Interview with Monica O’Brien about her new fiction book!
It is fun to look and see what people that have been around YGG are now doing. There is quite a range of projects, but this one is actually really neat. Monica has been involved with YGG for quite awhile and now she is writing a fiction book. I have a lot of admiration for what she is doing, because I don’t ever think I could undertake a creative venture like that. If you want to help siupport her writing please go to Kickstarter and help out in anyway you can. Enjoy the interview!
What inspired you to write your first book?
I’ve always enjoyed reading fiction and there were certain stories that I wanted to read that weren’t in existence. So I decided to write them myself. That was two years ago; I didn’t actually write one until this year. Even when you are inspired sometimes other things don’t align-time, other projects in your mix, or a clear path from point A to point B. Things finally aligned for me this year around March, and I’ve been writing the story ever since.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
There are probably lots of little messages, but no, I didn’t write it to teach readers a lesson. One topic that is explored is the validity of religion, and there are characters on both sides in the book. I also wrote a lot about killing, and the characters question whether it’s okay even in self-defense. There are arguments for both sides in the book. I think it’s better as the writer to not really take a side, but to let the readers explore and challenge their own beliefs.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
I have a lot of favorite authors. Right now I really like Suzanne Collins who wrote a series called The Hunger Games. I like her use of cliffhangers at the ends of chapters. In non-fiction, I’ll always like Seth Godin. People complain that he only talks about really simple ideas but I disagree. The value of his writing is not necessarily in the ideas but in the way he makes implementing them sound easy.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
Yes, that people shouldn’t write books for money. A lot of people want to write books but they never do, and the reason is that it’s so unprofitable. You can spend 400 hours writing a book and someone can spend five hours reading it. That’s not a good equation from the writer’s perspective. The book is priced at $10 or so, which is $2 for an hour of entertainment, from the reader’s perspective. That’s about right. But from the writer’s perspective, you can’t make a decent hourly wage, once you subtract printing costs, distribution costs, editing costs, design costs, and marketing costs, unless tens of thousands of people read your book.
So writers mostly write for themselves and see the money as an added bonus (or at least I do).
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
I wrote stories when I was young, like six years old. My interest in writing stemmed from my interest in reading.
