Interview with Laura Fabiani


How long have you been a writer?
I have been writing since I was a teenager. I am an avid reader and can still remember as a lanky kid, hording books from the library and biking home with a heavy knapsack bumping against my back. Books inspire me, and so I experimented by writing novels, poems and essays, filing it all away in my creative writing folder and not showing a soul. It was my secret, my escapade.

You have a diploma in writing for children and teenagers. How has this helped your writing career? Would you recommend for other writers to get writing qualifications like this?
The one-year course that included a one-on-one with a mentor opened my eyes to the real possibility of one day becoming a published author. I learned the craft of writing—characterization, setting, plot, and story outline—and learned more about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. I certainly recommend any aspiring writer to take workshops or courses to improve their craft. I have personally witnessed the growth of my workshop students as they apply the techniques, gain confidence, and develop their unique writing style.

Tell us a bit about your book 'Daughter of Mine'?
Daughter of Mine is a novel that I began writing ten years ago, after I completed my writing course. The idea for the story was sparked one evening as I listened to my mother-in-law talking about things that happened in her native birthplace of Naples. However, I fell ill for a period of time and then my two children were born. Time passed and I wrote the novel in my head, especially on those nights when I breastfed my children in the middle of the night. I loved spinning the story in my head and by the time my children were a little more self-sufficient, I knew the characters as if they were old friends. You can read a synopsis of the book here: http://www.laurafabiani.com/daughterofmine.html

The book is set largely in the beautiful setting of Naples. How did you research for it?
The year before I completed the novel I visited Rome and Naples to visit relatives and friends. The experience of walking those streets, of chatting late into the night with its people, of drinking in the sights and sounds of Italy were so vivid in my mind that it was easy to transfer them on paper on my return.

Who is your favourite character from the book and why?
I loved creating Tiziana, Christopher and Gian-Luca. I spent the most energy on capturing their emotions, nuances and conflicts. They were the first characters I ever fully created. It was actually hard to part with them once my book was finished! Giacomino popped up out of the blue as my story progressed, since he was initially not part of my list of characters. He made me laugh every time I created a scene with him that brought back memories of similar experiences I had had when I visited Rome during my teenage years.

You also launched award winning site www.NouveauWriter.com. Please tell us a bit about this great resource for writers.
NouveauWriter is a writers’ site that I initially launched as a Web site and then changed to a weblog format. I wanted to share what I had learned on my writing journey with others, to inspire others who wanted to write a book but didn’t have the confidence to do so. It features articles that tackle the various issues that writers experience, and it offers its readers opportunities to apply their new knowledge. The goal is to assist writers, especially Canadians, to succeed in their endeavours and to give them the incentive to get to the publishing stage.

Where can people find out more about you and your book?
By visiting my Web site: www.laurafabiani.com

Anything else you'd like to add?
Daughter of Mine is currently on tour, and I am very excited about this! I want to thank you once again for being a part of this tour, assisting me to let others know about my book. For a list and links to the sites participating in this tour, please see the left sidebar on my blog Library of Clean Reads (http://libraryofcleanreads.blogspot.com). You can also enter the giveaway to win a copy of Daughter of Mine. 

1 Comments

  1. Anonymous15 April 2010 at 11:07

    In "Daughter of Mine" the main character, 'Tiziana', epitomizes a woman's establishing herself in the male dominated profession of engineering, the quest to find her biological parents, and as in a broader sense, the necessity of first born Canadian/American children of European descent to find a harmonious balance between the values taught them by their parents and the values they confront in the 'New World'. In this case, the Italian and Canadian cultures stand out more in their similarities then their differences in the value that "family" is placed in both worlds.

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