologies. She has written two other novels: Curing The Pig and The Crack of Doom. Also a collection of short stories: Baiting The Unicorn. We interviewed Liza to find out about her writing life and her new book, Until the Skies Fall.

Welcome to The Writer's Life, Liza. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?

I seem to have been writing forever. I started at age 6 … and that’s a long, long time ago. Been writing seriously for about 10 years. In that time I’ve also studied for an MA in Creative Writing, which was very interesting but didn’t add anything at all to the creative process.

Can you please tell us about your book and why you wrote it?

It’s called Until the Skies Fall. It was written in response to anxieties about scientists messing around with genetic structures coupled with the writer’s perennial ‘what if’ question.

What kind of research was involved in writing Until the Skies Fall?

Not a great deal. It kind of …. Fell out. However, I needed to check my scientific facts and thus had to make myself look really silly, having no proper scientific background. You have no idea how patronizing a 6 foot 4 science student son can be.

How much input did you have into the design of your book cover?

Vincent Chong had worked on a previous cover. I told him how I saw it but left it to him finally. He is very sensitive to what’s needed. I trust him implicitly.

Has it been a bumpy ride to becoming a published author or has it been pretty well smooth sailing?

Smooth. Lovely. Bewrite are a wonderful publishing company.

For this particular book, how long did it take from the time you signed the contract to its release?

About 7 months, I think.

Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind sharing who he/is is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even feel it’s necessary to have one?

I don’t have an agent. I would love one. I am shy and no good at all at self-promotion. Besides, I think it unlikely that a writer would break into mainstream publishing without a good agent.
Do you plan subsequent books?

I have another one awaiting publication – The House in the Riddle. I have 4 novels finished and in the process of being polished ready for submission. Another is nearing completion and yet another is in the rough note stage.

Are you a morning writer or a night writer?

Yes!
If money was no object, what would be the first thing you would invest in to promote your book?

I would buy and enslave a topnotch publicist.

How important do you think self-promotion is and in what ways have you been promoting your book offline and online?

I am absolutely useless at this. Please don’t embarrass me. Ask me something else!

Any final words of wisdom for those of us who would like to be published?

Keep going. Persistence pays off. Don’t forget that only 500 words a day will give you over 175,000 words a year.

Thank you for coming, Liza! Would you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone can buy your book?

They can visit the Bewrite site to read an excerpt –

http://www.bewrite.net/bookshop/excerpts/until_skies_fall.htm

or read about me and marvel at my Cheshire cat smile here –

http://www.bewrite.net/authors/liza_granville.htm
Until the Skies Fall can also be bought from Amazon, and from Waterstones in the UK

2 comments:

  1. Great interview Liza and Dorothy! Thanks for the interesting read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Liza,

    Nice interview.

    I love the cover of your book! Good luck!

    Mayra

    ReplyDelete

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