Alan Goldsher is the author of Little Black Dress titles The True Naomi Story, Reality Check and Today's Special, as well as his non-chicklit projects including Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion. It's always interesting to hear from male female fiction authors, and interviewing Alan was especially interesting what with his latest novel, No Ordinary Girl, being about a feisty, ass-kicking superheroine. And we love a bit of ass-kicking in our books...No Ordinary Girl is due for release on November 25th. Check back next week for a review!
Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer.
A nice, normal girl was born with superpowers...and boy, does she hate them.
What inspired you to write No Ordinary Girl?
I'd been jonesing to do a regular-person-with-superpowers book for a while, and I figured that since I'd developed an awesome working relationship with Little Black Dress, they'd give me the chance to make it happen as a female-driven romantic comedy. I pitched them the idea then wrote up a four-page proposal, and since I'd already done three books for them that they kinda liked, they trusted me to deliver.
Where do you do most of your writing?
When I don't have the energy to haul my ass out of the house and hit my local Starbucks, I write on my sofa, with my laptop on my lap, generally in my undies.
What made you decide to write female fiction?
Several years back, a former literary agent suggested that as an exercise, I rewrite my first novel -- a semi-autobiographical book set in the music industry called "Jam" -- from the perspective of a woman, and it became "The True Naomi Story." Turned out that for reasons I still can't figure out, it flowed better as a chick book than a dude book. I sent it to a whole flock of publishers in the States, and a couple of editors almost bought it, but in the end, they passed because their belief was that there wasn't an audience in the U.S. for twentysomething humorous, sexy female fiction. (I disagree, but that's for another discussion.) Not too long thereafter, I discovered LBD, who publishes books strictly for twentysomething women. They signed me to a three-book deal, and I had a blast writing the next two books: "Reality Check," which was a sequel to "Naomi," and "Today's Special," a love quadrangle set in the restaurant industry. A few days after I turned in the final draft of "Today's Special," I pitched them "No Ordinary Girl," and here we are.
What is your favourite book?
I'll give you two of them: "High Fidelity" and "About A Boy," both from my fave U.K. export, Nick Hornby. I read them both once a year, and it's about time to do so again.
And are you a comic-book fan?
I dig comics, but I'm more into long-form, indie graphic novels. One of the best in the field is a Chicago-based author/illustrator named Jeffrey Brown, who I was lucky enough to have do the interior drawings for my last book, a Beatles/horror/comedy mash-up called "Paul Is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion." Interestingly enough, the coolest superhero literature I've read in the past few years wasn't a comic, but rather a novel called "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman.
Which part of No Ordinary Girl was most fun to write?
In a sense, the entire thing. What I'm most proud of with this project is how closely it adheres to the traditional three-act structure. Act one, we meet Abbey and learn about her superpowers, and why they drive her nuts. Act two, she learns to accept her powers, and thus accept herself. Act three, she uses her powers to...well, I'm not giving up any spoilers, so you'll just have to read it. All that said, the entire sequence about Abbey's encounter with the supervillian Godfather Neat-o Corleone was a hoot.
Do you have any tips for readers who are looking to become published authors?
Don't let rejection bring you down. If a publisher passes on your manuscript, take the attitude that it's their loss. And, most importantly, finish something. You can't find a home for a book if it doesn't have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
What are you currently reading?
Steve Martin has a new book coming out at the end of November that I'm way psyched about, so in preparation, I'm rereading his two novellas "Shopgirl" and "The Pleasure of My Company," the former of which is as fine of an example of a man writing a believable female protagonist as you'll find in contemporary literature.
Are you working on anything else at the moment, and if so can you tell us?
I just signed a deal with St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne here in the States to write a mash-up novel called "My Favorite Fangs," which will be a retelling of "The Sound of Music," except the von Trapp family are vampires. I also have a couple of chicklit books on the docket, specifically a two-part series about an almost-virginal writer who becomes a sex columnist. Part one is called "Mr. Lonelyhearts," and part two is "As Told To." I'm way psyched about both, and hope to find a publisher for them at the beginning of 2011.
Thanks, Alan!
You can find out more about Alan and his work at AM Goldsher's website. Or you can check him out on Twitter.
