Interviews
Jan’s confession: Prior to reading Keith’s book, Me Again, I had no expectation of doing a two-part interview, but it wasn’t long before I succumbed to his Nick Hornby-ish voice. When my ex-physician self began to laugh, nod and applaud his fictionalized account of a very real health issue – recovery from stroke – I knew I was in.
For the story behind the book, and to how Keith overcame special craft issues posed by his narrator’s disabilities, please see Part 1.
Today, among other things, we’ll discuss the intersection of drumming and art.
Jan: In case we’ve permitted you to forget for five seconds, I’ve noticed a few facts: You’re a man. You’ve written an emotional story about personal transformation. It’s being marketed as women’s fiction.* You tolerate questions around this “anomaly” with the humour and equanimity I’ve come to expect. In other words, you seem to have a secure identity.
Did the writing/publishing/marketing of this book create or cement any of that security? If so, how?
Keith: When writing Me Again, it hadn’t occurred to me that it would be marketed as women’s fiction, but I did specifically try to write a story that I thought would resonate with women. I knew that would require opening up emotionally more than in the previous things I’ve written. So I went for it, and dug deeper than I ever have, and ended up writing some things that to this day make me cry when I re-read them.
But I don’t know that this is so much an indication that I’m secure; if anything, it’s more of an acceptance of whatever vulnerability or insecurities I may have, and an attempt to leverage those qualities into emotionally powerful storytelling. Remember, I’ve spent the majority of my life on stage. I started playing drums professionally when I was fourteen, and I was active in local theater for several years prior to that. So all those years taught me to project a confidence that may exceed what I’m actually feeling.
And from having lived through the countless things that can go wrong onstage – whether it’s being stranded on a theater stage while you wait for a character to make a late entrance, or your bandleader falling down drunk, or your hair catching fire under the stage lights, or any number of appalling things – you learn one important truth:
You cannot die from embarrassment – even in situations so awful that you wish you could.
Read More“I was born on a Tuesday morning. It was a difficult birth, because I was thirty-four years old.”
Wry, self-aware, and intelligent, this is the voice of stroke-victim Jonathan Hooper, narrator of Keith Cronin’s debut novel, Me Again, out in hardcover though Five Star.
Here’s the blurb for the book:
Miracles can be damned inconvenient. That’s what thirty-four-year-old stroke victim Jonathan Hooper learns when he emerges from a six-year coma. Now his memory’s gone, his body withered, and he’s reduced to the role of awkward intruder in the lives of his friends and family. In short, Jonathan’s not the man he used to be – whoever that was – and nobody’s happy about the change.
The only bright spot for Jonathan is Rebecca Chase, a young woman he meets in the hospital’s long-term recovery unit. A stroke has drastically changed her personality, making her a stranger to her husband. Gone is the vivacious trophy wife, replaced by a shy, awkward woman with a knack for saying exactly the wrong thing.
Jonathan and Rebecca discover they have much in common. They don’t fit in. And they’ll never be the same. But now they’ve got to decide what matters most: who they were, or who they can become?
~~~
Keith is a monthly contributor to Writer Unboxed and made a splash in his first post with his strong anti-verdant position. (Read: his objection to writerly words.) He’s a professional speechwriter, a drummer with extensive discography, and he answers to “Title Guy” – this last point because he named Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants and Susan Henderson’s Up from the Blue.
Apparently Ms. Gruen was sufficiently pleased to continue their relationship. She blurbed Me Again, calling it “A beautifully wrought tale of courage, hope, and awakenings of all kinds.”
Ms. Henderson likewise said, “Heart and humor are inseparable in Keith Cronin’s engaging debut.”
And book bloggers share their opinions as per this small sample:
“Cronin has a gentle sense of humor that seems effortless.” ~ Book Club Classics
“A funny, sad, sweet, poignant and heartfelt novel that I can’t recommend highly enough.” ~ Stephanie’s Written Word
Jan: Keith, welcome to WU in the role of interviewee. You may ignore the evil chuckle. ;)
In your dedication, you note that you lost your mother to heart disease and are directing a portion of the novel’s proceeds toward the American Stroke Association. Even without that knowledge, ME AGAIN felt like a personal book. What prompted it? Can you say more?
Keith: It didn’t start out personal, but that soon changed. Initially it was just an intriguing “what if?” scenario to explore. My main female character Rebecca’s problem was inspired by the younger sister of an old friend: she had a stroke while in her twenties, and emerged with a very different personality, leaving her husband puzzled and conflicted. While I considered that a heartbreaking situation, I had never met the woman, and being a typical self-absorbed 20-something guy at the time, I mostly sympathized with the husband. What a drag to be young and newly married to a woman who had just completely changed – that’s how deep my thoughts were.
Read MoreIf you’re joining us today, I’m with Erin Morgenstern, debut author of the much-buzzed, standalone novel, The Night Circus. In Part I of this interview, we discussed how Erin discovered the structure of her novel, the magnitude of revisions she underwent prior to signing with an agent, and the recent, surreal quality of her life. Today: the query letter which served Erin so well, the downside to being in the public eye, craft, and Erin’s dreams for her book.
Lest you have forgotten the kind of reviews earned by The Night Circus — which I’ll go on record as saying is one of the most beautiful novels I’ve read — here are a few more:
“The Night Circus made me happy. Playful and intensely imaginative, Erin Morgenstern has created the circus I have always longed for and she has populated it with dueling love-struck magicians, precocious kittens, hyper-elegant displays of beauty and complicated clocks. This is a marvelous book.”
—Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife
“To enter the black-and-white-striped tents of Le Cirque des Rêves is to enter a world where objects really do turn into birds and people really do disappear… Debut novelist Morgenstern has written a 19th-century flight of fancy that is, nevertheless, completely believable. The smells, textures, sounds, and sights are almost palpable. A literary Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, this read is completely magical.”
—Library Journal, starred review
“This big and compelling first novel ushers in a menacing tone with its first sentence: “The circus arrives without warning.”…With appeal for readers not particularly geared to fantasy but who plainly enjoy an unusual and well-drawn story, this one will make a good crossover suggestion.”
—Booklist, starred review
“Puts me in mind of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes lightened up by Harry Potter. This will be big.”
—Library Journal
Jan: Welcome back, Erin! Thank you for sharing your query letter. Can you give us a hint of its results?
Erin: I wasn’t sure about my query stats but then I remembered I did play with QueryTracker for a bit, I’m not sure this is completely accurate but it’s approximately:
Read MoreThough not released until September 13th, it’s garnered so much buzz, you might already be familiar with the opening words of Erin Morgenstern’s standalone debut novel, The Night Circus:
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“The circus arrives without warning.
No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.
The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen. No color at all, save for the neighboring trees and the grass of the surrounding fields. Black-and-white stripes on grey sky; countless tents of varying shapes and sizes, with an elaborate wrought-iron fence encasing them in a colorless world. Even what little ground is visible from outside is black or white, painted or powdered, or treated with some other circus trick.
But it is not open for business. Not just yet.”
~~~
At its heart, The Night Circus is a genre-bending tale of duelling magicians. “…Celia and Marco… have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead…”*
Early reviewers seem uniformly dazzled. Here’s a small sample, beginning with an author familiar to long-time WU readers:
Brunonia Barry: “‘Dark as soot and bright as sparks,’ The Night Circus still holds me willingly captive in a world of almost unbearable beauty. This is a love story on a grand scale: it creates, it destroys, it ultimately transcends. Take a bow, Erin Morgenstern. This is one of the best books I have ever read.”
From Kirkus in a starred review: “Self-assured, entertaining debut that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic… Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings.”
Publisher’s Weekly, in a starred review: “Debut author Morgenstern doesn’t miss a beat in this smashing tale of greed, fate, and love…a giant, magical story destined for bestsellerdom. This is an electric debut on par with Special Topics in Calamity Physics.”
Lastly, just two days ago, The Night Circus became one of ten candidates for the Guardian First Book Award 2011.
Joining us from Boston, where she’s girding her loins before the book tour and media blitz begin in earnest, is debut author, Erin Morgenstern.
Jan: Erin, welcome! Some will ascribe fairytale-like qualities to your authorial journey, but you’ve done more work than simply put on a ball gown and throw off a glass shoe. You’ve been on an artistic path for some time and learning about story in one form or another for years. Can you elaborate?
Erin: I don’t think I could even walk in glass shoes, I have big feet […]
Read MoreIf you missed part 1 of my interview with historical novelist Michelle Diener, when we discussed her international background and writing and research process, click HERE, then come back. Michelle’s brilliantly researched and fast-paced debut novel, a Tudor-set historical called In a Treacherous Court, recently released from Gallery Books. It’s the story of a female artist–an illuminator–caught in a male-dominated profession and then in a web of court intrigue along with one of King Henry VIII’s men, Keeper of the Palace, John Parker.
I’m so pleased to bring you part 2 of our interview today, when Michelle and I discuss dark moments, best advice, changes in the publishing industry, and more. As was the case last week, be sure to leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for one of her books; U.S. residents only, please. Enjoy!
TW: What was your darkest moment writing your debut? How did you get through it?
MD: I think every author knows that feeling of ‘What am I doing? This is the worst book I’ve ever written and there is no saving it.’ But I got through it because my CPs would read a chapter I’d literally savaged time and time again, rewritten three or four times, and by then hated, and they’d just rave about it. That definitely helped me keep going. But when I really got into the hell of it, I wouldn’t even send to my CPs, to spare them, you know, the ordeal of reading something that bad. Then I’ll keep plugging on, because I’d tell myself I can fix it later, there may be something I can still use. And then I’d read it all a week, or maybe two, later, and I’d realize it was just that I was too close. Some of it was actually okay. Because I know that about myself now, it is definitely easier to carry on.
TW: What advice would you like to pass on to aspiring writers?
MD: Never settle. In your writing and in your dreams. When you write, make sure what you are writing is not the easy way out. Dig deep and make it as original as you can. In your dreams for your work, decide what you want and go for it. When I was living out in the middle of nowhere in South Africa, submitting my work to New York agents, I think a lot of people probably thought I was mad.
TW: There’s a lot of pressure on authors today to do–everything. Write, help with publicity and sometimes marketing, dive headlong into social media. What are your boundaries? And what do you think about the newest kid on the block, Google+?
Read MoreI’m so pleased to bring you the first part in a two-part interview with today’s guest, Michelle Diener–a woman who was born in England, raised in South Africa, and who currently resides in Australia. Michelle’s debut novel, In a Treacherous Court, released three days ago, published by the Gallery Books imprint of Simon & Schuster. The book, a historical thriller/suspense with romantic elements, has already received great reviews and been picked up by Target as part of their Emerging Author Program.
In a Treacherous Court, the first book in a series, features true historical figures, including artist Susanna Horenbout and King Henry VIII’s Keeper of the Palace, John Parker. I was particularly struck by the sheer number of historical events Michelle referenced in her novel and the way she fictionalized the bridging of these pieces to create a believable possibility. Because of this, I was a little obsessed with her research process, as you’ll probably notice.
I also know Michelle through the RWA women’s fiction chapter, where I am president and she is Vice President of Communications. She is masterful in this position, and has created not only a beautifully organized and vibrant website, but a regular newsletter for members that is truly content-rich.
I know you’ll enjoy getting to know her a little today. And be sure to leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for one of her books; U.S. residents only, please.
TW: You have an interesting background–born in London, raised in Africa, living in Australia. Have these varied international experiences affected your writing or view of the writer’s world? How?
MD: Without a doubt, they have affected me a great deal. I think my experiences have given me the ability to see things from many perspectives, to understand that more than one person with an opposing view can be right, and that there still has to be a way to come to a resolution. It has taught me about being an outsider, a foreigner, a stranger in your own land, and also opened my eyes to different types of beauty and different ways of looking at things. All things I am glad I have experienced and which I try to incorporate into my work.
TW: You are one of the most efficient and productive people I know, with fantastic standards of excellence. Were you born a superwoman–attributing your gifts to your natural Virgo powers–or were these skills learned? How do you do it?
Read MoreFormer Washington DC journalist Sarah Pekkanen left the ratrace of covering the political beat and turned her skills to writing women’s fiction novels. Her debut book, THE OPPOSITE OF ME, garnered rave reviews and hit the bestseller lists. Her followup novel, SKIPPING A BEAT, also recieved advanced praise and earned a coveted spot on Oprah’s O Magazine “Pick It Up Now” booklist, just in time for summer beach reading season.
In part one of our two-part interview with Sarah, she talks about transitioning from a high-powered career into motherhood and writing books full time. In part two, we pick her brains about her writing process and the market realities — and opportunities– for today’s writers. Her answers might surprise you.
Enjoy the second half of our interview with bestselling women’s fiction author Sarah Pekkanen.
Q: You play with narrative structure in SKIPPING A BEAT, delving into the characters’ backstory to inform the plot. Did you decide to tell the story in this way from the outset, or did you let the characters drive the plot and let it unfold organically?
Read MoreSarah Pekkanen seems to have begun her career as a novelist under a charmed star. Her debut novel THE OPPOSITE OF ME, recieved praise from heavy hitters such as Jennifer Weiner, and landed on many Must-Buy lists. Sometimes it’s hard to live up to a big debut, but Pekkanen did so with her followup novel. SKIPPING A BEAT garnered praise from mainstream tastemakers like People Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar hot list. O, the Oprah Magazine, selected it a “Pick It Up Now” book for April.
But Pekkanen’s successes are built on a solid foundation based on years in the publishing industry. Her writing chops were honed as a journalist working for Gannett News Service/USA Today on beats covering Capitol Hill, and writing feature articles for the Baltimore Sun.
Somewhere in there she found the time to start a family. Now Pekkanen juggles two active boys and a writing career on the ascent, all with a hefty dose of good humor and plenty of chocolate.
We’re so pleased to bring you part one of our two-part interview with women’s fiction author Sarah Pekkanen.
Q: Your novels are receiving praise and becoming bestsellers. Did you even envision this type of success when you decided to become a novelist?
SP: Wow, thank you so much! I think most of us authors dream big, yet we’re still astonished by and grateful for every small nugget of success – be it a kind review, a heartfelt letter from a reader, or a nice turnout at a booksigning. So much of this business hinges on good luck and good timing.
Q: You worked as a journalist inside the Beltline and covered politics for a variety of news organizations. Do you think that career helped prepare you for the publishing industry? In what ways?
SP: Most definitely. It helped on a variety of levels: First, I welcome constructive criticism; I love getting feedback from my editor, Greer Hendricks, on ways she thinks my books can be improved. I don’t take it personally when she recommends I cut scenes or tells me I’m using too many cliches. My journalism background also taught me to write quickly and consistently; writer’s block isn’t tolerated in newsrooms (I’m imagining the face of my tough old city editor if I told him my muse was taking the day off) . And I can write anywhere: in noisy rooms – a helpful skill since I have three young boys – in quiet coffeshops, even in a moving car. I’ve trained myself to be able to type on a laptop while my husband is at the wheel, steering us down the highway. Right now we’re on our way to an amusement park with our boys, and I’m typing this from the passenger’s seat of our minivan.
Read MoreOn the level of professional credentials, my guest today might be described as a former literary agent for Curtis-Brown; a person who excels at Twitter, blogging and Facebook; and one who parlayed that very passion into his position as Social Media Director for CNET. If that weren’t enough, he is now the author of JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW — the first in a middle-grade series published by Dial/Penguin.
On a personal level, when people speak of Nathan Bransford, it isn’t unusual to hear words like “I just love the guy” or “someone with integrity.” To see why they might lavish that type of praise about a man they’ve never met, and to hear more about Nathan’s perspective on industry changes, please read Part I of this interview.
Today we’ll be focusing on Nathan’s ideas about self-promotion and authorship.
Jan: You seem to have either superhuman levels of energy or efficiency to accomplish all that you manage within a day. To what do you attribute this?
Nathan: Well, truthfully there’s not a real secret to it. I’m a bit of a workaholic, and I don’t mean that in braggy fashion. While that quality was helpful as I was managing a more than full time job, building a blog, and writing novels, it has also been something I’ve had to try and balance as well because for a while last year I was operating at an unsustainable pace.
Where were we? Oh yes, time management! I don’t know that I too many secrets, other than having a fast typing speed and knowing that when I die I’ll have a lot of explaining to do to the gods of typos and malaprops.
What are your preferences for electronic devices and how do you find yourself using each of them?
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Many of you are familiar with my guest today. I’m willing to bet the majority of you have a link in your sidebar to his popular writing blog, begun in his days as a literary agent for Curtis Brown, Ltd. (When I say popular, I mean 150,000 plus hits per month.)
These days, Nathan Bransford works as the Social Media Manager for CNET. As of the time of this interview’s writing, within a four-month tenure, he used his expertise to double their Facebook popularity. He has a Twitter account with 95,000 followers, owns and moderates a popular writing forum, and a few weeks ago joined the ranks of the published with his middle-grade novel, JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW. In other words, if you’re looking for someone to provide insight on how to get from unpublished author to author-in-the-limelight, it doesn’t get much better than this.
After I plumb the depths of his multi-faceted mind about publishing issues, we’ll be discussing Nathan’s book. By the way, its sequel? Already scheduled by Dial/Penguin for publication next spring.
Welcome, Nathan, and congratulations on your debut!
Jan: Shall we get rid of the inevitable question first?
When you left agenting, the big question on everybody’s lips was “why?” – the perception being you were the canary in the coal mine; that you had sensed traditional publishing’s demise and were getting out before it took you down. You’ve since explained your career shift had different origins; that it was based on passion for social media and desire for a more balanced life. Yet when I asked people what they’d most like you to address, unease remains. People believe you know something you’re reluctant to articulate, presumably because it would cause panic. Is that the case?
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Last week, we introduced you to YA novelist Alyssa Sheinmel. Known for her authentic storytelling and gripping plots, Alyssa’s latest book, The Lucky Kind, is garnering terrific reviews. I found myself savoring passages that on first glance were so simple yet when peeled back were incredibly deep. It takes a special writer to step back and allow the weight of characters and unadorned prose carry the story. Alyssa is one of them, and she makes it look so easy (want to experience her skilled storytelling yourself? Read a sample of The Lucky Kind HERE).
In part two of our two-part interview, Alyssa talks a little bit about the YA market and why writers should focus on the books and less about the market.
Please enjoy our interview with Alyssa Sheinmel.
Do you feel that the market has changed since you started writing YA?
Wow, that’s a tough question! I think the book market is a tricky one, because it has several sides. There’s the business side, in which publishers and authors are trying to work within the trends and create good products that consumers will want to buy. But there’s also the side on which books are considered art, and what makes good art isn’t necessarily affected by trends. Although, come to think of it, maybe the best art starts the trends to begin with. Could anyone have anticipated that a children’s book about a boy wizard would become something that adults scrambled to get their hands on, every bit as much as kids did? And when that happened, it caused a shift in the market, and led to a new set of trends; not just for fantasy literature, but also for books that could cross-over from the children’s to the adult market. The market keeps changing; but I think because of all that change, there’s always room for lots of different kinds of books – no one ever knows what the next trend will be.
Personally, I try not to think about the market when I’m writing. I give it a lot of thought for my day job, and it definitely can be hard to turn that part of my mind off. But when I’m writing, I try to focus only on telling a story.
The YA market seems to have exploded over the last few years, with many books crossing over to draw adult readers. Why do you think that is? Are YA writers taking risks that writers of adult genre fiction seem to avoid?
I think there are opportunities that are unique to the YA market, and I think that’s because, in some respects, it’s still relatively new.
Read MoreAlyssa B. Sheinmel has quietly been building a reputation in the YA market for excellence. She came on my radar when her debut novel, The Beautiful Between, garnered a slew of positive reviews and buzz. The New York Post called it “Endearing, realistic and heart-wrenching. Sheinmel offers a thoughtful look at teens,” while Publisher’s Weekly said, “Sheinmel makes an impressive debut with an absorbing tale of unlikely friendship, loss, and family secrets…the intriguing and well-defined characterizations will keep readers riveted.” My teen daughter loved the book, so I knew Sheinmel hit the sweet spot for her audience, which isn’t easy to do with today’s media-saturated teens.
So I was pleased to learn that Sheinmel’s sophomore effort, The Lucky Kind, continues her examination into the lives of teens with honest dialogue and motivations, and a plot that quietly unfolds yet snowballs to a riveting conclusion as we read how Nick Brandt, the kid who has it all, copes with his life unraveling. Sheinmel avoids trendy language and pat resolutions to offer a story with characters who are complicated, and issues that are timeless.
Intrigued? Read the first chapter HERE.
Enjoy part one of our two part interveiw with rising YA star Alyssa B. Sheinmel.
Can you share with us your journey to publication?
I always wanted to be a writer. I have notebooks full of the stories that I wrote from the time I learned how to write in the first place. When I graduated college, though, I needed a day job, of course, to pay the bills. That job and the one that followed took up most of my time and energy, so it was a while – a few years – before I’d written something I thought was worthwhile, something I was ready to send to agents. But I think that I needed that time to grow as a writer, and I also was lucky enough to find a day job that became a career I love, marketing children’s books at Random House.
Since The Lucky Kind was my second novel, writing it felt different from writing my first novel; there was the safety of knowing that there were people on the other side of the story (my agent, my editor) whom I knew would read it. But more than that, knowing that they would read it, I wanted to write something that they would be proud of me for having written. I tend to write in fits and spurts, and I definitely had a lot of starts and stops with The Lucky Kind, which was also true with The Beautiful Between. There were plenty of moments when I thought The Lucky Kind just wasn’t working (I even put it down to write something else when I was about halfway through the story). But when I look back on it, I know that I loved writing this book.
What was it about writing for teens that drew you?
I never intentionally chose to write for teens; I just wanted to tell the stories that I had to tell.
Read MoreIf you missed part 1 of my interview with author Jael McHenry–when we discussed revisions, evolutions and Midnight Cry Brownies–please click here, illuminate yourself, then come back.
Cool Breaking News: WU contributor Jael McHenry’s debut novel, The Kitchen Daughter, which releases in just four days on April 12th, has a gorgeous review in the May edition of O, The Oprah Magazine (p 190)!
What’s The Kitchen Daughter about?
After the unexpected death of her parents, shy and sheltered Ginny Selvaggio, a young woman with Asperger’s Syndrome, seeks comfort in family recipes. But the rich, peppery scent of her Nonna’s soup draws an unexpected visitor into the kitchen: the ghost of Nonna herself, dead for twenty years, who appears with a cryptic warning—before vanishing like steam from a cooling dish.
A haunted kitchen isn’t Ginny’s only challenge. Her domineering sister Amanda insists on selling their parents’ house in Philadelphia, the only home Ginny has ever known. As she packs up her parents’ belongings, Ginny finds evidence of family secrets she isn’t sure how to unravel. She knows how to turn milk into cheese and cream into butter, but she doesn’t know why her mother hid a letter in the bedroom chimney, or the identity of the woman in her father’s photographs. The more she learns, the more she realizes the keys to these riddles lie with the dead, and there’s only one way to get answers: cook from her parents’ recipes, raise their ghosts, and ask them.
Offering a fascinating glimpse into the unique mind of a woman struggling with Asperger’s and featuring evocative and mouth-watering descriptions of food, this lyrical novel is as delicious and joyful as a warm brownie.
Trust me, it’s a feast of words that’ll make you glad to be a reader. I hope you enjoy part 2 of my interview with Jael.
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TW: Simmer. A Watched Pot. Honey from an Onion. And now The Kitchen Daughter. This story tried on plenty of titles. Was this an arduous or fun process for you? What, if anything, did you learn about finding the perfect title for your work?
JM: In a way, it’s like I said about editing earlier – a manuscript can become any one of a hundred books, and it could also have any one of a hundred titles. I love titles, so it was fun for me to brainstorm. I always felt like the original title, Simmer, was a placeholder. I didn’t mind changing it, but I wanted to make sure it changed to something I liked. So I gave my publisher a ridiculously long list – probably 30 titles or more – and they liked The Kitchen Daughter best. It gives you some sense of what to expect, which is important in a title. You want it to be interesting in itself, but that’s not the only goal. A title is a clue to the story. You can come up with the most lyrically beautiful title in the world, but if it doesn’t match the book, it’s not a good title. (At one point I was also really attached to The Shape of Salt, so now I just have to write a book or a story that actually […]
Read MoreI am particularly thrilled to present this interview to you today. I’ve known Jael McHenry for quite a while now. We became familiar with each other on the Backspace forum, and when she began looking for an agent–and became interested in my agent, Elisabeth Weed–we came to know each other better. Jael is that alchemist’s blend of likability and sharp-wittedness that is rare and easily admired. She is also an extraordinarily talented writer and the Editor-in-Chief of Intrepid Media. I’m so pleased that she became a contributor here at Writer Unboxed, and I’m more than a little proud that her debut novel, The Kitchen Daughter, will be released this month–on April 12th. This is a book that I have read and can recommend without reservations. You will love it for its everything–from its complex protagonist to Jael’s artistry at turning a phrase. But, hey, don’t take my word for it:
“Skillfully rendered from Ginny’s point of view, McHenry’s debut novel is a touching tale about loss and grief, love and acceptance.” — Kirkus Reviews
“McHenry’s debut novel is a sensitive and realistic portrait of someone living with Asperger’s. Readers looking for good family-themed women’s fiction will enjoy this novel, and the magical element of the cooking ghosts will appeal to fans of Sarah Addison Allen.” — Library Journal
“…an intelligent and moving account of an intriguing heroine’s belated battle to find herself.” — Publishers Weekly
You’ve learned enough about Jael here at WU to know she’s a foodie. What you’re about to find out is that her novel is uniquely and memorably delicious.
Enjoy!
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TW: The Kitchen Daughter is a gorgeously written story about a girl with Asperger’s syndrome who struggles to trust herself after the death of her parents, struggles too with independence and what it means to be “normal.” I absolutely loved Ginny and reading about her story—including her deep love of cooking and her budding ability to conjure ghosts by preparing recipes written by the dead. Tell us a little about how this story came to be. What inspired it? How long did it take to move from first draft to deal? And is it your first effort or is there a manuscript (or five) in the drawer?
JM: First of all, thanks for the kind words! The first seed of the story was that I absolutely love to cook (and eat). And after writing several other books that just kept not hitting the mark, I finally asked myself some hard questions – Why don’t my characters love any of the things that I love? Why am I not using that in my writing? What if I did? So I started developing this character who loved to cook but had never used that love to connect with other people, and the first draft came from there. It took less than a year to write the book, and another year to sell it. Which is actually pretty quick in publishing, but I was also drawing on the 10 years that came before. Everything I learned from the drawerful of unsuccessful books went into making this one successful.
TW: How many large-scale revisions did you make […]
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