About Marianne Sciucco:
During swim season you can find Marianne Sciucco, a dedicated Swim Mom for ten years, at one of many Skyline Conference swim meets cheering for her daughter, Allison, and her team, the Mount Saint Mary College Knights.
Marianne is not a nurse who writes but a writer who happens to be a nurse. A lover of words and books, she dreamed of becoming an author when she grew up but became a nurse to avoid poverty. She later brought her two passions together and writes about the intricate lives of people struggling with health and family issues.
A native Bostonian, Marianne lives in New York’s Hudson Valley, and when not writing works as a campus nurse at a community college.
What inspires you to write?
Everything inspires me to write. The world is amazing. People are fascinating. I see stories everywhere and some of them are compelling enough for me to want to tell them. Once an idea or image penetrates my brain I start filling in the details, developing a story line, building characters. If it excites me and takes off far enough, I write an outline so I don’t forget it and put it on my “To Be Written List.” Hopefully, I will live long enough to complete all of these stories.
Tell us about your writing process.
Ten years ago, I developed repetitive strain injuries from an inappropriate computer workstation at my job, so I have a pretty unorthodox writing style. I don’t (can’t) write everyday, a practice recommended by many authors. I have to respect my limitations or suffer pain and loss of function for days. So I work in spurts, constantly prioritizing my tasks, doing as much as I can to finish the story I’m working on and promoting my other work. I use a number of devices: laptop, iPhone, tablet, pen and paper, whatever it takes. It’s frustrating, and takes forever, but I manage to pull it off. I outline with pen and paper, write character sketches before and during the writing phase, research as I go along, pick the brains of those I know with knowledge of my subject, scribble down ideas and pieces of dialogue when they strike me on all kinds of scrap paper: napkins, receipts, gum wrappers, etc. I love the rewriting process, where all the good stuff happens. I use AutoCrit and Grammarly, and watch my story transform into something wonderful. It’s magic!
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Oh boy, here’s where I admit to hearing voices. Yes, my characters and I do talk to one another. After all, these people live in my head. We communicate. I try to tell them what to do or say, but they can be rebellious and sometimes tell me what’s going to happen next or how they want to respond to a situation. In the end, they’re usually right. This subconscious part of the creative writing process is fantastic. There’s a certain amount of mystery to it as well. It’s truly the best part of writing a story.
What advice would you give other writers?
Don’t give up. This is a long-term commitment; you will most likely not be an overnight success. If you’re going to do this you must be in it for the long haul. Utilize all resources for promoting your book, including social media and the internet, but also local resources such as your public library and independent bookstore. Spend your marketing dollars wisely. Figure out how you define success: sales? reviews? awards? and use that as a barometer to see how you’re doing. Don’t let others determine whether you’re successful or not.
Understand that this is a difficult undertaking and may offer little to no reward at the end, other than the fact that you completed it.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
After receiving fifty or so rejection letters from agents and editors who DID NOT read my book, a friend suggested I self-publish on Kindle. She’d done and it and was having success. The Kindle was just starting to take off. I figured I had nothing to lose, and a year later I was live in the Amazon store. No regrets.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
The marketplace is flooded with books, and quality is an issue. As more and more authors become serious about their responsibility to readers and strive for success, the books will get better. The best books will rise to the top and the poorer will sink to the bottom.
What do you use?: Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
Marianne Sciucco’s Home Page Link
Link To Marianne Sciucco’s Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Instagram
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
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