MARIELENA ZUNIGA: For some of our followers, your name and book may be new (but not for long). Could you tell us a bit about your personal background?

EOWYN IVEY: I grew up in Alaska and still live here with my husband and two daughters. My mom is an avid reader and poet, and she named me after a character from the Lord of the Rings. I must have inherited her love of literature, because I now work as a bookseller at Fireside Books here in Alaska. My husband is a fishery biologist, but in addition to our day jobs, we strive to live a somewhat self-sufficient lifestyle. Like many Alaskans, we have a vegetable garden, pick wild berries, hunt moose and caribou to fill our freezer, and fish for salmon.

ZUNIGA: What is the premise of your book The Snow Child and its characters? What gave you the idea?

IVEY: I was on shift at the bookstore one winter evening several years ago, shelving books, when I came across a children’s illustrated fairy tale. It told of a man and woman who couldn’t have children and were sad in their old age. But one night they built a little girl out of snow and she came to life. It was a simple little story, and I quickly read it standing there by the shelf, but it was a revelation. I had found it – the path into the novel I had always wanted to write, a magical story set in the Alaska wilderness. So my tale begins with Jack and Mabel, childless and struggling to find happiness. They move to Alaska to homestead in 1920. One night they build a little girl out of snow, and the next day they catch glimpses of a child running through the forest.

ZUNIGA: I’ve noticed that fairy tales are being revisited in today’s TV shows and films – and now in your book. What do you suppose is behind this resurrection in our culture?

IVEY: It is fascinating, isn’t it? I’ve been wondering what it says about our culture. Are we craving the magical, wanting the extraordinary to be possible? Growing up I read a fair amount of fantasy, along with any other kind of book I could get my hands on. But I was always disappointed that the magic had to happen in another, imaginary world. I wanted to find enchantment in my own backyard. And I must not be alone. More and more I see stories that set mythical or fantastical tales in the everyday world. Like all trends, it’s a little mysterious.

ZUNIGA: You found your agent in an unusual way. Could you please share that experience with us?

IVEY: I still count my blessings on that one. I was attending the Kachemak Bay Writers Conference here in Alaska with my mom, Julie LeMay. We had each gone to learn more about our craft. While I know a lot of writers go to these events with plans to pitch their story to an editor or agent, I had no such intention. I wasn’t finished with the manuscript, and I wasn’t thinking about publishing possibilities.

But my mom encouraged me to talk with the visiting agent, Jeff Kleinman of Folio Literary Management. I admired many of the titles he represented, and my mom kept prodding me, so I signed up to speak with him. I figured at best I would get some ideas about how to pitch the novel if and when I completed it. Much to my utter delight and shock, he asked to see the first hundred pages of The Snow Child.

But I hadn’t brought the manuscript with me! I was on the phone with our neighbors, trying to track down my husband who was outside cutting wood, so he could drive to the nearest library and fax the pages. Finally, we got them to Jeff, and I thought “Wow, that was a fun roller coaster.” But still I didn’t think anything would come of it. Then, the next morning at the conference, Jeff offered to represent it. I actually had to sit down when he told me. It was staggering. I’m so glad I followed my mom’s advice. Maybe that’s the lesson – listen to your mom.    

ZUNIGA: How important was rewriting and revision to your book – and how much did you do?

IVEY: I am a constant, in-process reviser. I want each and every word to feel right, for the language to strive towards a kind of harmony. It slows my writing process, and in ways can seem like a waste of time. Often those pages I’ve agonized over, I cut out later. But the only way I can enjoy writing is if I feel like that sentence mattered, and the next one after it. I also had some very talented readers – my husband, my mom, my agent, and my editor. They all had different strengths and insights, and they really helped me see where I could improve the manuscript along the way. I find revision to be an intensely challenging but satisfying process.

ZUNIGA: What were your feelings when you learned that The Oprah Magazine selected your novel as one of its “top ten” must read books?

IVEY: I think I had a kind of out-of-body experience, like this must be happening to someone else. I bought the magazine at the airport on my way to New Orleans for a book event; I was certain I was going to open it to page 111 and it would all be a mistake, The Snow Child wouldn’t be there after all. But there it was!

And really this is just one crazy, wonderful thing that has happened with the book. It was also picked by Barnes & Noble as a Discover Great New Writers selection, Waterstones in the UK chose it for their prestigious “11” award, the Christian Science Monitor named The Snow Child #1 of six books to read in 2012, and it just hit #1 on the Norway bestseller list. As a bookseller, I knew I would be incredibly fortunate to be published at all. Never did I dare to hope that Little, Brown & Co. would acquire it and all this would happen.  It’s really amazing!

ZUNIGA: What authors have influenced you and why?

IVEY: I always find this such a difficult question because there are so many. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a little girl, and I have fallen in love with so many books. But I think the first novel that really stunned me, that made me want to be a better writer was Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine. Then there are novelists like Toni Morrison, Charles Frazier, Annie Proulx, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, people who I read with the deepest admiration. But I’m constantly discovering writers – Chad Harbach, Junot Diaz, Jonathan Safra Foer, Richard Flanagan, William Vollman, Yoko Ogawa … and just as it’s difficult to stop listing authors, it’s a challenge for me to figure out the common denominator. I love good writing, storytelling that weaves poetry into the words. I like funny books and sad books, disturbing stories and magical stories. I just want it to be honest, to be something from a writer’s heart that he or she is giving to me as a gift.

ZUNIGA: Why did you become a writer? Did your work as a reporter help or hinder your writing process and how?

IVEY: The written word has always fascinated me. I didn’t always know I would be a writer (at different points in my childhood I wanted to be a brain surgeon, a cow girl, and an astronaut.) But I always knew that I loved books. I went into journalism because I couldn’t figure how else to really earn a living as a reader and writer. I didn’t want to teach. I wanted to write. So I spent nearly a decade as a reporter for our local newspaper. I don’t regret those years – it was a great training ground for a writer, producing that much copy each week, enduring brutal edits, writing something and letting it go the next day without another thought. But as much as I value those years, I was never truly happy as a newspaper writer. Fiction was my true love, and when I decided to leave journalism and work as a bookseller, I suddenly found I had the energy and inspiration to begin writing novels. 

ZUNIGA: How do you balance family life, working at a bookstore and your writing?

IVEY: This is a challenge for all of us, isn’t it? The funny thing is, like many writers, I complain about not having enough time to write, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have a very full life, and I’m grateful for that. And, perhaps as a former newspaper journalist, I thrive under pressure. When I know I only have this one hour to write before I have to take our daughter to school or cook dinner, then I make that hour work for me. I suspect that if I had a leisurely lifestyle, I wouldn’t write a word.

ZUNIGA: What advice do you have for an aspiring writer who is struggling with rejection?

IVEY: Oh, it’s awful. Rejection is so much a part of the process for all of us, and it’s excruciating. It’s difficult to keep up in the face of it, but unfortunately I think that’s what we have to do as writers. Just keep trying again and again. But I think if you do it for the love of it, because you love to read and you love to write – that’s something no one can take away from you, no matter how many times they say no.

ZUNIGA: Any final words you’d like to add about your book, yourself or the writing process?

IVEY: I would just encourage writers to read – read everything you can. I envision books as a kind of timeless literary conversation, and the best way I can make my own small contribution is to know what has already been said, to try to understand it and appreciate it.

For the book trailer on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSS0lK6Fy24

Eowyn Ivey’s website: http://www.eowynivey.com/

LORETTA C. ROGERS: When Sandy asked me to write about why the appeal of the Old West has lasted for several hundred years, without knowing it, she tapped into my inner-cowgirl core. The Old West is my favorite time period.  It was a time in history when the good guys and their faithful steeds were the true heroes. While werewolves, shape shifters, gnomes, robots, and slapstick comedy currently dominates the big screen, and contemporary romance is popular with readers, it is my firm believe that the lure of the Old West will continue to thrive.

I write historical Westerns. People seem mystified that a woman would write this particular genre. In fact, a Marine Colonel Fighter Pilot, after he had read The Twisted Trail, emailed to say it was…. “very unusual for a female author to have an understanding of, and can relate, the masculine approach to action and feelings.”

People often ask me why I write Westerns. I grew up in an era where Zane Grey and Louie L’Amour’s western novels dominated book shelves and western movies ruled the big screen. Then with television came such cowboy series as The Gene Autry Show, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, Gun Smoke, Wagon Train, and a host of others that invited viewers to join the actors on mythical journeys that provided an escape from everyday life. These were not mere ‘shoot ‘em ups.” Each show presented a moral lesson for both children and adult viewers. The good guys wore white hats and justice always prevailed.

Perhaps no image in American history and literature is more deeply embedded in the American mind than that of the old west cowboy. So why has this love affair with traditional westerns retained its lasting appeal with the reading public and movie viewers? It is this same appeal that keeps me writing western novels. Have you heard the term, ‘Code of the West’? If so, do you know what it means?

The late, great cowboy movie star, John Wayne said, “A man’s got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.”The hardy pioneers who lived in the west were bound by these unwritten rules that centered on hospitality, fair play, loyalty, and respect for the land.

Although there was little glamour in the Old West, and the wonderful adventures it offers in books and movies, it was a place of unspeakable hardships and dangers.  Yet, people lived and died by the ‘Code.’

In each of my westerns, and that includes my western romance, I like alpha heroes, but no matter how bad-to-the bone the hero is, I always leave room for him to grow into the champion women want to fall in love with, and in whose boots men who want to walk. In fact, in my time-travel western romance,  Isabelle and the Outlaw, I had a male reader say if he could choose to be anyone, he’d want to be just like Rafe Sinclair. Raphael Sinclair was a Pinkerton agent who went undercover as an outlaw. Although there were times when he feared he was crossing over to the other side, Rafe remained honor bound to bring these bad guys to justice.

Superstition Trailwhich released December 2011, is my newest western published by Avalon Books. The hero, Ace Donovan, is a man who believes when an injustice is done it’s his job to make it right. That’s exactly what he does. When unscrupulous railroad contractors hang his father and brother, and plant three slugs in his chest, leaving him for dead, he spends fifteen years tracking these men. Some call it murder, others call it revenge. Donovan calls it justice. He, too, lives by the Code of the West.

A quote from Legends of America [updated 2010]. “Never shoot an unarmed or unwarned enemy. This was also known as “the rattlesnake code”: always warn before you strike. However, if a man was being stalked, this could be ignored. “

Whether it’s fighting Indians, tracking down outlaws, or trail herding cattle over a thousand miles to the nearest railhead, for readers and movie-goers alike, Westerns provide an escapism to a time when life was free, and closely tied to the outdoors and nature. These things are characteristic of the real and the mythical cowboy cultures.

Although the western has taken a backseat to other genres such as paranormal, sci-fi, and contemporary, it is my opinion that the lure of the Old West and the cowboy will endure throughout the centuries as long as we have authors who continue to write about these colorful characters, publishers like Avalon who are willing to publish them, movie producers, and actors who are willing to bring westerns to television and cinema, and the ever faithful fans who continue to purchase western novels.

For Avalon Books, Loretta writes under the pseudonym L. W. Rogers. Her Avalon titles are: Superstition Trail, Brady’s Revenge, and The Twisted Trail. For The Wild Rose Press, she writes western romance under her given name. Her novel Bannon’s Brides won the Beacon and Heart of Excellence Awards, and was named Book Strand’s best-selling novel for 2011. Her books are available at Barnes and Noble (on-line) and Amazon.com.

Thank you, Loretta.  You brought back a lot of memories for me of hours spent in front of the TV with my brother, the two of us sprawled on the floor, totally engrossed in the story unfolding before us, unaware that we were learning about justice and fair play.

Readers of this blog know that I was an early fan of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, a middle-grade novel that had limited success in England.  More than twenty-odd years later, that unprepossessing novel led to an award-winning play in London and later New York.  On Christmas Day, Steven Spielberg’s movie of the same name opened and I lined up to see it.  Though the first-person narration of the horse – a large part of the charm of the novel – is lost in the movie translation, Spielberg doesn’t disappoint.  The spirit of the book with its emphasis on the futility of war is certainly there in both the stories of the noble horses as well as the people caught up in that horrible war.  The story of the horses recruited to fight that war was a little-known one that Morpurgo chanced upon in a pub when he got to talking to an old veteran of the war.  A bit of digging in such places as London’s Imperial War Museum and the kernel of the idea grew into a full-blown story that could even withstand the big screen treatment of a Spielberg.

In the same way, Brian Selznick discovered a large portion of his story for the middle grade novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret right here in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute when a generous museum curator showed him a very early mechanical man (called an automaton) that could draw pictures and write poetry. Tying the mechanical man to early moviemaker Georges Melies was not an obvious choice but Selznick makes it work in his totally innovative 530-page illustrated novel which was a natural to translate into film.  The novel even looks like a movie, if you can believe it, yet it’s not a graphic novel but a novel “in words and pictures.” 

These two novels may be aimed at children, but they don’t sugar-coat the truth.  Hugo’s loving father is burned to death in a museum fire.  In War Horse, Albert’s father is a drunk who flirts with cruelty to both his son and his son’s beloved horse Joey. 

Who would image that a story about a horse that goes to war would become a major motion picture?  But then who would see the appeal in the story of two orphaned kids in Paris in the 1930s, one of whom knows how to fix things – especially clocks – and is desperate to also fix the mechanical man who could provide him with a message from his dead father?  The mechanical man does have a message but not in the way Hugo Cabret imagines.  It’s an intricate, riveting story – a one-of-a-kind. 

Both novelists latch onto an obscure story and make it their own – which in both cases is to say a fascinating one.  The moral?  Look for the story that fascinates you, however unlikely it may appear on the surface.  Chances are there are lots of folks who will agree with you.

Agatha Christie

Where are you in your writing life? Are you a novice? Or have you been writing into your wisdom years? Where you are makes a difference, on many levels. It’s like anything else in life. When we’re “newbies” at any endeavor, we learn by doing.

In writing, we need to write every day to learn how to craft a sentence, a paragraph, or a full-length novel. Even more important, as we age we’re still learning about life. Some contend that we really can’t write anything worthwhile until after 50 years of age. Only after experiencing the bruises and ecstasies of life, they say, do we have something to write about. That may be true.

Or not. Some young authors have the gift and ability to capture the world, despite their lack of life experience. They’re exceptional, the prodigies of the writing world. Mary Shelley, for example, was 19 years old when she wrote Frankenstein. Contemporary authors include S.E. Hinton who published her classic novel The Outsiders when she was 17 and Christopher Paolini who wrote the first draft of his best-selling novel Eragon when he was 15.

Aside from these and other exceptional young talents, the best age to write a novel is 50, at least according to a study of New York Times’ best-selling authors of the past 50 years. The average age of writers who topped the hardback fiction section was 50.5 years.

Late-blooming giants of fiction are many. Joseph Conrad didn’t become a major writer until his 50s and Katherine Anne Porter was 40 when her first short-story collection was published. And in that New York Times’ study, Agatha Christie topped the list as the oldest author with her novel Sleeping Murder, published shortly after her death at age 85.

Then there’s the recent story of Jim Henry of Connecticut who first learned to write his name at 96 and wrote a best-selling non-fiction book at 98. In a Fisherman’s Language takes readers on a 29-chapter journey of his life. Henry even has his own blog and does book signings!

The moral to all this? There may possibly be an age bias in writing/publishing, but that should be the least of our concerns as writers. Whether we began writing last year, 10 years ago or have been writing for 40 years – whether we’re 15 years old or 80 – the aim always and forever is this: Write well.

In her blog literary agent Rachelle Gardner, says it best: “The book is still the main thing. It’s by far the most important consideration. If it’s fiction, then the story itself and the quality of the writing are what matters. With non-fiction (as always) the uniqueness of the idea, its marketability and your author platform will be considered. The book itself is where we place the most emphasis rather than age.”

This is a new year – an exciting year – when in 2012 we elect a new president, the Summer Olympics are in London, the Queen of England celebrates her Diamond Jubilee and according to the Mayans, the world is going to end. And we’re all going to be another year older. So what are we waiting for? Why not add to that list that we wrote and published our books? Let’s go for it!

 I think most of us observe certain rituals as we make the transition from one year to the next. One of mine is looking through the list of books I’ve read during the past twelve months and revisiting the places and the people those books have allowed me to know. A recent entry is Alexander McCall Smith’s The Importance of Being Seven. In the introduction, Mr. Smith says that he takes great pleasure in “the knowledge that we are all linked by our friendship with a group of fictional people” and goes on to say: “What a pleasant club of which to be a member!”

 I’d never thought of it quite like that, but I believe he’s right. People who love books are linked by the fictional characters with whom we are friends – and it is a pleasant club.

 The mention of certain fictional names calls to mind very specific personalities. Compare someone to Tom Sawyer, Scarlett O’Hara or Jo March and you don’t have to say another word. Your listener knows exactly what you mean. Some characters are so closely identified with certain characteristics that their names have become synonyms for them. Think of Scrooge or Pollyanna.

 In 2011, I had the pleasure of spending time with some truly memorable characters. Some were old favorites; some were new friends that I hope to get to know better. Maisie Dobbs (an old favorite whom I’ve come to consider a dear friend) escorted me through the years between the two world wars in The Mapping of Love and Death and A Lesson in Secrets. In Fall of Giants, Ken Follett assembled a cast from around the globe to give a human perspective to the pride and deception that led to the first of those terrible conflicts. Chris Cleave’s Little Bee was a heartbreaking portrayal of the plight of a political fugitive and a thought-provoking study of what can happen when courage fails. I had a glimpse into the fascinating world of a Murano glassmaker as I tagged along with Commissario Guido Brunetti in Through a Glass Darkly. I’ll never forget the frustration or the courage of Aibileen, Minnie, and Skeeter in The Help. I could go on, but I’m sure you have your own list, your own favorites.

 The gift of an e-reader by a dear friend added another dimension to my reading pleasure in 2011. Thanks to this device, I was able to sample books that aren’t available in paper format. I delighted in the works of some of my writing friends. Two who stand out are closely associated with Birth of a Novel. Sharen Ford’s In September allowed me to spend time with two remarkable (and remarkably well-drawn) characters as I watched Amanda and Rani grow from children in Australia to sophisticated women of the world. In Marielena Zuniga’s Jane, I had the pleasure (and heartbreak) of experiencing the tumultuous adventures of Jane Eyre and her modern counterpart, Jane Elliott. I am so proud to say that I know these formidably talented women, especially since I was present during the birthing process of these novels. Some of my fellow Avalon writers published ebooks that I thoroughly enjoyed: Beate Boeker’s Culinary Catastrophe series introduced me to the delightful Tak, as she tackled impossibly complicated recipes and welcomed a new man into her life. Mona Ingram’s Full Circle took me along as a young woman learned to succeed on her own terms. Always the mystery lover, I had fun figuring out whodunit in K. T. Roberts’s The Last Witness and Mary Ellen Hughes’s Resort to Murder.

 Do I have a favorite fictional friend? Not really. Just like my real life friends, I treasure each of them for their unique qualities. I have to admit, though, to a soft spot for three characters: 5-year-old Jack from ROOM; 12-year-old Paloma from The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and, of course, almost-7-year-old Bertie from The Importance of Being Seven. Perhaps because they’re children, I was especially touched by the vulnerability and bravery of these characters and have a special admiration for the delicacy with which their creators brought them to life. 

 How about you, my fellow members of this pleasant club, do you have a favorite fictional character with whom you spent time in 2011?

 Happy New Year – and HappyReading.

In honor of the opening of the movie War Horse on Christmas Day, we are adapting and re-posting this review of the middle grade novel War Horse which I reviewed in 2010 after seeing the stage play in London and buying a copy of the novel during intermission.

I was fortunate to nab tickets to War Horse at the New London Theatre in the West End of London in March of 2010 when I traveled with a group of Arcadia University students [see my April 2010 blog]. The play is based on a 1982 children’s novel of the same name by English writer Michael Morpurgo. Along with human actors, the amazing play uses life-size puppets to represent horses, vividly recreating the fearsome battlefields of France during World War I.
So intrigued was I by the first act of the play, I couldn’t resist buying a copy of the novel at the intermission – an English version with evocative illustrations by Francois Place. Within weeks, my daughter, her veterinarian-student boyfriend, and my sister, a long-time horse owner, had all devoured the book and pronounced it a winner, true to both the period and to equine sensibilities.
The play came to New York the following year and the, until then, little-noticed novel became the basis for Steven Spielberg’s movie War Horse set to open on Christmas Day – exactly one week from today. The story of how this previously little-known novel, first published nearly 30 years ago, hit the big time is an intriguing one for any aspiring children’s writer.
As I’m sure Spielberg would be the first to say, everything starts with a good story, and Morpurgo’s novel hits the mark. The middle grade novel is told in first person fashion – a la Black Beauty – by the main character, Joey, a red-bay horse with a fine white cross down his nose and four perfectly matched white socks. It’s a war story, of course, but also a tale of friendship and loyalty between the horse and his thirteen-year-old master, Albert, who grows into young manhood by novel’s end.
Joey starts life as an auctioned farm horse, albeit with thoroughbred bloodlines, who is sold away from his mother as a colt to a bitter, alcoholic farmer trying to scratch a living from a poor farmstead in the Devon countryside. Lucky for him, Albert is a natural horseman and has learned to ignore his father’s counsel when it comes to most things, including horses. When his father sells Joey to the army at the outbreak of the Great War, Albert tries to join up but is turned away as too young. Chapter 4 concludes with a promise to Joey from Albert, but by novel’s end, Albert has learned not to promise what he can’t be sure of delivering. The ending may be too predictable and sappy for some, but not for this reader. Joey’s journey as a cavalry horse illustrates what the best historical fiction always does: intrigues with “story” but teaches the reader more about history then the best lesson plan.

Morpurgo’s inspiration for War Horse? In an article in the London Evening Standard, he explains it this way: “[a] chance conversation in the local pub nearly 30 years ago with an old soldier who had been to the First World War as a 17 year old ‘with ‘orses’…” A bit of digging, including at London’s Imperial War Museum and Morpurgo learned that eight million horses had died in the war, including a million from Britain. For those horses that survived, there was a final betrayal at the war’s close when the battle-weary equine war veterans were auctioned off in France, often to butchers. The horses were worth too little to transport home to England.
“In the writing of it,” says Morpurgo, “I knew I had to tell the story of the soldiers of both sides at the front, and of the families, and people in France and Belgium, whose villages and farms were turned into battlefields. My horse would witness it all, the pity and the futility and the huge senselessness, and the hope, too.”
Though it is a tear-jerker for sure, Morpurgo manages to make the happy ending just about believable, and never is the reader driven away by the violence or cruelty of Joey’s situation. Everywhere, Joey encounters kindness along with the inhumanities of that loathsome war and that kindness knows no national bounderies. No wonder Spielberg saw the merit of the story.
Morpurgo reports that the “book nearly won the Whitbread Prize but didn’t, and then languished, rarely read thereafter for 25 years but kept in print by kind publishers all this time.” Then, by chance, the mother of Tom Morris (a man of importance at London’s National Theatre) read the novel. She knew her son was looking for a story with an animal lead to showcase the work of Handspring Puppets, the South African puppeteers. Morpurgo heard the news that War Horse was being considered for such a production “out of the blue.” That was in 2005. The play was a critical and commercial success both in London where it opened in 20007 and in New York where it won the five Tony awards this year, including “Best Play.” It’s currently on stage at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln Center. http://www.lct.org/showMain.htm?id=199

The film was produced by DreamWorks in association with Reliance and Disney. The London Evening Standard quoted Spielberg as saying, “Its heart and its message provide a story that can be felt in every country.”
I plan to be in line to see the movie on December 26. Funny how a little middle grade novel can make such a mark both in the theatre world and at the movies. In the end, it all comes down to a good story, though as Morpurgo himself admits, it never did well, often selling only a few thousand copies a year. But it really IS an excellent story and it just took a lot of luck to make folks sit up and take notice.  Do you have a good story to write?
For more about books by Michael Morpurgo:

http://www.michaelmorpurgo.com/books/war-horse/

Still, something within me whispered, “Share it. It might touch others.” At the last minute I sent it into a prestigious writing competition and it placed well among thousands of entries.

What’s my point in telling you this? I believe as writers we are challenged to “write from the heart.” Terrifying? You bet. But plumbing such depths is also what I believe to be our calling as writers. When we have the courage to be authentic  – when we dare visit and share those deep, hidden places with their fears, sorrows and memories – then our writing in some mysterious way also touches a universal chord.

In her book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott writes: “So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don’t worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this.”

One example is Jeanette Walls who touches the heart with grace and honesty in her memoir The Glass Castle. And while non-fiction, memoirs and essays may lend themselves more easily to writing from the heart, what about fiction? Even there, we must enter our inner chambers of heartfelt feelings to help characters discover their own.

Reflect for a minute on those books that touched you most. What heroines or heroes made you cry, laugh, or breathe a sigh of hope because they spoke, loved and struggled from the heart? Was it Lily in The Secret Life of Bees or Jane Eyre or Mariam and Laila in A Thousand Splendid Suns? In these protagonists we discover our humanity, our common journey. We discover our own hearts.

How do we write from the heart? I have no definitive answers. I do believe, however, we must make room to hear what our hearts are telling us. For some it may be meditation, prayer, gardening or a walk in the woods. Ultimately, it’s allowing ourselves a receptive space where we can get out of our heads and into the sacred place where our own truth resides. And then, we must have the courage to put ourselves on paper for others to see.

It’s a lofty challenge but according to Roger Rosenblatt the only one of worth. In his latest book, Unless it Moves the Human Heart: The Art and Craft of Writing he states, “Nothing you write will matter unless it moves the human heart … and the heart you must move is corrupt, depraved and desperate for your love … you must write as if your reader needed you desperately, because he does.”

The final words in the book are even more compelling: “For all its frailty and bitterness, the human heart is worthy of your love. Love it. Have faith in it. Both you and the human heart are full of sorrow. But only one of you can speak for that sorrow and ease its burdens and make it sing – word after word after word.”

As the title of this blog reminds us, how a book is born is a story in itself.

Last year in my conversation with Sandy Cody (in the blog archives November 8, 2010), I explained where the ideas from my YA fantasies came from. Today I wanted to share the serendipitous way in which my most recent novel, the adult paranormal, Becquer Eternal came to be.

After I finished my YA fantasy, The Revenge of the Wolf King, I started sending letters to agents introducing my manuscript and asking whether they would like to represent me. This process, called querying in the writers’ world, is both tedious and humbling, and once the letters are sent, totally beyond our control.

To fight the urge to check my e-mail box every few seconds, I started a new project. The kernel of my new project was, according to my blog post of last November, to write a paranormal story with “a wise older woman as the protagonist. Something like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer with the mother as the slayer.”

In the tradition of Dickens and Conan Doyle, I planned to publish my story in weekly installments at my blog ( http://carmenferreiroesteban.wordpress.com/tag/becquer/page/2/).

Because I had no outline, a first for me, my story evolved as the current events of my life intruded into my writing. And so it was that my desire to find the perfect agent was realized in my dream world, in just my second post. Of course, this perfect agent was not perfect or there would have been no story. His flaw? He was not really human, for he was Becquer, the XIX century Spanish poet every single girl in Spain has a crush on the first time she reads his poems.

Having broken the rules of reality once, by bringing Becquer to life, why not, I thought, break them again and make Lorca–another Spanish poet I love–a character in the story as well? And so I did.

The interaction of my protagonist, Carla–a contemporary single mother of two teenagers–with these two charismatic poets created a story quite different from the one I had planned to write.

In this new story, Carla has no ‘Buffysque’ powers, and the introduction I wrote as my first post (http://carmenferreiroesteban.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/garlic-for-breakfast/) does not fit the plot anymore, so I had to cut it in the final draft.

In the meantime, I found a wonderful agent to represent my YA novel. As for Becquer Eternal, following on the footsteps of my gracious host, Sandy Cody, I have decided to self-publish it as an e-book.

Wish me luck.

We do wish you luck, Carmen. Thanks for the update. 

NOTE: There’s an excerpt from Carmen’s YA novel, Two Moon Princess, on the Guest Excerpt page of my website: http://www.sandracareycody.com

1. The chance to pass the torch.  I visited my twenty-something daughter in Boston last weekend and was once again gladdened by the fact that she, too, is a writer.  With a newly minted MFA in nonfiction writing, she is embracing the freelance life – full of ideas for articles, books, and more.  (Check out her blog at emiliebwrites@wordpress.com)  Writers make for interesting companions in that they are fascinated by all manner of things and brimming with curiosity.  I see the same characteristic in many of my students and it is indeed a thrill to nurture writers of all ages and styles
2. The opportunity to let our talent shine via this connected world.  Is it just me or do other folks recognize how much the ability to write well and with ease gives one a leg-up in this technology-driven world?  As I spend my days writing nuanced, sometimes difficult email messages in my day-job, I am thankful that I can do so with competence.   Our words have never had the ability to reach the greater world so quickly!
3. The ability to appreciate fine writing.  A writer recognizes writing that shines.  We know what’s   behind it and, as an old professor used to say, we can hear the heartbeat of the writer as we read it.  Some people believe that peeking behind the words at the craft of writing can ruin the illusion, but I don’t buy it.  I believe it only heightens our appreciation.  This week I read the email of a colleague newly laid off from his corporate writing job and was amazed; he made even such an off-putting event into a celebration of his writing talent, a tribute to what words can communicate.  Kudos to us all!
4. The golden opportunity to tell stories.  The writer is at heart a simple storyteller – one in a long, long line of storytellers in his lineage, no doubt.  I like to imagine people of old telling stories around a fire, passing on the oral tradition.  We can learn a lot from that oral tradition:  appealing to an audience with pacing, for one thing.  The details that heighten the drama, for another.  In fact, being a writer enhances our abilities to observe in order to record.  Have you ever squirmed in the presence of a particularly talented writer because you believe she can see right through you?  Why should we be surprised?
5. The power to create new worlds.  Writing is power.  The Egyptians would soak their scrolls in water and drink that water to imbibe the power.  There is social, economic, and personal power in words.  Our immigrant forbears knew that – without the words, where is the success?  Any writer – fiction or nonfiction – has countless opportunities to tell the story is a unique way to create effect. Where else can we create new worlds?
6. The ability to change the world.  I taught a freshman seminar a few years back called “Writing to Change the World” – and I believed in it too.  So did Mary Pipher who wrote the book of the same name I used in that class.  Words can affect social change.  A simple editorial or blog post has the potential to change the world. In fact, using rhetorical strategies in community forums has that same power.  Pretty heady stuff!
7. The possibility of greatness!  For the writer, success is just around the corner.  Who knows when one’s writing will hit the big time?  As Emily Dickenson said, “Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul.”  Embracing the writing life gives us something greater than ourselves to hope for.

Here’s wishing each one of you a Thanksgiving full of joy and turkey and writer-ly appreciations!

It would seem not. Gardner shares that many newbie novelists experience that dreaded lack of confidence, hoping the journey becomes easier with time. It doesn’t. In that same blog, a veteran novelist states:

The complete lack of confidence will likely persist and even become worse as you progress. I called my editor this summer and said, “What the heck is going on? This is my sixth novel! Shouldn’t I at least have my creative process figured out by now?” And she laughed at me. And then through snorts she said, “Oh my gosh, is that really how you think this works?”

The sad truth is – writing ain’t easy. It’s a process of ups and downs, good and bad days, thinking what you’ve written is worthy of the New York Times best-seller list to believing your words aren’t fit for a first-grade primer. As my favorite Southern author Flannery O’Connor said: “Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay …” Well, I haven’t reached that point yet. But some days it feels that way.

Although there’s no one answer to this dilemma, here are some thoughts that might give us hope. One, we’re not alone in the roller-coaster process. Other kindred writers are out there experiencing those same insecurities. And second, that innate lack of confidence can be a gift. If we listen, those doubts encourage us to dig deeper into our creative process and can give birth to our best writing.

Finally, those demons can be our teacher. How? By helping us realize that we serve no one when we focus on those insecurities as the core of who we are, as writers or as people. Our writing is meant to be shared with others. It’s our gift. As the old saying goes we need to “feel the fear and do it anyway” knowing that we have offered the best we can in the present moment.

As one of my favorite spiritual authors and teachers, Marianne Williamson, writes: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?”

So, let’s hear your stories. What are some of your fears and demons as a writer? And how are you claiming your own power as a writer?

Marielena still has her hair and teeth intact after writing her first e-book “Jane” available on Kindle at http://amzn.to/rCqsJa and at Apple’s iBookstore http://bit.ly/sxUWKH and for the Sony Reader http://bit.ly/toaQSw