Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how long you have been
writing?
I
am the "Studentessa Matta" which means "crazy language
student," and for the past seven years, I have been writing a dual
language blog in Italian and English to promote the study of the Italian
language and culture. I am an artist and art historian and own my own graphic
design business. In fact, I designed and illustrated the artwork for the cover
designs of both my novels "Dreaming Sophia" and "Waking
Isabella." The blog posts I write are non-fiction articles, and about four
years ago I got the idea to try my hand at fiction writing. My first novel
"Dreaming Sophia," was published in 2016.
As
I was working on my first book "Dreaming Sophia," trying my hand at
fiction writing, I discovered that I enjoy the process of writing a novel and
creating new worlds filled with interesting characters. Inventing a story and
weaving in historical details is a bit of a departure from the kind of writing
I do on the Studentessa Matta blog - where I blog about more exact things:
language learning and cultural anecdotes. So about midway through the first
book, I was already casting around for concepts for my second novel. Now I am
embarking on the writing of my third novel.
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| http://amzn.to/2CJES8F |
What sort of research did you do to write this book?
Researching
my stories is one of the fascinating parts of my writing process. I live for
part of the year in Italy
For
this particular book, "Waking Isabella," after thoroughly researching
Isabella de’ Medici, I made a special trip — a pilgrimage of sorts — to
Cerreto Guidi to visit her the hunting lodge where the princess was murdered.
Standing in the room where she was killed by her husband was a truly unique and
chilling experience.
Where do you get the inspiration and ideas for
each of your books?
My
journey to learn the language has brought me even closer to Italy Basilicata ,
taking part in the jousting festival in Arezzo
and attending a friend’s wedding in Naples
In
my books, I strive to weave together a bit of the Italian language as well as
art history. I want people to be inspired to learn the language and realize
that art can "talk" to them if they listen. My novels are set in
modern times, but they also take the reader back into the past to get a feeling
for Italian personalities from previous eras. The stories weave together
historical and contemporary information, as well as a bit fantasy and time
travel as well.
Do you outline books ahead of time or are
you more of a by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer?
I
am a little of both. I begin with an outline and a pretty clear idea of how the
story will start, what will happen along the way, and how it will end. But,
sometimes the best ideas and the story takes off when I just sit down to write,
with only a general idea of what is going to happen. It is as if the characters
grab hold of my pen (or keyboard) and start taking control! For instance,
Margherita's story in "Waking Isabella" just flowed and
"happened" unconsciously one day, as did all the scenes that deal
with Isabella that are set in the past.
How long does it take you to write a book? Can you describe your
process a bit more?
My
first novel took me about a year and a half. My second took me about nine
months. I learned a lot during the writing and publishing of my first that
helped to streamline the publication of the second.
After
thoroughly researching my topic and story, I start with a 50 page outline and a
whole bunch of ideas and notes. I then begin to flush out my story outline some
more and then after a while I dive in and start writing. Once I’m off and
running I work for several hours each day. When the first draft is done, I
begin the revisions and filling in more detail, more layers and layers of
dialogue and colorful imagery. It is like painting in a way. I create a rough
sketch and then continue going back over the story adding more and more layers
and colors.
During
my draft writing, which can take several months, I stop periodically to review
my work with an informal editor. With her I read chapters out loud. She gives
me feedback as well as a few reality checks. We have a wonderful collaborative
work flow and it is very helpful to me to have someone who is keyed into my
story at an very early stage with whom I can bounce ideas off and talk about
the characters.
When
I feel the manuscript is ready, I send it to my editor and then to the final
proofreader. The tricky part is to know when you are done writing. I can still
read sentences and want to make a change here or there, in word choice or
stylistic phrases. I could hold onto my work forever, but really the end goal
is to get my work into the hands of my readers to enjoy. I remind myself, the
goal is to entertain and engage the reader. Only in that way does an author
learn and continue growing and it frees them up to start their next project!
Do you have an agent or a publisher, and if you can share, who they
are?
I
am an Indie author and created my own Printing Press called "Matta
Press." In addition to being an author, I am a professional book designer
as well as a graphic designer and illustrator. I have run my own business for
years, so I decided I would be up to the challenge of setting up my own
publishing label and self-publish my books under my own label.
What
were some of the challenges you faced with your writing and on the road to
getting published?
With
my first book initially, I was working with an independent publishing house.
But then, my editor at the time encouraged me to break off and self-publish. In
the beginning I was quite intimidated by the idea, but she said, "no one
else is ever going to more than what you have already done for yourself…if
anybody could do it, Melissa, you can!"
Self-publishing
was all new to me, and I had to learn a lot about the process to finalize and
produce my first book. I hired a consultant who helped tremendously. Still,
with the first book, I think I did everything I possibly could do upside down
and backward. Leave it to me to find the most complicated way to accomplish
something! But still, I persisted.
I
think the best thing for me is to find people who are as excited about my
projects as I am. I love writing but love it, even more, when I have the
collaboration of people who inspire me and fuel my creative process with the
right kind of constructive feedback. So, finding the right editors is very
important. Also, I can read a sentence a hundred times and never see the
missing word or typo, so it was important to find an eagle-eyed proofreader,
one who can see the typographical errors and knows how to place a comma with
precision.
In
the end, however, it was exhilarating to write and self-publish a novel.
Afterward, I realized I couldn't let all that knowledge go to waste…so why not
work on a second book? And now…a third!
What has been one of your most rewarding experiences as an author?
When
I was writing my first book "Dreaming Sophia," I had the extreme
pleasure of meeting Miss Sophia Loren in person. I was researching at the time
for my book, and when I learned she was giving a one-woman show in Las Vegas
There
were two things she said that resonated with me that evening. The first:
"Believe in your dreams, dreams become reality." The second: "Be
brave. Just do it." I would say this is also my advice to anyone who wants
to write a book. You can second-guess yourself all you want, but it just comes
down to hard work (lots and lots and lots of draft variations), believing in
yourself and just doing it!
On the
Studentessa Matta language learning site you can
find lots of free ways to practice Italian. I write
both in Italian and English so you can flex and improve your communication
skills - for free. Each week I post about Italian language learning as well as
fun and interesting stories about Italian culture. You can find all the videos
from this channel on the blog as well, with transcripts and translations.
For those of you who want to dive in a little
deeper into Italian language studies in Italy Arezzo
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