Ellen Thompson Shook is the author of Geneva...
"Ellen was born and grew up in Anniston, Alabama, where she spent the first eighteen years of her life plotting her escape from Alabama. She planned to be a movie star in Hollywood or a great stage actress in New York or London.
However, her father had other ideas, and made her go to college. She subsequently lived in many states and attended at least seven or eight colleges over the years. Ellen didn’t make it to Hollywood when she was young enough to become a movie star, but her son, who works in the film industry and teaches film production to MFA students, did.
Ellen and her husband Ray moved back to Alabama from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area when her mother’s health was declining in 1994, and they have remained there because her husband likes it.
Ellen has always been a writer, although she has worked in other fields, including caterer and interior decorator. She now writes full-time (to keep her sanity) in Birmingham, Alabama.
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Now let's get to know more about the author...
Tell us your latest news.
The first run of my book GENEVA about my mother is now published (this week), a very pretty book, large, with a book jacket designed by my school friend, Rosie Smith Goins.
When and why did you begin writing?
I have never not been a writer, but I always had so many responsibilities that I never had time before to pursue getting published. That in itself is a full-time job. I write because I have to write -- there just always seems so much to say and by writing instead of babbling, at least you can edit yourself -- if you train yourself not to hit the send button too soon!
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
About thirty years ago. I just considered myself an unpublished writer.
What inspired you to write your first book?
My first attempt at writing a book was a murder mystery that I dreamed up based on an incident from something that happened when I was a very young adult living away from home for the first time down in New Orleans. I got bogged down in the plot, though, and decided that maybe this was not my genre to write, only to read. I might try it again sometime, just for fun, to see if my skills have improved enough!
Do you have a specific writing style?
I like to write in the first person, usually, but not always. I like the narrative style best, like telling a story, start to finish. Sometimes, when I am working on short stories, I work almost exclusively in dialogue, as though I were writing a scene in a play, because it is like the thing is playing out in my head. In a novel, obviously, I use both techniques. I might use the occasional flashback, but generally I don't like literary gimmicks. Just tell the story. Beginning, middle and end.
How did you come up with the title?
GENEVA was my mother's name. There was no other title for this book!
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Several, actually. The main one, I suppose, is that each of us should be inspired to do the very best we can with what we have been given to work with.
How much of the book is realistic?
Every word of it is the gospel truth.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
Yes. All of it.
What books have most influenced your life most?
The Bible, first, because I was raised by a very religious father. Amy Vanderbilt's BOOK OF ETIQUETTE, for which I asked my father when I was 12, because I was mortified at my parents' "countrified" manners. Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED. SOPHIE'S CHOICE. Too many to remember. I have always been a voracious reader.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
I have never had one, although I have been encouraged by every English and writing teacher I ever had. That's a lot, because I went to college a really long time. I admire a lot of the Southern writers like Flannery O'Connor, F. Scott Fitzgerald. I enjoy Rick Bragg's work tremendously.
What book are you reading now?
DAMAGE by John Lescroart.
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Several, foremost among them Kathryn Stockett who wrote THE HELP. I eagerly await her next book.
What are your current projects?
- To get my short story collection published by a major publishing house
- To get the first of what I consider a future series of "chick lit" novels into print by a major publishing house
- To get back to writing a really serious novel that I began and had to put aside about six months ago when I began the push to get GENEVA published
Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
Two: Good wine and a vivid imagination!
Do you see writing as a career?
I do, as a final career for this "retirement" phase of my life, hopefully till I drop dead in the long-distant future, telling a wild tale. I don't ever see myself sitting in a rocking chair knitting in the old folks home!
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
I might have been more brutally honest about a few things, but I probably would have made a lot of people really angry and alienated a lot of the family. Not to mention gotten sued.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
Yes. A comic book character who was a reporter. I used to think it would be great to be a newspaper journalist. Later, by Dorothy Parker. THE SATURDAY EVENING POST short stories when I was growing up.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
I have a tendency to over-explain. I come from a long line of schoolteachers, and although I was never a teacher myself, I think it is in my genes to make sure that everybody understands the point I am trying to make.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
I don't have just one favorite. I take many lessons from everyone whose work I read.
Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
Not yet!
Who designed the covers?
Rosie Smith Goins who is from Lancaster, SC.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
For this one, since it is non-fiction, examining my troubled relationship with my mother, turning it inside out, and looking at my parent's marriage up close and personal; re-entering the world of my childhood, my relationships with my mother's family; and looking at the ignorance and poverty she came from. That was rather painful.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I learned many many things. Some of those may be the subject of another book.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Write. Read. Write some more. Read some more.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Do the best you can with what you have to work with.
and YOU may purchase the book Geneva from the site.
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Thank you to Ellen for doing this interview and
donating a copy of her book for a GIVEAWAY...
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