A SMART DOSE OF ANTAGONISTIC FORCE AT AUTHOR SALON

What chances do you as a writer have of getting your novel manuscript, regardless of genre, commercially published if the story and narrative therein fail to meet reader demands for sufficient suspense, character concern, and conflict? Answer: none. But what major factor makes for a quiet or dull manuscript brimming with insipid characters and a story that cascades from chapter to chapter with tens of thousands of words, all of them combining irresistibly to produce an audible thudding sound in the mind, rather like a fist hitting a side of cold beef?

Such a dearth of Élan vital in narrative and story frequently results from the unwillingness of the writer to create a suitable antagonist who stirs and spices the plot hash. And let’s make it clear what we’re talking about. By “antagonist” we specifically refer to an actual fictional character, an embodiment of certain traits and motivations who plays a significant role in catalyzing and energizing plot line(s), or at bare minimum, in assisting to evolve the protagonist’s character arc (and by default the story itself) by igniting complication(s) the protagonist, and possibly other characters, must face and solve (or fail to solve).

Writers new to the fiction game often shy away from creating an effective antagonist. If you are an editor, you see this time and time again. But why? Is it because they can’t accept that a certain percentage of cruel and selfish humans are a reality of life? Is it because they live in an American bubble surrounded only by circumstances that reinforce their Rockwellian naivety? Do they not watch Bill Moyers, or Sixty Minutes, or even a shred of film footage from the latest repressions of the downtrodden by tyrannical government forces? Or is it because they don’t understand the requirements of good dramatic fiction (no good guy without a bad guy, folks)? Or some combo thereof? Whatever. Though you would think after watching hundreds of films (even comedies) and reading God knows how many novels they might catch on. And this doesn’t mean they have to reinvent the black hat cowboy. We’re talking about prime movers of social conflict and supreme irritation that come in wide variety of forms, from relatively mild to pure evil.

Antagonists are often the most memorable characters in literature, without whom many of the best selling novels of all time would simply cease to exist, their supporting beams cut away, the shell of remaining “story” quietly imploding to ignominy and self-publication. And what drives these antagonists? Whether revenge, zealotry, ruthless ambition, hubris or just plain jealousy, the overall effect on the narrative and plot in general is identical, i.e., a dramatic condition of complication (related to plot) and concern (related to character) infuses the story.

True drama demands they exist.

[ More on Author Salon ]

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THE PSCO GUIDE

The PSCO is a new way of writing a long and detailed plot synopsis about your novel or narrative non-fiction. It focuses on the development of the story, i.e., the major plot line(s), breaking up the synopsis into sections while prompting each writer to consider crucial specific elements such as setting and conflict.

The PSCO is composed of two primary parts: the first which contains the story statement, hook line, and the writer’s profile pitch synopsis, followed by the second which contains summaries of the six novel or narrative non-fiction acts, defined here as STORY ACTS. Each Story Act in turn consists of two primary parts. First, an opening summary of the entire Act with plot as the focus, and second, an appropriate subset of PLOT BRIEFS that further elaborate on the progression of the story in the Act and which touch on the most important and relevant elements and events involving the major characters, especially the antagonist and the protagonist.

[ On to The Guide ]

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THE PDQ SOLUTION TO CREATING METAPHOR AND DESCRIPTION IN FICTION NARRATIVE

You are a writer. It is your job to faithfully explore and note the world of your fiction. You have here the perfect means for initiating this process: the PROSE DESCRIPTION QUESTIONNAIRE. When it comes to writing descriptive narrative, or simply generating conceptual thought regarding a specific object/person/place/event/condition in the novel, the questionnaire below is indispensable.

REMEMBER, EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS HAS VARIED DIMENSION AND FORM, DEPENDING ON THE OBSERVER.

Things exist in the mind as hazy memory, and in reality as measurable matter; things also exist in a place and time, betwixt and between, in dark and light. Things affect human beings in different ways. Imagine the difference between an object that is foreign to you and one that is familiar and sentimental—a child’s toy, for  example. Even an object simple as a woman’s dress possesses angles and facets you might never have imagined or thought to notice (the results below are the result of brainstorming the dress with each of these questions, thus creating pages of notes later culled down and edited.). The PDQ can thus be effectively used by you to develop imagery, structure, concepts and metaphors for just about anything.

Approach each question separately, and use it as a means of brainstorming thought. Write whatever comes to mind, freely associate, and follow the path of association. Get it all down, however much, then return and edit it later, culling forth the best bits and impressions.  This process created five pages of notes on the dress below, culled to the following.

Thoughts on the dress:

Q: What of appearance? How to describe?

A: at a distance, a small cloud, one that the sun will soon dissolve; like a shadow of leaf on the bottom of a pond; like striking a match in a night-black and windowless room, the flame thereof made nervous by breath; a soft attraction with feet to carry it, arms to straighten it; sometimes a bell or a letter of alphabet between the trees, only for a moment.

[ More at Author Salon ]

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Sympathy Factors In The Hook

If you‘ve won a Pulitzer you might consider disregarding the advice in this section, but it‘s not advisable. Look at the percentage of novels on the shelf right now that concentrate on creating a character the reader will become concerned with without hesitation. Quite a few, yes? A novel hook with an interesting, unique, and sympathetic character will make agents sit up and take notice. This is vital to avoiding a rejection slip.

Examples of what we’re talking about here on Author Salon as follows. The name of the character in question follows the title and author. All of the factors listed appear in the first 10 to 15 pages.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Protagonist : Christopher John Francis Boone

– A first-person narrative from an autistic 15-year-old protagonist: “My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,057.”

[ More Sympathy Factor Examples ]

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AUTHOR SALON REVIEWS CRAFT POINTS AND EPIPHANY

Lessons and Readings Necessary To The Creation of a Competitive Commercial Manuscript

As noted in our piece on scene storyboards, if you’re working on a commercial fiction or narrative non-fiction manuscript, you will benefit if you view your project as possessing three layers of increasing complexity (yes, this is a BIG cake!):

Layer I: Overall story premise and plot. These involve top level decisions regarding major characters, the overall setting, plot line evolution, dramatic complications, theme, reversals, and other, as defined in the Six Act Two-Goal Novel guide (see below).

Layer II: story scenes and their structural nature, as well as inter-scene narrative. Consider your story generally composed of units of scene, each scene performing specific tasks in the novel, always moving the plot line(s) forward and evolving the character(s). Each scene contains an opening set, an evolution of middle, and conclusion. But whether scene-based, or inter-scene, this layer comprises the matter and techniques that clarify, evolve, and elaborate on the matters of Layer I.

Layer III: The narrative composition and delivery of your scenes and inter-scene text. This includes proper point of view(s), overall tone, the quality of the narrative prose in terms of sentences, cinema, emotion display, metaphor, and more.

For our purposes here, we will divide the extant group of Author Salon craft articles and notes into the three categories above.

[ Continued at Author Salon Craft Notes ]

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Exposition: What the Reader Must Know Before Plot Begins

Exposition is that information which must be delivered to the reader to enable she or he to fully understand the story going forward. The skilled and experienced author delivers exposition at the right time and place, fusing it within the narrative flow so as to avoid the appearance of artifice. Generally speaking, the reader learns exposition in a similar manner to the way life teaches it, e.g., upon moving into a new neighborhood, you learn the background history of the neighbors a bit at a time. They tell you about themselves, and others, as circumstances and conditions permit. By combining those fragments, you are finally able to perceive the entire picture of neighborhood society.

NOTE: keep in mind that most if not all major exposition MUST be delivered to the reader by the time the FIRST MAJOR PLOT POINT arrives (usually within the first 50 pages or earlier). It only makes sense.  The reader must understand the backstory and exposition before the course of the plot changes and creates the major rising action of the tale.  If this doesn’t take place, it would be equivalent, for example, of a friend were telling you about the car accident she had yesterday, beginning the story by saying: “And then the car exploded and I was taken to the hospital.” Doesn’t work. You have no context, no backstory. Where had she been driving? What caused the explosion? etc.

Below are a few character and narrative techniques for delivering exposition.

[ Exposition Notes and Examples ]

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Novel Pitch Examples Used by Algonkian Workshops and Events

We at Author Salon recommend the following these Algonkian examples as models for a novel pitch session. Keep the pitch to 150-200 words (orally or in query letter format).  Note that your pitch is a diagnostic tool that helps you determine the strong and weak points of your novel. You can’t have a strong pitch without a strong novel.

Take special note of dramatic tension and plot points, rising action, character qualities.

AWC: What is the backstory of Kim Boykin? You’re working with the South Carolina writers group and editing the Quill? How long have you been writing fiction?

Kim: How far back do you want to go? Growing up, I learned how to tell a story from my grandpa in rural Georgia who held court under an old Mimosa. When the weather was too rough to farm, people would come in droves just to hear him tell tales and share his unique take on the world. As a child, I was enthralled, but when I started to write, really write, I realized what a master teacher of pacing and sensory detail he was. I wrote and tossed, not to be confused with pitched, two novels, then wrote a version of THE WISDOM OF HAIR ten years ago.

I got an agent but she died after the first round of submissions; the agent I inherited didn’t get southern fiction at all. When it was clear she had no intention of selling my novel, I left and just kept writing books. I turned 53 this year, which doesn’t mean anything other than I’ve been at this a really long time. I’ve dabbled with queries and attended a conference or two, but nothing really happened until I attended the New York Pitch Conference.

I’m on the board of the South Carolina Writer’s Workshop, which is an statewide organization dedicated to helping its member develop as writers and publish. We have a very well respected conference in Myrtle Beach, SC every year. As a matter of fact I pitched the same novel to four agents last year, but I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. Part of the pitch is finding out what works and doesn’t work in your story itself. I didn’t really understand that until I went to New York.

AWC: Kim, do tell, what is the origin of THE WISDOM OF HAIR? How did you arrive at this concept, and having arrived, how did you evolve it into an entire novel?

Kim: Well, the title came from one of the editors at the pitch conference and it just stuck. But the story came to me like all my stories, voices in my head, telling me what to write. It didn’t hurt that I spent a lot of time when I was growing up hanging out at my mother’s beauty salon. She had a lot of interesting clients–war brides, a Zigfield girl, all kinds of women with all kinds of stories but the one thing they had in common was their hair and the belief that if they could change their hair, they could change their life.

Funny thing is, until I had to write a pitch and figure out what made my common story uncommon, I didn’t see that. But that’s exactly what had the editor’s nodding their heads and asking to see the script.

AWC: Who is your readership for this book? Are you working on marketing plans now?

Kim: If I had to dust off my marketing degree and figure out that kind of stuff, I’d say Women 35-54 would be the core demo. But the concept of fix your hair/fix your life is universal among women, which is why I’ve created a blog, thewisdomofhair.com and a Facebook page by the same name. The idea is to get women talking about their hair. The first entry has the thoughts from two women, a dyed in the wool Baptist from South Carolina and a Muslim student from Canada. So what does it mean when their views about hair coincide? It means we’ve found something universal, a common wisdom that can change the world or at least change our world. How cool is that?

So the takeaway is social media is huge. When the blog is ready for prime time, my agent’s going to tweet about it, and I’ve got other folks out there ready to spread the gospel of HAIR. I also have another blog boykinshecook.com and a website kimboykin.com. One thing the editors made clear at the Pitch Conference in NY was, if you don’t have a blog or a website, get one.

AWC: How long were you looking for an agent before you found your current agent?

Following the conference, I queried 57 agents between July 9 and the 24th. Sixteen agents asked to read; ten asked for the whole manuscript, and five asked for exclusives, which of course I couldn’t give them because so many agents were reading. On July 25, I had my first offer for representation. I sent out a letter to the other agents to let them know and heard from three who said they were going to read the script that night. One of the three called my house and left a message not to sign with anyone until I talked to her, but I did talk to Kevan Lyon and signed with, and that was that.

How long was I looking for an agent before that? Seven years!

It’s great to pitch a book, but you also have to have written a good story. If the writing isn’t good, you’ve wasted a huge opportunity. I felt good about the writing but even that changed after the New York Pitch Conference when I talked to the editors and saw things in my pitch they responded positively to. For example, in the story the protagonist’s mother is an Appalachian version of Judy Garland (the lounge singer, not Dorothy Gale.) The editors really liked that, so I came home and punched that up throughout the book and opened the first chapter with a great scene complete with Mama, which got me a lot of looks from agents.

AWC: What series of events got this over the top and signed with a top literary agency?

Kim: What made the difference for me was the conference. After having an agent who passed away and then inheriting one who really didn’t want me, the idea of pitching directly to publishing house editors in New York was very appealing. I was able to finally sign with a great agent because of the first paragraph of my query letter which noted the publishers at the conference who were enthused about my novel. And she’s interested in the new book I’m writing about a lady cop down in the Low Country who finds redemption from her own past by helping a victim of black market adoption. Lots of strong Southern women, snappy dialogue, and set in the Charleston, SC area which is hot thanks to Pat Conroy, Dorthea Benton Frank, and everybody in between who writes about the Low Country.

AWC: What is your next book about? It feels like a series could develop from this.

Kim: There might be, the protagonist and her best friend were very appealing to all the agents who read the story.

AWC: When can the staff of Algonkian Writer Conferences come to South Carolina and sample some of your cooking?

Kim: Boykinshecook.Com is about two of my great obsessions, WRITING (check out my new post “Lessons From My Childhood About Writing”) and FOOD. So if you all make it down this way, just give me a little heads up so I set enough places at the table. Y’all come!

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This interview was conducted by Algonkian’s New York Pitch Conference staff

STORYBOARD CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRODUCING EFFECTIVE SCENES
by Michael Neff

For utilization in Algonkian workshops and Author Salon modules

If you’re working on a commercial fiction or narrative non-fiction manuscript, you will benefit if you view your project as possessing three layers of increasing complexity:

            Layer I: Overall story premise and plot.

            Layer II: The actual scenes in the story, as well as the nature of the inter-scene narrative.

For our purposes here, let’s focus on Layer 2.

Examining the progress of a protagonist or major character as they struggle and strive through the story within the context of any given scene, we can divide the vast majority of scenes into three general types. As you seek to storyboard each scene in the manner of a film director–sketching out visual setting and structural progression–carefully overview the notes below before you begin.

Types of scenes as follows:

1. Goal-to-Failure (for protagonist or other character)

• Goal
• Conflict or Complication
• Failure or Calamity

Goal: What does your protagonist or other major character(s) desire or wish to accomplish? What circumstance do they wish to come about? What objective do they want to achieve? Whatever they want should relate directly or indirectly to the progression of the major plot line(s) (or subplot). The Goal must be clear to the character and the reader (otherwise we have FINNEGAN’S WAKE). This assures you will write scenes with a point that relates to the bigger story, as well as create a character who is actively engaged, not just a victim or bystander. Very important!

Conflict: What are the obstacles your character faces? If he/she doesn’t struggle in some manner for the goal, if no conflict of any kind present, you risk a dull read (esp if you’re wrting high-impact genre fiction). Set your sights on at least two obstacles to overcome in any given scene. If only one, make it a BIG ONE, i.e., as appropriate for the setting and genre, as well as the role of the scene in the story.

Failure, Calamity, or Victory at a Cost: the character might come close but fails ultimately to reach the goal; reaches it only in part (and with difficulty), or achieves it but at a real cost (another character perishes, or another problem created, e.g., King Arthur is rescued but becomes a zombie as a result, etc.). You have to keep the page turning, regardless of the genre.

2. Goal-to-Success (for antagonists)

• Goal
• Conflict or Complication
• Success or Victory (perhaps in unexpected way)

Same as above, except in this case, the antagonist might score a victory or three. It can’t be a cake walk for them, and a downside effect might well be evident, however, victory nonetheless. And if the reader knows, but the protagonist doesn’t, you have a great situation of DRAMATIC IRONY in the works that creates extra suspense.

In order for Isabel to align with Roberta’s enemy, Joanie Cunningham, to get Roberta fired from her new management job as director of the Government for Citizens Project, Isabel must make a deal with Joanie that compromises her or forces her to give up something important to her. And if the reader likes Roberta, and knows this is coming, they fear for their beloved character.

3. Reaction-to-Decision (for any character)

• Reaction
• Dilemma
• Decision

If a Goal-to-Failure (GTF) scene occurs, your character’s forward movement has been reversed or at least hampered or complicated. A scene that reacts to that condition or fact is almost always necessary.

Reaction: What is the emotional and consequential reaction to the failure that took place in the previous scene? The conflict is lost and the protagonist sits on the bank of a metaphorical river, pondering fate and life. She or he is angry, hurt, confused, dyspeptic, all of the above. Keep in mind that emotional states progress, for example, from anger to despair to resolve.

Dilemma: As a result of the GTF have you created a new circumstance with zero or few good options? Options with potentially negative outcomes? Options that might not be workable? Your protagonist or major character (POV character/narrator or no) must be facing a significant dilemma. The reader wonders what can possibly happen next. What seems to be the lesser-of-the-evil options?

Decision: How does the protagonist return to the dinner table or the skirmish line as a proactive character? Does the decision carry risk? Does it create new suspense? If so, how? There must always be potential downside, and perhaps in more than one way, or in a way the protagonist doesn’t expect but the reader does. And what is the nature of the new goal to achieve the primary goal? If the author in MISERY has his kneecaps pounded to pulp by Kathy Bates (major reversal), he makes a decision to escape his captor in a new way, by pretending to cooperate long enough to lure her into a trap.

There is more to writing successful scenes, but once you’ve used the three above to lay the storyboard foundation for your scene, you can’t help but be well on your way to writing competitive narrative and story.

Michael Neff of Algonkian and Author Salon

Best

eSCENE was designed with one mission: to include works of special interest selected from the abundance of publications on webdelsol.com. Our reading public benefits, as do our authors and our magazines. Stopby to beamazed, provoked, and entertained.

Poetry

Rebecca Foust, “Refrain” from Mudlark

Stanley Plumly, “Archaic Torso of the Sun God Apollo as a Star Apple, an Oil Lamp, a Broken Mirror” from Blackbird

Ocean Vuong, Descent” from Drunken Boat

Rusty Barnes, Three Poems from MiPOesias

Fiction

Kristi Maxwell, Transcription of Treasure Island” from Double Room

Sharma Shields, “The Handsome Guest” from Failbetter:

George Saunders, “Sea Oak” from Barcelona Review

Alice Hoffman, “How to Eat a Pie” from Five Points

Nonfiction

Roberta Bienvenu, “Bartleby the Scrivener Occupies Wall Street: from Shenoandoah

Cris Mazza, “Feeding Time” from Brevity

Derek Alger, “A High School Football Career Good Enough for Me” from PIF

DeWitt Henry, “Jack’s Last Ride” from Del Sol Review

New Media

Jim Haverkamp, “When Walt Whitman Was a Little Girl from Triquarterly

Nadia Shira Cohen (narration), Paulo Siqueira and Nadia Shira Cohen (images), “The Lovely Sea” from Virginia Quarterly Review

Hansoo Kim, “Nostalgia,” from Madhatters’ Review

Claudia Kousoulas with Photographs buy George Kousoulas, “Under Tropical Light: The Parking Garages of Miami Beach from Terrain

A Talk With Sela Gaglia About Her Writing Life and Novel

TITLE:  HALF THE SKY
GENRE:  Upmarket
COMPS:  THE YELLOW BIRDS by Kevin Powers meets WAR BRIDES by Helen Bryan
WORDS:  90,000+

Sela Gaglia is an internationally known speaker. Her work has been the subject of the award winning MTV docu-series, If You Really Knew Me and the Dutch television series, Over De Streep. Her interviews have appeared on CNN and FOX News and can be found in dozens of small town newspapers, USA Today and Redbook magazine. She has spent fourteen-years listening to thousands of real life stories that began with the words, “I’ve never told anyone this before, but…” The experience of listening is her most valuable qualification for writing. She earned her BA in creative writing and MFA at San Diego state.

As a lover of lit I can see how some of the greats would never be published today. We can blame the industry, but from my view the industry is doing what it needs to do to stay afloat–readers drive the industry. Art for art’s sake doesn’t yield a commercial novel (though it has inherent value). Since my goal is to write a successful commercial novel, my biggest challenge has been to continually comb through what I think I know to make space to learn.

– Sela Gaglia

More Emerging Author Interviews

AS: Tell us something about yourself as it relates to your writing life. Also, what inspired you to begin the novel?

I’ve always loved how literature makes politics, history, psychology and science accessible by bringing them to life through human stories. I did my undergrad in English and left an MFA program, as a single mom, one semester shy of graduation. Why I left is complicated, however, a primary reason was that while I appreciated the knowledge I was gaining, my writing chops were not being developed in a viable manner, i.e., in a way that would allow for realistic publication of an upmarket literary novel. Fast-forward fourteen-years, I recently returned to my first love: writing. Through a series of logical events–which I’ll never be able to accurately retell–the concept of writing about women serving in the US military was born at an Algonkian Writer’s Conference.

AS: Who are you reading now? Which authors and novels have been an inspiration to you, and why?

I’m heavy in research mode, so I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction about drones, the state department and veteran’s accounts. However, I admire Ken Follett’s ability to make a completely unfamiliar setting, full of complex relationships, friendly to readers with his deft handling of characterization. I’m a huge fan of John Irving’s ability to inject humor into tense situations. I think most of us learn better when we’re chuckling. I have to pay homage to Dan Brown’s pacing, George R. R. Martins willingness to kill a central character, and Gillian Flynn’s twists in GONE GIRL.

AS: Can you tell us about your novel?

Ameelah is in Medical School when her sister is killed serving in Iraq. Seeking answers, she enlists as an Army surgeon; what she finds is an Iraqi interpreter, Lazim, and a motley group of female Marines. The women share their heartbreak and humor, sarcastically calling themselves The Knitting Circle. Ironically, amidst the terror of war, Ameelah begins to heal until Nina Drew and Ibis Corporation set up private security operations and threaten the foundation of honor that all the servicewomen share. When the interpreter witnesses a crime that could cost Ibis their multi-billion dollar contract, she becomes a target. With corporate avarice pulling the strings, Lazim is falsely imprisoned and faces being turned onto the street where insurgents will murder her.

Ameelah’s deployment is ending but she can’t leave with Lazim in jeopardy. She must rally The Knitting Circle and save their Iraqi friend–though in doing so she asks each woman to risk losing the thing most dear to them. Ameelah must question: what is the true price of freedom? Is she asking too much and giving too little?

AS: What gives you a passion for this story and why are you the one who needs to tell it?

I’m a researcher by nature, and the more I researched servicewomen, U.S. involvement in Iraq and private military contractors, the more passionate I became about making the information accessible to others. For the past fourteen years I’ve worked in schools, my expertise focused around the issues girls have with bullying, so in many ways, writing about a group of women is a natural outgrowth. I’ve been lately corresponding with several women in the military who have served, or are currently serving in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. These women have been incredibly generous in offering their insight, opening their hearts to me.

AS: What have you found to be your biggest challenges to writing a successful commercial novel?

I’ve studied the business of publishing for quite some time. However, I’d failed to see the crucial markers necessary to make a work marketable. As a lover of lit I can see how some of the greats would never be published today. We can blame the industry, but from my view the industry is doing what it needs to do to stay afloat–readers drive the industry. Art for art’s sake doesn’t yield a commercial novel (though it has inherent value). Since my goal is to write a successful commercial novel, my biggest challenge has been to continually comb through what I think I know to make space to learn.

AS: Is there any particular facet of the Author Salon novel writing program that has helped you more than any other? If so, why?

Sincerely, every module was very helpful. I could write a case for each one. Detailing the climax gave me a window in to how to seed foreshadowing throughout the novel. I love the way subtle foreshadowing is a gift for astute readers–I want to give that gift. Too often foreshadowing is heavy-handed or non-existent. If I didn’t know exactly where I was headed (climax) then I wouldn’t have the intimacy with the overall plotline necessary to plant these little gems. Also, the module on the antagonist! I can’t express this enough: developing my antagonist via the goals and guidance in the module put the juice in my plotline. I love (hating) her so much I feel like I’m cheating on my protagonist and supporting characters. The antagonist module forced me to fully develop her in such a complex way that it added layers of plot and backstory to the novel.

AS: what bit of advice can you give to other aspiring authors just getting started?

Be humble: It’s good to process new information until we genuinely understand it, but we have to be open-minded enough to admit what we don’t know. Every now and again it’s important to rearrange our brain cells and learn something entirely new.

Lose excuses: we can spend our whole life not having the right circumstances to write–sometimes my life is so busy, I have to keep a notebook on my passenger seat and literally pray for red lights in order to scribble notes.

Inspiration is awesome, but we can’t sit around waiting for it to strike. We have to approach writing like we would a job–there will be days we’re on fire and days we need an extra glass of red to forget the struggle–we just have to get back in the saddle again tomorrow.

Author Salon Novel Writing Program – Click here

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“The film’s aesthetic has annoyed many viewers, but it’s strangely liberating to watch an adaptation of Gatsby that encourages its audience to think about the future as much as the past. It often seems that Luhrmann doesn’t especially care for these characters from 1922, and instead wants to showcase the trends and forces and dynamics that this long-gone generation would set in motion for decades to come. When the jazz vanishes from the Jazz Age and gets replaced by hip-hop, for example, there’s a glitch but also harmony, a reminder that the former would eventually lead to the latter.”

As a fan of film, and the Fitzgerald masterpiece, I found the inclusion of 21st century HIP HOP to be not only misplaced but actually offensive. Why? Because for me it ruined the tone of the film and removed me from the setting entirely. It made me laugh and groan, and the dream was lost.  No longer was I watching a recreation of a great novel, I was watching the director’s vision of his own novel. The music of that age was innovative and energetic, and the director had many options. To choose modern HIP HOP is tantamount to claiming HIP HOP is superior and will be better received by audiences regardless of how uttterly inappropriate it is for a film about 1922.

And then, there’s Toby … argh.

Moving on.

In the context of teaching novel writers the most successful methods for becoming published, Algonkian Writer Conferences emphasize the art of dramatic structure and complication for purposes of strong story, the model-and-context method for the creation of competitive narrative, and the development of a middle to high-concept story premise the market will embrace. See our FAQ for more details on our methods and types of events. In short, our goal is to make you a career author by setting you on a realistic path to publication. The past two years have been our biggest for writers in all genres published and under contract.

Reviews and Interviews

Candy is a former professor of English and Composition, retired from California State University. She has served as a consultant to high school English departments in their writing curriculum and currently conducts weekly creative writing workshops. She studied in the UCLA Writer’s program and at Oxford with several authors including Janet Fitch, Whitney Otto, and Robert Olen Butler. She is working on a Young Adult series, The Toilet Travelers, and an adult novel, A Penance Too Late. The novel she brought to Algonkian is entitled, Olivia Slept .

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The overall experience is one I would recommend to all writers preparing to shop their work. The meetings with agents in a group setting allowed for answers to questions I didn’t know I had … The preparation work got us thinking about the book in the book store, how it got there, what makes it sell. While we read works and studied the writing, we also focused on the outside of the book, so to speak, the marketing, and that was essential to prepare us for the work we had to do

- Candy Somoza
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AWC: What made you want to write this novel, Candy?

CS: My inspiration for writing Olivia Slept was multifaceted. I am intrigued by what happens after a moment of great loss, what happens to those left behind who have to work out their own feelings of loss and guilt. Some are transformed by the loss of a child, such as the woman who started MADD, or Cindy Sheehan. Others are devastated. When my child nearly died, I knew I had looked into my own abyss, and if she had not survived, I could not have survived her death. I know enough about loss to recognize that humans do not actually heal from such trauma. Instead, there is a kind of muscle memory that occurs, and when–or if–another devastation happens, the ‘new’ pain begins where the last one left off. If the soul is energy, can’t that energy retain memory? And if that energy does retain memory, can’t it retain the muscle memory of guilt for failed behaviors from other lifetimes? Can’t there come a tipping point where the only way to go forward is to go all the way back and face the seed of the behaviors?

AWC: That’s all fairly provocative. Please tell us more.

CS: Olivia Slept is a novel of women’s fiction with historical elements in the vein of The Deep End of the Ocean or A Map of the World crossed with Daphne du Maurier’s The House on the Strand and Anya Seton’s Green Darkness. It is the story of Olivia Moffit, a woman who has left a psychiatric hospital in Glendale, California, with her darkest secret still intact. She has been open with Dr. Chang about her young daughter’s death, her failed suicide, and the end of her marriage, but she is not so ready to build a new life as the doctor believes. Instead, the ghosts of dead Scotsmen and their families, contained in Olivia’s dreams in the hospital, now have free rein over her life. A Highlander in full clan regalia waits outside her apartment; a plant freezes in her bedroom, and when the vision of a woman burning on a sidewalk in Los Angeles drives her into a bookstore, she recognizes the owner as a woman she knew in a past life. Olivia is through running. She flies to England and joins a small tour group set to explore Scotland.

From the first night’s dinner, Olivia begins to recognize her traveling companions as the group of cattle thieves and soldiers-of-fortune she knew so long ago, and as they ride through Scotland on a tour bus, Olivia and the others will choose whether or not they can come to grips with the past that has drawn them together. Two will leave the tour immediately; Kate and Michael will grab their second chance together. Olivia will come to understand why the visions of her daughter are so connected to those of another little girl, and why she and Ian, her travel guide and former lover, have to come together to face the victims of their choices from 1692. Not until Olivia and Ian meet the ghost of Sheilah together will Olivia find the courage to examine her actions and release her daughter, Ian, Sheilah, and herself.

AWC: What made you choose to attend the Algonkian conference?

CS: One of the participants in my Saturday writing workshops brought in the information. She attended the New York Workshop, and I was able to take part in the Harper’s Ferry experience.

AWC: Do you feel your work is improved as a result? If so, how?

CS: Yes, I believe Olivia Slept will definitely benefit from this experience. The focus on the pitch made me look very closely at what this novel is about and how it fits into the marketplace. My lack of clarity made it very hard for me to present the book in a clear light. I have swung from presenting the psychological struggle to the exclusion of the past life journey, then reversed the presentation. Now I have a much better idea of what Olivia is, and I am working to prepare a pitch that shows this work as a woman’s journey to understand the patterns of behavior that have cost her so dearly throughout this life and others. In addition, I have ideas and clarifications for other works I have ‘finished’ and that I have in process. Specifically, my young adult novel is actually two stories, one for a younger audience, and one for the YAs.

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Douglas Grudzina earned a B.A. in English Literature from SUNY Stony Brook and an MA, also in English Literature, from Washington College. After twenty-five-plus years teaching high school English and consulting with the Delaware Department of Education, he “retired” to write and edit for Prestwick House, Inc., where his books and ELA instructional materials have received critical acclaim and won a number of national awards. His short stories and articles have appeared in several professional publications, and he reviews articles for the National Council of Teachers of English’s English Journal.

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I found the Pitch and Shop to be the best I have attended. The limited number of participants, the reasonable size of the individual groups, the positive, nurturing atmosphere, and the high amount of individual attention each of us received put this conference in a different class from those where you are one of 1,000 wannabees milling around, vying for a couple minutes with an overworked agent.

– Doug Grudzina
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AWC: What was the inspiration behind your novel, The Warrior of Galilee?

DG: In December 2003, I was listening to my daughter’s Christmas concert. They were singing a “Magnificat” (Mary’s response to the angel telling her she’s going to have God’s baby.) And I started thinking about the personal and human lives that traditional religious and biblical views don’t let us see. First I thought of a book about Mary—not focusing on the theological “Mother-of-God” stuff, but on the little girl, the housewife, the mother, etc. Early in my research, however, Jesus/Yeshua emerged as a much more interesting character—again focusing on the human, the family, the politics.

AWC: Can we hear more about it?

DG: Well, it’s an adventure story—the story of a boy born in a politically volatile time to a family of extremists. It’s a love story between a young girl and the husband that is chosen for her, and how the husband struggles to forgive his wife for the child she bears that is not his. It’s the coming-of-age story of a boy who does not really fit into his family of half- and step-siblings, and is both enthralled and terrified by what he begins to suspect might be his destiny. And it’s a hero journey—a boy’s growth from illegitimate baby to someone who believes himself to be the salvation of his people.

AWC: What made you choose to attend the New York Pitch Conference?

DG: Back in—I think—2005, I was Googling writers conferences in New York, and the Pitch and Shop caught my eye. I knew my novel was nowhere near ready for the pitch stage, but I kept checking the site for news about subsequent conferences … The Warrior of Galilee is actually my fifth completed manuscript, and I’m always on the lookout for something that will get me out of the slush pile and actually into someone’s hands. I also knew that my query letters were missing their mark, so the idea of getting one-on-one help with the pitch and then actual face-time with the editors was very attractive.

I was not disappointed.

AWC: Has The Warrior of Galilee changed since the conference?

DG: You know that joke about the sculptor who, when asked how he made a sculpture of an elephant, said he took a piece of stone and chipped away everything that didn’t look like an elephant? Well, the pitch conference really helped me see the “elephant” I wanted the book to be, and that made it easier—in my most recent edit—to cut out all the stuff that didn’t look like an elephant … When you have fewer than 200 words to encapsulate a 300-page novel, and you know that someone is going to base her decision whether or not to read the thing on those 200 words, you really do search for the essence, the core of the story.

AWC: What did you find most beneficial about the Algonkian Writer Conferences in New York?

DG: I work in publishing, so I often see good things sent back to their writers because we know we cannot sell them to our customers. So, to have an editor say to your face—rather than through a form rejection letter—that the concept sounds fine, but the market will not support it, is—while disappointing—also very helpful. It’s not personal, it’s business.

I also found it incredibly helpful just to see and hear another person’s reaction to the story. You work on something so closely and in such relative isolation, that you really do not know what kind of impact it will have on someone for whom it’s new.

Plus the fact that you’ve finally got someone’s attention is incredible.

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Sara Beth Jonassen has been dedicated to the craft of fiction writing for fifteen years, workshopping extensively with The Writer’s Studio in NYC, her native hometown. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University at Albany, where she studied with author Laura Marello (winner of the Aniello Lauri Award for Fiction) and workshopped with Doug Bauer and the NYS Writers’ Institute. She turned down a fine art scholarship at The Cooper Union in NYC to pursue a career in fiction writing. Her short story, Biting the Peach, was published in the 2004 spring edition of Gertrude Magazine.

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Pitching itself was a fascinating process, and most helpful, especially when I was questioned in return by acquisition editors. Their questions informed me on where the market is moving, what a commercial writer should consider when presenting themselves to a wider audience, and how to better prepare the pitch for future sessions, which in turn, taught me how to improve the novel.

Being on a small budget, I went right to the New York Pitch Conference, feeling that the conference would pay off for my writing career more quickly. I’ve never lost that conviction.

– Sara Beth Jonassen
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AWC: Invisible Medicine is one of the more unique stories I’ve heard at this conference. I find it intriguing. What led you to write it?

SJ: My inspiration came from reading the letters and journals of some of America’s earliest overland emigrants, namely women who risked everything (often the lives of their children and their financial security) to follow their husbands across the Oregon Trail. It surprised me that so many early pioneers were hardworking families with ample financial stability back in the States. But despite this security, they were desperate to find a better life, which resonated with me about our cultural values today, how what we have is never quite enough. The letters and journals were often compelling and honest accounts of a grueling trip towards a foggy idea of prosperity, which many of the women of the time didn’t seem to question, disenfranchised as they were. My inspiration was to provide these brave women with an unforgettable adventure in frontier America, deserving of their courage and tenacity.

AWC: Can you sum it up for us?

SJ: Invisible Medicine tells the story of a sisterhood of women thrust together by cruel turns of fate and catapulted to heroine status during their yearlong migration through the pristine wilderness of 1848 North America—a grueling trail stretching from the sage-dotted Great Plains to the lush temperateness of Willamette Valley. A mystical Lakota medicine woman introduces the women to ‘Invisible Medicine‘, an unseen force, akin to serendipity, that she believes makes her impervious to bullets, arrows, daggers and lances, and also invokes the physical Universe—the elements and the animals—to conspire with her peacekeeping mission. Unexpectedly thrust into the adventure of their lifetimes, including a confrontation with a sadistic cavalry lieutenant intent on slaughtering as many natives as his troop encounters in Oregon Territory, the women must abandon the precepts of their former lives and embrace the full power of Invisible Medicine if they are to make it to Willamette Valley with their consciences—and their lives—in tact.

AWC: Thanks! That’s one book I would definitely read … So what made you choose to attend the conference in New York?

SJ: I’d finished drafting Invisible Medicine, and thus began the long process of querying agents, but to no avail. After about a year of querying without much more than a generic dismissal letter, I read about the New York Pitch Conference on-line at an on-line literary magazine, and immediately applied. I was intrigued by the idea of jumping right into pitching my novel to acquisition editors face-to-face—a thought which terrified me, but thrilled me too. I also had the sense that I would come away learning much more about the market and its specific needs as they pertain to a writer with a finished manuscript than I would by attending the usual style of conference.

AWC: Do you feel Invisible Medicine is improved as a result?

SJ: Absolutely. I’ve since refined the pacing of the novel to better hold the reader’s interest. Also, I’ve omitted characters, revised with a more consistent POV, and readjusted elements to highlight the action and tension more efficiently. Most importantly, I’ve learned that what works best about an entire manuscript can often be pitched in a clear, concise way, helping me to streamline the novel’s movement to better support the feel of the workshopped pitch.

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More Links to Algonkian Writer Conference Reviews:

Algonkian Writer Conference Commentary

New York Pitch Conference Commentary

More Algonkian Event Commentary

The Writer’s Block

New York Pitch Reviews on WB

Algonkian On Facebook

His contributions to the site include articles and studies regarding the art of fiction–much of it created for Algonkian Writer Conferences, while other articles were conceived at Author Salon.

We particularly like his piece on the Six Act Two-Goal novel:

Author Salon has developed the Six Act Two-Goal novel structure for writers of book-length fiction and nonfiction. The point here is to understand and utilize a tightly plotted act structure, similar to that used by screenplay writers, to effectively brainstorm and outline a very competitive and suspenseful plot for the genre novel, i.e., fantasy, SF, YA/MG, mystery, and so forth. Upmarket or literary fiction with a strong plot also benefits.

We combine Siegal’s “nine act structure – two goal” screenplay (very much like the Syd Field three act except that the “reversal” from Field’s structure becomes the “Act 5″ in Siegal’s version) with the Field classic three act. The Two-Goal Structure, Siegal maintains, creates more dynamic plot tension due to the insertion of PLOT REVERSAL later in the story, and we concur with this.

For more on this article at Author Salon, follow this link.

We already have!  We just wish MFA programs had something like this. Seriously.

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What to do? So much conflicting advice you want to scream.

Fiction writers aspiring to the novel should take a first and second look at Author Salon.  Structured and manned by experienced New York editors and agents, writers who teach in MFA programs, as well as accomplished professionals like Salon.Com’s Cary Tennis, Pulitzer winner Jane Smiley, and hard tack LA film producer Ken Atchity,  Author Salon presents itself as a viable post-MFA choice for writers looking for new community, a way to network with agents , as well as an opportunity to acquire new knowledge and literary skills.

The aim is to work towards becoming published–whatever it takes.  The work is rigorous and methodical, but the rewards are real. Writers at Author Salon are already getting contracts and requests for their work from major literary agents and publishers.

Also interesting is the “film crew concept”:

Writers on Author Salon never have to go it alone. It’s always a group effort, and in a sense, analogous to the production and direction of a film. The writer is the director, while Author Salon is the producer, and it’s mods, admins, fellow writers and faculty editors play roles as assistant producers, gaffers and key grips, film editors and assistant directors, and so forth, based on each writer’s needs and each project’s strengths and weaknesses.

This takes the MFA-type approach a few steps further, expanding and refining, but also adding in the reality of balancing a writer’s literary inclinations with market realities. In other words, if a writer desires commercial publication, he or she needs to consider perhaps applying the art of great storytelling to telling a story readers will want to buy. But this does not, in any way, downplay a focus on style, voice, and advanced literary technique. Just the opposite.

More on the Author Salon About page.

By: Becky Fine-Firesheets

To begin with, this scene is kind of hilarious: a bleak, randomly shadowed, off-white background with a tiny chess set in the corner.  Barbara Stout’s outfit is also kind of hilarious, but her recognition of the need to “tame” the scarf makes it wonderful.  More importantly, however, is that she’s a fabulous poet and reader.  She has a strong sense of how to work a crowd; she’s friendly, relaxed yet commanding, smart, clear and concise.  Her poems are beautiful and beautifully delivered, a wonderful remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. yet also very much her own words.  She’s quite good.  The only problem is, why does this video still flop despite the quality of Stout’s poetry and delivery?

To me, it’s because most readings tend to fall into one or all of the following categories: stuffy, pretentious, boring and/or so focused on the writing that everything else goes to the wayside, especially the idea that this is a performance, a show, an opportunity to captivate an audience.  Authors tend to think that words on a page are enough.  And maybe they should be.  But when it comes to a reading, they’re not.

Stout actually seems to understand the performance aspect quite well; her style is musically captivating and she interacts with her audience in a very easy, comfortable and entertaining manner.  However, everything else sucks.   Maybe I’m a Brooklyn snob ruined by the 24-hour in-your-face coolness that exists, or pretends to exist, around me.  Maybe I’m too much of an idealist.  Or maybe I’m actually right on.  Whatever the case, I do honestly believe that readings need a kick in the ass.  Barbara Stout is great.  Hundreds of people should hear her read.  But, to be honest, the only people who come out to readings these days are friends, family members, coworkers or students of the people reading.  We authors need to embrace the show.  If we want to truly reach people then we need to get over ourselves, let go of our expectations.  Do it up.  It really is okay if someone claps or whistles or cheers during one of your perfect, beautiful, slaved-over sentences.  In fact, it’s better if people are relaxed and having fun.  We writers have too many of those “perfect” sentences, anyway.

My point is, it’s time to break out of the old mold of sharing our works in a traditional, quiet, attentive setting.  In the end, this  isolates us from a ton of people who love to read but would never, ever go to a reading.  Barbara Stout should be celebrated amongst the many, not kept to a group of writers that “get” her.  Let us all embrace a little more of the show.  It might feel uncomfortable but in the end, I honestly believe this is how we writers can have the real, lasting effect our egos so badly wish for.