Author Mary Elizabeth Fricke Shares Their Story
Mary Elizabeth Fricke lived her entire life within five miles of the Missouri River. She and her husband of 33 years have lived 30 of those years on a farm that has been consistently owned and operated by his family for five generations. They have two grown sons married to wonderful girls she is proud to call, “daughter”.
A graduate of the Writer’s Institute of America and a member of the Heartland Writers Guild, she has published a number of articles in various forums and magazines, as well as Dino, Godzilla and the Pigs, My Life on Our Missouri Hog Farm (they have since switched from raising hogs to raising cattle). She is also a prolific ghost writer.
Her stories, based in rural mid-western areas, concern the unique but quickly vanishing way of life on the family farm as well as other mysterious intricacies that evolve life from generation to generation.
About the Author
Mary Elizabeth Fricke lived her entire life within five miles of the Missouri River. She and her husband of 33 years have lived 30 of those years on a farm that has been consistently owned and operated by his family for five generations. They have two grown sons married to wonderful girls she is proud to call, “daughter”.
A graduate of the Writer’s Institute of America and a member of the Heartland Writers Guild, she has published a number of articles in various forums and magazines, as well as Dino, Godzilla and the Pigs, My Life on Our Missouri Hog Farm (they have since switched from raising hogs to raising cattle). She is also a prolific ghost writer.
Her stories, based in rural mid-western areas, concern the unique but quickly vanishing way of life on the family farm as well as other mysterious intricacies that evolve life from generation to generation.
What inspires you to write romance books?
A life long love of reading romance in various forms from sweet romance to paranormal, suspense, historical, etc.
Tell us about how you write:
I tend to write scenes rather than an outline. Once I have enough ‘scenes’ written I link them in order and begin to write all of the story in between those scenes. My first scene may be something in the middle of the book or even the end. It is rarely a beginning scene. A favorite author once describe her technique is seeing ‘mind movies’ before she writes them down. I identify with that. Except, I may mull individual scenes over and over in my head–like one reruns DVR or video recording–for weeks before I ever try to apply them to paper. And, the majority of the time I do not do a ‘character sketch’ until the story is nearly written. Then, the ‘sketch’ is necessary to identify my characters in a physical as well as mental sense so that I don’t claim they have blue eyes in one chapter and green eyes in some chapter later.
Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
My characters talk to me….but only in my head. They pretty well evolve on their own in mental sense. I might want them to do or act a certain way; but, invariably, they tend to want to go off on their own and do something altogether different than I first planned.
What advice would you give other writers?
I advise other romance writers to sit your butt in a chair and write. It is necessary to study a genre and it is vital to have personal, one to one, contact with other writers. However, that writing is not going to get done if you don’t just do it. When you have read as many romances as I have, a general technique in the genre becomes instinctive. From there you can work to develop your own unique method/voice.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I have submitted many manuscripts to many different publishers over the years. I’ve attended writers conferences, belonged to writers guilds and set in one to one conversations with editors, publishers and agents. When it came to actually getting published, I had more luck just sending my work in and hoping for a reply. My autobiography evolved from the strength of my query letter. I sent SoHo fiction but in my query letter wrote a paragraph about me. SoHo didn’t want my fiction. They wanted me to write about modern day farm life from a modern woman’s perspective. So I did. Much of the freelance work I was asked to ghost work was achieved through a bidding process. I found AKW Books, my e-book publisher through a search on Preditors and Editors.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
E’books are the future. Not that hardbound will ever be abandoned, but the more people continue to rely on electronic devises the more e-books will be published.
What genres do you write:: romantic suspense, non-fiction (autobiography)
What formats are your books in: eBook
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Author Page On Amazon
Link To Author Page On Smashwords
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15493873
http://www.facebook.com/maryelizabethfricke.writer
http://www.pinterest.com/maryefricke/
