AUTHOR INTERVIEW + GIVEAWAY : SHERRI RABINOWITZ

Sherri Rabinowitz has been writing since she was a small child and was inspired by Ray Bradbury and Agatha Christie. She had always loved writing, but has had to make a living in a varied number of ways: she has worked as an actress, a travel agent and in several forms of customer service. Her passion, though, has always been writing. She loves and enjoys both reading and writing fan fiction. Fantasy Time Inc. is her second work of original fiction. You can follow her on her blog Ri The Bard. 

I’m glad to welcome Sherri on Fly High! and to introduce her to all of you. First of all Sherri, thanks a lot for being here today. Why don’t you tell us something more about yourself?

 Hi, it's great to be here and I am very excited to share with your readers. I started writing for fun and because I was kind of lonely. It was intoxicating that I could do anything and create any kind of person I wanted to. I enjoyed trying to write in different styles and different type of stories. I started to write fan fiction when I was in college it was different then. I was into the original Star Trek. There were clubs and fanzines. You sold them via magazines and fan letters. I was very active in both fanzines and writing stuff for newsletters. I remember sitting in the lounge in the library at my college I was suppose to writing a midterm but I was writing a Star Trek story for a zine. I was always doing that. I was majoring in Anthropology one of the requirements I take a philosophy class. I wrote my paper on the relationship between Kirk, Spock, McCoy as Peacemaker, Parent and Child, it was a 10 page paper and I got an A. I ran into my Professor 10 years later and he remembered the paper. So when the internet came along and I discovered fan fiction on the net I latched onto it with enthusiasm. In fact my pen name came from character I created for a Star Trek story.

Reading novels and watching movies and period dramas are among my favourite pastimes. What about you? 

I get into passions for different books or movies. When I get started I have to read and watch everything. When I read Jane Austen, I was inspired by the Colin Firth mini-series. I read all the novels, watched every movie or TV movie I could. I not only did that I read all the biographies and even bought a book telling about Jane Austen’s England. It’s not only classic fiction because I did that with Harry Potter too. I just love to get involved with other worlds, whether it is the past or another dimension.

What kind of reader are you? Where and when do you love to read?

I am a devoted reader, like I said I enjoy reading an author’s whole works. Right now I am re-reading all of the Lord Peter Wimsey books. I’m also restless. I will read two books at once. One I keep in my purse, one by my bedside. I usually read when I wake up at home in my bedroom or the bathroom. When I am out I read when I’m waiting at the doctor or the hair dresser.

I love reading classics, especially Jane Austen and Victorian authors like Gaskell, Dickens, the Brontes or Eliot. What is your relationship with classic literature?

My Dad was great reader and always encouraged me. I think the first one was Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. Then I got into Louisa May Alcott I think that is when I started to read everything. I needed to find out what happened to Jo after she married the professor. I do admit I bounce all over the place, I love the classics but I read Mysteries, Fantasy and Science Fiction too. I love it all. Really, I love a good story that captures me.

Is there a book that has been a turning point in your life?

Little Women, because I could really relate to Jo, I understood her.

What about writing, instead ? Have you got a special routine? Where is your favourite place to write?

I have written since I was child. I was always writing stories because even then I would want to know what happens after I finished the book. I write in long hand, I curl up on my bed or couch and just start to scribble. After I am done I have to put it into the computer because my writing is not legible to anyone but me.

How do you create your characters? Are you more inspired by real life acquaintances or previous reads?

They really come to me. I have them come out as I write a story or I come up with an idea while I am driving or shopping. My previous reads are an influence but I think its more my warped imagination. One of my best series of short stories came out from a dream.
I think dialog comes from people and composites of characters but not directly.
The two books I have written are completely different. One is Murder Mystery with a Mob boss who wants out set in a modern setting and the other is a Time Travel story set in the future with three romances. Right now I am working a young person’s story. It’s a complete fantasy story that is based on something from my childhood.

Try to present your latest publication, Fantasy Time Inc. with a twitter-sized message.

Most people dream of the future and the past, because no one romanticizes about their own time.

   

In this book you imagine future worlds and future lives. Two of my favourite books ever are Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, though science fiction is not my favourite genre. Are you anyway indebted to that tradition?

Yes, Ray Bradbury is a great influence and a wonderful person. I have met him several times. Isaac Asimov who was my Dad’s favorite and wrote many wonderful books. I think the greatest though was Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, he was a great influence on me from an episode called The City on the Edge of Forever. It is set in the thirties and Kirk falls in love with a woman he knows must die or history will change forever. It broke my heart. I am romantic and the time travel stories that got me were the romantic ones. The Time Machine, the move version because the love in that was very strong and wasn’t in the book. And my all time favorite Somewhere In Time. I cry every time I see that one. So Fantasy Time Inc comes from that tradition really.

What is your relationship with new technologies and the Net? Do you think they can help your writing and the world of books in general? Or are they more a distraction for you and a menace for the printed books?
That’s a very hard question. I think that like everything else its both good and bad. I love to read and I have to admit I read a lot of fan fiction. I came from fan fiction, though when I started to write it was in magazines and through what was called fanzines. It was so much better to go on line to write your story. Submit it to a website and gain readers. People that may have never seen it any other way, read your stuff. It is a good training ground for those of us who love to write but have no money. You can make mistakes but still write. So I like that. On the other hand I don’t like this idea that a printed book is out dated. I love books. I prefer them. It is easier on the eyes to read a book then screens whether they are big or small, they really damage your eyes. I love the smell of a book, I love the feel of book. They are special and I will be very sad if they would disappear because of these devices. The problem is kids don’t read, they play games or text but don’t know anything about books. So as I said I am very conflicted.

Now, before ending our nice chat about reading and writing books, tell us Sherri if you are writing a new novel and what are your future plans as for writing.

Yes, I still write fan fiction and I have two stories going for the romantics out there one of them is a Remington Steele story based on the last show. I am the type of writer who needs to have a few things going and then decide on one of them. I am writing a young person’s fantasy novel, A historical novel and murder mystery. Three of my favorite type of genre’s. The two that are the most likely to be next are the fantasy novel and a historical novel. I have to see which I finish first.

That's all Sherri! Thank you so much for being so kind and answering all my questions. I wish you great success with your writing. 

Now, great GIVEAWAY!!! Three copies of Fantasy Time Inc. offered by Sherri Rabinowitz, 2 copies for US and Canada, one copy for the rest of the world! So, it's your turn: leave comments or questions for Sherri and  ... good luck! As usual, don't forget to add your e-mail address, please! The giveaway ends on November 16th.