Liam Meilleur
New Orleans, Louisiana
USA
Good morning, Liam, and welcome to Vision and Verse. I love your work on Vella and I am thrilled to have you with us this morning. Can you tell my readers what you’ve written?
I have a pile of editorial credentials ranging from submissions editor all the way up to several years as the editor-in-chief of a literary journal, but when it comes to putting my own stuff out there, I’m still pretty new at it. In September of 2022, I started releasing serials and short stories through Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform. My weekly vampire serial there, “Indigo Ink”, is hands-down my most well-read work.
What is your favorite genre to write?
My work always falls somewhere in the speculative realm, but I don’t have a favorite. To me, genre is a useful framework for readers, but as a writer, I go wherever the story takes me. Genre is only ever an afterthought.
Favorite food?
Seafood in (not “from”) New Orleans
Tea or coffee?
200mg caffeine pills :)
Pizza or ice cream?
It’s easier to type while eating pizza, so…
Wine or beer or soda or what?
Soda or water. I’m a bit boring that way.
Where would you like to visit?
I’ve always wanted to walk the streets of places like Pompeii, Tulum, or Ur, as though by physically being there, I could somehow absorb some of the history, stories, and mythologies of those ancient places.
Favorite musical artist.
Human Drama. The band is still kicking around, but their heyday was in the late 90s. Their music is odd fusion of alternative rock, goth, and folk, but as an adolescent, their introspective lyrics really resonated with me. Human Drama’s music gave me the language to explore and question my own feelings and beliefs.
Do you listen to music when you write? What?
Yes. For me, music functions a lot like a painter’s palette, so the “what” is anything that has the “colors” I need to paint whatever scene I’m crafting at the moment.
What makes you laugh?
Anything but irony and sarcasm.
Favorite work of art or sculpture.
Manneken Pis. Google it.
How old were you when you started writing?
I suppose I started thinking of writing in professional terms as an undergrad when I took my first writing workshops, but when did I start? It’s hard to say. I remember sitting in elementary school, ignoring my classwork in favor of scribbling stories about whatever happened to capture my imagination on any given day. So, let’s say ten.
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
The way I write is a bit like going on a long road trip without a map. I know where I am, and I know where I want to end up, but I have no idea what the route between those points will be. Typically, I start writing, and at some point, I start making notes about plot holes that need filling or turns I might want to take. So, I guess my answer is a bit of both.
Describe your perfect evening.
Everyone I care about is fine, there are no writing deadlines looming, the cat litter is scooped, and I don’t need to go out for anything.
Where do you get your inspiration?
My knee-jerk answer is to say that everything I experience gets stripped for parts, and that’s true, but it doesn’t really address the spirit of the question. The truth is that I’m not really sure how or why it comes when it does. I just know that, sooner or later, it will.
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
I read or watch a story that was *almost* good. It’ll provoke me into thinking about how I’d “fix” it, and next thing I know, I’m either back to work or starting a new story: either way, I’m writing.
Who is your favorite author?
You might as well ask painters what their favorite color is.
Best book you ever read.
Honestly, it baffles me when people can answer that question outright. Today, it’s The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Tomorrow, it may be Herbert’s Dune, or Gaiman’s Neverwhere, or Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. Anytime I feel a little too full of myself, I read The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. That one humbles me every time.
Last book you read.
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, the sequel to her 2020 Hugo-winning debut novel A Memory Called Empire.
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
I really like this question. Not because I have a good answer, but because it implies that it’s a given that writing will pay the bills, and the world needs more optimism like that! :D
Oh, I’ve read your stuff! It’s just a matter of time, my Vella-Buddy.
Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
Okay, so it’s a cliché, I know, but the answer is my wife, Melanie Meilleur. I never had all that much faith in me, but the power of having someone truly believe in you is impossible to quantify. When Melanie met me, I was a high school dropout working as a stagehand, doing lights and sound for concerts and conventions in New Orleans. Since then, I’ve earned an MFA, attended the Clarion West writing workshop, taught college writing courses, and I’m coursework complete toward a PHD in creative writing. None of that happens without her there, resolutely insisting that my stories were worth telling and that I was good enough to tell them. She’s the giant whose shoulders I stand on.
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. I’m a fan of word economy, and the man was an absolute master of grasping at the straws of everyday life and spinning it into narrative gold with only a few hundred words.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
First drafts are a means, not an end.
Do you have some links for us to follow you?
Facebook Author Page:
https://www.facebook.com/LiamWriter/
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Liam-Meilleur/author/B0BBRS4TCH
Indigo Ink
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0BF64D4GZ
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