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AN INTERVIEW WITH MAJORIE M. LIU
By Reese WitherforkTHE INTRODUCTION
I'm kicking off my interview series with a bang!
Marjorie M. Liu is an amazing, young writer. You simply cannot put down her intricately plotted, thoroughly original paranormal-romances. Her characters kick ass and take names and leave you desperately wishing that you, too, were psychic and/or a vampire.
And if you don't trust me, Reese Witherfork, trust Romantic Times magazine. Marjorie's first novel, Tiger Eye, was a Romantic Times Gold Mark Top Pick (that's 4 1/2 stars, as good as it gets). Her second book, A Taste of Crimson, also received 4 1/2 stars (yes, that's 2 Top Picks in a row). Can Marjorie M. Liu do anything wrong? The answer is 'no.' Make no mistake - this writer is destined for stardom.
In addition to receiving endless, glowing reviews, Marjorie M. Liu has also been bestowed with the title of "Reese Witherfork's pick for IT GIRL 2005-2007."
Marjorie has four books due out in 2006 (one of them is an X-Men book, the other three continue the Dirk and Steele series she began with Tiger Eye).
You can visit Marjorie's website at http://www.marjoriemliu.com/.
CURRENT TITLES:
Tiger Eye. (Book 1 of the Dirk and Steele series) Out Now! - A Taste of Crimson August 2005. Out Now!
UPCOMING TITLES:
- X-Men: Dark Mirror (due out January 2006)
- Shadow Touch (Book 2 of the Dirk and Steele series, due out February 2006)
- The Red Heart of Jade (Book 3 of the Dirk and Steele series, due out July 2006)
- Dark Dreamers (Book 4 of the Dirk and Steele series, an anthology with Christine Feehan, due out September 2006)
THE INTERVIEW:
RW: Marjorie, you completed a law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 2003. I can't believe how many romance writers are former lawyers - Carly Phillips, Olga Bicos, Allesia Holliday, just to name a few. Is legal work really that dull that lady lawyers are fleeing the profession by the drove, or is there something about an education in law that transfers well to the craft of writing?
MML: That's a really interesting question. Let me say first, though, that the legal profession is not boring. Far from it. The law evolves and to practice well and serve clients with competence and skill, the mind must evolve with it. That's no small thing, and it can be very exciting.
Having said that, however, I must add that most lawyers will tell you that being a novelist is the "big dream," the one profession everyone wishes they could do as an alternative to law. I suppose it makes sense. If you love to read and write, but you're the practical type, law school is going to look very attractive while you're in college drumming up career ideas. I mean, on the surface, it's perfect. Good legal arguments require creativity, excellent research skills, an ability to read a lot and retain what you read...and you've got to be able to write. Oh, yes. You must write. So, the seeds are there.
But here's the thing: being a lawyer is taxing, both emotionally and physically. Long hours, hard cases. Intellectually invigorating, but high stress. Some people are better at handling it than others. I can't speak for the lovely ladies you mentioned, but as interested as I was in law, I did not want to practice it. I didn't have the heart for it. The curiosity, yes - the desire to help others, yes - but not the heart or passion to keep working at it, day in and day out. I'm not the only lawyer who feels that way, although I jumped ship at the starting gate, and most people keep at it for at least a couple years before calling it quits.
I still have a fondness for Biotech issues, though, as well as International law, especially how it pertains to China. And I do want to keep my training current; I don't want everything I learned to go stale. Being a lawyer is still important to me, even if I'm not practicing.
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RW: Your character's psychic gifts are very unique and well defined. You also do a very good job of showing how someone with such specific powers would live their day-to-day life. Is this the result of your writer's imagination, or do you have psychic gifts yourself?
MML: I have a very lively imagination.
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RW: In the X-Men movie, I actually thought Hugh Jackman was miscast. I thought Harvey Keitel would have been the ideal Wolverine (remember how he looked in "The Piano" - big sideburns, stalky build?). Do you agree with me?
MML: Sorry! I loved Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. As far as I'm concerned, he's it.
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RW: When you finished your first, novel length work (the excellent "Tiger Eye," which I literally could not put down) were you convinced that you had written something really special, or did you still have some beginner's doubts?
MML: Thank you so much! When I wrote Tiger Eye, it was in a rush. The words poured out. I woke up excited, happy to be alive - and I went to bed exhausted, but feeling the same. It was the best time of my life. I had never done or attempted anything like it, and it really proved to me, once and for all, that I had found my calling, my career -- because there was no way a person could feel so good working so hard and not find some way to do it for a living. So when I finished the book, even though I knew it needed revising, that it would take some time to get it just right, I also knew that Tiger Eye was my chance to make my dreams come true.
In that sense I thought the book was special. Really, any book you finish writing - the first book, especially - will always have a special place in your heart. It's like having a kid. And did I have beginner's doubts? Absolutely. Even though I loved Tiger Eye, I knew the chances of getting it published were slim to none. I had to try, though. I had to give it my best shot.
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RW: Do your parents, family members, former teachers, etc. read your novels? If so, do the love scenes make them uncomfortable? Do you ever censor yourself to avoid this?
MML: They do, and I suppose it does make them uncomfortable, but I never censor myself.
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RW: What was the last book you read that you absolutely loved?
MML: 'Crocodile on the Sandbank' by Elizabeth Peters. It's a mystery novel set in Victorian Egypt, and I loved it so much I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series.
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RW: Honor and Honorability are big themes in your work. Is honor an important virtue for you?
MML: I actually hadn't thought about it much, but now that you mention it, I suppose those are big themes in my books. And yes, honor is an important virtue to me. It encompasses so much. Honesty, courage, loyalty. Of course, the meaning of honor changes from person to person, but either way, to have honor, to live one's life in an honorable fashion, is, at the heart of it, a statement of character, one of the true definitions of who a particular person is or can be. To have honor, no matter your particular code of honor, is to know yourself in a very real way. And that's a kind of confidence that cannot be broken.
©Reese Witherfork 2005
