The Mission Hill section of Boston, where
novelist Pat McDermott grew up, was mostly an Irish neighborhood. She lived on
the top floor of a three-decker house with her parents, grandparents, and her
mother’s two sisters.
“I am blessed to have two wonderful
aunts who happen to be devotees of Irish history,” says McDermott. “When I was
a little girl, they entertained me with all sorts of legends and assured me
that we were descended from Irish royalty. (Isn’t everyone who’s Irish?)”
As a child, McDermott loved listening to the
tales that her father made up and told her and her siblings at bedtime. “His
tales often kept me awake for hours,” she recalls. “They left me so enchanted.
I wanted to tell enchanting stories too.”
Now McDermott spins her own tales of
enchantment for adults and young adults, setting her Band of Roses trilogy and her
Glimmer Books for young adults in her beloved Ireland.
McDermott says she starts a story with
research, which gives her plenty of ideas for subplots. “The outline approach
helps organize my thoughts,” she says, “but outlines aren't written in stone,
and they become quite useless when my characters take over the story.”
McDermott attended a number of writing classes
over the years, but she says it wasn’t until her own children were nearly grown
before she started putting ideas on paper seriously. When one of her short
stories in the 74th Writer's Digest Annual Writing contest received an
Honorable Mention for children's fiction, her confidence was given a big boost.
Her stories, which include all sorts of
genres--fantasy, action/adventure, sci-fi, and romance—compel her to write
every day. Beginning early in the quiet of the morning, she doesn’t have to
worry about interruptions, except perhaps when one or two of her cats come into
her office in need of a gentle hug.
“I host a writers’ group on Monday evenings, which gives me
a deadline to get at least a few pages spruced up,” she says, “and I attend a
writing class on Tuesday nights to give some extra polish to those pages.”
McDermott now lives near the New Hampshire
seacoast with her husband and three Tonkinese cats. When she isn’t writing novels
or dreaming about taking another trip to Ireland, McDermott is usually reading or
cooking. Recently, she pulled herself away from her desk to share thoughts on
writing with wordswimmer’s readers.
Wordswimmer: If writing is like swimming...how do you get
into the water each day?
McDermott: Depends on what I’m writing and where I am in a
story. Most days I tiptoe in, though I make my share of graceful dives. At
times, I’m reluctant to even get wet, or I’ll sit and wait for the water to
pour over me and let me steep like a tea bag. My latest release, a YA set in
Ireland, features a troop of water fairies who live in a palace beneath a lake.
For the better part of a year, I swam with them nearly every day, sometimes
jumping right in, sometimes wading, always wishing I had their webbed toes and
fingers.
Wordswimmer: What keeps you afloat...for short work? For
longer work?
McDermott: Different swimming styles do the trick for
different types of work. For short work, where the opposite shore is in sight
and a good sprint will help me reach it, I might swim like Tarzan, knife lodged
between his teeth to save Jane from the crocodile. Most of my works are longer,
novels I sometimes feel will sink me for sure before I write “The End.” Yet I
glide along, treading water or diving for research as necessary, taking breaks
by doing laundry or planning a meal. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies. I
have my own cooking blog and love to explore different ethnic cuisines.
Wordswimmer: How do you keep swimming through dry
spells?
McDermott: I slosh through shallow water, inspect the edge
of the lake bed, and poke the rocks to see what they’re hiding. Reading helps
refuel my imagination, and so I’ll raid the public library or go to Boston to
visit my aunts. They have one of the finest collections of antique Irish books
this side of the Atlantic, and they graciously let me borrow whatever I want. I
admire poets and enjoy finding unique images in nature poetry. I also belong to
a writing group whose weekly deadline compels me to write something, anything,
for the next meeting. And I always have writing-related tasks, such as
transcribing my research notes or favorite descriptive phrases.
Wordswimmer: What's the hardest part of swimming?
McDermott: Ah yes, a monster does lurk in the lake. The
fairies work hard to keep him asleep, but I’ve heard him roar at times. Or
perhaps that was me, bristling at another rejection letter, an overwhelming
schedule that fails to pay the bills, or a mediocre review whose inaccurate
details hint at a careless reader/reviewer. At times, when I want to rest, I’ll
stand in a spot where the water looks shallow only to step in a hidden hole and
find I’m over my head.
Wordswimmer: How do you overcome obstacles, problems, when
swimming alone?
McDermott: Finding a safe place to swim alone is a
challenge. I discovered a gem when I visited a writing retreat in a remote area
of western Ireland. The host took care of the cooking and shopping and had
Quiet Time house rules. Her guests had only to write. Even then, distractions,
such as the gorgeous scenery, crept in. Yet I found that the lack of domestic
responsibilities and freedom from time constraints fostered good writing
sessions. Since popping over to Ireland every time I want to write is hardly
practical, I’ve tried to recreate some of the conditions that spoiled me there.
Deciding what’s for supper early in the day and having everything on hand
helps, as does shutting off e-mail and Internet for Quiet Time. Still,
procrastination is my biggest obstacle when swimming alone. I have to remind myself
that I’d better get to work and write, because whether I’m in Ireland or at
home in New Hampshire, ideal writing conditions simply don’t exist.
Fortunately, I cherish solitude, probably because I grew up the oldest of seven
kids. I like being alone with my characters and scenes, tweaking them until I’m
ready to share them with others. Over time, I’ve built an acceptable writing
retreat of my own, one with lots of reference books, including several on
writing mechanics and style. Contemplative music not only helps me focus on
starting that next chapter, it also makes me forget to worry I’m writing a
story no one will read. Chocolate helps too.
Wordswimmer: What's the part of swimming that you love the
most?
McDermott: Swimming underwater, hands down. When I coast
through that blue-green world, surface distractions don’t exist, and the lack
of gravity makes it the next best thing to flying. Whether I drift like
plankton or zoom like a torpedo, I treasure the freedom to go wherever I
please, plunging into a gem-filled abyss or riding a current to places I’ve
never imagined. I can twist and turn and dive without effort to visit a fairy
palace, a Japanese temple, or a volcano in ancient Italy. These places have
already made their way into my stories. Many more still wait for me to find
them, and I will, as long as I can get into the water.
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