A Moonserpent Tale received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Rosemarie Montefusco.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The title of the book is A Moonserpent Tale. It was published on November 21, 2021.
What’s the book’s first line?
“Araina tripped over a piece of driftwood sunken in the sand.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
A prestigious old witch succumbs to what should be an easily treatable illness. Just before she dies, she instructs her grandniece, Araina, to deliver two spell books to an old friend. Araina obediently takes on the task, if only to get it out of the way and determine a new direction for her life, but the blighted and scarce medicinal plants that made it impossible to cure her great aunt cannot be denied. Something is very wrong in the natural world, which is everything that she and her community rely upon. Araina doesn’t know it yet, but the final wish she’s working to fulfill will determine the course of her future and everyone else’s.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I was extremely captivated by nature as a kid—insects, plants, the little creatures that would move among the trees and appear with low tide—I thought this was the most fascinating, important stuff. I wanted to spend as much time with it and in it as possible. But as I got older, I felt increasingly disconnected from it, as though it was starting to disappear. The fact that I couldn’t devote as much time to beachcombing or turning over rocks as I did when I was ten played a part, but there was also a very real decline in native species. I couldn’t shake this sense that the world I loved was ending, slowly, quietly, and irreversibly. The feeling was worsened in the way this decline didn’t seem to occur or matter to most people. I guess I wished for a tidy solution to it. You mostly only get those in fantasy novels, so I started one.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Someone should read this book if they want to get lost in an adventure but they’re not drawn to ultra-epic, style-over-substance fantasy. Without any glossaries, extensive prologues, or even a map, you could call it fantasy for people with too much to do. It’s a story that’s as big or small as you need it to be. It can be as simple as a chance to go on a journey with some characters, see what goes right and what goes very wrong. But it can also be bigger and a little deeper. What happens when you must learn who you are beyond the expectations of others? Do you face the hard truth of what you need, even if it’s not what you want? What happens when pain and grief are used for good? What happens when they aren’t? There’s no pure good or evil in this tale, but there are choices and effects. There are strengths and weaknesses, wisdom and folly, greed and sacrifice, and I think those are worth exploring.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
Araina is resilient. She screws up pretty often and fixates on the worst, but she corrects her mistakes and keeps moving. I know a few people like Araina. They’ve gone through very tough times and aren’t feeling great about where things are going, but they’re still moving. They’re fighting to fix things, not just survive them.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I don’t know if it was a decision. I loved the experience of storytelling before I could read or write. Throughout my childhood and teens, my interests in visual art and theatre were my main creative outlets. That started to change when I found myself wanting to write characters rather than perform them. My drawings and paintings began to portray scenes instead of just still lifes and landscapes, like illustrations without a story. I put more energy into writing fiction late in my high school and early college years. I found that every short story I’d start and attempt to finish read like the first chapter of something much bigger. A Moonserpent Tale was the one I kept going.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
It is and it isn’t. Almost 20 years earlier, before I began formally studying writing, I wrote a book set in the same world with many of the same characters. I finished it, workshopped it, revised it, and came very close to publishing it, but it never felt quite ready. I decided I’d just get back to it at some point. Life kept happening and years passed. I was working full-time in marketing and technical writing, so it was all too easy to let my fiction sit in a drawer, but it would nag at me every few years. I finally decided it was time to clean it up once more, publish it, and let it go. Not long into that clean-up process, I abandoned that first manuscript, kept certain elements, and followed a new direction. What was meant as a rewrite became more of a reincarnation. I’m not sure if an author is allowed to say she has two first novels, but that’s one way to sum it up.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I’ve mostly made a living as some type of writer, sometimes in the technical capacity but more often in marketing, usually creating industrial and business-to-business content. I’ve written more about flat washers, timber bolts, and induction motors than any human being probably should.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
Since my day job has me writing most of the day—regardless of how I feel about it—my fiction output is very inconsistent. I try to devote a few hours a week but I don’t give myself a hard time or compare myself to writers who aren’t also writing 40 hours a week to pay the bills. Tech and marketing writing isn’t very inspiring but it keeps me in practice. Every day, I have to solve the problems of getting the right information on the page, focusing on the reader’s sensibilities, and excluding everything that doesn’t need to be there. When the ideas and characters move to the forefront of my mind, I can hit the ground running. I’ve accepted that it’s going to be droughts and floods until I can write fiction full-time.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
I can realize a vision without compromise because I’m not selling a product to an agent and then a publisher. I’d rather reach a few readers who are receptive to something unique than make the case that my work will be widely profitable. That being said, the hardest part of being an indie is reaching those receptive readers and navigating all the different options for doing so. I have to be on constant lookout and create opportunities for people to stumble upon my work—and when and where they’re most likely to take a chance on it. There’s only so much you can do and only so many years in a lifetime to make that happen. Managing expectations can also be tough. I have to remind myself that luck beats merit in this business but perseverance is the real factor.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Find the balance between realizing your vision and reaching the reader.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Maybe, but there would be a lot of stipulations. I’m an author who did her own illustrations, cover art and design, book trailers, audio excepts, website, etc. I’m not sure how much a traditional publisher can do for me outside of adding an extra name to my cover.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Often it’s the concepts, stories, and characters that won’t leave me alone. They tend to quiet down when I get them on a page. Beyond that, I think it’s connection. I’ve become so lost in stories and found deeply relatable characters and moments that made me feel understood. I’ve connected with authors across centuries and continents. I want to do that for a reader. The thought that I could make someone I’ll never know feel something meaningful keeps me writing.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
It’s a bit of a strange answer because most people don’t immediately think of them as writers, but Carl Sagan and David Attenborough. They both have such skill in communicating important concepts and sharing their knowledge on fascinating topics. They write with clarity and infectious enthusiasm. It’s truly inspiring.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
There’s no single book. I do wish I could be the author of a work that ripples outward and amounts to new awareness. On the Origin of Species, The Jungle, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Brave New World, Silent Spring, The Handmaid’s Tale—it would be something to write a book that changes how people see the world and what they care about…hopefully for the better.