Faulkner Society, Novel-in-Progress

This past week Twitter buddy, Melissa Crytzer Fry, became a semi-finalist in the Novel-in-Progress portion of the Falkner Awards! Entering these kinds of contests, and getting this kind of recognition can be a wonderful coup for one’s query, not to mention enormously validating. I wanted to hear more about Melissa’s experience. What follows is our conversation:

How did you hear about the Faulkner contest? How many chapters/pages did you submit?

My good friend and author Jessica McCann (who won the same semi-finalist nod in 2005 for her now-published novel All Different Kinds of Free) tipped me off to this contest. The Novel-in-Progress portion of the contest required the submission of a highly polished outline and the first 50 pages (the competition also includes categories for completed novels, novellas, essays, poetry and short stories).

How did you find out your submission was a semi-finalist, and how did hearing it make you feel?

Funny story … I learned of the semi-finalist recognition completely by accident. I knew the organization was posting results “sometime in early to mid-September” and had checked a week before, but had seen no results. And since I hadn’t gotten any “you’re a winner” e-mails, I naturally assumed I didn’t place and stopped looking. But on a whim, I hopped by the website at the beginning of the week and took a sharp intake of breath when I saw my name as the first listing under “Novel-in-Progress.” The cats were the only ones home, so I shared my enthusiasm by dancing around with them (seriously); they were less than thrilled. How did it make me feel? Hopeful. Excited. (Even if I wasn’t a finalist or the official “winner.”) I think this kind of recognition goes a long way in validating that the dream is worth pursuing, that every small step could lead to the ultimate publication goal, and that someone liked something that I wrote.

What is the working title and genre of your novel?

My novel, Bedside, would be best defined as book club fiction or up-market women’s fiction. At least that’s what I hear agents calling fiction that has both literary qualities and commercial appeal. Some call it mainstream, some contemporary, some literary women’s fiction but it’s essentially a character-driven novel that explores the complexity of human relationships and the decisions people make – both male and female – when faced with beyond-fathomable circumstances.

How did this story grab you?

The kernel of this story started with a single “what if” question, followed by a series of additional, seemingly unrelated, what ifs that percolated in my mind for a good three years. One day it just seemed that all of the puzzle pieces fit together into a single, cohesive story that drew upon my own personal areas of interest and places/settings that I love: the ranching lifestyle of the southwest, medicine, gardening, juvenile correctional institutions, the simplicity of rural life in Pennsylvania and – yes – even funeral home management. All of those interests (and subsequent research) came together in a way that has forced me to look much more critically at the things around me in my personal life. I have an enhanced appreciation and awe for the life and death of every moment, the beauty and cruelty of nature, the profound influence people have upon one another – all things that are helping me write this story with greater authenticity.

What is your fiction writing work schedule, ritual or practice?

I wish I had something clever to say here, but the reality is that I struggle with managing my freelance and fiction writing. After a full day of writing corporate and nonprofit marketing materials, web sites, data sheets, articles, etc. for my day job, it’s often difficult to switch gears. What I have found to be extremely helpful is having separate writing spaces for the different kinds of writing I do. Our travel trailer has been converted into my “writing studio on wheels” (and my husband’s shared ham radio shack). It represents my fiction writing space – sans distractions. My rules include: NO Internet access, no phones. Conversely, my house desk is my freelance writing space. I’m also finding that starting my day with fiction is the most productive use of my time. It’s creatively enlightening and also sends a subliminal reminder to me that I am making my fiction writing the top priority. I don’t always succeed here, but this is the ultimate goal.

What writers have influenced you most? What books?

I have always enjoyed Shakespeare for the sheer beauty of the language and enjoy the classics as much as any other novelist hopeful, but I have to confess: debut novelists (and those more recently minted authors) are my inspiration and influence. I can rattle off a number of recent books that have profoundly impacted me and taught me so much more about the mechanics and emotion behind beautiful writing: Emma Donoghue’s Room, Rachel Simon’s The Story of Beautiful Girl, C.E. Morgan’s All the Living, David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Caroline Leavitt’s Pictures of You, Beth Hoffman’s Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, Randy Susan Meyers’s The Murderer’s Daughters, Teri Coyne’s the Last Bridge, Therese Walsh’s The Last Will of Moira Leahy… I could go on and on (and have 31 books in my to-be-read stack to prove it; they’re just waiting to be added to this list).

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I can only dream that my business cards will read novelist instead of full-time professional writer.

Melissa is an award-winning, full-time freelance writer and journalist living out her writing dream in southern Arizona, among wildlife ranging from javelina, bobcats and quail to mountain lions, coyotes and Gila Monsters. She is the author of the What I Saw nature/writing/creativity blog and owner of AZCommProCommunications. Melissa is a writer/enthusiast of literary women’s fiction. You can also follow her on Twitter (@CrytzerFry).

Skinny

A Book Review

I first heard of this book on Nina Badzin’s blog. I was intrigued by the voice of its author, Diana Spechler, who was being interviewed, and I enjoyed her replies and banter. So I was delighted when she asked me if I’d like to have a copy for review.

Skinny, by Diana Spechler

 Gray believes her behavior toward her obese father had a hand in causing his death. Their relationship was strained by her father’s refusal to accept her live-in boyfriend, Mikey, a comedian who the lawyerly father felt was not good enough for his daughter. Mikey is also not Jewish. And Gray’s father had become obsessed with religion, and a particular Rabbi’s counsel. Perhaps to thumb her nose at her father, or perhaps because she just likes the job, and is good at it, Gray becomes her boyfriend’s booker for his comedy act. Something she works hard and excels at. It leads her into the seedy night world of New York comedy clubs. Then her father dies, and the guilt sets in. She begins eating. 

            As long as the binge lasted I rarely answered my phone. I blew through deadlines. I attended no parties. I was busy. I was sick. I was consumed and consuming and unfit for public consumption. The things that normally moved me—were muted by the deafening call of ice cream and stuffed wontons and Cracker Jacks. The world would have to wait, or else trample me like a panicked crowd.

Gray gains weight. (The scenes of binge eating are disturbingly graphic, sensory and nauseating.) She pushes Mikey away.

As executor of her father’s estate Gray finds out about a secret life her father had: one involving another woman, and another daughter. Like any daughter would, she looks this other girl up online; peers into this other’s world, and tries to deduce what she can about her dead father’s relationship with her. Did her father love this other girl, cryptically named Eden, more than herself?

In an attempt to find out more and get to know her half sister, Gray gets a job as camp counselor at the bogus ‘fat camp’ for teens where Eden is enrolled. Gray packs everything she owns into the old car she inherited from her father and leaves New York, and Mikey, behind.

I won’t tell you the rest, since I don’t like reviews that give away the plot. But I will tell you the camp Diana creates is chock full of colorful characters who will draw you into their fears, and dreams. And, in a satisfying and touching twist of plot, Eden turns out to be something both more, and less, than Gray expects.

Diana Spechler’s prose is often surprising and fun, with literary flavors and savory bits sprinkled lavishly throughout. Her characters are fleshy and fully rounded.

All in all Skinny was a delicious read, and I recommend it.

Feel the Burn

Taking Our Novels From Second Rate, To Great!

For those of you who have frequented workout classes and gyms over the years, you have undoubtedly heard the expression feel the burn. You know what it means: feel the pain of a weak muscle growing more efficient through use, of your body becoming more honed and tight. Wouldn’t you like to do that for your WIP?

Allowing someone, especially another writer, to read your WIP can feel like exposing a newborn to the elements on a dark hillside. Yet it must be done.

We submit our chapters to beta-readers, writers groups, workshops, and writer friends. We take our beloved characters and plots and lay them at the feet of others. If we are very fortunate we know some good folks; some fellow writers who are willing and wise enough to help us.

If we’ve been doing this writing thing for a while we can by now distinguish the help that is truly needed, from the help that is just another writer’s opinion or prejudice. And that’s important. I don’t recommend taking everyone’s comments and using them. It’s your novel. You are the artist. Monet did not have somebody looking over his shoulder telling him not to use those greens and blues. (Or if he did, he knew enough not to listen.) We all have our own way we prefer a sentence to be structured, or punctuated, or a scene set. Those are suggestions to consider. They can sometimes be helpful, but…

There are the deeper, more weighty suggestions. Those that ask us to think about how a character is perceived by a reader. Those that question a plot twist, scene development, or pace. Those that highlight a sag in tension. These are the suggestions that set us to thinking and working on a weak slice of our novel, and if we stick with it, if we put in the effort, the result will be a leaner, more honed novel. One that will keep the reader licking her finger and turning the page.

I discovered a trick recently that I am going to share with you. It’s deceptively simple. But it helped me feel less overwhelmed by the whole rewriting process, because, like a weight machine in a gym helps us isolate a specific muscle, this little trick helps me isolate and focus in on one area, or solution, at a time. Here’s what I do:

1. I copy and paste a section of the novel— where I’ve identified a weakness— into a blank document.  (Usually between 4000 – 6000 words.)
2. I give the piece a name and save it.
3. Then I give myself a question that addresses the weakness that has become apparent, or been pointed out to me, like, what would my MC be feeling here? Or, how can I describe this scene so it draws the reader in? Or, how can I get across the information the reader needs, without giving away the twist?
4. I keep this flabby piece of the novel open on my computer for however long it takes to write it the best it can be. It can take hours, or days, but it doesn’t get put back into the novel until I know, with certainty, that it does what it is supposed to do, and does it well.
5. Then I copy and paste it back into the main body of the novel, and move on to the next Area To Be Improved. (I don’t allow myself to think of these as ‘problem areas’, because problem areas tend to become problems. Just a little Jedi-mind-trick I play on myself.)

I think the reason this method works so well for me is that it makes each issue seem smaller and more manageable. Instead of feeling the psychological weight of every place that needs work in the novel, I focus in on only the one I’ve isolated. I usually write anything new in red. But using track changes will work too. I like to work new parts in red because when I’m done I can see at a glance how much, or little, had to be changed. Sometimes there’s just a smattering of red in a section I’ve finished. Other times there are entire paragraphs of red.

I know there are many ways to handle whipping a novel in shape. I’d love to hear about yours.

Do you have any tricks for getting through the last rewrites? How do you go about the big process of honing your novel?