Answering Author Questions on Ask Me Anything Site

I just had the opportunity to answer author questions on the site Ask Me Anything. The questions covered a range of concerns for authors, and I’d to share two of these question and answer exchanges here and then provide the link to the other question and answer exchanges:

If fiction can influence real life perceptions, would you say that in some way, some fictional stories can be considered non-fiction too?

I don’t think that some fictional stories can be considered nonfiction too, although I do think that some fiction story characters stay with us after reading a book as if those characters were real people. And I even believe that we can become so “connected” to certain fictional characters that we might consider what they would do in a situation in real life that we are facing ourselves.

My novel MRS. LIEUTENANT is inspired by my own experiences as a new Mrs. Lieutenant when my husband went on active duty with the U.S. Army. In the novel I combined different real-life people into individual fictional characters, and many (but not all!) of the situations happened. Still, the book is definitely fiction.

P.S. It’s been 10 years this month since I first self-published MRS. LIEUTENANT (at the same time that the book was named an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist). I think the book’s theme of overcoming prejudice is even more important today than it was in 2008 — and I’m now looking for a traditional publisher who could get the book to a wider audience (and I have a first draft movie screenplay for the book also).

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Would you say that females are almost always the main characters in your stories?

As a long-time feminist I am particularly interested in writing female protagonists, although I am also interested in having strong male characters in my stories. I believe that portraying fictional female characters in strong roles helps readers to visualize strong females in real life. I am especially interested in strong portrayals of both women and men in military fiction, such as in the novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS that I co-wrote with my husband.

Click here to read my author information on Ask Me Anything and then scroll down the screen to see all the questions asked me along with my answers to the questions.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller