with Mary Monroe

Mary Monroe is the Essence® bestselling author of God Don’t Like Ugly, which earned the author the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award and a nomination for the Black Writers Alliance’s Golden Pen Award. Monroe credits reading with changing her life, noting that “Reading made me realize that I had more options than I’d been taught to believe.”

Although eleven years elapsed between the publication of her first novel The Upper Room in 1989, and God Don’t Like Ugly in November 2000, readers eagerly embraced Monroe upon her return to bookshelves. So much so that God Don’t Like Ugly has more than 250,000 copies in print and—five years after publication—continues to be among the most requested of all the Dafina titles. 

Her other novels are God Still Don’t Like Ugly, The Upper Room, Red Light Wives and Gonna Lay Down My Burdens, which is named among the BET.com Best Books of 2002. Her latest book In Sheep’s Clothing, was released in hardcover August 30, 2005 by Dafina Books, an imprint of Kensington Publishing.  Monroe’s been working hard, with five books published since October 2000. By doing so, she hopes to create a legacy that will be remembered for years to come.

Urban-Reviews.com: Can you fill us in on what "In Sheep's Clothing" is all about?
Mary Monroe: This book addresses the fastest growing crime in America: identity theft. It involves a mistreated secretary who steals a mean co-worker's identity only to find out that a hit man is looking for the mean co-worker. The identity thief not only 'loses' her own identity so to speak, she almost loses her life, too! This book is also a 'public service' message to the identity thieves and their victims. However, the real message in this book is that even if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, that green grass is probably covering a grave.
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UR: What made you chose identity theft as a topic for this novel?
MM: A few years ago someone got their hands on my social security number and other personal information and
obtained several credit cards in my name. They purchased designer clothes, liquor, cigarettes, adult sex products,
meals, gas, jewelry, pet products, furniture, and even a couple of cruises! Local merchants and merchants in states
I'd never been to, started harassing me to pay off the mysterious credit card debts. Trying to straighten out that mess with the credit bureaus was the second part of the nightmare. My name was at the top of their hit lists. When a process server slapped a summons in my hand for me to appear in court to face one of those angry creditors who had been threatening me, I made a beeline to the bankruptcy office.

UR: How did you get into the business?
MM: I started making up stories when I was four. I started writing as soon as I learned the alphabet. I submitted my first manuscript to an editor at "Reader's Digest," when I was twelve. They rejected it the same week they received it.

UR: "God Don't Like Ugly" was followed by "God Still Don't Like Ugly." Is it hard to write a good sequel?
Any pressure?
MM: It's not really that hard. But it is wise to write a stand-alone story. You can't assume everyone has read the first book.

UR: Can you give a brief synopsis of your next project?
MM: My readers bombard me with email almost every day about the characters in "God Don't Like Ugly," and "God STILL Don't Like Ugly." They want to know what happens next. I just finished "God Don't Play," the third book with the same characters. It will be released in September 2006.

UR: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
MM: Learn as much as you can about the business. There are dozens of publications out there with a lot of the basic information that an aspiring author needs to know. I studied "Writers Market," "Guide to Literary Agents," "Poets and Writers," and "Writers Digest," on a regular basis. It also helps to READ as much as you can.

UR: Your previous novels are set in states like Ohio and Alabama, what made you choose those settings?
MM: I am originally from a rural area in Alabama and I grew up in a small town in Ohio. I feel comfortable setting my stories in places that I know inside and out. I live in California now. My last book "Red Light Wives," and my newest book "In Sheep's Clothing," are set in California.

UR: How long does it take to write your novels?
MM: Compared to some authors I write really fast. I can do the first draft of a five hundred page manuscript in just a couple of weeks. I usually do at least four drafts before I turn in my final manuscript. "God Don't Like Ugly," took less than four months from start to finish.

UR: There seems to be a particular artist for the covers of your books, who is the artist and did you choose him or her?
MM: With the exception of "The Upper Room," Gary Kelley does all of my covers. My publisher chose him. I've never met Mr. Kelley but I love his work.

UR: I read that the "Upper Room" was originally published in the 1980's, can you elaborate on that?
MM: After making the rounds to publishers for two years and collecting fifty-five rejection slips, my first novel "The Upper Room" was originally published in 1985 by St. Martin's Press. My current publisher republished it with a new cover in October 2001.

UR: What are your thoughts about the resurgence of urban fiction?
MM: I have a whole shelf in my library with books by Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim and other urban authors. The urban experience is such a huge part of the African American experience that I think it would be remiss to ignore or exclude it. In the last few years a lot of authors jumped on the urban fiction bandwagon. But it seems like we have too many people trying to tell the 'same' story. I don't like the word 'overkill' but it is beginning to look like that. It would help if some of the stories were a little more original. Because a lot of the titles and covers are so similar I often accidentally purchase duplicate copies of the same books!

UR: What authors are you currently reading?
MM: I have read and loved most of the classics by authors like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Ernest Hemingway, and Richard Wright and I will read their work again and again. But I am a die-hard Stephen King, Carl Weber, and Donna Hill fan.

UR: What is your favorite book of the past year?
MM: I really enjoyed "The Secret Life of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd.

UR: Is there anything else you would like to say?
MM: I hope to write many more novels!

Check out more on Mary Monroe from her website at http://www.marymonroe.org.
 

              

Don't forget to check out the review of In Sheep's Clothing in the AA Fiction section.