Meet Rebecca Meredith, Author of The Last of the Pascagoula
What inspired you to become an author?
Though I’m in the Northwest now, I come from Mississippi, where telling stories is really an art. People love to talk. We connect with one another by telling and retelling what this person did, what happened to that person, each one putting a little spin or embellishment on it. So I had a lot to listen to—the relatives would get together and talk way into the night, and if we were lucky they’d forget about us children and we could listen to them. I knew wonderful stories about men and women I had never laid eyes on, and they were as real to me as my own people. My granddaddy, as my grandmother would say, could talk the paint off a wall, and I loved it. I also fell in love with reading right off; I read everything I could, though my family members weren’t big readers and so my selection was strange until I had a school library to choose from. We had a very old set of encyclopedias and things like Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, books by psychics and Bible stories and Louis Lamour westerns. I think it all gave me a taste for the over-the-top. I love a big character and a deep sense of place. But I also made up stories to entertain myself through some hard times when I was growing up, and that tendency just never left me.
How did you come up with the idea for The Last of the Pascagoula?
I’ve been writing variations on these people and ideas for years. The short blurb for the book is that it’s about “coming of age, art and madness, assisted suicide, and the love of a good—if dead—dog.” I really did live in Pascagoula, on the Mississippi coast, and in New Orleans. That part of the country has a unique flavor—a funny, simultaneous conservativeness and ability to tolerate really extreme characters, and though the book is fiction mine are imbued with elements of people I knew growing up. The gay teenager trying to find himself, the traumatized sisters coping with their mother’s death, the compulsive art maker, the “town communist”, even the circus performers are not too far removed from reality. It’s just not the reality that most people see every day. I have always loved the unusual, and I love the idea of people trying to find ways to be truly themselves in a world that can make it hard.
What do you think readers will enjoy most about your book?
People tell me that the characters become very real to them, that they care what happens to them and are deeply affected by their strivings. I love them too, I have to confess. I remember standing in the shower and crying about what I was going to have to do to Martha, knowing that it would break her apart but that it would also make her into something very special. I also love the place, and do my best to describe it in a rich way, to take people there even if they’ve never seen it. And for a book with some real sadness in it, it’s also got a lot of humor. The kids, and the grownups they become, know how to laugh.
The Last of the Pascagoula won the Kirkus Star. What does that mean to you as an author?
For one thing it’s a quick way to say “This respected critical entity says my book rocks, so you’ve got a pretty good chance of liking it”. It surprised me how hard it is to reply to the simple question “What’s your book about?” Kirkus’ reviews are excellent at that, at summing up the plot and telling you why you should read it. They aren’t shy about saying “it’s a novel of friendship and redemption”, which is true, and now that they’ve said it I know it’s a good way to describe it. These days any indie book needs a way to let people know right away that it’s done well and is professional, and to whom it will appeal. Man, I’m proud of that star!
What advice would you give to a new author trying to get their book published?
Oh, that’s a book in itself! This is a new world, and you have a lot of choices. If you go the traditional route you have to know your pitch, read what’s out there about querying agents, and believe it. There’s so much being sent around that you have to work very hard to get people to give you a chance. You’re not only selling your book, you’re selling yourself, so let them know what’s unique about you and your work. If you decide to publish independently, as I did, you have to learn all aspects of the job; talking to bookstores and to reviewers and bloggers like you, using social networking, targeting your audience well, spending your advertizing money wisely, and being very creative about marketing. It’s a blast, but it’ll take as much work as you’re willing to put into it, and the guts to say “Look at me! Look at me!”
Are you currently working on other books?
I am. I’m not ready to let go of my little group of marginals, so I’m working on a sequel to The Last of the Pascagoula. I’m also about to offer a free download of some of my short fiction and poetry, which has appearances by characters that eventually appear in the novel. And I’ve gotten interested in the Creole and Indian women who found their strength back in the day by being root doctors, mistresses, prostitutes, even nuns, basically creating their own underground in the New Orleans of the 19th and early 20th Century. Once I’ve tucked in my Pascagoula characters, I’ll turn to them.
You can find out more about Rebecca Meredith and her book by visiting http://thelastofthepascagoula.com.
Though I’m in the Northwest now, I come from Mississippi, where telling stories is really an art. People love to talk. We connect with one another by telling and retelling what this person did, what happened to that person, each one putting a little spin or embellishment on it. So I had a lot to listen to—the relatives would get together and talk way into the night, and if we were lucky they’d forget about us children and we could listen to them. I knew wonderful stories about men and women I had never laid eyes on, and they were as real to me as my own people. My granddaddy, as my grandmother would say, could talk the paint off a wall, and I loved it. I also fell in love with reading right off; I read everything I could, though my family members weren’t big readers and so my selection was strange until I had a school library to choose from. We had a very old set of encyclopedias and things like Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, books by psychics and Bible stories and Louis Lamour westerns. I think it all gave me a taste for the over-the-top. I love a big character and a deep sense of place. But I also made up stories to entertain myself through some hard times when I was growing up, and that tendency just never left me.
How did you come up with the idea for The Last of the Pascagoula?
I’ve been writing variations on these people and ideas for years. The short blurb for the book is that it’s about “coming of age, art and madness, assisted suicide, and the love of a good—if dead—dog.” I really did live in Pascagoula, on the Mississippi coast, and in New Orleans. That part of the country has a unique flavor—a funny, simultaneous conservativeness and ability to tolerate really extreme characters, and though the book is fiction mine are imbued with elements of people I knew growing up. The gay teenager trying to find himself, the traumatized sisters coping with their mother’s death, the compulsive art maker, the “town communist”, even the circus performers are not too far removed from reality. It’s just not the reality that most people see every day. I have always loved the unusual, and I love the idea of people trying to find ways to be truly themselves in a world that can make it hard.
What do you think readers will enjoy most about your book?
People tell me that the characters become very real to them, that they care what happens to them and are deeply affected by their strivings. I love them too, I have to confess. I remember standing in the shower and crying about what I was going to have to do to Martha, knowing that it would break her apart but that it would also make her into something very special. I also love the place, and do my best to describe it in a rich way, to take people there even if they’ve never seen it. And for a book with some real sadness in it, it’s also got a lot of humor. The kids, and the grownups they become, know how to laugh.
The Last of the Pascagoula won the Kirkus Star. What does that mean to you as an author?
For one thing it’s a quick way to say “This respected critical entity says my book rocks, so you’ve got a pretty good chance of liking it”. It surprised me how hard it is to reply to the simple question “What’s your book about?” Kirkus’ reviews are excellent at that, at summing up the plot and telling you why you should read it. They aren’t shy about saying “it’s a novel of friendship and redemption”, which is true, and now that they’ve said it I know it’s a good way to describe it. These days any indie book needs a way to let people know right away that it’s done well and is professional, and to whom it will appeal. Man, I’m proud of that star!
What advice would you give to a new author trying to get their book published?
Oh, that’s a book in itself! This is a new world, and you have a lot of choices. If you go the traditional route you have to know your pitch, read what’s out there about querying agents, and believe it. There’s so much being sent around that you have to work very hard to get people to give you a chance. You’re not only selling your book, you’re selling yourself, so let them know what’s unique about you and your work. If you decide to publish independently, as I did, you have to learn all aspects of the job; talking to bookstores and to reviewers and bloggers like you, using social networking, targeting your audience well, spending your advertizing money wisely, and being very creative about marketing. It’s a blast, but it’ll take as much work as you’re willing to put into it, and the guts to say “Look at me! Look at me!”
Are you currently working on other books?
I am. I’m not ready to let go of my little group of marginals, so I’m working on a sequel to The Last of the Pascagoula. I’m also about to offer a free download of some of my short fiction and poetry, which has appearances by characters that eventually appear in the novel. And I’ve gotten interested in the Creole and Indian women who found their strength back in the day by being root doctors, mistresses, prostitutes, even nuns, basically creating their own underground in the New Orleans of the 19th and early 20th Century. Once I’ve tucked in my Pascagoula characters, I’ll turn to them.
You can find out more about Rebecca Meredith and her book by visiting http://thelastofthepascagoula.com.
Stacie Theis / beachboundbooks@yahoo.com / copyright 2012