Author: Ann Harper Reed

ISBN: 9780615141947

Today, Norm Goldman, Publisher and Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Ann Harper Reed author of Element of Blank.

Good day Ann and thanks for participating in our interview.

Norm:

Element of Black no doubt has a broader mission than simply entertaining or storytelling. Can you talk more about that mission and what you hope readers will take away after reading your book?

Ann: 

Certainly I have a broader mission than entertaining, but at some level I think there is no greater objective than storytelling.  Not to pretend to be a sociologist, but the notion of the community gathering before a camp fire and sharing tales of adventure and peril is essential to the human social process.  And I felt a huge sense of urgency to share this story because there are woman, and girls, and other innocents of society that need our protection and sensitivity.  It is important to hear their stories because it allows us as a society to grow and perhaps begin to shift the paradigm that violence is acceptable.

Norm:

What was the most difficult thing for you about writing Element of Blank? Did you have difficulty in fleshing out your two main characters, Sally and David?

Ann:

As to fleshing out the main characters:  yes!  Sally came to me rather complete as a mixture of a very flawed and yet very warm human.  The clarity of my connection to her allowed me see this world as she stepped further and further into self-destruction.  But, and I admit this with gratitude, I’ve never been exposed to physical violence personally…so at times it was a challenge to understand her thinking process.  I had much help from personal friends who’ve dealt intimately with domestic violence, which allowed me the chance to keep on track.

David was extremely tough to get on the page. I knew it was important to show him to be mean, and unapologetic.  Yet at the same time, I recognized it was essential to allow him to be human, too.

I didn’t want this to be a story about abuser and victim.  I set out to write an honest novel about human beings and the choices they make.  Obviously, both Sally and David make a number of bad choices, and this story ends up exploring the world of domestic violence – which has a number of extremely ugly realities.  Capturing that ugliness, but also allowing the beauty of life and family to come through…that was my greatest challenge and joy in writing this novel.

Norm:

How and why did you choose the title Element of Blank?

Ann:

The title comes from an Emily Dickenson poem about the nature of pain.  I felt it [the poem] deals specifically with Sally’s world, and her level of constant suffering, and her general inability to gain perspective beyond that immediate existence.  I guess it’s like any good poem.  It took me an entire novel to begin to express emotionally what the Emily Dickenson poem accomplishes in two stanzas.  Alas, such is the road of the novelist.

Norm:

How can people help someone whom we know is abused when there is reluctance and often a refusal to seek help?

Ann:

That is an incredibly important question.  And I don’t hold all the answers.  No one can force support on a person who doesn’t want it. I certainly don’t advocate people barging into each other’s lives pretending to be Super Heroes and all knowing holders of truth.  There is a time to try to stop the violence – but call the police.  Domestic violence, and all the passion it contains make for very dangerous circumstances for everyone involved.

Personally, I imagine one should always start with tolerance.  There can never be enough good listeners in this world.  A reason I wrote Element of Blank was to offer a means to examine what can happen inside of an abusive relationship, what its possible outcome shall be…and basically stimulate a discourse and awareness for friend and victim alike.  And of course there is no cookie cutter answer – each victim is an individual and her reasons for being in an abusive relationship are unique to her.

It’s important, too, to understand that people who’ve been in long-term abusive relationships often suffer from stress disorder and may very well not be in their right mind.  Again, I stress tolerance.  Do what you can to help the person, but do not take their inability to follow your advice personally.  Keep the channel between you open.  Your consistency, goodness and humanity may be the only things holding that person together.

Norm:

When you wrote Element of Blank, was it improvisational or did you have a set plan?

Ann: 

It was an interesting journey.  I had a set plan, but ended up writing beyond it.  My original book was what I now call Book 2.  It was carefully constructed and outlined.  When I sent out my novel to publishing houses, I got notice from an interested publisher back east that they needed more back-story.  From that came the book 1 and 2 format.  I set out with book 1 to create a sort of female Holden Caulfield from suburbia.  When I finished the novel, I was stunned at the accessibility of Sally’s vulnerability and humanity through the first person narrative, and then the stream of conscious thoughts in book 2.  It made me aware that we are all so close to stepping down the “wrong” path in life.  Strange as it may seem, I hadn’t really been aware of that until after I finished writing.

Norm:

In fiction as well as in non-fiction, writers very often take liberties with their material to tell a good story or make a point. But how much is too much?

Ann:

I’m afraid “how much is too much” would be a purely subjective notion.  I feel it is the writer’s obligation to keep true to the tone of her or his work.  In the case of Element of Blank, I had to go into an explicit and brutal world to write this novel, but it would have been false and untrue had I not gone there.  But certain passages in my novel, may very well feel inappropriate and “too much” in the context of a different story.

Norm:

Do you feel that writers, regardless of genre owe something to readers, if not, why not, if so, why and what would that be?

Ann:

What a great question.  I want to say,  “Yes!  Authors owe something to their readers,” but ultimately I believe the authors owe everything to their characters and the reality they create.  I think if a writer actually achieves that, the reader will benefit.  That’s what I always look for in a great book – the gift of being given unique perspective into a world.

Norm:

Will there be any unique ways you'll be marketing your book that is different from how others authors market their books of a similar nature?

Ann:

The world of marketing is vast and I’m learning more every day, but I am scheduled to bring my book into the healing world and women’s groups to promote discussion about domestic violence issues.  I’m sure other fresh venues will present themselves along the way.

Of course, I’m still interested in getting Element of Blank into Oprah’s hands, too.  That might be a more conventional, unconventional road to marketing.

Norm:

What has been your experience with self-publishing and why did you take this route? 

Ann:

Honestly, it has been wonderful!  And I was extremely reluctant to enter into self-publishing.  I’ve tried for several years to get this novel conventionally published.  It came close a couple times, but I was finally so impatient I began to explore what it would mean to self publish on-line.  I was amazed by the ease with which I could get my novel out there on Amazon and other on-line bookstores.

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered and what is next for Ann Harper Reed?

Ann:

First of all, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about my novel.  This has been really fun.  I’m currently focused on screenwriting at the moment.  The Horsemen, a western I finished writing this winter, has been getting some attention.  So look for that in theaters in a couple years.  As to conventional writing, I’m scheduled to begin my next novel this fall. 

Thanks once again and good luck with Element of Blank.

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