|
Taking A Novel Approach
By LAURA KINSLER, The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 12, 2008
Additional Photos
HUNTER'S GREEN - Neighbors who pick up Amanda Louise Martin's debut novel will recognize the community immediately.
Martin used her neighborhood's gardenlike setting as inspiration for the murder mystery, in which a retired Marine, dressed as a gnome, is found dead in his own flower bed. The heroines' dog, an Italian greyhound, will seem familiar to anyone in Martin's Quail Creek subdivision.
"Everything starts from reality," she said. "I've lived here 10 years. I've seen strange stuff that neighbors do. But I created these characters, and what they do is pure fiction. The only real character is Yale, my dog."
She hopes none of her neighbors sees himself or herself in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." The characters are a little bit "Clue" and a little "Desperate Housewives" - in other words, not entirely likeable.
"Every character has secrets," Martin said. "That's what moves the story along. I set it up so that you like that Mick Papper gets killed. He's such a horrible person, you're secretly relieved."
Martin, 36, is a former humanities professor who had tried her hand at fiction writing before. Mixing a murder mystery with a biting satire of life in suburbia helped her land a publishing contract for this novel.
"When I first started writing it, I didn't intend for it to be so funny," she said. "But I like that it has a quirky, comedic aspect to it."
That she completed the novel is a triumph of creativity and will. Diagnosed at age 17 with lupus, Martin has end-stage renal disease. She wrote the manuscript for "Beautiful Day" in longhand while hooked up to her home dialysis machine.
"It took over a year to write the book," she said. "I hope the second one goes faster. I always write at least a couple of pages a day, and once a week I type the pages. It's harder for me to sit there and compose at the computer."
PublishAmerica released the book in paperback in November. The publisher specializes in first-time authors by making the books available online at Amazon.com and partnering with national retailers Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble. Books are printed digitally as they are ordered, and the authors receive publishing advances and royalties.
"I don't know how many I've sold yet," Martin said. She will find out this week when she gets her first royalty check. Her first book signing is scheduled for May at Barnes & Noble.
Martin is working on her second book. A new set of twisted, quirky neighbors will be moving in. Martin said she knows how the story will end before she puts pen to paper.
"I don't do an outline, per se. I do it all in my head, then I talk it out loud. I like to write in chronological order," she said.
She wants to create a series based on her twin heroines, Veronica and Chloe, from "Beautiful Day." Each displays elements of the author's personality, including a fondness for sock monkey pajamas.
"As a child, I always wanted to be an identical twin," Martin said. "Before I got sick, I was more like Chloe; but after I got sick, I took on more characteristics of Veronica. She's more serious and cynical. It really took both of them together to figure out who the killer was."
Chloe represents Martin's hopeful side, the one that waits every day for the call to let her know a matching kidney would be available.
Go to www.northeast.TBO .com to hear an excerpt of the book.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Amanda Louise Martin book signing
WHERE: Barnes & Noble, 213 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa
WHEN: 1 to 3 p.m. May 17
INFORMATION: Call (813) 871-2228
| 
