Author Interview - Rosemary Zibart

How did you become a writer? I became a writer by being a reader. When I was young I was an unstoppable reader who read everything I could get my hands on. Mostly out of the library. I absorbed all that literature. Then I just learned to write by writing — I was a journalist first and I’d copy the style and tone and pacing of the newspaper or magazine I was writing for. When I turned to writing plays and novels, I kind of did the same thing — I started by imitating before I developed my own style. What inspires you to write? Often I’m inspired by history. I’ll read the account of an historical event and think, “Wow, that would make a good story for young people. Or that would make a good play.” Sometimes, someone telling me a family story can inspire me to write a play. I get ideas from everywhere.

How do you develop your plot and characters? Hmm. That’s the difficult question for me. I struggle to develop characters and plot. Often I’ll have the voices of the characters in my head as they speak to one another. But coming up with a plot is usually a challenge.

Tell me about your protagonist. What's your favorite trait and/or weakness? In the story FIERY CANYON that I wrote with Carla Beene, our protagonist is 13-years-old, she’s very smart and capable but she’s thrust into a situation where she must be responsible for the fate of her entire family and also she becomes aware that her father is not always the hero that she had thought. So she must stand up to him and go out on her own.What are your current/future projects? I’m writing a one-person play about the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli who faced a wall of prejudice but succeeded in becoming the most powerful leader of the most powerful country in the world at the time, plus finishing the YA novel in a series called TRUE BRIT about an English girl who flees WWII war-torn England for sunny Santa Fe NM.

Do you have a routine you follow when writing?

Not exactly but I split my time between the country and city. I split my time between the country and the city. Monday and Tuesday I’m in the country by myself and can usually get a lot of writing done. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice, what would it be? I wish I’d gotten started as a fiction writer/playwright much much earlier — I didn’t really start until mid-40’s and 50’s.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? Write and Read.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you? Anyone can contact me through www.rosemaryzibart.com