Allison Fallon: An Interview

Allison Fallon has inspired women around the world with her stories and her passionate heart. Get to know her and her latest book Indestructible

You purchase a presale copy now, but the book is set to debut April 14th, 2018.

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?

I wrote this book when I was in the pit — when my marriage ended abruptly after I discovered the man I was married to wasn’t the man I assumed he was. I wrote it to claw my way out of that dark place (a place of questioning everything I believed about life and love and faith) but I also say often that this is the longest love letter I’ve ever written. I wrote it to myself. I wrote it to everyone I’ve ever loved. I wrote it for anyone who has ever had to fight like hell to save her own life. And I wrote it with the hope that every person who reads it will realize how truly remarkable they are, and will be able to find a way to bring their strength and beauty and love to the world.

What was the writing process like? Since it was a memoir and based on your life how did you figure out the theme of the book?

This was the 12th book I’ve written, so my writing process has evolved (and shortened significantly!) over the years. I already had the book mapped out when I started writing. I used the same process to outline the book that I’ve used to help hundreds of authors outline their books, and then took the outline with me to the beach in Florida for 10 days. I rented a little condo on the water and wrote the first draft (50k words) in my time there.

Writing a personal memoir is harder, in many ways, than writing a more didactic non-fiction book. The latter requires more research, but the former requires more honesty and heart and self-reflectiveness, and that was the hardest part for me. So, in this case, because I was writing the story of my marriage and divorce, the writing process felt pretty “messy” even though it was practically cleaner and faster than other books and been (my first book took me almost three years to write. This one took 10 days, if that gives you any idea…) But the 10 days at the beach were some of the hardest of my life, and particularly of this healing journey I’ve been on. I tell writers you can’t write your story and not come face to face with yourself. It will bring you back into alignment FAST. This is the power of writing, and also the difficulty.

As far as theme (which I would call framing — title, subtitle, etc) this particular book of mine went through at least 5 titles before I landed on Indestructible, which came from a John Steinbeck quote: “I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.”)

What was the publishing process like? Did you choose the book cover art or did your publisher find and work with someone?

I have worked with a dozen publishers on books I’ve written in the past years, including my first memoir, so at first, I was convinced I wanted to take the traditional publishing process with this book. I pitched it to all the usual people in the industry I thought would be interested but got rejection after rejection and rejection. That was really hard — believing in the book so much, and getting “no” again and again and again. After all the rejection letters, I took some time off from thinking about it. The finished manuscript sat on my computer for almost a year, and at times I thought it might stay there forever. Then, one day, I was speaking at an event and met a woman who was in an abusive marriage and was trying to decide if it was time for her to leave. I talked to her for 30 minutes and made sure she was connected to some support back home, so she could make the safe choice for herself and her kids, but immediately I knew that I needed to get the book out into the world, no matter what.

So I decided to work with Morgan James, out of New York — they are a traditional publisher but operate on a hybrid model, which basically means they take less creative control over the process and share more of the profits from the book with the author. I submitted the manuscript in September of 2017 I think and before the end of the year, we were already making plans for a 2018 release.

What do you love about writing?

The release. I always felt this way about writing, before I even read the research, but the research is incredibly compelling. Addicts who are in recovery, for example, are more likely to maintain sobriety if they are writing regularly. Cancer patients respond to chemo treatments better if they are writing regularly. People sleep better, have better relationships and are in overall better moods if they are writing regularly. One study showed that if you write for as little as 20 minutes per day (creative writing, a stream of consciousness style — meaning here’s what happened, here’s what I thought about it, here’s how I felt about it) you can see measurable improvements in your mood. I definitely notice this to be true in my life. I’m better at my job, a better citizen, a better lover, a better friend, and all-around better person when I’m in the rhythm of recording my thoughts about my life.

What kinds of stories do you like to tell?

I like all stories! As long as they follow a narrative structure. I’ve learned so much about narrative structure from working with my friend and mentor Donald Miller in his company (StoryBrand). He’s been studying how stories work for over a decade, and it’s fascinating to me how taking the stories we already want to tell and putting them in a narrative framework makes them more interesting, more compelling, more captivating, and more effective.

Fun Questions

1. If you were stuck on an abandoned island what five things would you want with you? (no rules)

• The book I was reading currently (which right now is The Winter of our Discontent by Steinbeck)
• Something to eat (if I have to choose one thing, it would be tacos!)
• A swimsuit
• A bottle of red wine
• My boyfriend, haha

I mean, then it’s basically a beach vacation right?!

2. If you could travel back through time where would you go?

There are so many interesting era’s I’d love to visit, and/but at the same time I think we’re living in the most fascinating, important, compelling and exciting time right now. You hear people talking these days about how our world is going to hell in a hand basket or whatever, but I disagree. What’s happening in our world right now seems chaotic because things are changing, finally, and change is always messy and chaotic. I’m learning to be grateful for the mess that comes after people start telling the truth. Because now we actually know what we’re working with. Until we have the truth, we have nothing solid to stand on, no place to start, no way to make progress.

3. If traveling to outer space became a real option where would you go?

I mean… I’m tempted to say nowhere! Haha. At the risk of sounding boring or unadventurous (I’d get on a plane and go to any continent tomorrow, so I do love adventure!) but I have very little desire to go to space. I prefer to admire the stars from a distance :)

Originally published at thearticlesofantiquity.com.