HOUR OF THE RAT-The Flawed Protagonist

Hi, Kat Sheridan hosting today so Sia can have a well-deserved long holiday weekend off for the Fourth of July!

I have a confession to make. I drink bourbon (and coffee), occasionally to excess. I can out-swear a Marine drill sergeant. I get pig-headed about the dumbest things. Sometimes I make bad decisions, do stupid stuff, or trust the wrong person. I try to do my best, and just hope my successes balance my failures. In other words, I’m human.

Which means I’m also a lot like Ellie Cooper, the protagonist in Hour of the Rat, the latest novel by Lisa Brackmann. I first encountered Ellie in Ms. Brackmann’s debut novel, Rock Paper Tiger. In Hour of the Rat, Ellie once again drags me along on an adventure through sprawling, bewildering, beautiful and treacherous China as she tries to help an old war buddy locate his missing brother, while being chased, used, and abused by shadowy government agencies, and stumbles into a truly terrifying real-world plot line having to do with GMOs (genetically modified organisms—if you want to get the willies every time you eat, look them up).

I’m going to say right up front that I loved this book. The synopsis is at the end, so I won’t repeat it here. What I want to talk about today is Ellie Cooper, and the way too many people may view a protagonist like her.

Let me tell you about Ellie. She was a medic in Iraq, a soldier who got caught in a terrible Abu Ghraib-like situation, and got torn between duty and horror. Her husband left her for a younger model. She got blown up and lost a chunk of muscle in her leg. It causes her deep physical pain and always will. She’s tough as old leather, but feminine enough to be embarrassed about the scars on her leg. She has PTSD. Between the pain and the nightmares, she doesn't always sleep well. She can’t function in the morning without coffee, her beverage choice the rest of the day is often beer, and though she tries to endure the constant physical and emotional pain, she sometimes resorts to popping Percocet for relief. She has a wry, dry, self deprecating sense of humor that comes out sometimes at the worst possible moment. She loves her uber-Christian mother, who drives her crazy, and is trying to heal past rifts with her. She’s an expat living in China, she’s trying to be a good friend to folks who may not deserve it, she’s trying to get her act together, and she’s trying to find some meaning in a world that exploded and spun out of control on her.

I haven’t read the reviews on Hour of the Rat yet, but I read them for Rock Paper Tiger (because I like to see what other people think of a book I adored). I was seriously appalled by folks who took issue with Ellie’s drinking and swearing and flawed decisions. As if they expected her, as a soldier, to say “gosh darn” and return home after the war to bake cookies and join the PTA. This weekend Americans celebrate our freedom, and the men who fought and died for it. Now that women are actively being allowed in combat positions (as if they already weren't de facto in those positions), are we ready for our books to have protagonists like Ellie Cooper?

My question is this: If Ellie Cooper had been Elliot Cooper, a male protagonist, would readers feel the same? Would you, as a reader, be more tolerant of a male character who’d been a soldier, been hit by an IED, who suffered the hell of PTSD, who swore, who coped with too much beer and painkillers, ran into dangerous situations, and was ambivalent about his mother?

Is there a subconscious prejudice toward the realistic portrayal of flawed female protagonists?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Hour of the Rat by Lisa Brackmann

Iraq War vet Ellie McEnroe has a pretty good life in Beijing, representing the work of controversial dissident Chinese artist Zhang Jianli. Even though Zhang's mysterious disappearance of over a year ago has attracted the attention of the Chinese authorities. Even though her Born-Again mother has come for a visit and shows no signs of leaving.

But things really get complicated when Ellie's search for an Army buddy's missing brother entangles her in a conspiracy that may or may not involve a sinister biotech company, eco-terrorists, and art-obsessed Chinese billionaire, and lots of cats—a conspiracy that will take her on a wild chase through some of China's most beautiful and most surreal places.

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND

Guest host Kat Sheridan is an aspiring romance author, fond of bourbon and shiny things. Creator of BlurbCopy.com, writing blurbs/back cover copy for indie authors. Bon vivant and diva. Her debut Victorian gothic romance novel, Echoes in Stone, will be published in the fall of 2013.

San Diego Noir: Interview with Lisa Brackmann

I’ve mentioned before I’m part of a large writing group and we have quite a few published authors covering multiple genres from literary to horror. We have some outstanding writers. I’m very proud of our group and the hard work our authors and editors do. We’ve been together about five years now and I talk to most of them on a daily basis. I’ve learned so much from them because we tend to share current publishing trends, news, and a plethora of information on writing.

Available for pre order

It’s also fun to keep track of some of their projects and how they get them. Lisa Brackmann recently participated in an anthology for a New York publisher, Akashic Books. Who, you ask? I hadn’t heard about them either. However, if you’re a mystery writer/reader you probably know of them. If you enjoy Noir stories you may have read some of their books. They have quite an impressive line up of authors.

They publish an award winning Book Noir Series centered in various cities around the world. I had heard of Brooklyn Noir but didn’t know the publisher—which is not unusual for me, as I tend to remember book titles or authors better than I do their publishers.

Akashic says of the series, “Following the stunning success of the summer '04 award-winning bestseller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books launches a groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. ”

To date, they’ve published 42 books in the Book Noir Series and there are 12 more planned with 4 being released in 2011.

Being the curious type, I asked Lisa about her participation in the Book Noir Series.



Lisa, you debuted with Rock Paper Tiger in 2010. ROCK PAPER TIGER made Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2010 (that’s fiction and non-fiction) and is one of Amazon’s Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers. Still, you’re a debut author and it has to feel somewhat surreal to be involved with an anthology like this. How did it happen?

It happened thanks to editor Maryelizabeth Hart.  In addition to her own writing and reviewing, she’s the co-owner of Mysterious Galaxy, a truly wonderful independent bookstore in San Diego.

I did an event there for the release of my debut novel, ROCK PAPER TIGER and had a fantastic time. Maryelizabeth knew that I had a San Diego connection — I’m actually a San Diego native and was born and raised there — and wanted to know if I’d be interested in contributing. She’s really assembled an excellent, eclectic lineup, including such luminaries as T. Jefferson Parker and Don Winslow, and I was honored to be asked. And a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to deliver — I hadn’t written a short story since college!

Were you assigned a theme to write to?

In addition to putting together a diverse slate of authors, Maryelizabeth also wanted a collection of stories that do justice to the diversity and complexity that is the city of San Diego — it’s not all surfers and beaches. So though I wasn’t assigned any sort of topic or location, I wanted to make sure I didn’t just do another day at the beach.

Of course, what ended up happening is that the bulk of my story is set in Ocean Beach! But I also go to the World Famous San Diego Zoo.


What kind of research did you have to do?

I was getting pretty close to the deadline and quite honestly didn’t have a clue what I was going to write about. I really didn’t know if I’d be able to come up with a story or not. I decided to give it my best shot and proceed with the research and hope that it inspired something.


Now that would add some pressure to a writer. But still, you grew up in San Diego so couldn’t you just create a story from your memories?

Though I’m from San Diego, I’ve lived up in Venice CA for a number of years. So my first order of business was to visit the locations I wanted to use. I went first to the San Diego Zoo. I’d worked there for a number of years – it was my summer and weekend job that basically put me through college — but it had changed so much that I knew I needed to go there if I wanted to do it right. I’m very much a writer who works off of a place—I’m inspired by settings and I like to bring them to life with little, visceral details.

I had a fantastic trip there. I was particularly fascinated by the new elephant mesa, which also features many local animals as well as a natural history lesson on extinct species and environmental challenges.

So now you had a clear vision of the setting?

But I still didn’t know what I wanted to use the setting for.

Yikes. How did you get your story?

 I’d read an article about the same time about a sticker that was for sale in Ocean Beach, reflecting tensions between the local residents and a population of transients that many saw as a more dangerous element than the long-time hippies in VW vans that the area is known for. The sticker is a parody of signs at the San Diego Zoo. It says, “Please Don’t Feed Our Bums.” For whatever reason, that inspired me. And since the theme of this series is “noir,” that suggested a few other things. “Noir” to me means “A woman does a man wrong,” or conversely, “A man does a woman wrong.” So I put all those elements together, and voila, a story emerged!

When will it be out?

SAN DIEGO NOIR from Akashic Books will be out June 1st – just in time for beach reading!

Meanwhile you had also been finishing up your latest full-length novel. When will your new book out and can you tell us a little about it?

I’ve completed my second novel and hope to have more news about that soon. It’s another “existential thriller,” as I like to call ‘em, set in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, featuring another woman who accidentally gets in way over her head. Michelle is a different sort of woman from Ellie (the protagonist of ROCK PAPER TIGER). She’s fortyish, a recent widow, and somewhat of a social chameleon; she’s pretty confident and savvy. But she’s nowhere near equipped to deal with the trouble she gets into.


I’ve been eagerly awaiting this one. As soon as you have a release date I want to have you visit again. Thank you for sharing the information on your upcoming anthology, San Diego Noir to be released in June. I’m looking forward to that one too.

~*~*~*~

Lisa Brackmann has worked as an executive at a major motion picture studio, an issues researcher in a presidential campaign, and the singer/songwriter/bassist in an LA rock band. She still takes pride in her karaoke-ready repertoire of bad pop hits and an embarrassing number of show tunes. A southern California native, she lives in Venice CA and spends a lot of time in Beijing, China. Her three cats wish she’d stay put.

Blog: Papertigertail

Interview With Lisa Brackmann, ROCK PAPER TIGER

My guest Lisa Brackmann, author of a outstanding debut novel, entitled ROCK PAPER TIGER. I had the chance to read her book several weeks ago and loved it. Read my review here.

Iraq vet Ellie McEnroe is down and out in China, trying to lose herself in the alien worlds of performance artists and online gamers. When a chance encounter with a Uighur fugitive drops her down a rabbit hole of conspiracies, Ellie must decide who to trust among the artists, dealers, collectors and operatives claiming to be on her side – in particular, a mysterious organization operating within a popular online game.

I had a chance to chat with Lisa about her life, her trips to China, her book, and what's coming next from the pen of Lisa Brackmann. She's led a rather fascinating life.


Lisa, welcome to Over Coffee.

You’re a Californian by birth and live in Venice Beach area. You’ve had quite a few gigs in your life—singer/songwriter/bassist in an LA rock band, written screenplays :-), worked in a movie studio for quite a few years. I'd say you were pretty heavily involved in the art of entertaining people. How did that come about?

I’d always been passionate about creative writing, and after my freshman year of college, decided that I wanted to pursue a career in film and television. I felt that film and TV were the art forms that could reach the most people, and I’ve always had a bit of a didactic streak – to me, art is about entertainment, but it’s also about enlightenment.

I noticed a thread of that in your book. How in the world did you go from being passionate about writing to starting a rock band?

During my time in China (more about that below) I got the idea that I wanted to play rock music. When I came home to San Diego, I taught myself the bass and formed a band that helped pay for my textbooks in college. After I got done with school, I moved up to Los Angeles to pursue both of these interests. I had a band that lasted more than a decade. We played around town, got some nice reviews here and there, but never could quite crack that next level of success.

You certainly have drive and ambition so why do you think it never reached “that next level of success”?

I think in part because I always had an ambivalent relationship to performing, and in part because my attention was always divided – I was writing screenplays and teleplays at the time as well. I never had much success with those either, mainly because the stuff I wrote tended to be a little too out there to have much of a chance at being produced.


And oh yeah, there was this need for a day job.

Yeah, eating and having a roof over your head is always nice. Hence, going to work for a studio? What exactly does an executive at a major motion picture studio do?

After kicking around doing various things I ended up at the film studio in a pretty low level job, doing an esoteric form of legal research. I worked my way up to an executive director level, working in a more creative capacity, primarily for film/TV development and production. I like to say that I was a mid-level studio bureaucrat, but for book jacket purposes, “executive” is more or less accurate.

What does Lisa Brackmann like to do for fun?

I enjoy getting together with friends – I have good buddies who come over and we taste wine and watch DVDs – we went through the entire run of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” so we still call these evenings “Buffy Nights.” I like going to art events, to interesting cultural activities. I love to travel – I pretty much like seeing what’s out there in the world. I’m drawn to intense experiences, though more as an observer than a participant (I probably should have gone into journalism). Of course I love reading, and I really do like long walks on the beach. But not piña coladas.

You say, “Accidentally went to China in 1979. Never quite left.” How did you accidentally go to China?

I had a high school friend whose parents were in the first group of Americans to teach English in China since before the revolution. My friend asked me if I wanted to go with him to visit his parents. This seemed like a good idea at the time. We were supposed to stay for a few weeks but ended up staying six months.

I would imagine money would run out after being in China six months. How did you support yourself while there?

I taught a quarter of conversational English to college students older than I was, who had had their educations interrupted by stints out in the countryside due to the Cultural Revolution. We also traveled around the country for a month, mostly on our own, which at that time was pretty hard to do. Generally you traveled in tour groups with minders. We always tried to push that particular envelope, to see the “real” China rather than what the government wanted us to see.

What changes, if any, came from that experience?

I think when you have a very intense experience at a young age; it has a profound impact on your personality and actually shapes who you become as an adult. China at that time was particularly intense. We were there shortly after the Cultural Revolution, so it was the scene people sometimes still picture when they think about China – everyone in green and blue Mao suits, lives rigidly monitored and controlled. I went there with little knowledge and few preconceived notions about what China would be like, so I didn’t really experience culture shock all that much when I was there. I did experience it when I went home, in part because it changed me so much, but the environment I returned to had not changed. It was really jarring, and I don’t exaggerate when I say that it completely altered the course of my life.

For example?

I look at things I wrote before and after China and it’s like they were written by different people. I think this is reflected somewhat in my novels, which tend to feature main characters who almost by accident find themselves in situations for which they were unprepared and which completely change their lives.

China is an unusual setting for novels today. What fascinates you about China?

It’s really hard not to descend into cliché when talking about China in general terms, which is probably why I prefer illustration by anecdote or in fiction. But the contrasts are just so fascinating – the turbo-charged pace of modernization on the one hand and thousand year old traditions on the other—temples across the street from Starbucks.

What keeps drawing you back?

On a personal level, I feel as though in a way I return to China to examine my own life – returning to the scene of the crime as it were, in an attempt to understand how China affected me. I feel very comfortable there, so it’s like being in my second home. I have a great network of friends whose company I really enjoy.

I also just really dig speaking Mandarin. It makes me happy.

I thought it interesting the way you describe modern apartment buildings but parts of it are either not fixed or half built. This description is set in Beijing, which is suppose to be a *modern* city. Do you see a lot of this? Or is it only in certain parts of town? Or was it made up?

Beijing is quite modern overall, and things like the subway system are truly impressive (would that we had its equal here in Los Angeles!). But there is a lot of substandard construction, because a fact of life in China is that regulations on the books are frequently not enforced in reality.


Also, I find there’s a sort of weak sense of public, common spaces – why put any effort into an area that isn’t “yours,” where you don’t actually live? You also have to factor in the amount of over-building that’s gone on [in China]. This is due in part to the tremendous corruption and collusion between local governments and developers, and in part due to government policy – China depends on an 8 to 9% annual growth rate to keep unemployment at a level that prevents widespread unrest, and with export demand down, that means infrastructure projects that aren’t necessarily well-thought out or needed.

I have to ask, are there online games in China like you portray in the book?

I based the game in the book, “The Sword of Ill Repute,” on World of Warcraft, which is incredibly popular in China. Like a lot of other popular entertainment, the government isn’t quite sure what to do about it or how to regulate it. Gaming is a big part of youth culture; a form of escapism and a means of individual expression that I think is probably more vital there than it is here in the US.

Gaming is big with the youth of most countries; what makes it different in China?

There actually have been protests within online games, like the one portrayed in the book. And recently, a gamer made a funny and pointed satire about the government’s attempt to censor World of Warcraft that was done entirely with animations from the game. I wish my Chinese was better, but I can still appreciate the effort that went into it and the critique it represents.

You mentioned in an interview one of the inspirations for the book was the war in Iraq and something you heard an Iraq veteran say? Care to tell us about that?

I was fascinated/appalled by the Abu Ghraib scandal, which to me was a complete betrayal of our Constitution and the most fundamental principles of our government. The only people convicted for the prisoner abuses were low-ranking soldiers, and given that they were following directives from the highest levels of government, I think this is a real miscarriage of justice. One of these soldiers, a sergeant, once said in an interview, and I’m paraphrasing here, “I’m a good Christian. I teach Sunday School. But a part of me likes making grown men piss themselves in fear.” I thought there was something really profound and interesting about this seeming contradiction.

And thus we have Trey Cooper, yes?

I don’t see Trey as a bad person. He doesn’t have a sadistic streak like the sergeant mentioned above. He really wants to do the right thing, to be a good man. But he’s not a terribly strong person when it comes to resisting authority – and when it comes right down to it, most people aren’t.

No, they aren’t and especially in war situations. It's all considered justifiable.

Most people do what they are told to do; they try to find some way of rationalizing behavior that is contrary to their own best natures.

That’s very true and yet it happens time and time again.
Your main character, Ellie, tells the story in first person which I find puts the reader right there with her. What do you like about Ellie?

Ellie isn’t the toughest person or the smartest person or the bravest person, but she has a fundamental sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, and in spite of her own flaws and fears, she keeps going. She’s in a situation that’s way over her head, at the mercy of forces that are far more powerful than she could hope to defeat, but she doesn’t quit, and ultimately she holds true to her own hard-fought and won values.


Do you have a favorite scene in the book?


Not really. I mean, it’s weird to say this, but a lot of times the most disturbing scenes are the ones that are kind of the most fun to write! Except that they’re also disturbing to me as a writer. Like, “eyewww, where did that come from?” But I also enjoyed writing the humor that’s threaded throughout the book. It may not sound like it from all the stuff I’ve said above, but I think Rock Paper Tiger is a pretty funny book in a lot of places.

Yes, I enjoyed the humor—its dry but there. Many times just her reaction to things made me laugh.

I noticed in the acknowledgements you mention a couple of groups. As a writer, what benefit are groups such as the two you mention?

It really varies. At the most basic level, writers support other writers – we’re the only ones who really understand what we go through, and it’s nice having a forum and a sympathetic audience where you can share and vent and just sort of socialize. It’s a cliché to say it but it’s true – writing is a solitary activity, and having an online home where you can go take a break and hang out is really nice. I also count on my writer friends to give me beta reads and to fill in my own gaps about how the industry works – I can’t begin to tell you how much amazing information I got from our own Judi Fennell, who is a consummate professional.

Oh, absolutely. I’ve learn much from her as well in so far as applying marketing/promotion principles to writing and building a readership—not to mention her ability to get her name out there.

What’s next for Lisa Brackmann?

I’m working on a book that’s set in Mexico – about the intersection of drug cartels, political power and another woman who’s in over her head. After that, I plan on returning to China. I have a good start on a story that I’m excited about. Besides, my Mandarin is really rusty – I need to get back!

I'm looking forward to reading it, Lisa. Thank you for being with us today and I know right now you're heavily involved in promoting your book and building a readership, but I do appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to answer my questions.

Folks, be sure to check out ROCK PAPER TIGER. If you like thrillers and entertainment that enlightens, you thoroughly enjoy the story!

Lisa Brackmann has worked as an executive at a major motion picture studio, an issues researcher in a presidential campaign, and the singer/songwriter/bassist in an LA rock band. She still takes pride in her karaoke-ready repertoire of bad pop hits and an embarrassing number of show tunes. A southern California native, she lives in Venice CA and spends a lot of time in Beijing, China. Her three cats wish she’d stay put.

Lisa's Blog

Lisa's Website

This is Ghost, Lisa's cat. Of course, she thinks she's much better than a tiger any day!

A Writer's Journey To Publication

I’m happy to welcome my friend and debut author, Lisa Brackmann, to Over Coffee. We’re part of the famous, or infamous, depending upon your opinion at the time, Writin’ Wombats. I’ve watched many of our group receive contracts for publication, including Lisa.

I know the road to publication isn’t easy. Most writers are so focused on getting published, they rarely think beyond that. What happens when you get an agent? What happens once the book is sold? We think we work hard on our novels prior to publication, but what about after?

Lisa shares a bit of her journey to publication with us. Some of this was previously published on her blog, The Paper Tiger. Lisa also agreed to answer some of my questions which you will find at the end of the article.

Writing a novel is a lot of work. Okay, I've known that for a while. I've written a few. This last one, the one that got me an agent and then a deal, took so much time and effort that I'd joke it was written in dog years. And that it was trying to kill me, I was pretty sure. That last bit might not have been a joke.


The part that I'd only previously known on an intellectual level is that getting published is also a lot of work. I mean, this should be obvious, and I sort of knew it, but until I went through it, I didn't actually know it.


All of the sudden, you're getting paid for your work. And people are depending on you. Your agent. Your editor. Your PR person. An entire infrastructure. You've signed a contract, and you have to deliver, quality work, on time. There are hard deadlines. Publication schedules. Catalogs for the upcoming season. I think that's the first time I really absorbed that the whole thing was real, when I downloaded Soho's catalog, read all of the book descriptions, the author bios. Wow, I thought. I'm going to be in one of these. Me and my book. Shit.


There's the book itself. Editorial revisions. Line edits. A galley proof yet to come. And then there's everything else that comes with being an author in the modern world. A bio. Photos. A new website. Marketing ideas. Where am I known? Who do I know? How can I help my own chances of success?

It's that whole notion of thinking of yourself and your work as a product, as a brand. Most of us writer types are introverts, and we can all fulminate against this cultural trend of marketing uber alles (and I have), but this is the reality. It's a part of our job, as authors. And if there's one thing this whole experience has brought home to me, it's that being a published author is a job.

Well, duh, right? And I've taken that sort of workman's approach to my writing in general for the past few years. A writing book I've often recommended to people suffering from creative blocks is Steven Pressfield's The War of Art. It's a little repetitive and has its metaphysical aspects which may or may not be helpful to a lot of people. But one of the basic messages I appreciated very much is, you have to think of your creative work as a job. Meaning, you can't wait around for the Muses to inspire you. Because what's the first rule of a job? You show up. Whether you're inspired or not. Whether you want to or not. Eventually that kind of discipline rewards you with productive output.

It worked for me, anyway. I'm not one of these writers who has to write, who churns out thousands of words at a sitting. It takes a lot of effort for me, a lot of the time. Ultimately I'm happier when I'm writing than when I'm not writing, so I make myself do it, whether I feel like it or not.You can carry over a lot of other things from thinking of your writing as a job.

You have to work with other people. At times you have to put aside your ego and listen to what others have to say about your work and accept their criticism. You have to distinguish between trivialities and the things that really matter to the integrity of your work.

This experience has given me new sympathy for publishers—and agents—and the reluctance they might have to take on debut authors. Though I think if you write a good book, it's pretty clear that you have some discipline, still, there's always that risk that a new novelist isn't going to be able to work to deadline, or work and play well with others, that she might be a big pain in the ass, and not worth the investment of time and money. Because that's the other thing you need to understand, if you don't know this already: agents and publishers are making a significant investment in you, of their own time and potential income.

Me, I take a lot of pride in my craftsmanship, and as I've gone through this process, I've realized that I also take a lot of pride in doing a good job. In getting the work done right, on time, or even ahead of schedule. This is a job that I really enjoy. One where I show up. One that I might even be good at. I like that.

• How long you've been writing with the view to getting published?
  

I've always taken my writing really seriously, but it's hard for me to determine when I became serious about being published. Early on I wrote some prose mostly for fun that got me some publishing interest, but I was too embarrassed to follow through with it. For a long time I focused on screenplays and teleplays, but they were pretty idiosyncratic and strange for the most part. Even though I'd tell myself I wanted that career, I wondered about my seeming inability to make the necessary compromises in what I was writing to have it (the one time I did a screenplay project for hire, I really didn't enjoy the process very much).

I then wrote a novel for fun, just as a way to keep my writing chops up, while I focused on that spec screenplay that was going to earn me six figures. I found out that I really liked writing novels way more than spec screenplays, so I kept going with that. I actually had some publishing interest in that book as well, but I always figured it was a serious long-shot (500 pages long! Sort of unclassifiable, semi-steam punk speculative fiction without any elves or dwarves!), and I gave up on subbing that when the editor who had liked it somewhat eventually passed. So ROCK PAPER TIGER was the first novel I wrote where from the beginning I had getting published in mind. And then, of course, the early drafts turned out weird and unclassifiable!

• How long were you shopping for an agent. Did you get many rejections before Nathan Bransford took you on?

It felt like forever, but it really wasn't that long. I think I had five or six passes before I tried Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown. But I was already pretty discouraged. The responses I'd gotten from agents (when I got personalized responses) were contradictory, and I was convinced that I'd written yet another unclassifiable, unsalable, weird book.

I only tried Nathan because, when I was about to throw the book in a metaphoric drawer, one of the members of my writing group suggested I try him - "He has a blog, and he likes novels set in foreign countries." I did my research on what he was looking for - something which I strongly urge anyone who is querying agents to do rather than just sending out queries en masse - pounded out a new query letter over a rather large glass of wine, and sent it off.

• Once you were accepted by him, what did you have to go through to strike the deal?

Nathan felt that my book had a lot of potential but needed some revisions before it was ready for submission. He had a direction in mind and offered to reconsider the MS if I wanted to rewrite along those lines. I agreed with his critique - he really echoed things that I'd suspected but couldn't see as clearly as I needed to do the work on my own. So I did a series of rewrites with feedback from Nathan, who in addition to his agenting savvy is a great editor. By the time we got to a certain point in the process, when it became clear that I could get the book where it needed to be, he offered me representation.

I know that some writers might be wary of doing so much work with no guarantee of a contract at the end, but I think this was a really great way for both of us to test out the author/agent relationship and see how we worked together. Believe me, you want to have a good working relationship with your agent when you go through revisions and then the submission and publication process! And I'm sure that agents feel the same way about the writers they sign. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

• How did working with an agent change your perspective of publishing?

Working with Nathan and then being signed by him and Curtis Brown was life-changing for me. I do not exaggerate, corny as it sounds. I felt validated for my writing in a way that I hadn't before. Here's someone whose job depends on recognizing talent and whose income depends on making smart choices about who he signs.

For me, long accustomed to writing stuff that was too eccentric to sell, it was a huge confidence booster, and another big step in being able to separate myself from my work, to see it as a product, not some deep reflection of my soul or what have you. That may sound a little crass, but it's absolutely necessary to have that attitude to work as a professional author. You have to learn how to accept criticism without it taking it so personally.

• I know you love things Chinese. You've been learning the language, you've visited China many times. How much influence has your studies of/love of China influence your writing of Rock Paper Tiger?

Well, most of the book is set in contemporary China. That was a sort of commercial calculation on my part - I knew that people are interested in China, and that not that many American fiction writers have used modern China as a setting. I felt that I had the familiarity to write it with some authority.

China is a fascinating place it's a lot of fun to drop in some of the surreal details that are a part of the daily scenery there. (as an aside, I look for those details in any location I set a book - I'm planning a California road trip novel at some point, and believe me, there's plenty of surrealism here to go around!)

• Can you tell me a bit about the story itself?

Iraq war vet Ellie Cooper is down and out in Beijing, trying to lose herself in the alien worlds of performance artists and online gamers. When a chance encounter with a Uighur fugitive drops her down a rabbit hole of conspiracies, Ellie must decide whom to trust among the artists, dealers, collectors and operatives claiming to be on her side – in particular, a mysterious organization operating within a popular online game.

• When will Rock Paper Tiger be released?

June 2010, by Soho Press - who have been an absolute pleasure to work with. My editor, Katie Herman, did an amazing job on my book - and the care they've taken with things like the cover - have I mentioned how much I love the cover? - it's been a great experience. Also one that has really changed my perspective on what being a professional novelist is all about. Which is pretty much the topic of my post!

• Lisa, thank you for taking the time to answer a few of my questions. I loved your article. It makes sense and gives an insider's view of what happens once you've been sold as well as choices you have to make for your career as a novelist.

I wish you the very best with this book and can't wait until I can read it!

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Lisa Brackmann has worked as an executive at a major motion picture studio, an issues researcher in a presidential campaign, and as the singer/songwriter/bassist in an LA rock band. She's lived and traveled extensively in China. A southern California native, Brackmann currently splits her time between Venice, California and Beijing, China.

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