Half-Time - A Short Story for Your Ears

Earlier this year, at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace writer's conference, I recorded a short short story for The Drum (the literary magazine for your ears). It was an open mic, anyone could record a story with the understanding that if the editor (erstwhile Beyond the Margins writer Henriette Power) liked it she would use it for her online lit mag.

Alas, the story didn't make the cut. But she sent me the audio file to play with. Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't make it easy to embed an audio file into a blog post. So I've posted it over at my other online playground, Lowell Postcard. If you're interested, take a left turn and check it out.

How to Survive a Writers Conference: Dos and Don’ts to Making it Out Alive

Putting the flick on hold this week in celebration of the lit. Today, head on over to Beyond the Margins and check out my just-posted interview with celebrated literary agent Mitchell Waters. He's worked for bigtime agency Curtis Brown for 16 years, and gives some great insight into the publishing business today.

Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace literary conference is this weekend, April 30-May 1st. Beyond the Margins will be there in full BTM regalia. We'll have our own table in the lobby complete with booksmarks, a specially-printed anthology of our work, smiles, and more. Also, from 6-7:30 PM Saturday night we'll be hosting an open mic event at Pairings Restaurant. And now that James Franco has bailed on his Muse appearance, our open mic will be the hottest after-hours event going. Although there's a 50-person limit in the room. But having too many people show up is a good problem to have, so bring it on!

If you're planning on attending the Muse, or just want to learn more about writer conferences, read on to find out what to expect:

Writer conference season is gearing up here in Boston with the upcoming Muse and the Marketplace on April 30 and May 1, and other New England conferences in the coming months—Wesleyan Writers Conference, Cape Code Writers Center Conference, and  Bread Loaf.  So if you plan to attend a conference, it’s time to brush up on your writer conference etiquette.

Writer conferences offer:

• À la carte workshops and panels that usually cover both the craft and business of writing.
• The rare chance to have your work critiqued by a professional author, agent, or editor.
• Ways to meet like-minded writers interested in starting writing groups, networking, and trading critiques.
• The opportunity to compress months of online research and networking into a few days.

No matter your area of interest or level of skill, if you’re a writer planning to attend a conference in the coming months, consider the following guidelines to ensure you get your money’s worth:

Come prepared. Bring an iPad, laptop, or a note pad (paper-based application) to take notes. If you have a business card, bring a stack. This is your chance to meet and greet, to schmooze and show off, and exchange vital stats with other writers. Plus you never know who you might share an elevator ride or cocktail hour with.

Follow the rules. If the conference guidelines state not to bring full manuscripts with you, don’t bring a manuscript with you to hand to every agent and editor you see. Nobody likes a writer who’s too pushy, and you want to make a good impression. If the dress code is business casual, don’t wear your favorite stonewashed jeans, ripped at the knees from stage-diving that Ramones show back in ’87. Dress appropriately.

Put into it what you expect to get out of it. Don’t attend a conference if you don’t plan on doing anything while you’re there. If you don’t attend workshops, readings by guest authors, or panels on the state of publishing, then you will leave with the feeling that it wasn’t worth it. You’ve paid money to attend, so get your money’s worth. If you don’t get your first choice for a workshop or class, make the most of whatever event you’re signed up for.

Bring your open mind. Maybe you have one reason to go to a conference and that is to see your favorite author read or meet with the one agent you know can get your book published. These are good reasons to attend, but you’ll be missing out on other elements of a conference. For example, one year I sat in on a non-fiction workshop on journalism. As a novelist, I had low expectations for learning anything pertinent about fiction writing. But it turned out to be an instructive session where I picked up some great tips about research and how to self edit my writing.

Also, if you’re just interested in learning craft, you may be missing an opportunity to learn more about how to write a query letter or what types of books agents are buying this season. Conversely, if you just want to network, you might miss out on learning about how to fix your novel’s structure problems or how to write better dialogue.

Manuscript consultations. If you plan to meet with an author, agent, or editor to discuss your work, plan ahead and sign up with the person that can provide the most appropriate feedback for your project. If you want a general critique of your work in terms of where it fits into the current marketplace, consider meeting with an agent that handles work like yours.

A publisher, while offering no less wonderful advice, is thinking only of the specific magazine or publication that she works for and not what other publishers want. On the other hand, if you consider your writing perfect for a certain publisher, then this is a great opportunity to get the specific feedback you need to get your foot in the door.

Spend a little extra…. Often conferences offer additional opportunities and special events that cost a little extra but can be worth it. Aside from a manuscript consult, you might also have the opportunity to eat a lunch or two with a selection of literary folk and engage in casual business chat. A little extra might get you five minutes to try out your pitch on an editor or to receive feedback on your query letter from an agent.  Who says money can’t buy happiness?

…but don’t spend it all. A few years ago I spent well over a week’s salary on a five day conference. It was a wonderful experience but the expense sent my finances into a hole for months afterward. If you can afford to attend a conference this year, go for it. If you can’t, start saving now for next year. Keep your eyes out for conferences offering grants and scholarships.

Enjoy after-hour events. An average conference day ends around 4 or 5. But that doesn’t mean the day’s over. Often there are related activities to keep you busy well into the evenings. Cocktail hours and open mics and after parties. Often events are coordinated in advance, but sometimes it’s just you hitting the closest bar with a few writer friends to compare notes and dish. If you have the time, these after-hour events are a great way to round off your conference experience. And who knows? Maybe that person you just struck up a conversation with at the bar is an agent who handles manuscripts just like yours.

Follow up. If you garner business cards and some face time with an agent or editor you would die to work with, don’t forget to follow up after the conference to thank them for their time, and remind where you met them and what you write. That way, when you send them a query, you’ll already have been introduced.

Have fun. Yeah, it’s an intense situation: you and hundreds of other hungry writers mixing it up with publishing industry luminaries. Just walking into the conference on that first day can be a fret filled journey of terror into the inky unknown. But remember, all the other attendees probably feel similar trepidation. So with that in mind, take a deep breath, push through that door, and smile. If your smile drops the minute you see that registration line, then go to Plan B: pretend everybody there is naked. Works for me every time. If you don’t know a soul, walk up to the nearest person and introduce yourself. And have fun. Seriously.

This post originally appeared on Beyond the Margins--used with kind permission by me.

Out This Week

This week is a busy one over here at Unreliable Narrator headquarters. First, while it was scheduled for August, issue 56 of Fiction hit the stands this week. It features my story Casey, about a young man's relationship with a waitress during one Cape Cod summer. And just because I grew up on the Cape and worked as a prep cook in the summers as a kid does not mean this is an autobiographical piece...Mom.

Liz enjoying the issue:

Elsewhere, Becky Tuch over at the Review Review posted my review of the lit mag Inkwell to help celebrate her website redesign and launch. As a bonus, this issue of Inkwell features a story by E.B. Moore, who you may know from her affiliation with Beyond the Margins and Grub Street. Find out what I thought of her story.

Then, if you haven't yet read my new interview with Phil Beloin, Jr., click here to learn more about the inner workings of a crime fiction writer and his experiences publishing his first novel, The Big Bad.

Oh, and go order it from Amazon while you're at it. You can read an earlier interview I did with him on this blog here.

Writing Reaction

Summer has brought hot temps and activity. The past couple weeks my writing schedule's been thrown off track, but a writer is supposed to find time to write anyway. Right? It's all about balance, as I've droned on about before. And it's true, no matter what I'm doing, I try to bring my writing life to the table. Every action has a writing reaction.

That means when I go away for a few days, I bring reading material and maybe my laptop. That means if I sleep late Thursday morning instead of getting up to write, I've been at a Grub Street class the night before.

I'm enrolled in a summer novel writing class. Each class three students read five pages of their manuscript. So I've been workshopping some early chapters of my current novel-in-progress. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about showing work so early in the process, but I knew I needed ideas and guidance in terms of structure and plot and all those things that make a novel cohesive. Plus, it's got me thinking about how best to open a novel with four main characters.

I'm always reading. Right now I'm reading Iris Gomez' wonderful Try to Remember, about a teenage girl from Colombia growing up poor in 1970's Miami. She has a crazy father and a mother in denial. When she's not typing up illegible letters that her father writes to corporations and the government, she's figuring out ways to escape her oppressive family situation and discover what she wants for her life. It's a glowing debut novel, and I'll be posting a full review soon.

I've got a lit mag review in the wings, ready to help launch Becky Tuch's reboot of her site The Review Review, which constantly answers the question Why do literary magazines matter?

My story Casey is indeed slated for Fiction Magazine issue 56 hitting the shelves in August.

I continue in good stead over at Beyond the Margins, which is gaining momentum and lit cred.

So, my writing life is still fairly balanced. Or, unbalanced in a good way. I love being involved with all this lit stuff. And I hope there's more to come.

Vestal McIntyre Reads at the Muse and the Marketplace

On May 1st I did a little pro bono videography for Grub Street at this year's Muse and the Marketplace. I shot a ten minute video of Vestal McIntyre, winner of Grub Street's national book prize in fiction, reading a selection of his work during the conference's tasty lunch break. Grub Street's Chris Castellani introduces.

It's posted on Vimeo, but you don't have to go there, when you can watch it here:


Vestal McIntyre reading at the Muse and the Marketplace from Grub Street on Vimeo.

An Evening with Jenna Blum

Last night was the book launch for Jenna Blum's much anticipated second novel, The Stormchasers. Her first novel, Those Who Save Us, was a New York Times bestseller and a book club favorite. There's every reason to believe The Stormchasers will live up to the high-water mark set by its predecessor.

The night kicked off with Jenna's reading at The Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline. Braving Thursday afternoon rush hour traffic from Lowell to Brookline, Liz and I got to our seats just as Grub Street's Chris Castellani introduced Jenna onto the stage. Jenna was gracious and appreciative, thanking her many readers and supporters. She introduced The Stormchasers and read from chapter 20, which was a great introduction of the main character Karena, a woman searching for her bi-polar, storm chasing twin, Charles, whom she hasn't seen in twenty years.

The chapter details a pending storm through Karena's point of view while she heads off in a jeep with group of chasers. Jenna's vivid descriptions of how Karena, a novice chaser, witnesses the storm's build up while also catching sight of Charles for the first time in years was gripping and real. These storm details were no doubt a result of Jenna's extreme research techniques, which have amounted to storm chasing during the stormy spring months in the midwest over the past few years.

After she read, Jenna answered questions from the audience. Her various answers encompassed a terrifying experience she had while storm chasing (getting a flat just as a massive storm descended), confirming that there would indeed be some love elements in this new book, and explaining why she wrote The Stormchasers in the present tense: it's more immediate and visceral, and gives the reader the impression that nobody and nothing is safe whereas in third person there is an implication that, because the story is being told in a voice that is looking back, that it's possible things have worked out on a certain level. Whereas present tense destroys this supposed (and possibly subconscious) comfort zone for the reader.

After the reading Jenna signed books across the street at one of the best independent booksellers in the area, Brookline Booksmith. Having taken numerous classes with Jenna at Grub Street, it really was a joy to be at her reading and book signing. 

After the signing, Liz and I went with writer and publicist Sharon Bially (whom we had chatted with while waiting in line at the signing) to dinner up Harvard Street to Khao Sarn Cuisine, a wonderful Thai restaurant (I recommend the Thai Garden Chicken). At one point I spied a whole table-full of fellow Jenna students (as well as bloggers from Beyond The Margins) off in the corner. Oh, serendipity.

From there it was time for the launch party at the Hampshire House on Beacon Street, across from Boston Common and upstairs from Cheers. Open bar, and it was time to chat with fellow writers. I love walking into a party and knowing people. Beats not knowing people and standing at the bar drinking free beer alone and then striking up awkward conversations with strangers. Even if they are fellow writers.

Me and Leslie Greffenius:

But, tonight many familiar writer faces were out to help Jenna celebrate the chasing of the storms, including Henriette Lazaridis Power, Iris Gomez, Becky Tuch, Leslie Greffenius, Whitney Scharer, Kathy Crowley, Chris Abouzeid, Necee Regis, Cecile Corona, Nichole Bernier, Lisa Borders, Christiane Alsop (the newest blogger on Beyond the Margins), Stephanie Ebbert, Michelle Seaton, Javed Jahangir, Sonya Larson, and many others.

J.P., Chris, Kathy, Henriette, and a party crasher:

Henriette and Jenna:

It was a great launch for what promises to be one of this summer's most talked-about books. Have a great book tour, Jenna! 

Special thanks to my lovely wife, Liz, for snapping all these great photos.

New Interview with Randy Susan Meyers

Last  March I interviewed author Randy Susan Meyers. I had a great response to what turned out to be Randy's first interview. Now that her novel, The Murderer's Daughters, has been out for a few months, I thought it would be fun to conduct a follow-up interview and find out how things are going for Randy since the book came out. And Randy was gracious enough to agree.

Unreliable Narrator: This past January your first novel, The Murderer’s Daughters, was published in hardcover by St. Martin’s Press to excellent reviews. Unreliable Narrator interviewed you in March of ‘09, after the manuscript sold but before publication. At that time you said, “I am convinced, that for me, the less drama in my life, the more drama in my fiction.” Has your drama quotient changed, for better or worse, since the book came out?

Randy Susan Meyers: My life has certainly been busier and I guess a bit more dramatic, but all the drama, thank goodness, has been on the professional side, like waiting for reviews and the like. It’s been going wonderfully. This is drama I welcome and I am feeling truly blessed.

UN: For me, it was a great experience to critique parts of your manuscript in workshops at Grub Street, and then read the published version. I noticed at least one difference in the finished book, namely the scene where the father murders the mother. It seemed toned down, less violent and bloody, than in earlier iterations. Was this your choice or your editors’? Or, am I imagining things?

RSM: Hmm. That must have been my choice, because the few things my editor requested that I change stand out so large in my mind that I remember each one. It’s a funny thing, the editorial relationship. First, the changes requested get your back way up. What! Change that brilliant decision that I probably made on one hour of sleep?

Then, you let the editor’s ideas settle and slowly you see the wisdom and merit. My editor was great; her editing was light and smart. Many things she suggested I accepted, others I didn’t. We had a solid working relationship.

I imagine if I toned that first scene down, it was because I wanted the book to be about Lulu and Merry’s life, not about the murder or their father. And I think I also realized that when going through a traumatic experience as Lulu and Merry did, only very key moments would stand out and much of the painful scenes would be buried.

UN: Book tours, at least subsidized by publishers, are becoming rarer, especially for first-time novelists. Did St. Martin’s send you out, or did you book readings, etc., on your own?

RSM: I was not sent on a book tour, per se. St. Martin’s certainly did arrange for some speaking and readings—though they were more attuned to getting the books out to online sites and blogs (which was smart) than to my reading in bookstores. Debut authors do not equal big crowds was their belief, and I imagine they are correct. It certainly is a cost-benefit-analysis world out there. Other things they concentrated on, which were so important, were print reviews and the all-important Amazon Vines early reviewers program.

I did an enormous amount on my own. A wise agent, when speaking last year at The Muse and The Marketplace, said something that truly imprinted on me: No one will ever care as much about your book as you do. Not your agent, not your editor, not your publicist. No one. That’s true. I dove into promoting my book because I believe in it and I very much want people to read it.

UN: You’re great at blogging, keeping your author website fresh, tweeting, and facebook. I know you started doing these things, and more I’m probably not aware of, well before the book came out. How important have these social media tools been to the marketing of your book?

RSM: Enormously important (I believe) but still, one shouldn’t do things that don’t feel natural or pleasing. I found that I loved writing posts—my essays, for my blog. It’s a different form than fiction. It’s short and driven by my voice and opinions, not the ones I am giving to my characters. It’s a place where I can talk about what I love: books, magazines, writing and everything associated.

On Facebook and Twitter, I’ve made tons of new friends (even if my husband doesn’t believe they’re real). One builds a community of writers and readers who help each other. It’s lovely.

Face it, the world is online. Writers can’t really hide from it and why would they want to? It’s our medium—words.

UN: How about Amazon pre-orders and reader reviews? Did exposure on Amazon, and other retail sites like Barnes & Noble, help book sales?

RSM: I absolutely think so. St. Martin’s put The Murderer's Daughters in Amazon’s early reader program, which gives books to Amazon top reviewers before the book comes out. There is no guarantee here, and they are probably the toughest critics you can find, but I was blessed and most of them truly liked the book. These are the only reviews allowed up before the book comes out. It gives a book an early buzz on its reception. I consider Amazon Vines the canary in the mine.

Also, Amazon chose to highlight The Murderer's Daughters both as ‘Our Favorite Books to Read Right Now’ and as a ‘Find New Voices in Fiction’ Amazon Book Club recommendation. This truly helped the book.

UN: Sounds like Amazon was really supportive. When the book came out, it seemed to have a generous presence in big box and independent bookstores, at least in the Boston area. Are you satisfied with the push and print run St. Martin’s gave the book?

RSM: St. Martin’s truly showed their belief in The Murderer's Daughters through their large print run and the books solid presence nationwide, both in independents and big box stores.

UN: After the book was sold in the U.S., your agent, Stephanie Abou, started selling the foreign rights. When I interviewed you last, the book had been sold to five countries. Since then, have more rights sold? How has the reception been overseas? Any plans to travel to Europe to promote the book?

RSM: At this time, my wonderful agent has sold foreign rights to twelve countries. The first release was in Holland (where it was on the nationwide bestseller list for three weeks!) Then it came out in Australia and Germany, where it’s doing quite well. Next will be France, Great Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Israel, and Taiwan.

UN: Wow, that truly impressive. When will The Murderer’s Daughters come out in paperback? And what are the big differences between the hardcover and paperback publication?

RSM: The paperback version should be out around January 2011. I am not certain about all the differences, but I was surprised to learn that the paperback is brought out by an entirely different arm of St. Martin’s Press (though I get to keep my terrific editor). The cover may or may not change. (I hope it stays the same, as I do love my cover.) When the paperback comes out, there is a larger push for book clubs (such as including a questionnaire).

UN: I know a little bit about your next book. Can you touch on the status of that? Bottom line: when do we get our next fix of RSM?

RSM: Here I am in Provincetown just finishing the last touches! It’s a story of the collateral damage of infidelity, revolving around a child who was the product of an affair. I’m hoping to get this last revision to my agent very soon!

UN: I look forward to seeing your next book hit the stores. Randy, thanks again for taking time out to chat with Unreliable Narrator. And congratulations on the success of The Murderer's Daughters.

This Week's Boston Literary Scene

Lots going on this week in the world of Boston's literati. Let's get right down to it, shall we? 

Try To Remember

I'll start off with a big congratulatory shout out to fellow Grub Street writer Iris Gomez whose first novel Try To Remember is hot off the Grand Central Publishing presses.

"It's the story of spirited Gabriela de la Paz, a Colombian teenager struggling to forge her own identity in the changing cultural landscape of 1970s Miami, while keeping her increasingly volatile, mentally ill father out of legal trouble - in order to protect his green card status and save her family from exile in disgrace."

It's already garnering great reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Can't wait to crack it. Catch Iris on May 10th when she holds a discussion and book signing at the UMass Boston bookstore, May 12 at the Downtown Crossing Borders, and May 13 at Brookline Booksmith.

The Muse and the Marketplace

Hurry, time's running out! For what? For registering for Grub Street's 9th annual The Muse and the Marketplace writer's conference, which will be held this upcoming Saturday and Sunday, May 1st and 2nd. Registration ends this Tuesday, April 27th, at noon.

This year you can catch keynote speaker Chuck Palahniuk, along with guest authors Steve Almond, Donovan Campbell, Michael Downing, Hallie Ephron, Ethan Gilsdorf, Elizabeth Graver, Lauren Grodstein, Ann Hood, Victor Lavalle, Jennifer 8 Lee, Benjamin Percy, Michelle Seaton, Jessica Shattuck, Anita Shreve, Janna Malamud Smith, and Elizabeth Strout among many others.

Where else can you mingle with literary agents and editors from agencies and publishers large and small? No where else. Sign up to join the 500+ writers who will be in attendance. Register online, or give Grub Street a call at 617.695.0075.

Randy Susan Meyers

Be sure to catch Randy Susan Meyers this Thursday, April 29, at 7 PM over at Newtonville Books reading a selection from her novel The Murderer's Daughters. She'll be appearing along with Kelly O'Connor McNees, author of The Lost Summer Of Louisa May Alcott.

Tinkers

Belated congratulations to local rocker (drummer for Cold Water Flat) turned novelist, Paul Harding, who made more than good by winning this year's Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Tinkers, which was published last year by independent Bellevue Literary Press with a an initial run of 3,500 copies. This week Perseus Books Group (parent company to the book's distributor, Consortium) is readying another 100,000 books for shipment.

Read Geoff Edgers' article in The Boston Globe about how Tinkers rose from collecting dust in the author's desk drawer to prize winning novel. It's a great underdog story. What writer doesn't like to hear that a tiny novel, with a small first printing and a 1,000 dollar advance, can climb into the heady clouds of year-end top ten lists and then ascend even farther to be the first novel released by a small press in thirty years to win the Pulitzer? Not this writer.

Here's Magnetic North Pole, the Cold Water Flat song Boston's WFNX played in the mid-'90s:

The Stormchasers: Coming Soon!

Jenna Blum's new novel, The Stormchasers, will be published on May 27th. This is Jenna's first novel since Those Who Save Us ripped up the bestseller charts. The Stormchasers has already garnered an excellent review in Publishers Weekly.

Here's what they have to say: "At home in Minnesota, Karena Jorge gets an unexpected call informing her that her twin brother, Charles Hallingdahl, whom she hasn't seen in the 20 years since something went very wrong during a storm chase, has been admitted to a Kansas mental hospital. Charles suffers from rapid cycling bipolar disorder, and all Karena knows is that he refuses medication, he can be a danger to himself and others, and he is still obsessed with storm chasing. When she rushes to the clinic and finds he has already left, Karena joins a professional storm-chasing tour company, hoping to find her brother in the caravan of watchers who follow major storms. In the course of the tour, Karena confronts the past and the way it has shaped her life. The unpredictable and dangerous storms provide a framework for an exploration of the bond between siblings (and its limitations), and Blum renders the stormy backdrop as richly as she does her nuanced characters."

Nice! Jenna is a Boston-area writer who has taught on and off at the ever-popular (and ever growing!) Grub Street (Boston's first non-profit creative writing center) since its inception in 1997. I'm lucky to have experienced first-hand what a gracious, informed, and ever-helpful instructor she is and I can't wait to get my hands on her new book. She's been researching this subject for at least three years, going off every spring on storm chasing expeditions across the mid-west and wherever she hears tell of crazy, insane, just downright stupid weather. The kind of weather I'd rather read about from the comfort of a new hardcover.

Stay tuned to this channel for highlights from her book launch:

Writing Group Plug - Autumn Edition

Short notice (especially if you live on another continent), but tomorrow night get yourself over to Porter Square Books to hear novelist and poet E.B. Moore read from her latest book, New Eden. I've taken Grub classes with E.B., and earlier this year enjoyed the benefit of her calming, practical commentary during our writing group discussions. She's a wonderful reader, and she writes in a vivid, evocative, concise style.

Porter Square Books is located at the Porter Square Shopping Center, 25 White Street, Cambridge. Reading starts at 7 PM. Christine Tierney the opens the reading.

Boston Book Festival -- Recap

As everybody knows, it’s book festival time in New England. So this past Saturday Liz and I attended the inaugural Boston Book Festival. It had been a rainy morning, but we made the trip to Copley Plaza and by the time we arrived, the rain had stopped, and the temps were into the 60s.

First stop was the Boston Public Library Abbey to check out Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Guided Open Mic, sponsored by Grub Street. For 90 minutes, writers took turns reading their original work in front of a room of attendees while Hank took notes.


After each reading, Hank gave a helpful critique of the presentation. She commented on material choice, urging readers to really consider the piece they read in terms of how it represents their work. And delivery, telling one young, eager writer to slow down because she couldn’t make out half her words. She was honest but gentle, doing a great job of making each participant feel comfortable, if not perfectly at ease. Reading in front of an audience is difficult enough, so performing to be critiqued must have been twice as nerve-shattering for these hearty writers.

The line waiting to get into an event at the library:


Next up we took in the exhibits set up in tents outside the library and along Boylston Street. The temps were warm and the rain was still holding off, but there was a wicked wind. Luckily the tents held fast.


There were long lines for Green Mountain Coffee and free ice cream. Thankfully, there were also lines at many of the other booths, including publications like The Paris Review, AGNI, the Boston Globe, and Post Road. There were many publishers represented, including David R. Godine, Etruscan Press, and Drawn & Quarterly, which brought along a beautiful selection of posters, comics, and graphic novels.

It was a good opportunity to discover small presses, and that’s just what I did when I stopped at the One Story tent. One Story is a literary magazine that offers one story per issue, one issue every three weeks. Each issue costs a dollar, and is published as a single-colored booklet. I sort of randomly grabbed two issues, numbers 84 and 93. I liked issue 84’s title, Wedding Pictures. The girl behind the table knew the story, by Donald Petersen, and started to describe it to me as a sale’s pitch. It worked. Issue 93 is titled Meeting Elise, by Nam Le. Subscriptions are $21 for a year.

Then it was time to head across Boylston to the Old South Church Sanctuary to see Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, and novelist Reif Larson, author of The Collected Works of TS Spivet. Larson was first, discussing maps and other signage, and how the meanings of this communication can change depending on context. He presented a series of whimsical and sometimes hilarious slides to illustrate his points. Maps and map making figure prominently into his book as a theme and also as margin illustrations.


Tim Kring discussed the myriad ways in which the TV show Heroes is marketed, er, I mean how it presents the many facets of its storyline. He calls it Transmedia storytelling. The idea is that Heroes the TV show is the epicenter of the Heroes universe. While the show is the main engine, other outlets such as websites and action heroes and comic books can all be developed to extend the story, offering specialized content beyond what viewers see on the show. It’s sort of the ultimate in marketing synergy, where you can buy a toy from the show that includes a piece of character mythology or read a graphic novel about an ancillary character from the show, all adding to the Heroes storytelling experience.

Then Tim showed the trailer he created for a series of books he was shopping around a few years ago. He put together a website which hosted the trailer, and kind of like with Heroes, users could go navigate the website and read all about what his books were about, which includes alternate American history. Must have worked, because he got a book deal.

When that ended we had a little time left and went up to the second floor of the church to check out the Grub Street-sponsored Writer Idol, where a professional actor read the first page or two of anonymously submitted work by writers in the audience. After which a panel of 4 agents explained why each would or would not want to see more of the work. There were a few pieces that the agents agreed they might be interested in. Now it’s up to those writers to get their stuff into the agent’s hands.

Overall, a great experience, even for the few events we attended. The festival was smooshed into one day, so I imagine some attendees might have had a difficult time deciding what to see as there was much overlap in the schedule. But the choices were diverse enough so that if you missed one event, hopefully the next would make up for it. I'll definitely keep an eye out for next year's festival.

If you're interested in Tim Kring's theory of Transmedia, here he is expounding on the subject:

October is Book Festival Time

If it's October in New England, than it's time to get your literati on. This Saturday October 24 marks the first Boston Book Festival, held from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm in and around Copley Square. It's free, man. What could be better? Rain or shine (and the weather's leaning more on the rain side--so bring your rubbers). There will be 90 authors and presenters, events, a street fair, music, contests, exhibitions, and book signings.

The line up of authors is damn impressive: John Hodgeman, Elinor Lipman, Anita Diamant, Chris Castellani, Robert Pinsky, Orhan Pamuk (keynote speaker), Ken Burns, Anita Shreve, Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo, Alicia Silverstone (huh?), Richard Russo, Stephen Carter, Andre Dubus III, Ben Mezrich, Tom Perrotta, and many more. Check out the schedule for event times and locations.

At least one event ain't free: Boston Noir Launch. 6-9 at Boston Public Library Rabb Lecture Hall. $15 per ticket, and still available as of this post. "Celebrate the launch of the new fiction collection Boston Noir (Akashic Books) with contributing author and master of the art of noir, editor Dennis Lehane. From Dorchester to Southie and from Beacon Hill to Brookline, Boston Noir features 11 Boston neighborhoods and nearby communities in stories by contributors including Brendan DuBois, Dana Cameron, Jim Fusilli, Lynne Heitman and Russ Aborn, who will attend the launch event. Expect a dynamic, drama-filled presentation." Okay.

Things actually get underway Friday night at Trinity Church where "Robin Young, the host of Here and Now on WBUR, will emcee the evening’s festivities, beginning with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s reading of a passage from his favorite book." Then, Livingston Taylor performs and discusses songwriting.

Grub Street is a partner, and as such they are offering some free workshops, including:

- Jumpstart Your Writing (writing exercises with mini-lessons on craft) taught by Grub instructors Stace Budzko and Grace Talusan
- Writer Idol (a chance to get the first page of your book heard and critiqued by a literary agent or editor), judged by agents Esmond Harmsworth, Janet Silver and Eve Bridburg, and editor Helene Atwan
- Guided Open Mic with Hank Phillippi Ryan (a traditional open mic with lessons on how to perform your work). I attended this session when Hank offered it at this year's Muse and the Marketplace. If you ever read your writing in public, this event is a great primer for how to do it right, without putting your audience to sleep.

Wait, that's not all. Starting this Thursday, October 22, and running until November 8, it's the return of the Concord Festival of Books. 18 days, over 40 authors, 22 events. Most events are free. So, unlike the Boston Book Festival which delivers the goods in one day, the Concord festival spreads the love out over two and a half weeks. There will be discussions, readings, and talks. For example, on Monday, October 26th you can catch Larry Tye talking about Satchel: The life and times of an American legend, and Dick Lehr discussing The Fence: A police cover-up along Boston's racial divide. Other authors include Howard Dean (opening day speaker), Chris Bohjalian, Gregory Maguire, Katherine Howe, Jessica Shattuck, Fred Marchant, Mitchell Zuckoff, and lots more.

While this is a Concord, MA-based festival, as in years past some events are held in Lowell, at locations like the Pollard Library, Comley-Lane Theater at UMass, and Wannalancit Mills. A couple years ago Liz and I went to see John Elder Robison and his brother, Augusten Burroughs, speak at UMass as part of the festival. It was a great evening, where the audience heard touching, enlightening, a little horrific, but mostly hilarious stories about Robison's experiences understanding and accepting his Asperger’s Syndrome. Here's Liz getting her book signed afterwards by Augusten:


A big shout out to Rob Mitchell, an all-around great guy who founded the festival in 1993 and still directs the whole she-bang.

Unlike a writer's conference, these book festivals are geared more toward readers and book buyers than to writers. Attending a book festival as a writer, it'll be a relief not to have to worry about getting a manuscript critique or running into an agent I might have had an awkward interaction with last year (I suppose that could still happen...).

I wish the Boston Book Festival a great inaugural event, while also anticipating another successful year for the Concord (and Lowell) Festival of Books.

Anonymous Has a Bad Day

A few days ago I got the following anonymous comment on one of my writing group posts:

“Dyou people realize what a joke Grub Street and other groups such as this are among the literary and publishing industry. Having read some of the "work" of this group, I can see why. What all of you need to do is go out inot the public and listen: listen to the flow of words and how people talk.listen to the stories.
Finally, I have been published and haven't taken or attended a "workshop since colege. Writing is about life so live it”

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what anonymous is unhappy about, and why. Let’s parse this cryptic note and see what we find.

Dyou people realize what a joke Grub Street and other groups such as this are among the literary and publishing industry.
I can’t speak to ‘other groups,’ but as far as I know Grub Street is highly respected in the industry, and gaining momentum by the week. Proof comes every spring, when Grub holds its annual writer’s conference. There, dozens of established literary agents and editors donate their time to participate in panel debates, luncheon discussions, and the manuscript mart where they meet with writers to discuss their work. More than a few writers have secured agents through connections made at the conference. Many respected, best-selling authors run workshops and seminars at Grub Street. It’s unlikely either the conference or the workshops would attract such participation from representatives of the literary and publishing industry if Grub Street was a joke. Right now I have a partial out to an agent I saw at this year’s conference. I’m almost certain that my affiliation with Grub Street was a tremendous boon to sustaining this agent’s attention.

Having read some of the "work" of this group, I can see why.
Low blow, that. Certainly you haven’t read work from the veritable thousands of writers that have attended Grub workshops, classes, conferences, and special events since the mid-90s. Grub Street’s vibe has always been inclusive, embracing all levels of experience; where writers who are just starting out can mingle with, and learn invaluable lessons from, seasoned vets. Where non-pubs meet the pubs. You imply that Grubbies aren’t talented enough to gain industry attention and respect, yet every week I read success stories of Grub writers getting stories, essays, memoirs, and novels published. This is more than a show of respect from the literary and publishing industry, this proves what a sustainable resource Grub Street writers, and writers from such organizations around the world, are to publishing.

What all of you need to do is go out inot the public and listen: listen to the flow of words and how people talk.listen to the stories.
Good advice. As long as it doesn't preclude taking an occasional writing class.

Finally, I have been published and haven't taken or attended a “workshop since colege.
Congratulations on finally getting published. I’m guessing that you were not impressed with your college workshops. I don’t know what college workshops are like; I didn’t study writing until I was well out of college. Sounds like you are implying you got published in spite of these college workshops, and you’re grumpy about Grub Street workshops. Perhaps you had one or two poor experiences with Grub Street. Are you saying, ultimately, that writing cannot be taught? That taking a writing workshop is a waste of time? That a like-minded, supportive writing community is not a good thing? A few thousand Grub Street writers would probably argue the point. I suggest taking another Grub class, see what you think this time around.

Writing is about life so live it
I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Muse Redux

An excerpt from my post about this year's Muse and the Marketplace was just published in the summer issue of the Grub Street Free Press. The excerpt covers highlights of the three workshops I attended on the first day of the conference. A selection of photos taken at the conference accompanies the article.

Read the original full post. And check out Grub Street's Flickr page, featuring nearly 200 photos from the conference (in case you missed it live).

Muse and the Marketplace 2009 -- Recap

Last weekend I attended Grub Street's 8th annual Muse and the Marketplace writer’s conference. This was my third Muse, and my best experience thus far. Which is saying a lot, since the others were wonderful.

For the first time the Muse was held at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel, apparently the only facility in Boston big enough for this year’s conference, proving how unstoppable a force the Muse and Grub Street have become. Also, for the first time I did not participate in the Manuscript Mart part of the conference. This is where a literary agent or editor critiques 20 pages of your writing. It’s an intense experience, and it can feel like the conference becomes a framework on which to drape these agent/editor meetings. This year I wanted to simply go to the conference and not worry about a critique. Also as a first, I volunteered Sunday, coming away with a wholly unique vision of the conference; meeting fellow writers I would not have otherwise and getting new perspectives by sitting in on workshops outside of my interest.

Saturday

Saturday started with a panel discussion called The State of the Industry. Participants included Hallie Ephron (writer), Jane Rosenman (editor, Algonquin Books), David Langevin (director of electronic markets at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), and Joseph Olshan (writer), moderated by Sorche Fairbank (founder of Fairbank Literary Representation). Here we got the inside scoop on topics such as publishing in the digital age, the struggles a working author faces, and trends in fiction. I gleaned some interesting tidbits such as:

- Good writing is always in demand, whether published traditionally or digitally (online, ebooks, etc.).
- There are now fewer editors for agents to send material to.
- Good ideas to garner a bit more attention include: writing a novel in serial format, incorporating non-fiction hooks (social, historical, civil rights, etc.) in your fiction, and publishing online (agents do troll the Internet for talent).
- Alternatives to traditional publishing: ebooks, podcasts, cell phone novels (novels written on a cell phone—huge in Japan).
- Publish in magazines/lit mags to get agents/editors attention.
- Non-fiction sells better than fiction.
- It’s easier to get a published book reviewed than a self-published book.
- Self-publishing success can lead to a publisher.
- There is a genre called narrative. I hadn’t heard of this. It’s a cross between literary fiction and storytelling. Which I take to mean, plot-driven literary fiction (correct me if I’m off base here).

This was neither encouraging nor discouraging, but followed what I already believed about the current state of publishing. It’s always good to hear that good writing doesn't go out of style.

The panel ended with each panel member touting one or more contemporary books that they love (I may have missed one or two):
- The Outlander, Gil Adamson
- Beat the Reaper, Josh Bazell
- Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery, Spencer Quinn (I think I heard this right)
- Invisible Sisters, Jessica Handler
- Story of a Marriage, Andrew Sean Greer
- Mudbound, Hilary Jordan (more than one panelist mentioned this one)
- How Do We Decide, Jonah Lehrer (non-fiction)


Next I attended Lewis Robinson’s workshop, Eternal Rocks Beneath, the Relevance of Setting. Here Lewis handed out four excerpts, samples from novels and stories. We discussed the use of language to convey a sense of setting, and how we can learn about characters from their relation to and with the locations in which they pass. We learned about over-describing setting, where all objects carry the same weight. Or keeping it too generic, where location description is not from a particular character’s point of view.

Lewis equated writing about setting as describing to someone how to get someplace they are unfamiliar with. Imagine leading the way with a lantern that illuminates the reader’s path. By the end of the workshop I realized all the pieces we had discussed (from Revolutionary Road and Brokeback Mountain, to Louis’s own story, Puckheads) used settings not just as locations in which to place characters, but as if they were characters themselves, equally important to the story.


On to…Lunch! I sat at a table with Randy Susan Meyers, Ginny DeLuca, Tara Mantel, Stacey Shipman, and others. We were welcomed by Grub Street’s artistic director Chris Castellani, and development director Whitney Scharer. Then there were readings by Alan Cheuse and Dinty W. Moore. As you can see, every moment of the Muse is crammed with activity. You always get your money’s worth.

My afternoon workshop was Stephen McCauley’s Building Character. He discussed the best ways to introduce your characters, keeping in mind that first impressions stick with readers throughout a book, so you’ve got to write descriptions that count. Stephen read an excerpt from The Great Gatsby, when the character of Tom Buchanan is introduced. It’s a stunner, as Fitzgerald sweeps us across the front grounds of Buchanan’s sprawling house like a movie camera and right up to the man himself, standing with legs apart, surveying his domain. It was a great example of how to use action to help introduce a character.


Stephen then used Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls as an example of bad character description. Lots of vague language, like real and really, and describing a woman simply as beautiful without much elaboration. The woman’s eyes—they weren’t just blue. They were really blue. Sky blue, but glacial. Stephen admitted to loving Valley of the Dolls, even if the writing wasn’t always classic.

Toward the end of the day, it was time for the Hour of Power, five workshops that were open to all, and we were free to roam in and out at will. I wandered into a workshop about writing a non-fiction book proposal. Didn’t take long to figure out that it wasn’t for me, considering I’m all about the fiction. So I skeedaddled over to Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Open Mic. Here writers of every ilk read their pieces before a room of people and then Hank gave a spot critique, offering advice about how to choose a piece (read an excerpt that has a natural arc) and how to read with impact (when to hold a beat, when to raise your voice). These are details I hadn’t really considered. Good to know, as the few readings I’ve given could have used a little HPR guidance.

On to the cocktail hour. I’m not a big schmoozer, so I wasn’t prepared to bully some unsuspecting agent into representing me or an editor into a book contract. It was just relaxing to talk about the day with fellow writers and compare Muse stories. I also got the skinny on a few Manuscript Mart experiences while enjoying an exotic imported beer.

Sunday

I had initially planned to attend only Saturday, so when I heard they were looking for volunteers, I threw my hat in the ring for Sunday. I arrived around 7:45 A.M., and was introduced to Kim. Kim showed me and another volunteer, Kathleen, around and told us how to manage the workshops to which we were assigned. Then I was stationed by the elevators to answer questions and guide participants to appropriate workshops or the Manuscript Mart.

By mid morning I had a few extra minutes so I sat in on Jenna Blum’s Extreme Research workshop. Jenna was a great speaker, as were many of the writers and instructors appearing at the Muse. She was generous and concise, quick on her feet, and funny as hell. When answering questions about how she approached interviewing Holocaust survivors, she explained how she put her subjects at ease and didn’t push too hard for details from those reticent to talk.

My first workshop as a volunteer was for Carlo Rotella’s Nonfiction Storytelling. Again, I’m a fiction writer. So I expected this session to be a little dry and off-topic. But Carlo is another great speaker, and he’s had so many interesting experiences as a journalist that he was a pleasure to listen to. And I found many of his comments about research (how to handle too much, how to get more), organizing, and editing really refreshing. He was happy to discuss his techniques and the problems he encountered whenever he wrote a magazine piece. How it’s easier for him to revise and finish an article than it is to start one.

Lunch time. Another great meal from the staff at the Park Plaza. Have I mentioned how this place ran like a precision watch, and the food and service were excellent? As a volunteer I wasn’t sure where to eat, and walked into the huge Georgian Ballroom looking for anyone with this year’s Muse t-shirt (the uniform for volunteers). Randy flagged me down and so I sat with her and other writers like Cecile Corona, Stephanie Ebbert, Christiane Alsop, and Jennifer McInerney. It’s great to talk to like-minded writers. Whether or not they’ve got an agent, a book deal, published stories, writers can always find common ground for discussion.

Anyway, it was time for keynote speaker Ann Patchett, (Bel Canto, Run). She bounded onstage and spoke for over an hour with fierce conviction and wry, candid observations. The first thing she said was, “The muse is bullshit,” and spent about 30 minutes explaining how creativity isn’t something you wait for, it’s something you earn by sitting your butt in the chair and writing. Then she said, “The marketplace is bullshit,” and spent 30 minutes explaining how mercurial the writing business can be. How you may have to throw away your first novel and set to work on the second if you ever want to get published. How you can’t get caught up worrying about trends and advances or you’ll never write a true word (I’m paraphrasing here, or maybe I’m writing my own keynote speech). She took a few questions from the avid audience, and then she left as quickly as she had come, back onto a plane and home to Nashville. She was a hell of an entertaining speaker and I didn’t want it to end.

My afternoon workshop was run by writer Richard Hoffman, called Starting From Solitude: Interiority and the First-Person Narrator. Again, I was able to apply a non-fiction perspective to my experience as a fiction writer. Much of the workshop consisted of Richard feeding his small audience (these rooms held no more than 50 people I’m guessing) writing prompts. I followed along with the exercise. He had everyone choose a particularly emotional time in their lives, reminding us that adolescence is usually a good place to start. And indeed, there I was scribbling away to prompts like, where are you? (Walking on the beach.) What have you just come from doing? (Going to church youth group.) Who are you with? (My dog). What advice do you have for this version of yourself. (Don't take everything so damn seriously, and to give himself a break.) Richard called on participants to read, and it was pretty amazing to hear these micro memoirs put together on the spot.



When Richard’s session ended, I went down to the registration desk. It was pretty quiet, so I spent some time looking over the selection of books brought by Porter Square Books. Many, if not all, of the authors who participated over the weekend were represented. I decided to take a chance on an author I’d never heard of, and found The Missing Person, a novel by Alix Ohlin, who was around Saturday giving a workshop on time travel in fiction. Then I talked to fellow volunteer Kathleen about writing and publishing. It was a great way to end the conference; just talking to another writer about writing.

If there’s a takeaway from the conference, it’s the knowledge that all writers, no matter their level of success, confidence, or technique, share a common task. Ann Patchett said, If you’re good, you’ll get published. The panel on the state of publishing echoed, If you’re good, you’ll get published. And the only way that’s going to happen is for any writer to take all this advice, go home, sit down, and get to it.