An Interview with Ann Ewan

Ann Ewan is a published Canadian fantasy writer. She has published two novels and is currently working on a third novel. She manages to find time to write while working full time at her IBM job.

I can't remember a time before I wrote stories. I remember writing stories and books constantly through public school and high school. The "books" were short by adult standards, but I would fill whole school exercise books with long stories about a single set of characters. I wrote fantasy and occasionally science fiction.

Except for the ones I wrote for class, I never shared my stories with anyone until I was about 10 or 11. Then I started sharing them with my best friend Janice. We both got picked on horribly at recess, so we would hide out in the safety patrol room or under the stairs, and I would read her my stories. I also have younger siblings and as they grew up I was always reading to them. They thought I was the greatest writer ever!

What was your first book or story that you completed? Did you ever get it published?

As I said, I've been writing complete stories and books all my life. The first story that I got accepted for publication was when I was in my 30s. My first book (Firedrake) was written when I was in my 20s and published when I was in my late 40s. So writers should never give up!

How did you get published? How were you able to write full time? What is your success story?

I've never written full time. I wrote Firedrake in longhand when I had a night job as a security guard. Now I work full time for IBM. I love my job but I'm sure that if I could write full time I would turn out books a lot faster. My third book (a sequel to Brondings' Honour) is almost finished.

Getting published was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm shy, hate talking to people I don't know, and can't sell myself at all. I often tried sending stories out and I occasionally (rarely) got a story or article published. I also sent out chapters of my book, and even tried working with a U.S. agent for a while, but nothing worked. I got a nibble from a U.S. publisher on Firedrake, but they wanted to cut it in half! They said it was too long for a teenage audience. I turned them down and then cried for a week.

I eventually met someone who had a non-fiction book published. She recommended her agent, and that agent finally got me a publisher. After one book was published, the publisher gladly accepted a second and I hope will soon accept a third. I'm definitely not the one to ask for advice about how to get a book published!

I don't think there's any motivation required. There's never a time when I'm not writing novels in my head. The characters come to me first. I think about them and even dream about them as their lives and relationships develop. Then the world develops around them. Each of my worlds has taken more than 10 years to create. The only part that's left to work out when I finally sit down to write is the plot.

How do you get your ideas?

I've lived an exciting life. I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but since I couldn't make any money at that (without learning to sell), I did all kinds of other things. When I was young I learned to live on very little, so I could move from job to job, quitting as soon as I got bored or unhappy.

I've had at least 20 different jobs and some of them were pretty amazing. I've been a singer in a band, worked on two assembly lines, worked in a drugstore, a department store, and a record store, been a security guard, washed dishes at countless restaurants, read for a press clipping service, been a factory-floor secretary (wearing a hard hat), did data entry for a credit card company, looked after horses (wearing steel-toed boots), and worked as a vet assistant, a programmer, and now a technical writer. I left school right after high school (to travel, of course) but went back twice as an adult, first to get a diploma as an Animal Health Technician and then to get a BA in Linguistics. I loved school both times and highly recommend Linguistics to any writer. I've also lived in more than 20 different places. I was born in England, so I've lived and worked there as well as in Canada.

I guess I would say that my many lives as different kinds of people has been a rich and constant source of ideas. I'm also a voracious reader, and of course I grab ideas from books and movies.

If you're a writer, you've already started. Read, read, read, and write, write, write!

How do you get over writer's block?

Just write! Even if it seems bad, turn off the distractions and write anyway. The writing will turn out better than you think. Here's another tip: If you ever lose something you've written (when your hard disk crashes, for instance) don't despair. When you write it again, it will come easier and the result will be better than the first time.

To find out more, check out Ann Ewan's website.