Author: Lyda Phillips

ISBN: 0595361722

The following interview was conducted by:  NORM GOLDMAN:  Editor of Bookpleasures. CLICK TO VIEW  Norm Goldman's Reviews

To read Norm's review of Peace I Ask Thee Oh River CLICK HERE

Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Lyda Phillips author of Peace I Ask Thee Oh River.

Good day Lyda and thank you for participating in our interview.

Norm:

When did your passion for writing begin? What kept you going? Was there anyone who really influenced you to become a writer?

Lyda:

I started writing when I was about eight years old after reading L.M. Montgomery's Emily series, which I read over and over again. I kept a diary, wrote dreadful poetry and stories. I don't know what kept me going because I got mixed signals from my world. My mother would tell me that being an artist was the noblest thing one could be and at the next minute tell me it was an impossible dream and that I'd better learn a saleable skill, which in the 50s and 60s meant learning to type so you could be a secretary.

Norm:

Why did you feel compelled to write Peace I Ask Thee Oh River and is there an underlying message in your book for teenagers? How did you get the inspiration for this book?

Lyda:

I went to a camp very much like the camp in my novel. It was pivotal in my life, perhaps even more formative than high school. One of my best friends had a relationship with a local boy, who was even stranger and more exotic than Bobby Brideswell in the novel. I had for one two-week session a strange and creepy camper. I started the novel as a short story about the Bobby/Katie relationship. When I expanded it into a novel Tiffin popped up and became the central story and then I wrapped it in guilt and depression, which I know from the ground up.

And if the book has an underlying message (I wasn't trying to impart a lesson), it's what El tells herself at the end. That the pain and confusion of life ebbs and flows and ultimately makes you stronger and wiser.

Norm:

How has the feedback been so far?

Lyda:

It's been great! Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River has just been named a finalist in young-adult fiction in the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year awards, which is a great honor. It was featured last fall at the Southern Festival of Books. I sold out the books I took to a reunion of my old camp. And it's been selling well generally for a POD book.

And most important a couple of readers have told me that the book has made a difference in their lives, that it's been a comfort to know they are not alone in the way they feel. One of those special readers bought 10 copies and gave them away to friends. Another was a high school sophomore who was being bullied. She felt the book helped her cope. I'm humbled by that.

Norm:

What kind of research did you do to write this book?

 Lyda:

I read a lot on survivor guilt, teenager depression and suicide, girl packs and bullying, and abnormal psychology. Since I set the story in Western North Carolina, I did research and traveling in that area.

Norm:

What challenges or obstacles did you encounter while writing your book? How did you overcome these challenges?

Lyda:

Unlike some of my other novels this one absolutely flowed. Like all my other writing, I had to do many drafts, each time taking the story to a deeper level, but with Peace it was more like swimming deeper underwater than mining through granite, which it's usually like.

Norm:

Did you have a difficult time fleshing out your characters?

Lyda:

I had the hardest time with the two guys. El's boyfriend Arthur was very hard for me. I kept trying and trying and finally he became real to me and started speaking in his own voice. The others were always there as three-dimensional real characters.

I can hear my characters talking if I just sit still and stare vacantly out the window. This is not easy with other people in the house. They want to wake you up. But all the characters in Peace, except Arthur and Bobby, just chattered away from the beginning.

Norm:

What is next for Lyda Phillips? Is there another book?

Lyda:

I am right now working on two novels for adult readers; one is ready for my writers' group to start on. I have another YA novel, Mr. Touchdown, published through iUniverse. It just won first place in the Writers' Notes annual book award for young-adult books. I am spending a lot of time marketing these two novels and really enjoying it. And I'm still seeking traditional publishing for two middle-grade novels. And I'm in the about millionth draft of a screenplay, which an Oakland production company, Joy and Magic Productions, has expressed an interest in. I barely have time for my day job.

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Lyda:

I have been very happy that I made the decision to self-publish. The odds for success in either traditional or self-publishing are very long. The slush piles are filled with bad manuscripts and many bad novels are self-published. A self-published author faces tremendous hostility from everyone involved with writing and publishing and that is very depressing sometimes. A POD author even is trashed by authors who create their own imprints and handle their own distribution. They believe they are real self-publishers and POD is "vanity" or "subsidy" publishing. Whatever.

Given the long odds of success either way I am much happier out here winning prizes, signing books, and visiting schools than I would be still with my head bent and my hand out to the New York publishers.

Norm:

Thanks once again and good luck with your book!