Mitzi Zilka is a sought-after historical fiction author who has created many unforgettable works of art ranging from novels, screenplays and television pilots to movie trailers and short stories. Interviewers have gained valuable insight into her creative process and are eagerly awaiting the release of her latest novel Young Heroes in 2023. With great enthusiasm, we discussed this upcoming work with interviewers around the world.
Do you have critique partners or beta readers? Yes, I had five beta readers. My sister, who was intimately involved in content editing, has a master’s in literacy and is tough as nails..
What book are you reading now? I just finished City of Girls which I loved. Now I am reading Barbara Kingslover’s book, Demon Copperhead.
How did you start your writing career? My mother was an accomplished writer and taught me to love words—my sixth-grade substitute teacher Mrs. O’Leary read stories to the class and acted out each character. That had a massive impact on me. I wrote my first story when I was in middle school. My ninth-grade creative writing teacher said I had talent, which meant everything to me.
In the corporate world, I wrote extensive marketing reports explaining focus groups’ findings and insights into advertising communications. I have also written many newsletters for schools and organizations over the years. I started writing and taking classes and workshops in the early nineties. I wrote my first novel twenty-five years ago, an autobiographical story I will never publish, and one other. Short stories are a favorite of mine as well as screenplays.
In your book, what is your favorite chapter? Chapter 7: it’s when Rolla knows he’s found his place in the world, 13 when Sadie and Rolla are finally married, so in love, and full of hope, 25 Rolla has hit rock bottom, and everything he worked for is gone. Pain tears at him without regard.
Please share your favorite excerpt from your book. Alone at last. A chance to feel the pulse of the land. He closed his eyes. On first listening, it was as quiet and still as his favorite time of day, that small window of time known as the blue hour just before the sun peeks over the horizon. A brand-new day when possibilities seem endless. Then he heard the hum of the wind like the sound his Mom made when removing a roast from the oven. A cluster of juncos scratched and chirped as they fluttered in their dirt bath. A deep creak from the mighty oak echoed. Several conifers that had grown too close rubbed against each other in a low hum. Leaves fell. One settled on his foot. A bee whizzed past his cheek and he moved to avoid it. The sun-dappled on the bleached grass and dark forest floor beneath his shoes. He moved into the sunlight and felt its friendly warmth.
Please share your favorite quote from your book. Someone was responsible for this catastrophe. Finding him will change nothing, but the people of Spokane would want the guilty punished.
What is the hardest part of writing your books? Finding an authentic voice for my great-grandfather, whom I had never met.
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer? Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Earnest Gaines’ A Lesson before Dying.
What is your favorite part of the writing process? When my characters talk to me and I get the privilege to write down their words.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Water Fire Steam – Trust in your truth.
Young Heroes – Teenagers making heroic decisions.
Young Heroes is about four teenagers faced with heart-wrenching circumstances and their courageous decisions. Fundamentally, it is a story about recognizing the heroes that walk amongst us and how crucial they are to society. It is also a story about an essential human quality, humility.
Tell us about your next release.
My next story is called Watcher at The Wood. It is a story about Big Foot told from its perspective and the little bird that rides on its shoulder.
Water Fire Steam
The year is 1884. Rolla Alan Jones, an ambitious dreamer fresh out of an East Coast engineering school, is commissioned to design and build the first water system in Spokane Falls, Washington, a booming town of twenty-thousand. He is everyone’s golden boy for five years until the city burns down on August 4, 1889. The once-celebrated engineer is scapegoated for the catastrophe alleging his system yielded inadequate water pressure. Asked to resign, betrayed by his friends, shunned by the community, and abandoned by his pregnant wife and three-year-old son, Rolla must find the strength to reinvent himself or return to New York as an abject failure. Based on a true story, Water Fire Steam is a story of forgiveness and redemption for anyone who has ever had to claw their way back from an unwarranted accusation.
“The initial inebriation snuck up on me with a tickle. Light as a gossamer of steam, I floated about the room, hearing music from every direction. Giddiness suddenly pounced in like a puppy at play. The world was right once more—everything moving in a dandy direction. Laughter bubbled up in me as I moved around the house. Shrieks, whoops, howls, hisses—hysterical laughter flooded in from voices outside my head. They laughed at me. I cackled back. They laughed more. I tee-heed. Everything sounded uproarious until the whisper of Sadie’s ghostly voice fell over me.”
Book Genre – historical fiction
Appropriate age for readers – middle school to 75
Website URL: www.mitzizilkaauthor.com
Social Media Links:
https://www.instagram.com/zilkamitzi/#
mitzizilka@mitzizilka – twitter
Book Purchase Links: northbankbooks.com, annieblooms.com, auntiesbooks.com, powellsbooks.com, broadwaybooks.net, janspaperbacks.com, amazon.com, apple.com, waucomabooks.com, klindtsbooks.com, barnesandnoble.com.
Scapegoat, cold case, redemption, resiliency, wild west, true story, Spokane, great fire, 1889, engineering
