Molly Martin: I''ve just read/reviewed your Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River. Please will you tell us
why you chose this particular setting/genre for this work?
Lyda Phillips: The setting is similar to a camp I attended as a girl and teenager, although it was in Arkansas rather than North Carolina. I find myself
writing young-adult novels because so many of my most basic issues that I''m still working out in my life and in my writing are those same issues teenagers grapple with: peer pressure, identity and finding the courage and wisdom to take a stand.
Molly: I see, knowing some background helps to flesh out the story. Lyda, this is not the first book of yours that I have reviewed. Please if you will, tell us which of your books you are most happy with. And why.
Lyda Phillips: That''s a little like asking which of my children I love the most. They are both dear to me. Mr. Touchdown has the characters I love the most. But I think Peace is a more sophisticated story.
Molly: Chuckle, I understand perfectly. Now, turning to another direction: I find your books are filled with rich details, how much time do you usually spend doing background research before you begin a new book and what does your research involve?
Lyda Phillips: Because these two novels grew out of my own experiences, that shaped a lot of the narrative. With Mr. Touchdown I did a tremendous amount of research on the Civil Rights movement--reading, Internet searches and conversations over the course of years with many individuals who''d grown up in the segregated South, both black and white. For Peace, I did research--again oral and literature searches--on abnormal psychology, suicide, and girl bullying. For the settings I draw on personal experience. I''ve hiked in the mountains and done white-water canoeing, so I know what I''m writing about there.
Molly: Most interesting, I see you must have done a good bit of work before beginning to do the actual writing. Now, Lyda, writers new to the field may not realize how difficult it is to get a book together. How long would you say it takes on average for you to write a book from start to finish?
Lyda Phillips: Both these novels started as short stories and unfolded into novels. In both cases, there was a time lapse of several years after I wrote the stories before I came back to them. After that Mr. Touchdown took about five years off and on to write, rewrite, rewrite again, leave aside, take up again and rewrite. Peace went much quicker, but even it took a couple of years.
Molly: You sound like a dedicated writer! Lyda, I find that I particularly enjoy writing
series because when one book is finished I don''t have to say goodbye to the characters I know as friends, rather I follow them as they enter their next adventure. Have you considered writing a series?
Lyda Phillips: People have often asked me what happens to the Mr. Touchdown characters. But I have no interest in continuing that story. I am working on two novels for adults right now where the second takes up the story of a secondary character in the first, although that''s not really a series or even a sequel. But I do have the beginning of an idea for a fantasy/SF novel that could easily turn into a series. I think a series would be fun.
Molly: I see, now please tell us what do you attend to first? Do you write your book first or seek out an agent or a publisher? And, if you will, please tell us of trials or successes you may have had in trying to find agent or publisher.
Lyda Phillips: You have to have a finished project before you begin to look fnt or a publisher. And if I started on my trials and tribulations in that search, we''d be here until next year sometime. I have had two agents over the course of my career. One retired on me and the other became too ill to keep working. I''m currently looking for an agent for the first of the novels for adults that I mentioned above. I cannot tell you how many rejections I''ve had in my career. I''ve never had the heart to count them, but it''s in the hundreds for sure.