In Praise of Author Events

by Pamela

I’ve had the privilege of attending a few author talks and book signings over the years. Not only do I go whenever I can, the women of What Women Write regularly support authors who make their way to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Friday night Joan, Julie, Kim and I trekked to the Dallas Museum of Art to see and hear Melanie Benjamin as she promoted her new book Alice I Have Been. Kim interviewed her here on the blog and mentioned to Melanie we would be attending. Melanie suggested dinner afterward and we eagerly agreed to accompany her.

Author events I’ve attended have run the gamut—from a folding table set up in an out-of-the-way corner of a book store to an auditorium filled with enthusiastic fans. Melanie had the benefit of being tied in to a museum-wide promotion of Alice in Wonderland, with activities running throughout the museum all evening. Her presentation was well-received by several hundred people (by my estimation) and the line for the book signing stretched down the hallway.

True to her promise, Melanie joined Joan, Kim and me for dinner, and we chatted like old friends until the restaurant closed. Melanie shared insights into the publishing industry and offered encouragement about our own writing journeys.

Why attend author events?

As a writer, I feel a bit of an obligation to support those paving the way to publication before me. As a reader, I love hearing an author tell about how the seeds were planted that grew into a treasure for me to hold in my hands.

During Melanie’s presentation she shared how an afternoon spent viewing an exhibit at The Art Institute of Chicago transformed her from a little-known writer of chick-lit to an in-demand historical fiction author. The transformation wasn’t instantaneous. Like most creative people, she had a problem leaving her comfort zone, but when she took that leap of faith, she never looked back.

The exhibit, Dreaming in Pictures: The Photography of Lewis Carroll, featured photos taken by the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—among them, pictures of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired the famous story. The photos haunted Melanie and years later, she decided to tell her interpretation of Alice’s story: Alice I Have Been.

Over dinner she shared more about her writing career, overcoming losing her first agent only to be inherited by an agent who admitted to not liking her book. Eventually she landed another agent who has championed her writing and landed her a two-book deal.

Everyone’s publishing story is unique, but listening to Melanie’s path to success simultaneously encouraged and discouraged me. As long as you endeavor to write the best book possible, your odds of becoming a published author drastically increase but, so many obstacles stand in your way, it’s surely not for the meek. Ultimately I found Melanie’s enthusiasm contagious—as she talked about her newest project, the looming deadline she’s trying to meet while promoting Alice, the foreign rights for her current title, the cover art she clearly loves.

To keep up with author events in my area, I signed up for email alerts from BookTour.com. And I'm carving a special nook into my bookshelf to house autographed book copies--so I don't lend them out! (Does anyone have my signed Elizabeth Berg novel?!)

Do you attend author events/book signings? Which were your favorites?

A Conversation with Melanie Benjamin

By Kim

Those of you who read my last post already know that I’m a huge fan of Melanie Benjamin’s new novel, Alice I Have Been. Just days before that post went public Melanie agreed to be interviewed for What Women Write and I did a little happy dance before combing the internet to make sure I wasn't asking the same questions she has already answered a million times. For the record, no, she is not a lifelong fan of Alice in Wonderland, and no, she does not feel she has a muse of her own (other than her own curiosity).

My fellow blogger, Julie, alerted me about the book several months before the release date. I admit it, I have actually never read Alice in Wonderland, but I was immediately intrigued by the cover and premise of the novel. It never occurred to me before that Alice was anything beyond a figment of Lewis Carroll’s imagination. When I saw the haunting (and mildly disturbing) photograph he took of the very real Alice Liddell, I had to know her story.

From Publisher's Weekly - starred review: Born into a Victorian family of privilege, free-spirited Alice catches the attention of family friend Dodgson [a.k.a. Lewis Carroll] and serves as the muse for both his photography and writing. Their bond, however, is misunderstood by Alice's family, and though she is forced to sever their friendship, she is forever haunted by their connection as her life becomes something of a chain of heartbreaks. As an adult, Alice tries to escape her past, but it is only when she finally embraces it that she truly finds the happiness that eluded her. Focusing on three eras in Alice's life, Benjamin offers a finely wrought portrait of Alice that seamlessly blends fact with fiction. This is book club gold.

Kim: The artist/muse relationship holds great fascination for many people. Was the special connection between Charles Dodgson and Alice the main draw for you, or were you more interested in the story of Alice’s later years?

Melanie: I have to cheat and say both. Obviously we would never know about Alice were it not for Dodgson, and their intriguing relationship really is the heart of Wonderland; it’s hard to separate the two. But the idea of following Alice throughout her long, fascinating life is what induced me to write the book, for that’s the story that hasn’t been told before.

Kim: I have to admit that I opened your book with a slight bit of trepidation, fearing I may have difficulty reading about a close bond between seven-year-old Alice and a grown man. I was surprised to see in one of your interviews that the early part of the book was the easiest for you to compose. How did you handle writing about the creepier elements of their relationship?

Melanie: It was easiest to write because there’s so much known/not known about it; it’s the intrigue that fascinates me as a writer and fuels my imagination. I never once saw the relationship, through the eyes of either character, as creepy; I saw it as tragic. I suppose that’s what made it palatable for me to write it. I realize – and understood, always – that modern eyes, reading it, might be uncomfortable. But I could never allow my own modern sensibility to impart any kind of judgment on either of their actions; that would not have been true to their characters.

Kim: This could explain why I found myself hoping that they would actually end up together when she was grown. I personally saw her as a very old soul and him as oddly childlike, but I could see how people today may be quick to label Alice a victim or Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) a pedophile. I take it you do not see them that way?

Melanie: No, the truth, I firmly believe, was much more complex than that. I really have come to see their relationship as tragic; two very lonely people who wanted to comfort each other, meeting at the wrong time in both of their lives.

Kim: I’ve never been to Oxford, but I have spent some time in England. I was amazed at how well you captured the feel of both the time and the place. How did you prepare to write about a place you’ve never been?

Melanie: I gave my imagination free rein. Based on research, of course, and there was a lovely site called Virtual Oxford that allows you to see the town, the college, through web cameras. But of course, then I had to go back and determine what would not have been there one hundred and fifty years ago! But once I established some sense of the place in my mind, I then allowed myself, somehow, to “go” there, and see it through Alice’s eyes at the different times in her life, imagine what she would have felt, touched, sensed, etc. It’s strange and almost mystical, in a way, and I can’t really explain it better than that.

Kim: Alice I Have Been is your first attempt at historical fiction. How did you approach writing it?

Melanie: By concentrating on the characters and the story first. I didn’t write it because I was intrigued by the period (although I am drawn to the Victorian era; my shelves are full of books about it). I wrote it because I was drawn to the characters and the story, so the setting, while vital, is not the most important element. Perhaps other historical fiction writers approach their novels differently, but for me it’s story and characters first, setting later.

Kim: Did you do all your research before starting the book or was the research ongoing?

Melanie: I thought – and I suspect most historical novelists think this – I had done the bulk of it before writing, but with historical fiction, you never know. You can be chugging along, writing, and all of a sudden you need to know something; was there a railroad station in this town in 1862? Were gaslights installed yet? That sort of detail you might not know you need until you get into the body of the manuscript. So it’s always a balancing act; you can’t get down on yourself if you do, unexpectedly, spend a day researching instead of writing, as long as it’s necessary. It’s still work. The challenge is not getting too swept up in unnecessary research and using that as an excuse not to write. As I said, it’s a balancing act!

Kim: As a fellow historical fiction writer, I relate. I've read that Alice I Have Been is not actually your first book, that you (as Melanie Hauser) previously wrote contemporary fiction. Do you see yourself ever going back to that, or will you continue with historical from now on?

Melanie: I have no plans to revisit the type of book I’d published before. I think I finally found my true calling, as I’ve long been a history nut, and my shelves are just packed with histories, biographies, etc. It’s as if I really have been training to do this my entire life; I just had a minor detour along the way!

Kim: What do you think may be the appeal of historical fiction to readers today?

Melanie: I’ve heard from a lot of readers that they enjoy feeling as if they’re learning something as well as being entertained. It’s almost as if there’s a certain guilt attached to relaxing and reading a novel, and the guilt is lessened if the reader feels as if he’s learning something new. I don’t think most readers confuse fiction with non-fiction; they’re smart enough to know that novels aren’t history books. But a lot of readers use that historical novel as a jumping off point to do a little bit of research on their own about a certain subject or person. And I think people enjoy being intrigued enough to do that.

Kim: What time periods most fascinate you and why?

Melanie: Pretty much everything from the early Victorian era (1830’s) to the 1950’s. Those are the eras that fascinate me, and again – my bookshelves are stocked with novels and histories written in and of those time periods. I’m not sure I can articulate the “why;” I think people are just naturally drawn to certain eras.

Kim: What can you tell us about your next project?

Melanie: It’s another historical novel, a “story behind the story” but this time it’s a uniquely American story. It’s set roughly in the same time period as ALICE I HAVE BEEN, but that’s the only similarity. Other than the protagonist is an amazing female you’ve heard too little about!

Kim: Many of our readers are aspiring writers seeking publication. Do you have any words of wisdom you can share with us?

Melanie: It’s a never ending journey. There is rejection at every step; there’s really never one moment where you can say, “At last, I have arrived!” We all have to learn to juggle many different roles; we have to be an artist and love the creative process but then we have to learn to let our work go, and understand that everyone else will look at it as a product that needs to be bought and sold. But in the end, there’s no more rewarding job than being a writer; I’m my own boss, and I have the privilege of living in different worlds, becoming different people, every day. I suppose the most important thing I’ve learned is that the successful author is the author who learns to move forward, always; to reinvent herself, if necessary. But who never loses her love of language and storytelling.

Kim: Thank you so much for joining us today, Melanie. Alice I Have Been can be purchased in bookstores everywhere and here.

Setting as Character

By Julie

Last week, I set my NaNoWriMo novel aside. The beauty of participating in National Novel Writing Month is the short format, allowing you to experiment with a new story idea without a huge investment of time. I used November to write about half of a story that had been rolling around in my subconscious for a few years while I completed my last manuscript. The writing flowed some days and got stuck in the mud others. In January, I was pleased when I re-read what I'd written, but when I attempted a start on completing the story a few weeks ago, I had nothing to give to it.

I suppose I could have forced myself to keep writing, making it up as I went along. I'm pretty much a by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer anyway. (I call myself a plotser. I need a general idea of where I'm going and typically have a brief list of upcoming scenes that I follow, more or less, but enjoy seeing where my characters take me and try to let them lead me.)

Right there is where this post really gets started.

Seeing where my characters take me.

My NaNo characters weren't taking me anywhere unpredictable and quite honestly, I was bored. No exciting twists or unexpected actions seemed to be hiding in the woodwork, and it was really dragging me down. I figured if my characters bored me that much, I couldn't expect a reader to get excited about them. And, it seemed bigger than just the "sagging middle." I've written full manuscripts before and soldiered on through that inevitable phase.

On the other hand, a character I've been eyeing in the back of my mind wasn't leaving me alone. She's lurked there since I took a writer's voice class a few years ago and wrote a short character sketch. Her story is bigger than anything I've attempted before. In fact, I wasn't sure I was worthy of capturing her on paper just yet. But, as we writers often find, sometimes a character grabs hold of you and won't leave you alone until you tell her story. (EDIT: Hey! Barbara was my teacher and just happened to blog on voice today at Writer Unboxed!)

So, I've spent the last week or so doing historical research about a time period I don't know well. I've taken a few stabs at the story's beginning with what feels like decent results.

But one thing really stopping me from really plunging in right now is setting. I could go ahead and write the story, leaving those details out for now. But something tells me setting is going to be a character in her own right in this manuscript. And I need to nail her down and figure out who she is. She's that important.

I've read several novels lately where setting is critical to the story for various reasons.

In Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger, the location (England) is important, but the house, where nearly all the action happens, is truly the main character. The narrator's voice is simply telling the story of the house. It's even obvious from the cover.

In The Crying Tree, Naseem Rakha chose two main settings – a close-knit small town in Illinois and a desolate, isolated town in Oregon. Each represents a time in the main character's life, but also goes beyond that to represent the fertility and happiness of the family versus the lonely barrenness after their son is murdered.

Nick Hornby creates a fictional town in Juliet, Naked. Gooleness is predictable and going nowhere with no identifiable claim to fame or future goal. It mirrors Annie and Duncan, two sides of a couple whose life -- previously neatly mapped out, or so they thought -- goes awry when an outside force unexpectedly changes things.

A book on my to-be-read list, Melanie Benjamin's Alice I Have Been, tells the story of Alice Liddell, the true-life muse for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. You can bet that setting is crucial to this story based on a real-life character. To change the setting would be to change the girl.

I struggled with setting for my last manuscript. But eventually, Waco, Texas, with its not-so-pretty history of vigilante justice and leaders gone a little crazy with power, became the perfect place for my story of a community forced to view a crime through the lenses of a paradigm shift. I'd spent little time in Waco (maybe two hours total), and it seems strangely providential that my son ended up moving there to live on a farm last year. I got to know this little town better than I ever expected.

Now, with my new story, I'm facing the same struggle.

Do I set it here in Texas, maybe down the road in Ft. Worth, a city I can visit and explore at the drop of a hat? But which is also hundreds of miles away from New Mexico, a location that would by necessity play a critical part in the plot?

Or, do I set it, as I am inclined, in Cincinnati, Ohio, a place familiar to me as a small child, but only experienced briefly as an adult when I returned for a funeral more than a decade ago?

I could tell you many details about my grandparents' house in Cincinnati. I could describe the house across the river in Southgate, Kentucky, where my dad was born, and where his father built a retaining wall of smooth river stones to keep the tiny house from falling down the hill. I could find my grandfather's grave in a cemetery flanked by a house where my great-grandfather was the town florist in the early 1900s in Blanchester, Ohio, near Cincinnati. I could even tell you about the fabulous cookies my Aunt Margie had on hand from Buskin's Bakery whenever we came to visit and the rides and hot dogs first at Coney Island, then King's Island, in the early 1970s.

Beyond that, I can't tell you much. In fact, I couldn't tell you how to get from any one of these locations to another of them.

But something about the Queen City, with her history of 1920s and 1930s speakeasies and supper clubs and her metro area's polarized laws and attitudes strongly dependent on whether you were in Cincinnati or across the river in Kentucky, speaks to me and says perhaps she's the character who will unify the others in my new story.

So, I'm busy getting to know her, presently through the marvels of the Internet, holding my breath as I open links, hoping they'll reveal a primary source (perhaps a photograph or recorded oral history from the right era). I have a feeling if Cincinnati ends up a major player in my new story, a visit will be in order sometime in the near future.

What about you? How has setting played a character in your writing? Do you think it's important to have lived or spent extensive time in that place? Or have you written a story where the setting was basically unknown to you, but called out so strongly, you had to follow your instinct and get to know that place as well as you could with the resources at hand?

Photo credits: Ryan Thomos/Creative Commons License , Joanne Maly - Lincoln Maly Marketing