WHO IS M. L. FARB?
Ever since she climbed up to the rafters of her family's barn at age four, she has lived high adventure: scuba diving, hiking, climbing, and even riding a retired racehorse at full gallop--bareback. She loves the thrill and joy.
Stories give her a similar thrill and joy. She loves living through the eyes and heart of a hero who faces his internal demons and the heroine who fights her way free instead of waiting to be saved. She creates adventures, fantasy, fairy tale retellings, and poetry. She lives a joyful adventure with my husband and six children. She is a Christian and loves her Savior. |
AN INTERVIEW WITH M. L. FARB
Why do you write?
I love creating a solid world for the ghost-like stories that flit across my imagination. I write to see where the story will go and what the hero or heroine will do. I find that the story form is often the best way to explore relationships, deep ideas, and flights of fancy. I understand the world, others, and myself better as I write.
A huge bonus of publishing is seeing the joy of my readers as they experience those worlds and explore those ideas.
What inspired you to become an author, and how old were you at the time?
Some of my earliest memories are laying on the carpet listening to my dad read. We explored the worlds of Narnia and Middle Earth. We cried with Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place. We voyaged with The Kon-Tiki and to Grass Beyond the Mountains.
As a teen I made up stories to help my little sisters go to sleep. It backfired. We stayed up for hours continuing the tale. The King’s Trial was born in those late, whispered nights.
I started writing seriously when my youngest child slept consistently through the night.
How much time per week would you spend writing? Or are you a full-time author?
I'm a full-time mother of six.
I write in the early morning before anyone wakes up, sometimes in the afternoon when kids are playing, and in the evening when my husband plays with our kids. The early morning hours are my favorite and most productive writing times. On a good day I can get several thousand words before anyone else wakes up.
I keep a notebook handy to capture ideas when I don't have time to write. My rushed penmanship is near unreadable, even for me, so I type up all my notes each evening.
Do you have any tips to any aspiring authors or writers?
Write every day. Even if it’s a hundred words. Try flash fiction. Try poetry. Explore the different types of writing. Find what you love.
I spent about twelve years of motherhood where the only writing I did was journaling. But those twelve years of journaling added up to a couple million words and when I reached the phase of life when I had time to create stories, I’d already developed a writing habit.
Find some beta-readers or a critique group. Writing is a very personal endeavor but beta-readers help the writer see the story’s blind spots and they also help cheer the writer on when in a writer’s slump.
Get an ergonomic keyboard. It’s a life saver on the wrists.
What gets your creative juices going?
Dreams. I live with a vivid imagination. I dream in 3-D, technicolor, and occasionally with my eyes open. This is a bane when it comes to nightmares. I will not watch horror movies. This same imagination makes writing easier. I not only see but also experience what I'm writing. Some nights I wake up with whole scenes playing through my head, vivid with setting, dialog, action, and emotion. I scribble furiously in the 2am glow of the kitchen nightlight, then catch more sleep.
Another creative jump-start is talking out story ideas with my husband, children, or my writing friends.
Most of all, books are fuel to my imagination. I read all the time and in many genres.
Which character was the easiest to write, and who was the hardest to write?
Halavant was easy. He came with personality and voice. I just typed what he said and did, though there were a few times I had to tone down his words.
Katrin changed from draft to draft until I was ready to just remove her from the story. Then I found her, the true her under all her pride and show, and finally understood her.
Yosyph was in between the other two in difficulty. He’s a private person, who didn’t acknowledge his own emotions at the start of the story. He became easier to write as he grew and developed, though he remained true to his solitary character.
If you could have dinner with any of your characters, which ones would you choose? What food would you serve?
Galliard. He makes me laugh. He also isn’t particular about food. He’d be happy with a wrinkled apple or porridge, as long as the company is pleasant. I’d serve a chicken-bacon-poppyseed salad, fresh baked sourdough bread slathered in butter, and grapes to the side.
Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
I posted an audition script on ACX along with a synopsis of my book and specifics on each character. After I received many auditions, I shared the recordings with a select number of readers to get their responses. I finally selected one narrator who captured the voicing and personality of my characters best.
The narrator, Neal Arango, is a joy to work with. He asked detailed questions. I sent him pronunciation guides and further information on each character and story setting. He recorded and posted each chapter. I listened to each, made notes of any little changes, and he made adjustments as needed.
I'm grateful for Mr. Arango's talented and professional work, his quick responses, and his efforts to create the story as I envisioned it sounding. He did excellent work.
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
Some of my first memories were of my dad reading to us. I read to my kids almost daily. Isn't that an audio book experience? A good story, whether taken in through the eyes or the ears, is still a good story—and worth enjoying, learning from, and growing through.
Other personal blessings and benefits of audio books. 1) We can listen while traveling, cleaning, and waiting. 2) One of my sons has dyslexia. Audio books open up a world of stories he'd otherwise likely never experience. 3) Audio books allow us to survive our yearly 22-hour drive to see extended family with most of our sanity, and even enjoy it.
What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?
I’m a book loving, tree climbing, adventurous, curious, philosophical, mother of six.
I write to relax. It energizes me and gives me a break. I also relax by reading. There are so many good books that I rarely take time to watch a movie, though I thoroughly enjoy Pixar and Studio Ghibli.
I love creating a solid world for the ghost-like stories that flit across my imagination. I write to see where the story will go and what the hero or heroine will do. I find that the story form is often the best way to explore relationships, deep ideas, and flights of fancy. I understand the world, others, and myself better as I write.
A huge bonus of publishing is seeing the joy of my readers as they experience those worlds and explore those ideas.
What inspired you to become an author, and how old were you at the time?
Some of my earliest memories are laying on the carpet listening to my dad read. We explored the worlds of Narnia and Middle Earth. We cried with Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place. We voyaged with The Kon-Tiki and to Grass Beyond the Mountains.
As a teen I made up stories to help my little sisters go to sleep. It backfired. We stayed up for hours continuing the tale. The King’s Trial was born in those late, whispered nights.
I started writing seriously when my youngest child slept consistently through the night.
How much time per week would you spend writing? Or are you a full-time author?
I'm a full-time mother of six.
I write in the early morning before anyone wakes up, sometimes in the afternoon when kids are playing, and in the evening when my husband plays with our kids. The early morning hours are my favorite and most productive writing times. On a good day I can get several thousand words before anyone else wakes up.
I keep a notebook handy to capture ideas when I don't have time to write. My rushed penmanship is near unreadable, even for me, so I type up all my notes each evening.
Do you have any tips to any aspiring authors or writers?
Write every day. Even if it’s a hundred words. Try flash fiction. Try poetry. Explore the different types of writing. Find what you love.
I spent about twelve years of motherhood where the only writing I did was journaling. But those twelve years of journaling added up to a couple million words and when I reached the phase of life when I had time to create stories, I’d already developed a writing habit.
Find some beta-readers or a critique group. Writing is a very personal endeavor but beta-readers help the writer see the story’s blind spots and they also help cheer the writer on when in a writer’s slump.
Get an ergonomic keyboard. It’s a life saver on the wrists.
What gets your creative juices going?
Dreams. I live with a vivid imagination. I dream in 3-D, technicolor, and occasionally with my eyes open. This is a bane when it comes to nightmares. I will not watch horror movies. This same imagination makes writing easier. I not only see but also experience what I'm writing. Some nights I wake up with whole scenes playing through my head, vivid with setting, dialog, action, and emotion. I scribble furiously in the 2am glow of the kitchen nightlight, then catch more sleep.
Another creative jump-start is talking out story ideas with my husband, children, or my writing friends.
Most of all, books are fuel to my imagination. I read all the time and in many genres.
Which character was the easiest to write, and who was the hardest to write?
Halavant was easy. He came with personality and voice. I just typed what he said and did, though there were a few times I had to tone down his words.
Katrin changed from draft to draft until I was ready to just remove her from the story. Then I found her, the true her under all her pride and show, and finally understood her.
Yosyph was in between the other two in difficulty. He’s a private person, who didn’t acknowledge his own emotions at the start of the story. He became easier to write as he grew and developed, though he remained true to his solitary character.
If you could have dinner with any of your characters, which ones would you choose? What food would you serve?
Galliard. He makes me laugh. He also isn’t particular about food. He’d be happy with a wrinkled apple or porridge, as long as the company is pleasant. I’d serve a chicken-bacon-poppyseed salad, fresh baked sourdough bread slathered in butter, and grapes to the side.
Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
I posted an audition script on ACX along with a synopsis of my book and specifics on each character. After I received many auditions, I shared the recordings with a select number of readers to get their responses. I finally selected one narrator who captured the voicing and personality of my characters best.
The narrator, Neal Arango, is a joy to work with. He asked detailed questions. I sent him pronunciation guides and further information on each character and story setting. He recorded and posted each chapter. I listened to each, made notes of any little changes, and he made adjustments as needed.
I'm grateful for Mr. Arango's talented and professional work, his quick responses, and his efforts to create the story as I envisioned it sounding. He did excellent work.
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
Some of my first memories were of my dad reading to us. I read to my kids almost daily. Isn't that an audio book experience? A good story, whether taken in through the eyes or the ears, is still a good story—and worth enjoying, learning from, and growing through.
Other personal blessings and benefits of audio books. 1) We can listen while traveling, cleaning, and waiting. 2) One of my sons has dyslexia. Audio books open up a world of stories he'd otherwise likely never experience. 3) Audio books allow us to survive our yearly 22-hour drive to see extended family with most of our sanity, and even enjoy it.
What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?
I’m a book loving, tree climbing, adventurous, curious, philosophical, mother of six.
I write to relax. It energizes me and gives me a break. I also relax by reading. There are so many good books that I rarely take time to watch a movie, though I thoroughly enjoy Pixar and Studio Ghibli.
10 fun, random facts about M. L. Farb
- As a child, she couldn’t walk across a room. She danced, spun, skipped, ran, or otherwise moved, but she couldn’t just walk.
- She loves climbing, rappelling, and horseback riding, but hates roller coasters and bungee jumping.
- She lived in St Petersburg, Russia for half-a-year teaching English to kindergartners. She learned to wash her clothes in a bathtub, filter and boil her drinking water, and love her sweet, crayon-eating, kids.
- She has slight dyslexia; ‘b’ and ‘p’ sometimes flip flop on her. But it also means she can read a book upside-down.
- She loves reading to her children. They’ve enjoyed books from Dr. Seuss to Les Misérables. Maniac Magee is one of their favorites.
- She has journaled almost every day since she turned seventeen. She captures conversations, descriptions, happenings, and quotes. She explores ideas. Through the years she has written well over a million words. It prepared her to become an author.
- Plumbing Repair is her nemesis. She is grateful she doesn't have to battle it very often. In the end, she always wins, but she feels like she fought an archvillain who pulled every dirty trick in the book, including Chinese water torture in claustrophobic conditions.
- She lives with a vivid imagination. She dreams in 3-D, technicolor, and occasionally with her eyes open. This is a bane when it comes to nightmares. She will not watch horror movies.
- The King’s Trial started as a bedtime tale she told her little sisters over twenty years ago.
- She has an accent. People often ask me where she is from. Maybe it’s her reader's accent. She has read out loud enough different books in character, that perhaps it stuck.