Madeleine Roux
Madeleine Roux received her BA in Creative Writing and Acting from Beloit College in 2008. In the spring of 2009, Madeleine completed an Honors Term at Beloit College, proposing, writing and presenting a full-length historical fiction novel. Shortly after, she began the experimental fiction blog Allison Hewitt Is Trapped. Allison Hewitt Is Trapped quickly spread throughout the blogosphere, bringing a unique serial fiction experience to readers.
Born in Minnesota, she now lives and works in Wisconsin where she enjoys the local beer and preparing for the eventual and inevitable zombie apocalypse.
Published 11/13/15
Howl: What inspired you to write?
Roux: It depends on what part of my career you’re discussing – I grew up in a creative family so I was encouraged to write and draw from a young age. In high school it was an escape for me, and we didn’t have a creative writing program at my school then so I had to just do what I could to teach myself the basics. I didn’t get serious about writing as a job until college, at that point I pursued it as one of my majors and still did a huge amount of self-directed projects. The story I’m working on and the one I want to tell next is always something on my mind. I say this a lot to young writers – if you don’t wake up with a story in your head, an idea, something that makes you hungry to sit down for hours and hours and work, then this life is probably not for you. There is a lot of rejection to deal with, if the urge to tell stories isn’t in your blood the struggle will be too discouraging.
Howl: What is the process of being an author like?
Roux: I’m not sure if you mean getting into publishing or what it’s like once your book is sold, so I’ll try to answer both. Becoming an author first involves writing a manuscript and refining that piece of work until it’s as flawless as you can get it. This will almost certainly not be your first book, it will be book three or four or five. After that, it’s a matter of researching what agents you think best match with your style and genre, and sending them query emails with samples. This can be a lengthy process, and the one that will come with the most frustrations and rejections. Most aspiring novelists quit at this phase. Once you land an agent, they will help you refine your manuscript further (usually) and then it’s their job to find a publisher for the book. The hardest step is finding an agent - once that happens you get to relax a bit and work on another project. When your book actually sells to a publisher there will be editing phases to comply with whatever mistakes your editor and their team find. Usually it takes about a year from signing a contract with a publisher to actually seeing the book on the shelf. During that time you’ll be working on the sequel, if there is one, or writing the next manuscript you’d like to publish.
I’ve only ever been involved with commercial publishing, which is a facet of the industry that moves very quickly. Literary publishing is a different beast, with authors taking 5, 10, 20 years to complete a single book. Writing is my sole source of income so the pace is much faster. This is something a lot of first time authors don’t understand – if you sell a book that will be one in a series, you will have usually 6 to 8 months to write the next book. That kind of pressure and demanding schedule can be a shock if you’re not expecting it. For me personally it’s an environment I enjoy, because I work well under pressure. But if you’re ever wondering why book 1 in a series is OMGAMAZEBALLS and the second one is a dumpster fire by comparison, that’s why.
A typical day for me currently is something like this: Wake up, coffee, answer any emails from agent/editor/publicity, check social media accounts to answer questions and post anything that needs posting, then settle in to outline, edit or write. At this point I’m editing book 4 of the Asylum series and writing the first in a new series, so I’ll try to get some work done on both of those. Occasionally I won’t start work until the evening because I can be something of a night owl and feel more inspired then, in which case I will get all my adult errands out of the way in the afternoon and write in the evening.
Howl: In a field so competitive, it seems very stressful. How do you handle your stress towards competition?
Roux: You don’t. You have to keep your eyes on your own work. Comparing your writing to someone else’s will get you in all kinds of emotional tangles and it’s never worth it. I have a theory that writer’s block doesn’t exist, it’s one of two things: Fear to get started and find out you aren’t as good as you thought you were, or it’s a lack of planning and you’re essentially trying to drive cross-country without GPS or a map. If you stay competitive with yourself and just focus on topping the last thing you did or at least improving the quality of the writing, then you will be in for a much better and more productive time. That fear of your own ineptitude will lessen. That fear will never go away if you're constantly comparing yourself to other people. And in my experience, you’re not really competing with other authors. Particularly in YA, the readership is so hungry for books that they will read your book AND the next person’s book and everyone wins. I have yet to meet a rude or nasty author, we’re generally supportive of one another, so that competition is largely imagined, in my opinion.
Howl: I recently finished your "Asylum" and "Sanctum" books, and I loved how you are able to relay the emotions of teenage kids so well. How are you able to connect to a teenager's mind so accurately?
Roux: Most people remember that period of their life pretty vividly, I know I do. I just try to remember how every small decision and every event felt hugely important. Too important. Whatever emotion I would feel toward an event would be two or three fold at that age. That’s not a criticism of teens, by the way, it’s one of the reasons I love writing for them – they experience emotions on an overwhelming level, and that includes enthusiasm for books, enthusiasm for reading… You just don’t get the kind of intense, excited fans interacting with your work when you write for adults. Adults are way too cool for everything. ;)
Howl: I want to become a writer and a journalist. Do you have any advice that would better my pursuit in this career?
Roux: Like I said in a previous answer, if you don’t wake up and go to bed wanting this then this might be a hobby for you. At a panel once, someone asked us: Where do you get your ideas? And this wasn’t my answer – and, for the record, it’s going to sound harsh but it’s fair advice – but the author who took the question said that if you don’t have ideas bursting out of you then this probably isn’t the job for you. Ideas are step one, if you don’t have any then you’re going to run into some pretty fundamental problems. It doesn’t mean you can never be a writer, but maybe just not a writer right now. Ideas and a passion to communicate them will take you further than a million seminars on the craft. College can be a good start, but destroy the myth that you must go to grad school to become a novelist. That is, frankly, total bullshit. You can if you want and that's the path you see for yourself, but many, many authors I know, including myself, never went to grad school. Practicing on your own time, as much as you can, and opening yourself up to critique circles and writing forums can take you the distance if you prefer that approach.
So if you have plenty of ideas and you feel ready to pursue a career in writing, the next step is to just write. Write all the time. Every spare minute you have should be taken up with writing. You need to wade through a huge amount of crap, get it out of the way early, because the first three to four manuscripts you write are almost certainly garbage. It’s important garbage, garbage that needs to happen, and you can’t find your way into publishing without first creating an enormous amount of content that nobody will really care about. I've lost track of at least two novel-length projects on old hard drives. I'll never see them again and that's okay. That might sound discouraging, but nobody picks up a cello and knocks out a perfect performance on their first day. Writing is free. Your words are not necessarily valuable or precious. They can and sometimes should be discarded. Even if that story goes nowhere or that article sucks, the next one will be better and so on and so on. Embrace the process of creating things that might never be consumed. Put them in a file somewhere for a rainy day and move on. Take critique. Soak it up. If someone tears up your story in front of your face and tells you to quit, say “Thank you” and write the next thing. If you practice now and get it all out of the way, you will get in the game much, much faster.
Howl: What do you believe it takes to really be an author?
Roux: Ideas, determination and the ability to self-motivate – nobody is going to breathe down your neck about a project, you need the willpower to shut off distractions and get down to work.
Howl: I have heard you are working on another book. Can you give me any details on that?
Roux: The final book in the Asylum series is on my desk at the moment, and will be out for everyone to read in June. It’s a prequel to the main trilogy and takes place in the 1960s, when the sanitarium was still functioning. I’m really excited for everyone to read it, even if I’m sad to say goodbye to the series. The compendium of novellas for the Asylum books will be out this winter, and my new series was just nailed down today. I can’t say too much about it yet, but it will be young adult and it’s a gothic period piece steeped in the paranormal and the occult.
Born in Minnesota, she now lives and works in Wisconsin where she enjoys the local beer and preparing for the eventual and inevitable zombie apocalypse.
Published 11/13/15
Howl: What inspired you to write?
Roux: It depends on what part of my career you’re discussing – I grew up in a creative family so I was encouraged to write and draw from a young age. In high school it was an escape for me, and we didn’t have a creative writing program at my school then so I had to just do what I could to teach myself the basics. I didn’t get serious about writing as a job until college, at that point I pursued it as one of my majors and still did a huge amount of self-directed projects. The story I’m working on and the one I want to tell next is always something on my mind. I say this a lot to young writers – if you don’t wake up with a story in your head, an idea, something that makes you hungry to sit down for hours and hours and work, then this life is probably not for you. There is a lot of rejection to deal with, if the urge to tell stories isn’t in your blood the struggle will be too discouraging.
Howl: What is the process of being an author like?
Roux: I’m not sure if you mean getting into publishing or what it’s like once your book is sold, so I’ll try to answer both. Becoming an author first involves writing a manuscript and refining that piece of work until it’s as flawless as you can get it. This will almost certainly not be your first book, it will be book three or four or five. After that, it’s a matter of researching what agents you think best match with your style and genre, and sending them query emails with samples. This can be a lengthy process, and the one that will come with the most frustrations and rejections. Most aspiring novelists quit at this phase. Once you land an agent, they will help you refine your manuscript further (usually) and then it’s their job to find a publisher for the book. The hardest step is finding an agent - once that happens you get to relax a bit and work on another project. When your book actually sells to a publisher there will be editing phases to comply with whatever mistakes your editor and their team find. Usually it takes about a year from signing a contract with a publisher to actually seeing the book on the shelf. During that time you’ll be working on the sequel, if there is one, or writing the next manuscript you’d like to publish.
I’ve only ever been involved with commercial publishing, which is a facet of the industry that moves very quickly. Literary publishing is a different beast, with authors taking 5, 10, 20 years to complete a single book. Writing is my sole source of income so the pace is much faster. This is something a lot of first time authors don’t understand – if you sell a book that will be one in a series, you will have usually 6 to 8 months to write the next book. That kind of pressure and demanding schedule can be a shock if you’re not expecting it. For me personally it’s an environment I enjoy, because I work well under pressure. But if you’re ever wondering why book 1 in a series is OMGAMAZEBALLS and the second one is a dumpster fire by comparison, that’s why.
A typical day for me currently is something like this: Wake up, coffee, answer any emails from agent/editor/publicity, check social media accounts to answer questions and post anything that needs posting, then settle in to outline, edit or write. At this point I’m editing book 4 of the Asylum series and writing the first in a new series, so I’ll try to get some work done on both of those. Occasionally I won’t start work until the evening because I can be something of a night owl and feel more inspired then, in which case I will get all my adult errands out of the way in the afternoon and write in the evening.
Howl: In a field so competitive, it seems very stressful. How do you handle your stress towards competition?
Roux: You don’t. You have to keep your eyes on your own work. Comparing your writing to someone else’s will get you in all kinds of emotional tangles and it’s never worth it. I have a theory that writer’s block doesn’t exist, it’s one of two things: Fear to get started and find out you aren’t as good as you thought you were, or it’s a lack of planning and you’re essentially trying to drive cross-country without GPS or a map. If you stay competitive with yourself and just focus on topping the last thing you did or at least improving the quality of the writing, then you will be in for a much better and more productive time. That fear of your own ineptitude will lessen. That fear will never go away if you're constantly comparing yourself to other people. And in my experience, you’re not really competing with other authors. Particularly in YA, the readership is so hungry for books that they will read your book AND the next person’s book and everyone wins. I have yet to meet a rude or nasty author, we’re generally supportive of one another, so that competition is largely imagined, in my opinion.
Howl: I recently finished your "Asylum" and "Sanctum" books, and I loved how you are able to relay the emotions of teenage kids so well. How are you able to connect to a teenager's mind so accurately?
Roux: Most people remember that period of their life pretty vividly, I know I do. I just try to remember how every small decision and every event felt hugely important. Too important. Whatever emotion I would feel toward an event would be two or three fold at that age. That’s not a criticism of teens, by the way, it’s one of the reasons I love writing for them – they experience emotions on an overwhelming level, and that includes enthusiasm for books, enthusiasm for reading… You just don’t get the kind of intense, excited fans interacting with your work when you write for adults. Adults are way too cool for everything. ;)
Howl: I want to become a writer and a journalist. Do you have any advice that would better my pursuit in this career?
Roux: Like I said in a previous answer, if you don’t wake up and go to bed wanting this then this might be a hobby for you. At a panel once, someone asked us: Where do you get your ideas? And this wasn’t my answer – and, for the record, it’s going to sound harsh but it’s fair advice – but the author who took the question said that if you don’t have ideas bursting out of you then this probably isn’t the job for you. Ideas are step one, if you don’t have any then you’re going to run into some pretty fundamental problems. It doesn’t mean you can never be a writer, but maybe just not a writer right now. Ideas and a passion to communicate them will take you further than a million seminars on the craft. College can be a good start, but destroy the myth that you must go to grad school to become a novelist. That is, frankly, total bullshit. You can if you want and that's the path you see for yourself, but many, many authors I know, including myself, never went to grad school. Practicing on your own time, as much as you can, and opening yourself up to critique circles and writing forums can take you the distance if you prefer that approach.
So if you have plenty of ideas and you feel ready to pursue a career in writing, the next step is to just write. Write all the time. Every spare minute you have should be taken up with writing. You need to wade through a huge amount of crap, get it out of the way early, because the first three to four manuscripts you write are almost certainly garbage. It’s important garbage, garbage that needs to happen, and you can’t find your way into publishing without first creating an enormous amount of content that nobody will really care about. I've lost track of at least two novel-length projects on old hard drives. I'll never see them again and that's okay. That might sound discouraging, but nobody picks up a cello and knocks out a perfect performance on their first day. Writing is free. Your words are not necessarily valuable or precious. They can and sometimes should be discarded. Even if that story goes nowhere or that article sucks, the next one will be better and so on and so on. Embrace the process of creating things that might never be consumed. Put them in a file somewhere for a rainy day and move on. Take critique. Soak it up. If someone tears up your story in front of your face and tells you to quit, say “Thank you” and write the next thing. If you practice now and get it all out of the way, you will get in the game much, much faster.
Howl: What do you believe it takes to really be an author?
Roux: Ideas, determination and the ability to self-motivate – nobody is going to breathe down your neck about a project, you need the willpower to shut off distractions and get down to work.
Howl: I have heard you are working on another book. Can you give me any details on that?
Roux: The final book in the Asylum series is on my desk at the moment, and will be out for everyone to read in June. It’s a prequel to the main trilogy and takes place in the 1960s, when the sanitarium was still functioning. I’m really excited for everyone to read it, even if I’m sad to say goodbye to the series. The compendium of novellas for the Asylum books will be out this winter, and my new series was just nailed down today. I can’t say too much about it yet, but it will be young adult and it’s a gothic period piece steeped in the paranormal and the occult.