IndieView with Ursula Werner, author of Magda Revealed |

The biggest struggle I had was with Magda’s voice. She spoke to me in a snarky, modern tongue, and I wanted her to have all the knowledge we have about what happened in the 2000 years since Jesus’ death, so that she could comment on current events

8 April 2025

The Back Flap

What would Jesus do? This wry, irreverent, fictionalized account of his life and ministry—told from the perspective of disciple Mary Magdalene—will implode everything you thought you knew.

Jesus Christ—Yeshua, to his friends—is not happy. Two thousand years after his death, he sees Earth heading toward oblivion. Ever eager to save humanity, he asks Mary Magdalene (Magda) for help. It’s time to tell the real story of our time together, he says. Time to correct all the misinformation, misogyny, and lies spread by Peter, Paul, and the Roman Catholic Church. Still pissed that she’s been called a whore for almost two millennia, Magda resists—but ultimately, out of love for Yeshua, reluctantly agrees.

Through Magda’s words, Yeshua—to most today a symbolic, practically mythological Biblical figure—comes back to life as a man of flesh and blood, one wholly devoted to spreading his message of radical equality. Magda tells of her travels with Yeshua and his followers around Galilee, where they are menaced at every turn by Roman rulers. She relates tales of miracles and murder, jealousy and acceptance, misogyny and female empowerment. She describes her relationship with Yeshua, clarifying centuries of speculation about whether or not they were in love. And, painfully, she reveals the truth about who orchestrated his death.

But Magda’s narrative does not end there. Her life with Yeshua has taught her that she has more strength than she ever imagined, and she begins to tap into a spiritual power that is uniquely her own—the power to connect people. Magda’s true role in the history of humanity, it turns out, is just beginning to unfold.

About the book

What is the book about?

In essence, Magda Revealed is about love and power and how to re-create a society through connection. It’s a fictional retelling of the life of Mary Magdalene (Magda), from the time she met Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua, in the book) to the time she was banished from Judea in the first century. The novel begins with present-day Yeshua telling Magda that she must tell her story, because humankind is facing extinction on Earth, and she has a role to play in Yeshua’s last-ditch effort to save them.

When did you start writing the book?

I had the idea to write a book about Mary Magdalene 10 years ago and began working some of its concepts at that time. Before that time, I had written a poem about Mary Magdalene, in my collection Rapunzel Revisited.

How long did it take you to write it?

From the time I first set fingers to keyboard, six years.

Where did you get the idea from?

The character of Mary Magdalene first came to me almost twenty years ago, when I had the first (and still the best) pedicure of my life. I thought, “How kind and lovely, that this person (the salon technician) is taking such good care of my feet, what a gesture of care and connection.” (Of course, she was being paid for her work, but still, it’s a loving service to attend to another person’s feet.) For some reason, I thought of the Biblical story of a woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears (very strange for me, I’m not usually looking for Biblical connections in my life). I knew very little about the New Testament, so I tried to determine who the woman was. Eventually, I stumbled across the great historical slander made by Pope Gregory I in the fifth century. Confused by all the “Marys” in the New Testament, he collapsed a number of female characters into one woman, labeled her a prostitute and called her Mary Magdalene. Gregory’s conception of Mary Magdalene was a complete fiction, but the Catholic Church ran with it for almost two millenia.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

The biggest struggle I had was with Magda’s voice. She spoke to me in a snarky, modern tongue, and I wanted her to have all the knowledge we have about what happened in the 2000 years since Jesus’ death, so that she could comment on current events. But the Magda who knew Yeshua would necessarily have a more restrained, respectful, first century voice. I solved the problem for myself by having Magda narrate from the present-day, looking back into time to tell her story. Not everyone who has read the book loves this dichotomy.

What came easily?

The relationship between Magda and Yeshua – their dialogue, their physical and spiritual connection – came easily.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

Well, I am convinced that both Jesus of Nazareth and Mary of Magdala were real people. There is no doubt, I believe, among scholars that Jesus existed, because he appears in the pages of the Roman historian Josephus, and in the countless gospels (those that made it to the New Testament and those that didn’t) dedicated to his teachings.  The evidence for Mary Magdalene’s existence is primarily found in those same gospels. Also, there are excavations currently underway on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, unearthing what is believed to be the ancient city of Magdala. It may be that archaeologists will find more evidence confirming her relationship to Christianity over time.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

There are many authors that have influenced my writing, but in terms of importance and consistency (i.e. how long I’ve turned to her for guidance), I’d have to say Virginia Woolf. I wrote a thesis about her writing when I was a grad student in Oxford, and read all of her works. That gave me a deep appreciation for how carefully she chooses her words – she’s a very lyrical, poetic writer, a literary characteristic I love. Woolf is extraordinarily adept at describing feelings and experience that I might call “beyond the veil,” vaguely spiritual, deeply emotional, essentially human incidents in life. At the same time, she’s incredibly funny, and I love that mixture between the comic and the divine. A poet who achieves the same result, with slightly less humor, maybe, is Emily Dickinson. She has perfected the use of silence between words to convey meaning. Two other novelists that come to mind, because I love their writing, are Kent Haruf – whose narratives are simple, spare, and true – and Junot Diaz – who challenges the limitations of the language we have, stretching it into new spaces and giving it new energy.

Do you have a target reader?

I wouldn’t say I have a “target” reader, but I think my writing is more likely to appeal to people who like to think, who enjoy challenging convention, and who love language and literature.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

I try to keep my morning hours free so I can dedicate them to writing. I wake early, eat breakfast (the most important meal of the day!), and bring a cup of coffee to my desk, which is placed aslant in our study so that I can look out into the back garden. I pull my Vizsla’s bed close to my chair on the floor, and settle my miniature dachshund on a small bed on the desktop. Then I’m ready to open whatever document I was working on the day before. I spend only half an hour editing – I make myself hold strictly to this limitation, as I can easily get caught in a rabbit hole of re-editing and never get to writing anything new. Then I try to write for two or three hours. That’s as much as I can do in one day. If I’m lucky, I’ll end up with two or three paragraphs that aren’t awful.

To minimize distractions, I turn off my cell phone ringer and any notifications from text messages or emails. The only disruptions to my focus are sparrows and squirrels that come to my window bird-feeder, and my mini-doxie’s occasional efforts to help me by walking over the keyboard.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

For the past two books, I’ve outlined roughly, sketching out chapters and broad plot developments, but nothing too specific. I also draw character sketches for each of my main characters, in fairly deep detail, so I can understand what motivates them and how they might act. And I create a thorough timeline of events. One of the best pieces of advice I had from a writing teacher was that I should always know where all my characters are and what they’re doing, even if they’re not in the scene that I’m writing.

My next novel is going to be a mystery/crime story. Already, I’m recognizing that I’ll have to engage in much more extensive outlining for that genre than what I’m used to.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I definitely edit as I go. The challenge for me, as I said earlier, is to stop editing at some point, because I can always find something else to improve on. I’m a linguistic perfectionist. I would say my general editing approach is to pare what I’ve written, try to convey the same thing as succinctly and cleanly as possible.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

I usually listen to some sort of meditative instrumental playlist. Anything else, anything with any kind of tune, will pull me in and get me listening to it. The meditative music, by contrast, creates a kind of background white noise that allows me to concentrate.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

I did. For this book, I could not find an agent willing to champion my view of Mary Magdalene.

I had a wonderful agent for my first novel, but she made it clear that she worked project by project. When I sent her an early draft of Magda Revealed, she passed on it.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

Ultimately, it was my inability to find an agent/traditional publisher that turned me to indie publishers, and I felt grateful to be accepted by She Writes Press.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

She Writes Press did my book cover. I love it, because Magda looks determined and resolute, and there’s that wisp of hair that has fallen out of her veil, which suggests to me that she’s more concerned about her ministry than her looks. So many depictions of Mary Magdalene turn her into a voluptuous, sensual woman, and I wanted the emphasis to be more subdued. Hence also her thinner lips (no Botox there).

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

I’m working with Layne Mandros at BooksForward for marketing and publicity. She’s wonderful.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

My greatest advice for anyone who is writing is to remind them that, in the end, it can’t be about getting published, though that’s obviously a dream we all have. For me, writing is all about the journey, the writing itself. When I left my last full-time legal position at the U.S. Department of Justice, I told my colleagues that I was leaving to try my hand at creative writing. An older civil servant whom I admired greatly said, “Good for you! What’s the worst thing that could happen, do you think?” And I said, “That nothing I write will be good enough to get published?” And he said, “No. I think the worst thing would be that you write something that you’re not happy with.” I have found that last statement to be so true.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Germany, moved to the US at age 2 and lived on Long Island until age 6. But mostly, I grew up in Miami, Florida, which is where I lived with my family from age 6 to 17, when I went to college. I’m extremely warm-blooded as a result, always happy to turn the air-conditioning off.

Where do you live now?

In Washington DC, a city very much like Miami in the summers, because it’s essentially a swamp full of hot air. (Pun intended w/respect to the White House.)

What would you like readers to know about you?

I am always ready and eager to engage in discussions about my writing and the ideas it raises, whether it’s Magda Revealed or The Good at Heart. I also welcome any critical feedback, as long as it’s specific. So don’t just say, “I found your book boring,” tell me why it was boring. On that topic, I was very concerned that Magda Revealed might end up feeling slow, in terms of the story it told. Because basically, the story of Jesus is the story of people wandering through Judea, teaching the same thing over and over again. Then I realized that there were Romans around – the Roman civilization was so good at dishing out cruelty – and that historical reality offered many possibilities.

What are you working on now?

The mystery/crime novel I mentioned earlier. I don’t want to say too much about it, except that I find it challenging, because I’m not a big mystery/crime reader, and there’s definitely a kind of template for that genre. Working on getting up to speed there, interviewing police officers about their work, etc. The novel will be based on the true story of someone I knew.

End of Interview:

For more from Ursala Werner visit her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Get your copy of Magda Revealed from Amazon US.