Behind The Fiction, Past
A Fiction Column
By Michael G'Francisco

An interview with Fern Michaels, aka Mary Ruth Kuczkir

This grand lady of "storytellers" is unique unto herself. To quote her, "Fern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels is what I DO."

This rare and incredible lady of the pen has given pleasure to readers for over thirty years. She is known to friends and family as Dink, a name her father bestowed upon her because she was a wee little one when born.

Mary has written eighty-eight novels, of which many of are on The New York Times Best Sellers. Her special talent is being able to breathe life into a story and give her characters a realistic nature.

Mary is living proof that success can be sustained. Rewardingly, she is at an all time high in her career and all of her novels are still in print. There aren’t many in the business that can claim the same.

This charming lady was born in Hasting, Pennsylvania and has the honored pleasure of being inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. But, this lady is beyond fame and fortune because she truly feels blessed. Therefore, she founded the Fern Michaels Foundation, which grants four-year scholarships to needy and deserving students.

If you think that’s great, her generosity doesn’t stop there. She’s also opened pre-school and day care centers with affordable rates for single moms who are having a hard time of it. Why, you ask? Well, she raised five children and put them through college with no help from anyone and realized the hardships of a single parent first hand.

I selected Mary because she is a role \model for young writers and she’s willing to help them in their quest to become a "storyteller."

We communicated recently, and I asked her the following questions about her life:

Michael G'Francisco: Do you believe it was easier to get an agent and be published when you penned your first novel than now?

Fern Michaels: Michael, truly I didn’t even know what an agent was when I first started writing. I actually picked a publisher’s name out of the yellow pages and sent in my manuscript.

Three years later he advised me that I should get an agent. Today, I understand it is quite difficult for a new writer to get an agent. I’m sure that there are many talented writers that will probably never get published because they are unknown.

Michael: In today’s publishing atmosphere, would you advise a novice writer to seek an agent first or a publisher?

Fern: Most publishers don’t except unsolicited manuscripts, so it's important to create the best query letter they can and send it to agents that represent their genre.

Michael: Did you think when you began writing novels that romance was a missing element in marriages?

Fern: Absolutely. When I began writing in the mid 70’s, romance novels were sold as fast as they hit the shelves. Publishers had a hard time keeping up with sales.

Michael: How do you formulate your main characters?

Fern: I do it in a unique sort of a way. I have large erasable boards in my office on which a character is created. It takes weeks to develop just one character, especially, when developing several of them at the same time. They must be able to interact with each other. It can get pretty tedious at times, but it works for me.