Interview with Sylvia Foti
Author of The Diva's Fool
I'm very pleased to present Sylvia Foti, the author of "Skullduggery" and "The Diva's Fool." I met her through our mutual publisher Echelon Press and am thrilled to have had the opportunity to interview her.
You can visit her website at: http://www.silviafoti.com/index.html
Read chapter one of The Diva's Fool at: http://www.silviafoti.com/tarot.html
Buy The Diva's Fool here:
Amazon.com
And here: Fictionwise.com
Thank you so much, Sylvia, for sharing with us today!
How long have you been writing?
I've been writing for as along as I could remember...my first play being shown in grade school. I studied journalism in college and have been a journalist for more than 20 years. I began creative writing a dozen years ago. It took me about nine years to write and get my first novel published, then three to get the current on published. It has been a process.
How many books have you written?
This is my second. The first was Skullduggery, featuring the same detective.
What inspired you to write The Diva's Fool?
The paranormal interests me, anything supernatural. I have dabbled with Tarot cards and as I was trying to develop a hook for my mystery novel, I thought about the Major Arcana cards of the Tarot as being linchpins for the series. The Major Arcana are 22 of the 78 cards, but they are arguable the most important, or the Greater Secrets. So this is the launch of the Greater Secrets series, the first based on the Fool card, or the zero card.
Can you tell us a little about The Diva's Fool?
Alexandria Vilkas, is a journalist/detective writing for Gypsy Magazine, a bimonthly in Chicago that covers supernatural phenomenon. At the same time, Alex is preparing to enter the Order of the Tarot. Her spiritual advisor is Christopher Warlick, a psychic on Archer Avenue on the South Side of Chicago, who is also known as The Wizard. He has given her a two-pronged test: Avoid the advances of a tempting, but married, man and solve a murder.
The story begins with Alex interviewing Carmen Dellamorte, an opera diva playing Lady Macbeth at the Chicago Lyric Opera House who has an interest in Tarot cards, a few hours before her final performance. The opera diva turns the tables on Alex, however, and commissions her as a writer to organize all the material the diva has collected on her father, a wealthy man who collects guns. After the interview, Alex settles into watching the performance and is shocked, as is the rest of the audience, to see the diva die onstage. Her boss-editor urges Alex to get involved, and from there Alex begins to investigate the diva's murder.
When, where and how do you write best?
I like to write in the mornings and my first draft is always written by hand.
Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes, ever since I can remember.
Who or what are some of your greatest influences?
Agatha Christie, Dennis Lehane, Dashiell Hammett, Jaqueline Winspear, and my mother.
What are your future plans for the next book?
It will be based on the Magician card of the Tarot card.
Who is the character you most enjoyed creating and why?
Aside from the detective, I enjoyed creating the eccentric, whacky animal psychic who talks to animals and helps Alex find her kidnapped cat.
What's the most difficult aspect of writing for you?
I would say plotting. I love the details of characteriation and the poetry of writing, but I struggle with suspenseful plotting and page-turning pacing.
Did you have any special training in the craft of writing?
I have a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern and have taken one formal, college-level creative writing course. I had a mentor through the Writer's Digest program for my first novel, Skullduggery, and I took a workshop with Jerry Cleaver in Chicago, as well as several one-day writing workshops at conferences. I've read many books on writing fiction.
What's your life motto, if you have one?
"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile." -- Mother Teresa
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
It sounds so trite, but it's harder than it looks...be nice, even to those who reject you, who won't blurb you, who won't read you. Don't take it personally, take it professionally; get back to writing better. Believe in yourself, but don't believe you know everything; consider yourself a beginner. I'd say this to authors who are experienced too.
Excellent advice, Sylvia! Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions.
© Jennifer Turner, 2005
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