Alison Oburia

Contemporary romance author ALISON OBURIA is proud to have Omnific Publishing offering her debut novel, Passion Fish, a collaborative work with Jessica McQuinn. A popular online writer, Alison enjoyed developing her writing skills in a supportive environment of fellow writers.  In honor of the release of Passion Fish on February 16, 2010, Alison has agreed share a little bit about her writing process and the publication of her first book.

Omnific: What is your writing process like?  How long does it take you to write a book and where does it fit in your schedule?

Alison Oburia: I’m a night owl so I tend to have a lot of ideas flowing from around 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., which is conveniently after my husband and two sons are usually asleep. My day job is flexible enough and often includes a lot of driving so on many days I find my characters’ conversations developing as I travel. As far as how long it takes me to write a book, I have no idea. Passion Fish was kept on a tight schedule, thanks to Jessica keeping both of us on track. If it hadn’t been for her, the story would have withered and died early on, I’m sure. My next book is about 2/3 done and I’ll be pouncing on it very soon to get it completed. My third book, though, could be my favorite. In its grandest form, it could become a trilogy; for now, I have snippets and scenes bouncing in my head and a good number of chapters written. How long that’ll take to finish is anyone’s guess, but I’m very excited about the plot and will continue to work on it as the characters start to pester me again.

Omnific: What about editing? Passion Fish was previously posted online.  How did you go about editing it into a novel?

Alison Oburia: That was a time-consuming process, for we’d originally written it in first person and decided to switch it to third. Jessica and I worked together for some of it and separately for other parts. What’s exciting is that we developed two NEW chapters for the story that online readers never saw. These additions also changed a bit of the plot too, so those who remember the original version will hopefully be pleasantly surprised with what we feel are great improvements.

Omnific:  Passion Fish is a collaborative product between you and Jessica McQuinn.  Did you write different characters or different scenes, or how did you split up the work?

Alison Oburia: The first nine or ten chapters were set in different cities so we each worked on ‘our own’ characters and scenes and then edited each other’s work. Once all the characters were in the same city, we still stayed dedicated to writing through specific characters but we worked more consistently on plot development because our characters were now interacting with each other. Throughout the process, we were emailing and talking to each other on our cell phones, sometimes on a daily basis (we live over 2000 miles apart and didn’t even meet until after the story was completed), developing the plot and determining what would be in each chapter. Jessica was the plot queen while I was sort of the plot twist queen; so many of the plot ideas came from her and I would work to be sure we left our readers at cliffhangers or not knowing for sure where the story was going.

Omnific: What made you decide to publish Passion Fish as a novel?

Alison Oburia: At about the 9^th chapter, an editor from Canada who had been reading our story online emailed us and told us we had developed a story that was good enough to be published. Never – NEVER – did we think before that moment that our goal would be to publish. We were simply having fun writing! Given this editor’s background and expertise in the business, she planted the seed. Then we won some awards for our writing, and we started to ask questions about what to do if we DID want to pursue publication. That’s why we pulled Passion Fish from online in January 2009, so that it would be out of circulation if we wanted to approach publishers with a new manuscript. We never got around to rewriting it, seriously anyway, until we were approached by Omnific. We decided it was a now-or-never proposition and, obviously, we went for it.

Omnific: Have you written anything independently that you hope to publish?

Alison Oburia: The story that I envision as a trilogy is probably my favorite. One of its major scenes, like the beginning of Passion Fish, was from a dream I had. I think it’s a great story to tell and I would love to complete it.

Omnific: Tell us about the main characters in Passion Fish.

Alison Oburia: Near and dear to me are Will and Eve. When Jessica and I wrote the online version of Passion Fish, they were ‘my’ two main characters, and I always wanted to step into Eve’s place whenever she was with the wonderful and caring Will. It was fun that we developed four main characters – Eve, Will, Gage, and Skye – and allowed them to rule our thoughts over the many months we spent writing the book. They were ‘real’ to us in our heads so we made them real in their mannerisms, dialogue, inner thoughts, and outward actions as we wrote the various scenes. The other characters, Josie, Beau, Tom, and Noelle, were wonderful in their own right and simply completed the main characters’ small world. In the original story, readers didn’t know what made Julian tick, but in our novel, we’ve told his story much more thoroughly so readers will either sympathize with him or hate him more.

Omnific:  What is your best advice for aspiring writers?

Alison Oburia: Give it a try. My sister is the most talented writer I know; I would LOVE for her to pen a novel because she’s so gifted with words and descriptions and the ability to bring characters to life, making readers laugh and cry and love them. Because of her amazing ability, I’d never thought that I could be a writer – I’m still not convinced that I am. But Passion Fish has become so much more than I ever expected from when I dreamed that first chapter over two years ago that I’ve stopped second-guessing myself and decided to simply try. So far so good, so I’ll keep going.

Omnific: Many established authors have said that reading books is the best research you can do when you want to become a writer.  What are your favorite books and authors?  Do you have a favorite genre?

Alison Oburia: I love a good romance, but not the obvious ones. I like mystery, maybe a little bit of international intrigue, LOTS of flirting before anything ‘more’ happens, and a full plot so that romance isn’t the only thing driving the story. My favorite book currently is The Last Time I Was Me by Cathy Lamb. I also greatly enjoyed her novel Julia’s Chocolates. Lamb writes strong female characters who are vulnerable, silly, sexy, smart, and determined. I loved Charlaine Harris’s “Harper Connolly” series, too; it was only three books, but of all of Harris’s works, those are my favorites. Jeanie London’s In the Cold was amazing too for its intrigue and plot twists.

Omnific: Thank you so much for being so generous with your time, Alison. Everyone is looking forward to reading your novel, Passion Fish, available February 16, 2010 at www.omnificpublishing.com.