Erin:  Why Margaret Mitchell?

Ellen F. Brown: Several years ago I was assigned by a magazine to write a profile of GWTW collector John Wiley, Jr. I’d never read GWTW and went into the interview skeptically. I came away a true believer. I was stunned to discover Mitchell won the Pulitzer, the National Book Award and was nominated for a Nobel. After finally sitting down to read GWTW, I wanted to learn more. I asked John to refer me to a history of the book, and he said there wasn’t one. We eventually decided to fill that gap in literary history.

Did your experience as a rare book dealer influence your writing or your book?

EFB: Absolutely. I am obsessed with the “history of the book”, a term used to describe the study of how books as we know them today have come to be and the role they play in our culture. I care about every facet of book production from the drafting of manuscripts to how bindings are applied. It was great fun putting my experience to good use on this project. I had to restrain myself at times—I originally envisioned an entire chapter on the dust jacket alone. I think that might have been a bit much for some people!

The cover of Ellen's gripping book. Comment to win!

What surprised you most about Peggy?

EFB: What an admirable woman she was. You would laugh if you saw the original proposal for A Bestseller’s Odyssey. I had described Mitchell as a hypochondriac and an eccentric—that’s the impression of her I had from earlier biographies. But, after reading thousands of her letters with my own two eyes, I came away amazed by how smart and talented she was. She had her flaws, but she was exceptionally bright and far more substantive than many people give her credit for.

What drove you crazy about her?

EFB: That she never wrote another book. She spent too much time obsessing over Gone With the Wind and making sure the rights were handled just so. I wish she had turned her business affairs over to an outside manager and that she had put her time to good use writing.

Can you speak to GWTW as a literary phenomenon?  Is it a feminist book? What about the “it’s too popular/trashy/romantic” debate?

EFB: I venture to say that anyone who questions GWTW’s status as literature has never read the book. Whether you like Mitchell’s story or not, it is beautifully written and an important part of our American literary tradition. Is it feminist? I’ve never been sure what that term means, but I would say probably so. Mitchell wrote about strong women and how they confront the challenges in their lives. They make sacrifices. They make mistakes. But, in the end, they get the job done. It’s a good message.

You’ve been traveling the country promoting your fabulousness.  What do fans tell you about how MM and GWTW changed their lives?

EFB: The GWTW fans are amazing. My favorite part of this entire experience has been talking with people about how Mitchell’s book has affected their lives. Hundreds of women have described reading GWTW in their teens and how it inspired them to confront challenges as they were growing up. I’m jealous that I didn’t have that experience. Earlier this week, a woman told me how a friend of hers from France had used GWTW as a guide to surviving Nazi occupation during WWII. Because of GWTW they knew how to hide the silver!

Anything you want to add?

EFB: It has been a privilege getting to know Margaret Mitchell these past few years. If my book accomplishes one thing I hope it offers people a new appreciation for her accomplishments. Mitchell was an incredible woman whose life is worthy of study and admiration.

Ellen F. Brown is an award-winning freelance writer. Her first book, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood, co-authored by John Wiley, Jr., offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most popular and controversial novels in publishing history. Publishers Weekly selected it as a top pick for spring 2011. She lives in Richmond, Virginia’s historic Fan District with her husband and two sons.

If you’ve read The Heroine’s Bookshelf, you’ll know that I come from San Diego, CA. I never felt self-conscious about my speaking voice until I started my first year at Smith College in Massachusetts (I shall leave out the period of time I lived in Germany, which was another kind of speaking anxiety altogether). When I got to Smith, I didn’t just hear a bunch of new accents…I realized I had one, and that it had a kind of class/intelligence implication to some of my schoolmates and teachers. I started to feel really nervous about the sound of my own voice, even though I’ve always been a big talker.

A decade later, I’m a bit more accepting of my voice. I’ve worked hard to eliminate “like” from anything but casual conversation. Cue many opportunities to speak. From book clubs to conferences to groups of interested parties (I just did a really fun workshop at the Boulder Writers Meetup and am thrilled to have been invited to speak to the Denver/Boulder Jane Austen Society tomorrow) to interviews (this just in from Blackstone Audio…a conversation with the narrator of my book, Tavia Gilbert), I am called upon not only to say something, but to have something to say. And I find that I really like it.

In a way, this is all about layers, self-confidence, and security. Speaking to a group is just as thrilling, terrifying and instructive as writing, and I always learn something about myself along the way. Something else I’ve learned, though, not only from a career of counseling and training clients, is that effective speaking is also about listening, so don’t be surprised if I ask you some questions during my talks.

I guess I never realized that I might have something interesting to say!

To make things fun, I’m giving away one of Lorelei’s award-winning audiobooks to a lucky winner (details below).  But be sure to read Lorelei’s fabulous insights before scrolling down:

Erin Blakemore: Tell us a bit about the path you took to a career in voice acting and audiobook narration.
Lorelei King: Like most things in my life, I stumbled into it! I was living in London and working as an actress when I got a call from a friend who owned a recording studio; he was recording an ad for a client, and the US voiceover hadn’t shown up. Could I get there in 10 minutes? I did. Hurrah! I loved the experience, and found I had a knack for it. Audiobooks came about in a similar way — someone who knew my animation work asked me to do a book. Again, I loved the experience and definitely had a feeling of “coming home.” And my voice career then, as now, ran in parallel with my acting career.

EB: How does audiobook narration differ from acting for the camera?
LK: When acting for the camera, you normally only play one character. With an audiobook, you might be playing hundreds! Also, in front of the camera your character is normally engaging with other characters, which speads the load a bit — whereas an audiobook is essentially a very, very long monologue. And of course for tv you have to be ‘camera ready’ — no dark roots, no spinach in the teeth, full makeup. Recording an audiobook, I could turn up looking like a troll and it wouldn’t matter. Not that I turn up looking like a troll. Very often.

EB:  How do you prepare to perform an audio piece?
LK: To prepare the book for record, I read it through once and make a cast list on one side of a piece of paper, jotting down and clues about the kind of voice that character might have. Some authors are very helpful in that regard, telling you a character’s accent, voice quality and so on. If there are no clues, I have to make an educated guess! On the other side of the paper I make of list of any pronunciations I want to look up. A good producer will check all that for you, but I like doing my own research.

EB:  What’s the most challenging part of your job? Do you have any disasters or horror stories you’d care to share?
LK: The most challenging part of the job is maintaining stamina — having the same energy level at the end of the day that I had at the beginning of the day! Horror stories? The most horrifying thing is if the engineer makes a mistake and deletes the morning’s work. It’s only happened twice in my career, but I cried both times!

EB:  What do you like best about your job?
LK: I get paid to read books! What could be better?…. And I love being a storyteller. Audio is a particularly intimate medium — and I feel so privileged that people are wiling to listen.

EB:  What are your personal reading habits like? Who are some of your favorite authors and why?
LK: I get very little time to do reading for myself as I have to do so much reading for work! Of the books I read for work, I love the funny ones (like Janet Evanovich) and the crime fiction (like Tess Gerritsen). As for personal reading, my favourite author of all time is Gerald Kersh –Song of the Flea is probably my favourite of his books. I’m also very fond of horror — I like Stephen King, Robert Bloch and Harlan Ellison, among many others. I’ve always had a soft spot for Somerset Maugham — The Razor’s Edge had a HUGE impact on me when I was 11 — and of course I have to mention my Greek boys, Homer (I prefer the Illiad to the Odyssey) and Herodotus (it’s like reading Hello magazine)! For enjoyment I read them in English, and for torture I read them in ancient Greek.

EB:  What surprises you about the audio world? Are there any trends to watch for?
LK: I’m surprised at how much it’s growing! It’s wonderful that people are integrating audio into their lives, listening to audiobooks the way they might listen to music.  As for trends, I think digital audio publishing means we’ll be using audio in new and original ways: shorter titles, individual short stories and poems, getting to market much more quickly with subjects that are trending, publishing in digital download only, embedding audio into eBooks … I am co-founder (with Ali Muirden, former head of audio at Macmillan UK) of a digital publishing company, and we’re exploring some of these things already. It’s a scary and exciting time!

Lorelei King Tallgrass Contest

To liven things up a bit and give one of my readers access to a great heroine book, I’m giving away one copy of Lorelei’s Audy and Audiophile Award-winning reading of Sandra Dallas’s Tallgrass, a poignant story of the Japanese-American internment of the 1940s as told through the eyes of a young girl.  Here’s how to enter:  leave a comment on this blog post telling who you’d have voice your favorite heroine (voice actress, actress, friend, mom…just make sure to identify her!) and why.  Comment with a link to your tweet, blog post, or Facebook “share with friends” about the contest and I’ll enter you twice! I’ll choose the winner at random at close of business this Friday, April 2.  Contest is open to United States, Canadian, and U.K. residents only.  Good luck!