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<h2><strong>Margaret H. Bonham </strong><em><br /></em></h2>
<p><em> Interview by Amanda Divine <br /></em></p>
<hr />
<p> Margaret H. "Maggie" Bonham has written numerous books and articles about pets, from basic training and agility to health and nutrition. Her fantasy novel <i>Prophecy of Swords</i> was published in 2005 by Yard Dog Press and is currently being distributed in podcast form from PodioBooks.com. Ms. Bonham practices sled dog racing and karate and does freelance editing when not on a deadline.</p>
<p>
<p><strong>Amanda Divine:</strong> You've written across several
different genres, but one seems to stand out.
How did you get started writing about pets?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> I started writing
at around 15 or so and about that time, I wrote
a rather short novel (55K). No, you don't want
to read it. It was fantasy. When I was 17, I reworked
it and edited it and tried to get it published,
but thank goodness it never did. I kept writing
and although I got handwritten rejections, I didn't
understand that the editors were actually encouraging
me. I wrote bad short stories and sent them in.
They got rejected. </p>
<p>I ended up shelving my fiction
and got into sled dogs and mushing. About the
same time, I was subscribed to a number of dog
magazines. I read them voraciously but after one
particular article, I got so mad because I knew
I could write better than that. So, I wrote an
article and sent off a query letter. (By the way,
that's the wrong way to do it -- you send in a
query first). A month later I was asked to send
the article in. I can still remember that day
when I got the contract. I opened it up and didn't
really know what it was. I had to keep reading
it over and over to make sure I got it right.
And that was my first sale. All the rejections
in fiction disappeared because my very first nonfiction
submission was a sale. </p>
<p>In three years time, I
had sold maybe a dozen or so articles (I had a
job that took most of my time). It really wasn't
until I met another dog writer on a discussion
list that I found out how to submit to a particular
book publisher. She said, "Oh I've read your writing
-- you're really good." Boy, was that great for
my ego. (Little did I know the truth!) She encouraged
me to call the editor and I did. When the editor
heard who sent me, she warmed right up and told
me she needed a book on Wheaten Terriers. I agreed
to submit a proposal to them. A month later, I
received a phone call with an acceptance. </p>
<p>There's
a funny story about this because I owe a lot to
that author who recommended me. You see, that
author told me afterwards that she got me mixed
up with another author (named Boneham). She thought
I was her! After that, we laughed and I said,
"Good thing I'm a good writer, huh?" She and I
are pretty good friends on the phone and internet,
but I have yet to meet her in person. Sometime
I will. The rest, as they say, is history. Well,
not entirely. The pet book biz has its ups and
downs. But I've written and been paid for more
than 17 pet books since 2000, which is pretty
nice. </p>
<p><strong>Amanda: </strong>Were you actually active with
sled dogs and mushing, or just your writing turned
in that direction?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> *Laughs* Yes, I am
a sled dog racer, although currently inactive
because, well, my guys are mostly geriatric now
and to build my writing career, I've had to hold
off on buying more dogs. I am what they call a
mid-distance musher -- I race anywhere from 20
to 150 miles and drive a team of dogs between
6 and 14 individuals. When I've raced, I've run
in Minnesota, Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming. </p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> Did you win anything?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> Yes. I took third
place one year for the entire season in three
dog. I usually came in to where I won something
(either dog food -- very handy) or a small cash
prize. When I hit the bigger races, I tended to
trail behind because I was working some jobs with
long hours. I am the prestigious 3-time Red-Lantern
winner at the American Dog Derby and ended up
on the front page of various small-town papers
up there. (I won't mention that it had something
to do with chasing a loose Pomeranian into the
backyard of the local gossip columnist).</p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> Where did your interest in dogs
begin? </p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> I grew up with dogs.
My first dog as an adult was a very recalcitrant
Newfoundland Samoyed we named Conan. He was a
very difficult dog who became much better when
I figured out he needed a job to do. That ended
up being my first sled dog team. It kind
of went downhill from there.</p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> How did you do the book on Wheaten
Terriers? Do you have to go out and live with
that kind of dog for a year? </p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> For the Wheaten Terrier
book, I visited Wheaten breeders and did a lot
of talking on the internet and on the phone with
people "in the know." When I do a breed book,
I still do a lot of talking to breeders and show
people, but often I talk and listen to people
who own them as pets. I'll get lovely emails from
people who say my books have helped them so much.
In most cases, the publishers don't give you a
year to write a book. So, researching for a year
is pretty much out. In fact, with most books,
I was lucky to get three months to write them.
With one book, I was given one whole month to write
it. That's the fastest I've ever been able to
write a book. So, what publishers love is a person
who can write fast and accurately as well as someone
who knows a lot about dogs. In other words, a
person who already knows most things about these
dogs and then do the research (quickly) to fill
in the gaps. Because I've been tied in with the
dog community, it enabled me to write a 60-100k
book in that timeframe. And then do it again and
again.</p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> Your first published novel was
released last year, and you've got several short
stories out since. What made you decide to get
back into fiction?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> Science fiction and
fantasy has always been where my heart is, even
when writing nonfiction. It's kind of sad, but
as much as I knew about submitting to publishers
and writing (I did an awful lot of reading on
the subject), I was doing most of it in a vacuum.
As a lone writer out in Colorado, I really didn't
have a lot of contact with other writers or writer
organizations. So, not understanding the "codes"
in rejections, I pretty much gave up. It was only
when I started getting published in the dog arena
did I think I was good enough to be published.
But only for nonfiction. It took a long time to
get myself back in the swing of things and a couple
of novels that will most likely remain in the
drawer that got me back into fiction. </p>
<p>Now, I know
I can get published in fiction, it's just a matter
of building a readership. It's funny because all
along I've been writing fiction. I'm not much
of a short fiction writer (I tend to write book
length, regardless). My first fiction novels after
getting published in the dog arena were a Star
Wars novel (yeah, I know), that I wrote in 1999
and a dog mystery novel that I wrote around 2000.
I started writing <i>Prophecy of Swords</i> in November
2001 and finished the first draft in January.
Its sequel, <i>Runestone of Teiwas</i>, (first draft) was
written sometime in 2002. I have other books finished
that are currently being marketed. So, it looks
like I haven't been writing a lot of fiction,
but nothing is further from the truth. I really
have written a fair amount of fiction, it's just
it really takes longer to get them accepted. To
give you an example, many New York publishers will take
as long as three years to get through their slush.
With nonfiction, the longest I've waited has been
about eight months and in most cases, two to three months is
often the norm for me. When I work on nonfiction
(that which pays the bills!), it takes away from
the fiction side. Fact of life. I enjoy writing,
so doing both makes sense to me.</p>
<p><strong>Amanda: </strong>A dog mystery novel...Did you
write that specifically to help yourself transition
between dogs and fiction?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> I wrote the dog mystery
novel because that's what I thought everyone wanted.
It seems that people think you need to have something
of your nonfiction in your fiction topic to write
well. Only, that's just a marketing thing. Sometimes
writing something others want isn't the right
thing to do. The Star Wars novel was more or less
something I wanted to write, and it showed. It
was good. </p>
<p><strong>Amanda: </strong>Were the Star Trek novel and the
dog mystery novel some of your "stay in the drawer"
writings, or are they being marketed?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham: </strong>Marketed? Hmmmm. Well,
yes and no. Right now they're shelved. The Star
Wars novel is shelved because more or less there's
one publisher for that and it was rejected (without
much of a glance, I suspect). Therein lies a lesson
for anyone wanting to write in someone else's
universe: don't, unless you are contracted to.
The mystery I made the mistake of following some
advice that didn't fit my writing (made by a friend
who was a pro). So, I have to go back and gut
the thing, which is more effort than it's worth.
I know why it doesn't work. I'm just too dreadfully
lazy to fix it at the moment. I guess I don't
really have many "stay in the drawer" writings.
Well, I may, but they've been lost for eternity
or have been typed out on a typewriter (yeah,
I'm THAT old).</p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> Is writing about dogs and other
animals in fiction something you're really not
interested in, or did it just feel forced at the
time?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham: </strong>That's a complex question,
but I'll try to answer that. When I have an animal
in my writing, be it a canine, horse, or whatever,
I try to make them as realistic as possible. You'll
find pretty cantankerous horses in my world, for
example. They need rest and food and generally
don't do well unless they're cared for. Now, with
writing about dogs (or cats), the first thing
people do is make them more human-like in a fantasy.
That's fine because that's really what the readers
want is a character they can relate to, but it's
not right and it's not accurate. I've seen a few
science fiction and fantasy writers do a really good job with animals
-- one, in my opinion, is Connie Willis. <i>To Say Nothing
of the Dog</i> is easily the best book I've read so
far that handles a dog as a character. Jack London
did it really well, but unfortunately embellished
a lot of the stories to make them more dire and
more interesting. </p>
<p>So, my problem has been is how
to have a fantasy where an animal can be what
it is without telepathy, talking or whatever.
The truth is, I don't always write like that because
if you want an animal as a main character, it's
pretty difficult to do. Jack London did it, but
again, I'm not really looking at writing animal
stories. I cheated like hell when I came up with
Ni'yah in <i>Prophecy of Swords</i>. He's a wolf, yes,
but he's actually a god. So, he can talk and shapeshift.
But he was actually patterned after a dog I owned
who was a very smart and very tricky Alaskan Malamute
with a wicked sense of humor and a protective
streak. Ni'yah is probably the only character
I ever took from real life. Whether it's something
I'm interested in or not, I think it genuinely depends
on whether the story calls to me. So far none
with animals do that. That may change. Did it
feel forced? When writing it, it sometimes did
but the reality is that the writing itself doesn't
feel forced when I've read it. The dog sled mystery
novel is more or less on the shelf until I feel
brave enough to seriously tackle it. And I just
don't right now.</p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> Some writers have trouble writing
human plots without resorting to telepathy...</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> The problem that most
writers face is that they really don't know how
animals think, so anthropomorphism is very common.
Likewise, a lot of readers don't know how animals
think, and so a lot of animal thought and behavior
just doesn't work for readers. For example, there
isn't a question of morality in an animal's thought
patterns. A wolf isn't good or bad, it simply
is. It may kill a rabbit one day and a child the
next in order to survive. Its nature doesn't make
it dwell on what it kills -- it knows that in
order for it to survive it simply must eat. There
is the pack and there is a certain hierarchy in
it that the wolf recognizes. There's also friendships
and bonding, but again, that's according to the
pack. If a human isn't part of the pack, the human
isn't recognized as much more than a threat or
food source. Now we can have a creature such as
that in a story, but again, how much do people
relate to it, especially if it can't talk or we
don't know the proper way to communicate? Then,
instead of telling the story you were originally
telling, you start telling a whole different story,
which might be interesting, but in the end, it's
been done to death with nature shows, alien cultures,
and whatnot. </p>
<p>The reason why Jack London was able
to pull it off successfully is because he was
able to pull at the reader's reactions and sensibilities.
I might consider writing something like that someday,
but it won't really fall into a mystery or science fiction and fantasy
category unless it's the worn-out trope of human
ends up with a group of aliens and starts taking
on characteristics of them story. And then again,
when someone writes this kind of story, you need
some sort of communication. And canines, for example,
don't "speak" in words. You get concepts like,
"I'm annoyed," "I'm hungry," "Friend is coming,"
"I'm nervous," etc. Again, it's just not what
I'm writing at this time. </p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> What other problems did you encounter
while writing <i>Prophecy of Swords</i>?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> I really didn't have
this problem with <i>Prophecy of Swords</i> because I
steered clear of the whole animal issue. The only
animals in Prophecy who are main characters are
a wolf and a dragon and both are very special
creatures (quite magical). When I deal with animals,
they behave more or less like animals, e.g., horses.
Prophecy was more or less an emotional outpouring
that came after a depressed period after 9-11.
I don't know any author who wasn't affected by
it. When I started writing again, I went back
to a very old story that had stayed in my mind
for over twenty years. I wrote it with adult sensibilities
and that's pretty much how Prophecy was born and
<i>Runestone of Teiwas</i> after it. I was halfway through
the third book when I got another book contract
(my first Idiot's guide) and I had to go make
a living. The hardest part about Prophecy was
selling the book, because at the time, I had not
even sold a short story to the science fiction and fantasy market. That's
changed, of course. Yard Dog Press bought my first
short story in <i>The Four Bubbas of the Apocalypse</i>
and I went ahead and submitted <i>Prophecy of Swords</i>
somewhat later.</p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> So <i>Runestone of Teiwas</i> is a continuation
of that post-9/11 feeling?</p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> When you read <i>Prophecy
of Swords</i> or <i>Runestone of Teiwas</i>, I doubt there's
any 9-11 feeling, per se. It isn't an allegory
of any sort, so I hope your readers won't take
it as such. However, a good portion of my fiction
has come from that incident, mainly because I
was floundering around like so many people at
that time and looking to get my bearings on my
writing. A couple of things had happened at that
time which threw me into a depression of sorts.
One was obviously 9-11 -- I really didn't get
anything written except an article or two I had
under contract for about two months. The second
was that within a blink of an eye, the market
had pretty disappeared as New York went through
a horrendous time. My problems were pretty inconsequential
in comparison, but when your main source of income
dries up, you have nowhere to go and no contracts
to write to, it really affects your life. So,
when I was ready to write again, it was fiction.
It had to be. And it was <i>Prophecy of Swords</i> and
<i>Runestone of Teiwas</i>. And eventually the other
books I'm working on. </p>
<p>Going back to science fiction and fantasy was more
or less a way for me to ground myself and get
back to writing, even if I didn't have a contract.
<i>Runestone of Teiwas</i> (which is complete right now),
is a bit darker than <i>Prophecy of Swords</i>. It sat
for a long time as I marketed <i>Prophecy of Swords</i>
because it felt scattered and because, quite frankly,
my work picked up again. I had revised Runestone
a couple of times, but the beginning didn't work
for me. But Prophecy has been doing well enough
that my publisher wanted to see Runestone. So,
this past fall, I went back and read the book
and realized that it needed a much stronger beginning,
which it now has. It took several months to go
through it, but when I finally did, I was really
happy with it. In some ways, it's my favorite
book because it feels right. I can't explain it,
but it's just a better book, probably because
even a pro learns things as he or she continues
to write. </p>
<p><strong>Amanda:</strong> It's interesting to think of science
fiction and fantasy as a way to ground yourself...
</p>
<p> <strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> Science fiction and fantasy has always been
a comfortable medium for me. I grew up with <i>Star
Trek</i> TOS [The Original Series], <i>Lost in Space</i> and probably a bunch of
other science fiction and fantasy-type shows. One of my 6th grade school
teachers was a big fantasy fan and read us <i>The
Hobbit</i> and <i>A Wizard of Earthsea</i> and a number of
other cool stories (this was in a parochial school
too!). I remember being completely blown away
by <i>Star Wars</i>. So, for me, science fiction and fantasy was incredibly comforting.
</p>
<p> <strong>Amanda:</strong> Is there anything in particular
you learned from <i>Runestone of Teiwas</i>? </p>
<p><strong>Margaret H. Bonham:</strong> Runestone is a good
book but in its original form, it tried to do
too much. I had to keep focus on the story, which
in the long run, made it better. At the same time,
when I revisited the book, I saw I had made a
classic error that many writers make -- and that
was not getting to the story fast enough. So,
when I rewrote the beginning, I wasn't so concerned
about telling you what happened in the first book
-- you pick it up as you go along and as you need
the information. You really don't need to read
Prophecy to read Runestone, but at the same time,
I really feel that you can only enhance your experience
reading both. At the same time, I drop the characters
into some pretty sticky situations at the beginning
-- which is precisely what an author SHOULD do.
</p>
<p>Did I learn anything from it? Well, I think I
became a better writer somewhere between Prophecy
and Runestone and <i>Runestone of Teiwas</i> really does
shine because of it. </p>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><font size=\"2\">You can find out
more information about Margaret H. Bonham at her <a href = \"http://www.shadowhelm.net\">website</a>. <br><i>Prophecy of Swords</i> is available as a podiobook (serialized audio book) from <a href = \"http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=68\">PodioBooks.com</a></font><br><br><br>
<font size=\"2\"><b>Interview Conducted by E-Mail, April
of 2006<br>
Copyright © 2006 Adventures Underground</b></font><br>
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