Sharman’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2015)

Sharman’s comments from the Conversation with Author Sharman Apt Russell group.

Belinda wrote: "I have a question about writing historical - or prehistorical - fiction:
could you recommend some checks that the developing worldview of the main characters are genuine, cohesive, or complete?
Fo..."

That's a good question. For my novel The Last Matriarch, set 11,000 years ago, I asked a paleo-ecologist to read the book and look for problems. I knew Paul Martin from writing a book on archaeology and featuring him. I also knew paleo-archaeologist Meg Conkey from a personal contact. It is scary to ask an expert in the field to read your fiction. Unless they are friends, they might be critical. They might hurt your feelings. But I think that is worth what you learn. If you are approaching a historian or scientist "cold" and without any connection, I would first read their work and show that you appreciate them as a writer and professional. I would make the reading experience easy--send a bound manuscript or a book they can forward easily to their kindle. Be your gracious and enthusiastic self!

For Teresa of the New World, I did not do this, in part because I have read so much about Cabeza de Vaca and been in his world for so long. But I can imagine the scholars I might have sent this book to if I had had that time. And I might still send it to a few like Matthew Restall who notes that conquistadors were not really soldiers in the way we think of the word. At the last minute, I went through the book and omitted any reference to soldier. I wish, too, that I had an epilog for the book with historical references and a word on the research I did. That would be something to tell your historians and scholars--that you will be including their work in notes on research at the back.

I realize that this is after you wrote the book and along the lines of asking volunteers to critique it. But it's a higher level of that--asking experts to really look at the verisimilitude. Before doing that, you are familiar with their world because they have been a part of your research.

What are you working on, Belinda?!

Belinda wrote: "Hello, Professor Russell,
Congratulations on another wonderful book! My kids love it, too, and think it would make a great movie. I hope you're getting loads of top notch marketing support because ..."

Thanks so much, Belinda! I have often felt that it would be like being asked to remove a limb--which limb do you want removed?--if I was told I could only write in one genre. Fiction or nonfiction? They are both important to my psyche as a writer. They use different parts of that psyche. I love writing both and the writing is so different. Fiction is like remembering a dream. Nonfiction is going out and finding all these dreams, these facts. And, as you say, one is more emotional and one more logical.

Because Teresa is with a small press, we don't have that marketing support--although the press does what it can. Mainly I ask anyone who says anything nice at all to please write a review for amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads! I am also doing some blog tours and submitting to awards. But in this new world, readers are the new reviewers and have more power than ever before...

That's such an interesting question--I haven't thought about this before. The Southwest, of course, includes pine forests and some alpine forests as well as all kinds of desert. So there is a range of landscape here. The ocean is so compelling, of course, and I have lived by the ocean as a college student. I think of how amazing the Alaskan tundra was when I visited there...but I mention these only as a way of saying no. No, I wouldn't think about writing about these places except peripherally or as an outsider (a legitimate perspective!) because I don't know them well enough. I would feel so inadequate. I feel that way in the Southwest, too, not being a trained naturalist or biologist. I would feel that even more anywhere else...thanks for bringing this to my attention!

Hello, everyone! It is Tuesday morning, 6 a.m., and I am doing a little writing before I need to drive to the border town of Deming, NM for a doctor's appointment. That's an hour away. That and this conversation are mainly what I am doing today. I'll be "off line" for much of this morning, but will keep checking in when I can. I'm thinking: time to learn how to use that smartphone and type little messages. Certainly I will be here by afternoon and through the evening. We can talk about anything and everything.

Mary wrote: "Hi Sharman,
I'm almost finished with Theresa. I love the character of "Horse." I've been trying to send you email, but my gmail has suddenly gone wonky. I received your note and would love your ..."

So happy we finally connected, Mary. These email disappearances are like little earthquake tremors through my foundation--my 21rst century expectation of nearly instantaneous communication!

Heather wrote: "Fakhra, i was thinking the same thing. . .Sharman is so prolific in her writing and has written so many amazing books. I wish i was a fly on the wall to observe her obviously fabulous habits :-) ~ ..."

Hah! Obviously fabulous! I like that. I think it's just an everyday thing, a few hours every morning...never schedule a doctor or dentist appointment at 8 a.m.! That's my motto.

Hi, Dustin!