secrets for writing stories that sell

When disaster why you

strikes your need a
book release press kit

PROMOTIONAL
PITFALLS
23 MISTAKES TO AVOID
WHEN MARKETING
Sell books YOUR BOOK how to build
with kindness relationships
(yes, really) with local
bookstores
HIGH SCHOOL WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

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IMAGINE
WRITE
PUBLISH
September 2017 • Volume 130 Number 9

FEATURES
16
Promotional pitfalls
Twenty-three mistakes first-time authors must
avoid when marketing a book.
BY BRIAN FEINBLUM

20
When disaster strikes
How authors can recover from unexpected
publicity disruption.
BY KEYSHA WHITAKER

26
Balancing books
Authors who own bookstores talk shop.
BY MELISSA HART

30
The art of the
tale sale:
Best-selling novelist David Hagberg on how
to write stories that sell.
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE

34
Fiction: “The Dance”
Read the first-place winner of our “Spring
Cleaning” short story contest.
BY KATE MACNAMARA
 DEPARTMENTS IN EVERY ISSUE
10 BREAKTHROUGH
Kill book sales with kindness
4 From the Editor

Promoting your novel doesn’t 5 Take Note

have to be a soulless affair.
This debut author hit the best-
seller list with gratitude,
generosity, and plenty of
engagement.
BY YI SHUN LAI
Featuring Roy Peter Clark,
Kaitlyn Greenidge, and more.
42 Markets
47 Classified advertising

12 WRITER AT WORK
First impressions
48 How I Write
Matthew Norman: “I tend to see
How to stock your writer’s the world through a humor lens.
press kit. I use it as a defense mechanism.
BY SARA HODON That may be a personality flaw,
16 but it makes me the writer I am.”

14 WRITING ESSENTIALS
Build it with hope
Structuring a story that
will last.
BY GAIL RADLEY

38 LITERARY SPOTLIGHT
Hotel Amerika
Cross-genre works of all
shapes and sizes are welcome
in this quirky journal.
BY MELISSA HART

40 CONFERENCE INSIDER
Write-by-the-Lake
Dive deep into craft at this
intensive five-day retreat on
Lake Mendota.
26 BY MELISSA HART
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FROM THE EDITOR IMAGINE
WRITE
PUBLISH

Senior Editor Nicki Porter

T
he difference between soon-to-be parents and new parents is
quite remarkable, isn’t it?
The pregnant couple is all rosy and aglow, stroking swell-
ing stomachs, ticking off name choices on their fingers,
comparing paint swatches and stroller choices with their arms spread
‘round each other.
And then the two are three. And holy hell breaks loose.
Is she hungry? he asks. I think she needs changed, she says. She’s fussy
because she’s hot, he says. Try singing to her, she says. No, not that song.
She hates that song.
Is she swaddled too tight?
Are you sure she isn’t hungry? Try rocking her.
No, she’s just overstimulated! I told you we shouldn’t have taken her to
Whole Foods!
I meet many first-time authors each year who compare writing books
to childbirth. It’s my baby, a writer confesses, lovingly patting her man-
uscript. The hush that falls over an author, looking at his novel for the
first time in his local bookstore, has a hint of the pride and wonder one
sees when new parents look at their child for the first time. I made this,
he says, as if he does not believe he could do such a thing.
And then reality sets in: After spending so many months in the
dark, cozy cocoon of creation, slaving over sentences, agonizing over
every harsh edit, authors are thrust into the hard light of book promo-
tion, squalling and flailing and lost as a newborn.
So you seek advice from your fellow authors. Your former classmate
swears by Facebook boosts. Your mentor is the queen of radio inter-
views. Your old roommate recommends building up your Goodreads
profile, your critique group avows the power of book giveaways, and
your niece says you should really just hire her to be your publicist.
So what to do? There are only so many hours in a day, so much
money in a wallet. But like any new parent, you must give yourself per-
mission to fail. And you will fail. Often. I’m so sorry to break it to you,
dear reader, but promotion – like parenting – will never be an exact
science. You must research what you can, judge which advice to throw
out and which to hold close, and muddle through. You hope that with
each slip-up, each tiny mistake, you will learn to be better, and you will
not fail your book when it really counts.
So you do what you can, dear reader. You give as much of yourself,
your energy, your efforts, your mental capacity as you can. That’s all
anyone can ask of you.
And it’s all you must ask of yourself.
Keep writing,
Nicki Porter
Senior Editor
Contributing Editor Melissa Hart
Copy Editor Toni Fitzgerald
Art Director Carolyn V. Marsden
Graphic Designer Jaron Cote
EDITORIAL BOARD
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4 | The Writer • September 2017


FINDING YOUR VOICE
If I can sing, you can write.
I
think everyone should sing and
that everyone should write. Like
reading, these should be broadly
accepted as social practices and not as
fine arts. You don’t need to be pub-
lished in The New Yorker to feel like a
writer or to appear on stage at Carne-
gie Hall to feel like a singer.
There were times in my life when I
would never sing. Now, I sing all the
time. There were times in my life when
I would never have thought of myself as
a writer. Now, I write almost every day.
I have written five books in 10 years.
Let me put it this way: If I can sing,
you can write.
My mother, Shirley Clark, kept a
baby book to chronicle my early years. I
still have it. It has a faded velveteen blue
cover with the title “Wee Me.” It retains
the evidence of my entrance into the
world: a hospital bracelet, a birth certifi-
cate, a lock of blondish hair.
On a page set aside for “Mother’s
Notes,” mom would mark the stages of
my development as I grew from infant
to toddler to actual boy. For context, I
was born in 1948 and for the first four
years of my life lived on the Lower East
Side of New York City in a small apart-
ment in a complex called Knicker-
bocker Village.
According to mom’s testimony, two
Illustrations by Seohwa Kim/Shutterstock
areas of my development stand out:
language and music.
At age 16 months: “Roy is the talk
of the neighborhood. He can speak
more than any child his age. He can
sing every other word of ‘See Saw,’ ‘Jack
and Jill,’ ‘Four Leaf Clover’ besides a
¾“The test of a vacation is the love of the
drudgery it involves.” —Logan Pearsall Smith
BY ROY PETER CLARK
wonderful vocabulary. Mimics every-
thing and everybody.”
Hmm. Then at 24 months: “Roy is a
real boy – and all my time is spent
running around after him. He can
recite the entire alphabet, can read the
letters A-E-F-W-M & L. Not bad eh?
Still sings all day long.”
It is embarrassing and profoundly
humbling to see my adult behaviors in
childish formation by the age of 2! Was
it nature or nurture or some magical
hormone squeezed onto me in utero?
I was born into a musical family on
my mother’s side, the Marinos, a large
Italian-American clan spread across
Lower Manhattan. (My dad, Ted Clark,
described himself as “tone deaf,” but he
turned out to be a great audience for a
family of show-offs, and, on occasion,
with scotch as a lubricant, would wail
his version of Home on the Range.)
Mom sang plenty – until her dying
days at the age of 95. So did my Aunt
Beatrice, who would sit with me for
hours teaching me the pop songs of the
day in duet form. I still remember the
words to Walkin’ My Baby Back Home.
I even learned to sing a little Italian,
parroting the lyrics of Lou Monte’s
Neapolitan version of The Darktown
Strutter’s Ball.
Things did not always go well. At
my Uncle Pete’s big Italian wedding,
mom dragged me to the bandstand to
sing Italian. I froze like Italian ice.
Aunt Bea brought me to a kids’ talent
show. When I got on stage, I cried.
Years of Catholic schooling on Long
Island extinguished the flame. Form-
ing a class choir, one nun ordered me
not to sing. I could, however, stand in
the back row and mouth the words. I
assumed there would be hell to pay if
actual sound slipped out, ruining the
celestial melody of The First Noel.
Like so many of the damned, I was
saved by rock and roll.
From the time I was 8 years old, I
took piano lessons from a sweet Italian
lady named Vera DiTroia. She gave les-
sons from her house around the cor-
ner, and until I got to high school, I
made my way through the classics:
Beethoven’s Für Elise, Mozart’s Alla
Turca, Chopin’s Polonaise. But what I
really wanted to learn, Mrs. DiTroia
could not teach me: Jerry Lee Lewis’s
Great Balls of Fire, Little Richard’s Long
Tall Sally, Johnnie Johnson’s work on
Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen.
At the age of 16, we watched the Bea-
tles invade America. We could see that
Paul was a handsome guy, but the other
writermag.com • The Writer | 5
three were nothing to look at, and yet
the girls – our girls – were moved to
ecstasy by these Liverpudlian mopheads.
So it was our job to play in a band.
There was a succession of them: The
Henchmen, The Roy Clark Five, T.S.
and the Eliots. Then, in college: Tues-
day’s Children and The Sidewinders.
Then later, with my pals at the St. Peters-
burg Times, The Fabulous Nosecaps.
I sang all the time to myself: in my
bedroom, driving a car, in the shower,
but my voice was deemed unacceptable
for public performance. Still, I per-
sisted. I got to sing a little backup with
Tuesday’s Children, and then made a
breakthrough with the Nosecaps.
I took no lessons, but through
adulthood, my voice seemed to
improve. When I heard recordings, I
knew that I was incapable of holding
the high notes or keeping on pitch. But
a bit of vibrato was trying to escape,
and I discovered a falsetto that worked
in certain Beatles songs. For cover ver-
sions, I could imitate certain voices:
Elvis, Dylan, the British Invasion, Mike
Love of the Beach Boys, even James
Brown for I Feel Good. Eventually, the
humor of mimicry drifted away, and
what I discovered was my own authen-
tic rock and roll singing voice. What
that voice had was enthusiasm, which
led to confidence. I could hear myself
believing in the lyrics, the narrative,
the hopes and dreams of the song-
writer. And others could hear it, too.
I played and sang – still do – at
house parties with 20 people. And I
once stood in front of 40,000 people
gathered along the St. Petersburg
Waterfront on the Fourth of July to see
the fireworks. The crowd was pretty
drunk by 9 p.m., so party songs like
Wooly Bully, Louie, Louie, and Twist
and Shout hit the mark.
I have been married for 45 years. I
am 69 years old – a little older than
Bruce Springsteen. I have lost most of
my hair, gained a little weight, and
every day notice some annoying sign of
6 | The Writer • September 2017
aging. In spite of this, when I sit at the
keyboard and start playing Here Comes
the Sun, and sing a chorus or two, I
often find myself in the company of
women of every age. Something pleases
them about a man who has gained the
confidence to perform for them.
For those people blessed with a
great voice – the Josh Grobans or
Mariah Careys of the world – perfor-
mance is not about risk-taking. For
me, with a voice that rates about five
on a scale of 10, it’s all about risk-tak-
ing. The biggest musical risk I ever
took was during a workshop in Atlanta
at a convention of the National Associ-
ation of Black Journalists. They
accepted my proposed topic: “What I
Learned about Writing by Listening to
Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin.”
The workshop was about the multi-
ple connections between writing and
music: invention, improvisation, origi-
nality, ownership, authenticity, imita-
tion, phrasing, tone, rhythm, mood,
movement, sound, and on and on. I
played recordings of Otis Redding’s
Respect, and then Aretha, noting the
profound differences as the song evolved
from a manly plea to a feminist demand.
But then I sat at the piano and
played and sang – it might have been I
Feel Good and Mustang Sally – and the
audience, mostly people of color, sang
along with me. In my mind, I was the
same skinny white guy who wanted to
sing in my high school band. “We talk
about the value of risk-taking in
journalism all the time,” I told the
crowd. “I hope you appreciate the risk I
am taking for you today.” And they did.
I had intended this workshop to be
a one-time event. But people who
attended my sessions would not let me
close the lid of the piano. “When are
you going to play some music?” is the
common question. I own a battery-
powered Yamaha electric keyboard
with self-contained speakers that
weighs about 12 pounds. I tuck it
under my arm and bring it to every
writing workshop – just in case.
If I can sing, you can write. For too
long we have treated writing as a fine
art rather than a social literacy. “You
know,” a teacher might say, “you could
write for the school paper.” The same is
true for singing: “You know, your voice
is so good you could sing in the choir.”
But what if we thought about writ-
ing and singing as akin to playing golf?
“Are you a golfer?” someone might ask
me. “Yes,” I respond, “I golf.”
And that is all you need, that deter-
mination to participate, to play the
game. Writing is a game, of sorts. So is
singing. You earn the designation of
writer not by publishing a book but by
writing your first blog post or letter to
the editor.
Try this experiment: next time fam-
ily or friends are gathered around the
house, tell them that you want to sing
them a song. It does not matter where
you rank on the singing scale. Pick a
song you love and you know by heart.
Perform it seriously, as if you were
opening for Tony Bennett at Carnegie
Hall. If they laugh at you, do not be
embarrassed. You will have entertained
them. But don’t be surprised if some-
one comes up after your performance
and offers a fervent squeeze and a kiss
on the lips. You are a singer.
Now write about it. You are a writer.
—Roy Peter Clark has taught writing at the Poynter
Institute since 1977. He has authored or edited 18
books on writing and journalism, including Writing
Tools and The Art of X-Ray Reading.

BOOKISH
BACK TO SCHOOL
Looking to trade your fluffy beach
reads for some serious books on
craft? Here’s a round-up of some of
the writing books that caught our eye
this summer.
Writing as a Path to Awakening:
A Year to Becoming an Excellent
Writer and Living an Awakened Life
By Albert Flynn DeSilver
“A writer is someone who writes, not
someone who is published,” proclaims
poet, teacher, and author Albert Flynn
DeSilver. “Practice, repetition, and
consistency are essential.” DeSilver’s
book aims to show writers how to
conquer all three of these elements via
seasonally driven storytelling, medita-
tions, and writing exercises.
Notable blurb: “In this gentle, lucid,
erudite, and compassionate guide,
Albert Flynn DeSilver offers the wis-
dom and warmth of a true friend who
has walked the path. One who reaches
out a capable hand and offers it to the
new writer, to the struggling writer,
and says here, here, let me show you
not only how to write but how to live.”
—Dani Shapiro, author of Still Writing.
Let It Bleed: How to Write a
Rockin’ Memoir
By Pamela Des Barres
Perhaps dry, stuffy handbooks aren’t
for you. Perhaps you prefer classic
rock and heavy metal to NPR and
Bach. Perhaps, then, Pamela Des
Barres’ rockin’ book on the art of
memoir is for you. Des Barres
believes everyone has a story to tell,
though they may not have the cour-
age to tell it. Each chapter contains
real-world writing examples from
both famous writers and Des Barres’
¾ “To produce a mighty book, you must choose
a mighty theme.” —Herman Melville
students, in addition to a number of
exercises that help conjure the past
and a person’s true self. “Come, join
our writing party and revel in the raz-
zle-dazzle of your own rowdy esca-
pades,” invites Des Barres. “Or come
to poke around in your past and
make sense of those profoundly pain-
ful days and sleepless nights. Come to
write it all down and love yourself like
you love your favorite song.”
Notable blurb: “Pamela Des Barres’s
writing crackles with joy and energy –
it’s such a pleasure to be immersed in
the vivid world of this legendary
writer.” —Emma Cline, author of
The Girls.
The Hidden Machinery:
Essays on Writing
By Margot Livesey
If you’re craving a more literary
approach to deepening your craft,
hunt down a copy of New York
Times best-selling author Margot
Livesey’s The Hidden Machinery. In
this essay collection, the works of
some of the greatest writers in litera-
ture become her love language as
she delves deep into craft and tech-
nique. “Read everything that is good
for the good of your soul,” says
Livesey. “Then learn to read as a
writer, to search out that hidden
machinery, which it is the business
of art to conceal and the business of
the apprentice to comprehend.”
Notable blurb: “Would-be writers
will find this both useful and inspir-
ing, while general readers can sim-
ply enjoy Livesey’s keen insights
and engaging prose.” —Kirkus,
starred review.
Freefall into Fiction: Finding Form
By Barbara Turner-Vesselago
“Writing is not the same as thinking,”
writes Barbara Turner-Vesselago.
“Writing will always be a voyage of
discovery: it takes you to new places
and new understandings you would
never have anticipated merely by
thinking.” In Freefall into Fiction, she
aims to help authors reach the stage
of writing “in which you become
skilled at surrender:” The point in
which the writer is able to balance
their initial intention with the
impulse to surrender to newfound
ideas or discoveries he or she finds
along the way.
Notable blurb: “Barbara maps the
dangerous journey from intuitive
‘free-fall’ writing to consciously cre-
ated fiction, making it exhilarating; a
lucid, well-researched, and clearly
illustrated guide we can safely fol-
low.” —Dr. Gillie Bolton, author of 12
books on writing.
writermag.com • The Writer | 7
WRITERS ON WRITING
Kaitlyn Greenidge
Syreeta McFadden
Kaitlyn Greenidge’s debut novel, We Love You,
Charlie Freeman, was released in 2016 to wide-
spread critical acclaim, including a rave review
in the New York Times. Greenidge recently won
a Whiting Award in fiction and has been a Bread
Loaf scholar, a Lower Manhattan Cultural Coun-
cil Workspace Artist-in-Residence, and Johnson
State College visiting emerging writer. Her work
has appeared in the New York Times, Elle.com,
the Feminist Wire, and American Short Fiction,
among other publications, and she currently
writes for Lenny Letter alongside working on
her second book.
WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
YOU’VE LEARNED ABOUT WRITING?
I think that it takes a long time. There is no rush-
ing it, and the work exists on its own timetable,
outside of your own personal deadlines.
HOW HAS THIS HELPED YOU AS A WRITER?
It is hard to be more patient, but that’s what is
needed. I think of a talk I went to last year, by
Robin Coste Lewis. She mentioned, noncha-
lantly, that she was translating a poem from
Sanskrit. She estimated it would take her some-
thing like 30 years to finish it. She said this with-
out any trepidation or fear or shame. It was
simply how long the work would take, and she
was prepared for it. I think about that impossi-
ble timeline a lot, especially when I miss my
own internal deadlines for projects, or I am try-
ing to figure out how I can write about all the
things I wish to write about.
—Gabriel Packard is the associate director of the creative
writing MFA program at Hunter College in New York City and
also the author of The Painted Ocean: A Novel, published in
2016 by Corsair/Hachette.
8 | The Writer • September 2017
ASK THE WRITER
My story settings are similar to where I live,
but I prefer to use fictional names. How do I
go about making the names up?
Naming a place is a lot like naming a character: You want
to find a name that’s realistic and somehow fitting.
Charles Baxter’s fictional town Five Oaks, Michigan –
a setting for many of his works, including the novels
Shadow Play and Saul and Patsy – is a small, isolated
place with cold winters and flat land. Though we won’t
find it on an actual map, we could easily place it on one.
It resembles many small Midwestern towns.
In that spirit, you might look for where your place
would appear on a map. Look at the names of nearby
places. Consider what sort of ideas and images those
names evoke. Consider, too, the history of the area and
how that history may have influenced the naming of
places. Brainstorm names that work in that same vein.
This approach can work for the naming of a town, as well
as a neighborhood within a city, a county within a state,
and could even apply to streets, transportation routes,
and buildings.
—Brandi Reissenweber teaches fiction writing and reading fiction at
Gotham Writers Workshop.
WRITING PROMPT
FOR THE PAST YEAR, you’ve been stranded alone on a
deserted island...or so you thought.
Anki Hoglund/Shutterstock
Yesterday, you found out you were not alone.
What happened? And more importantly: What’s your
next move?
 ¾ “A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted
to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.” —Caroline Gordon

Desk refresh
After a long summer spent writing in the great outdoors, it’s
time to diligently return to our desks. To make the shift a little
more bearable, we rounded up our favorite writerly “school
supplies” for the ultimate home office refresh.
X WORLDWIDE
WONDERLAND
Add a generous dose of
whimsy to your afternoon
web-browsing with this
Alice in Wonderland-
inspired mousepad.
Replace flamingo with your
struggle of the day – un-
derdeveloped characters,
X OOPS ERASER creaky dialogue, or invoic-
Mistakes happen. ing clients – or use it as a
Enough said. constant reminder not to
$4, papyrusonline.com. fall down the Buzzfeed rab-
bit hole.
X MURDER, SHE WROTE $9.99, cafepress.com.
How can a crime novelist keep track of all those
pesky clues and red herrings? We’ll throw in
a strong vote for this “Murder Ink” notepad,
which comes with a handy murder weapon – X OLD-SCHOOL MEMOS
or “weapen.” We’re obsessed with this
$12, fredandfriends.com. typewriter-shaped box of
notepaper, which dispens-
es a scroll of memo-size pa-
per much like a tissue box
(only much, much cooler).
Bonus points if you shout
Stop the presses! while rip-
ping off your latest memo.
$12.95, chroniclebooks.com.

X PENCIL PEDAGOGY X SAY IT WITH OLIVETTI

“You’re procrastinating on your writing Who says grammar can’t be art? This
project,” your pencil scolds. “It’s time striking notecard set was created with
for this pencil to do its job,” encourag- the classic Olivetti Lettera 32 type-
es another. These clever pencils aren’t writer, resulting in red-and-black de-
just writing encouragement: They also signs perfect for dashing off a thank-
illustrate the proper usage of com- you note to your typophile editor.
monly confused homophones (you’re/ $15.95, papress.com.
your, it’s/its, accept/except, etc.).
$9.95, basbleu.com.
writermag.com • The Writer | 9
BREAKTHROUGH
BY YI SHUN LAI

Kill book sales with kindness

Promoting your novel doesn’t have to be a soulless affair. This debut author hit
the best-seller list with gratitude, generosity, and plenty of engagement.

A
h, the author platform: the
measure of how many
books an author can sell
based on who and what
they know. Essentially, it’s a whole lot
of work leading up to and throughout
a book’s life.
A lot of it is busywork: building a
web presence, doing author inter-
views online, responding to and
replying to people on social media,
setting up readings and events and
and and and and…
In this day and age of author-
turned-marketer (a phrase I stole
from Dennis Johnson, the publisher
at Melville House), where do we find
the time for such things? I was nearly
petrified at the number of tasks
involved in the launch plans for my
debut novel.
Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadven-
tures of Marty Wu (Shade Mountain
Press) debuted at No. 5 on Small Press
Distributor’s best-seller list in May
2016. Over the next six or eight
months, it rose to No. 3, dropped to
No. 5 again, and eventually fell off the
Kindness is a
list, but not before my publisher and I
leveraged the hell out of that status. As
of now, it’s in its fourth printing. And
function of time.
in the end, when the launch was over
and the first reviews and interviews
had been published, I could take a lon-
ger-lens view of the thing, nod sagely fundraiser for AIDS research. All day showering and sleep happened. For
chsherbakova yuliya/Shutterstock

at it, and mutter to myself, “Well, that
was kind of enjoyable, actually.”
The key, I think, was basic human
kindness.
A long, long time ago, I rode my
bike across Montana as part of a
10 | The Writer • September 2017
long, all we did was ride our bikes.
When we made it to the end of each
day, those of us who got in earlier
would eat and then straggle back to the
finish line to cheer in people who were
still coming in. At some point,
seven days it was like this, and when it
was all over, my friends and I revisited
what it was like, to participate in a
thing where, for a whole week, all you
had to do was get everyone from point
A to point B.
 My friend Andrew, a person of few
words, all of which are valuable, said,
“Kindness is a function of time.”
I think this little phrase has great
resonance, especially in the publishing
industry. We are all so aware of the fact
that there is some competition to
whether or not our book gets pub-
lished. We all know about the need to
network, to get the right people to
review our books. When I look back at
the heady first year, I think a lot of it
happened because my publisher and I
took the time to be kind, by as many
definitions as possible, and because
people were kind to us. Here’s how it
looked from my perspective.
Generosity
I encouraged and invited other writers
to participate with me on panels and at
interviews and readings, and I was the
main attraction at several events
hosted by other writers. There’s an
obvious selfish motive to these: the
more writers we get, the more poten-
tial audience members there are. And
it is such a joy to see writers read from
their own work and to hear their views
first-hand, and then to celebrate
together afterwards.
My publisher, Rosalie Morales
Kearns, practices this with – well, a
kind of avenging angel’s zeal. Other
publishers’ names are always on her
lips; she works hard to lift voices that
aren’t usually heard; she never balks at
sharing what she’s learned and the con-
nections she’s made. She once told me
she built her writers’ contracts to spite
the wrongs she’s seen done in the past.
This is both terrifying and admirable. I
get goosebumps thinking about the
fire she lights under others to follow
her example.
Gratitude
Following each classroom visit, book-
store or library appearance or speak-
ing engagement, I give the organizers
a card and a little present. I arrive at
bookstore and library events with a folks I met and engaged with on Twit-
box of cookies or chocolate, or some ter decide to buy my book, and then
other shareable goodie. The act of review or recommend it.)
writing the card reminds me of what a And then, after you’ve had an inter-
lovely time I had, and I’ve never seen view or an event, follow up with the
the recipient of goodies not smile. bookstore or the interviewer. Keep
(You have? That person’s dead inside. track of them. Celebrate their victories;
Stay away.) promote their goings-on. (Presumably,
This tiny little thing, this action of if they interviewed you or had you in,
thanking people, gives me great you’ll be interested in whatever else
energy. I can feed off it for weeks, and they’re offering, around the year,
it makes whatever’s coming down the maybe for years to come.)
pipeline seem surmountable, and Alex Maslansky, a bookseller in Los
even joyous. Angeles, said that writers shouldn’t
look at the promotion part of an
Engagement author’s career so much as marketing.
This is more than just liking some- Rather, we should consider it doing
one’s tweets or Facebook posts. This is honor to our work. I think a little
spreading the news about other writ- kindness is book marketing is much
ers and their events; keeping an eye the same. Our industry is more social
out for writers you want to work with. than others; our success is more reliant
This is paying attention to readers on the way we treat others.
and aspiring novelists and writers, I like the idea of doing honor to
and helping them on their ways. This everyone who helps to make our books
is actually interacting with them. (I’ve successes, don’t you?
heard people say they’ve literally
never sold a book via a Twitter inter- Yi Shun Lai is the author of Not a Self-Help
action. I don’t think I’ve ever literally Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu (Shade
said “buy my book” on Twitter or Mountain Press, 2016) and the nonfiction editor
Facebook, but I’ve had at least five for the Tahoma Literary Review.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN
Your story WRITING, LITERATURE
starts here. & PUBLISHING
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Creative Writing MFA Publishing & Writing MA
Popular Fiction Writing & Writing for Film & Television
Publishing MFA MFA
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writermag.com • The Writer | 11
WRITER AT WORK
BY SARA HODON

First impressions
How to stock your writer’s press kit.

W
riters can never have too many marketing Although the packet is meant to promote your work, it
outlets. From websites and monthly e-news- should also be a positive reflection of you as a person and
letters to a robust social media presence and show some of your personality. Take the head shot, for
regular interaction with readers and clients, example. Invest in a session with a professional photogra-
most wordsmiths have the digital marketing landscape cov- pher who can make you look your best. “One photographer
ered. But a press kit, perhaps an “old-fashioned” marketing I used had me laugh as she took pictures. Did I feel silly?
tool, is still effective. A press kit is basically a packet of Yes. But those were the best photos of all,” Beavers says.
materials contained in a folder or envelope that a writer uses “Please, no selfies or photos with other people or distracting
to promote themselves and their work. Think of it as a tan- background images. A good photo will get lots of mileage,
gible website. An author can use it to publicize a new book, as it can also be used on your website and social media, as
and a freelance writer can use it to well as your books and publications.”
market their writing services. Your bio should also say something
A press kit is a great way to intro- A press kit is a about you as a person and not just be a
duce yourself and your work and to lit- great way to bulleted list of publishing credits. “You
erally leave a lasting impression in the want to write something that creates
form of promotional items. “The gen- introduce yourself more intrigue,” says Rita Guthrie, owner
eral public – and industry specialists – and your work and to and “Idea Lady” at Open Door Public
may never have heard the writer’s Relations, based in the Lehigh Valley,
name before or may be unfamiliar with literally leave a Pennsylvania. “It doesn’t have to be the
their work. A writer’s press kit, con- lasting impression standard stuff – where you live, what
taining his or her bio and work high- you’ve studied, where you’ve worked.
lights, introduces the writer to the in the form of Even one little paragraph that tells you
public or to a targeted company or something about the author should be
individual,” explains Stephanie J. Bea-
promotional items. creative and intriguing.” As always,
vers, owner of Stephanie J. Beavers check each item in the kit multiple times
Communications, a writing and editing firm in Lebanon, for any typos or printer blemishes before you hand them out.
Pennsylvania. “Even writers who have had success in getting For authors, particularly those who are new, self-pub-
books, articles, blogs, etc. published may be better known lished, or both, press kits are a relatively easy way to help
for the title of their work than for their own name, and a generate some buzz about you and your work. Most of the
press kit connects the writer to their respective work(s). time, the responsibility of creating that initial buzz falls to
Press kits are also versatile and can be customized for use in you, particularly for promoting events, Guthrie explains. “I
a variety of settings, such as author events, presentations, know that many self-published authors rely on the venue
book fairs, industry-related conventions, networking, and to do the marketing for them. Authors need to promote
job interviews.” their book signings and events on their own. You also
When assembling a press kit, think about how, when, don’t have to wait until your book is printed to start creat-
and where it will be used and customize its contents based ing a buzz. Don’t wait until everything is perfect to start
on your needs. A basic kit typically contains a copy of the promoting yourself,” she says. Besides the basic informa-
author’s bio, a flattering head shot, a summary of published tion in the press kit, Guthrie suggests taking the promo-
works (books or articles, as well as any other notable writing tional items a step further: “Add a bookmark or get a
projects), and other ephemera such as bookmarks, fliers, or banner created with a design that’s consistent with your
postcards related to a specific project (such as a new book). book’s cover art. Think of yourself as a small business
Freelance writers may also include a list of testimonials owner, and as with any small business, you need to say,
from satisfied clients or copies of sample articles. show, or do something that will grab people by the shirt
12 | The Writer • September 2017
collar. You have to create some of the
excitement yourself.”
Journalist-turned-thriller author
Geoffrey Mehl says although he relies
more on his virtual presence to sell
books, he still uses tangible marketing
materials and takes a few copies of his
press kits to industry events. “Because
they are the same, I have a basic kit
handy and carry a hard copy with me
when being interviewed or at appear-
ances. Talks, panels, etc., sometimes
have a reporter or two in the audience,
so I have it ready to hand out as a con-
venience to them,” he says. “Most often
it is sent electronically (.doc, .txt for-
mats), but now and then a handout is
requested, so it is printed as needed. I
keep mine handy on my home com-
puter but often carry the same files on
a USB stick.”
Although it’s tempting (and cer-
tainly more convenient) to hand out
business cards and/or refer new con-
tacts to your website, giving them a
press kit as a takeaway can help to set
you apart from other writers in a few
important ways. First and foremost,
Beavers says, it shows you are ready for
any opportunity to promote yourself or
your work.
“The reasons for having hard copies
of press kit materials are many, includ-
ing to show professionalism and pre-
paredness when networking with
publishing professionals or in front of
potential clients; to use and hand out
at trade shows, book fairs, conventions
(when exhibiting); to have relevant
information prepared to hand out dur-
ing an interview and mail to poten-
tially interested parties – marketers,
bookstores, publishers, event promot-
ers,” she explains.
Self-promotion is a big part of being
a writer, and having marketing materi-
als readily available just makes every-
one’s job a little easier, Mehl says:
“Unless you’ve done something scan-
dalous, media people are very much
your friend and trying to get their jobs
done as effortlessly and accurately as
possible. Be cordial, be prompt, and
consider queries a priority. Having a
professional packet that can be instantly
provided (they are always on deadline)
is good PR, and a follow-up thank you
note after publication is always appreci-
ated no matter how it turns out.”
Sara Hodon has written for over two dozen print
and online consumer, trade, and custom publica-
tions. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family.
writermag.com • The Writer | 13
WRITING ESSENTIALS
BY GAIL RADLEY

Build it with hope

Structuring a story that will last.

A
writer is god of his or her
created universe, shaping
events at will. Such a heady
feeling! But all choices are
not equal when it comes to plotting.
There are consequences to our
choices, and some of these are passed
on to our readers.
In his book The Wounded Storyteller,
Arthur W. Frank outlines the sorts of
plots common to personal stories about
illness and injury. As we know, stories
are built around problems, crises of
innumerable types, and problems leave
their mark, if not in scars and handi-
caps, at least in psychic wounds. Thus
most stories are, in a sense, stories of a the young child’s feeling that whatever the times when the doctors cannot
wounded protagonist. How can we best may happen, Mom or Dad will be able outsmart death? What happens when
portray their stories, and what impact to set it right. Everything is fixable. A we can’t offer restitution?
will such plots have on readers? common thread in these stories is that One answer is the chaos narrative, so
The story we all hope to live when remedy comes from other sources – a far at the other end of the narrative
struck with illness, injury, or another doctor gives the medicine or performs spectrum that Frank calls it an “anti-
sort of problem is what Frank calls a the surgery, the insurance company narrative,” explaining that it is not a
“restitution narrative.” In an illness resti- replaces the house, the law allows the “sequence of events connected to each
tution narrative, normal life is inter- divorce, and a new romance promises a other through time.” Instead, it is a tor-
rupted and threatened by disease or future with love and companionship. rent of seemingly random, devastating
injury, but there are remedies and doc- Such stories are as old as Job, Frank experiences with neither cause nor pur-
tors to help. If the patient follows points out. Beset with trial upon trial, pose, told without benefit of reflection
instructions faithfully, things will “get Job’s job was to keep his faith and be or sense of control. They are stories of
back to normal” soon – what an appeal- patient; in time, all his losses were terminal illness exacerbated by pointless
ing idea! There will be trials to endure, reversed. So it is with protagonists of and painful tests, of people whose
but the doctor has the remedy and the restitution stories: They must believe – houses not only burn and spouses
interruption will eventually be over and and go along for the ride. cheat, but whose children are overcome
Anastasiya Bleskina/Shutterstock; Le Panda/Shutterstock

done with. If the story revolves around
the protagonist’s house burning down,
there will be inconveniences, but the
insurance check will arrive and he will
be comfortably ensconced in a new,
equally comfortable house by the story’s
end. The protagonist discovers a cheat-
ing spouse? No matter. A divorce and
on to a wonderful new relationship: Life
is good again. It is the adult version of
14 | The Writer • September 2017
Gratifying as a return to normalcy
might seem, the narrative problems are
clear. Generally, a passive protagonist
who needs only to follow directions
and bide time until rescue generally
fails to capture much admiration or
interest. Nor does such a protagonist
encourage readers to take the reins of
their own lives. Every problem is not
fixable. How do we tell the stories of
by rare ailments, whose dogs die, whose
jobs are lost, and who are struck by
lightning. With no end in sight, no
order or rationale, such stories are
tough to read and to listen to. Listeners
are tempted to nudge speakers toward
reshaping their experiences into restitu-
tion stories; chaos narratives make us
anxious. Without relief, such stories,
real or imagined, can feel soul-crushing.
When they are true stories, as in the
case of Holocaust survivors, they must
be heard; only then can the tellers begin
to fashion lives that make sense.
True, sometimes life does bring res-
titution. And at other times, life is a
frightful descent into chaos. Such possi-
bilities have their place in literature. But
often, the whole story incorporates ele-
ments of each while ultimately being a
narrative of the third type: the quest.
Few people emerge from an ordeal
unchanged. The quest narrative
acknowledges that change; the story
becomes a narrative of learning, of
growth. In a quest story, the protagonist
emerges from illness scarred or perhaps
with new limitations. The protagonist
whose house went up in flames doesn’t
receive enough insurance money to
build a comparable house; irreplaceable
items were lost. The protagonist with
the cheating spouse is hesitant to start a
new relationship and is wary of prom-
ises. But growth, new understanding, is
the recompense. The patient discovers
inner strength, perhaps a new, more
meaningful vocation; the one who lost a
house has gained detachment and
appreciation for family; the divorced
protagonist learns to trust intuition.
In short, the quest narrative
acknowledges life, with all its tests and
trials, as a journey, the ultimate pur-
pose of which is growth, learning, and/
or progress. Joseph Campbell outlines
the phases of such a journey in The
Hero with a Thousand Faces, explain-
ing that this is an archetypical journey
that shows up in fairy tales, myths, and
religious lore throughout the ages and
in myriad cultures. “It has always been
the prime function of mythology and
rite,” Campbell notes, “to supply the
symbols that carry the human spirit
forward.” The protagonist in a quest
story is such a symbol, imparting cour-
age and meaning to readers.
Campbell encapsulates the hero’s
journey this way: “A hero ventures forth
from the world of common day into a
region of supernatural wonder: fabu-
lous forces are there encountered and a
decisive victory is won: the hero comes
back from this mysterious adventure
with the power to bestow boons on his
fellow man.” If this sounds distant from
modern life, consider that the “region
of supernatural wonder” might mean
the hero presents himself to the medical
establishment with their “fabulous
forces.” It might also mean entering the
chaos of life without a home of one’s
own or a faithful spouse. Trials will be
encountered, but there will be helpers
along the way. In the end, as mentioned
above, the hero is changed and returns
the “Master of Two Worlds,” the ordi-
nary world he departed from and the
world of trial he faced. The change, or
“boon,” may represent learning, growth,
or a story of triumph that can inform or
inspire others.
Stories can successfully contain ele-
ments of more than one of these forms,
for example, a time of trial may be por-
trayed as a chaotic episode. But the
persistence of the quest narrative as the
overarching story form over time and
place testifies to its power and mean-
ingfulness. The hero’s journey, or quest
narrative, has been widely acknowl-
edged as the underpinning of numer-
ous modern stories in print and on
screen. More realistic than the restitu-
tion narrative, easier to bear and more
satisfying than purely chaotic narrative,
the quest narrative assures readers that
they can cope with a radically changing
world and even survive times of chaos,
and emerge the better for it. For writ-
ers, it offers a trustworthy blueprint to
flesh out in their own unique ways.
Gail Radley is the author of 24 books for young
people and numerous articles for adults, includ-
ing, most recently, “Stepping Out in High Style”
from the August 2017 issue of The Writer.
Recently, she stepped away from teaching Eng-
lish full-time at Stetson University in order to
devote more time to freelance writing and edit-
ing. She lives in DeLand, Florida.
USING MYTHICAL STRUCTURES
IN YOUR OWN WORK
“The Hero’s journey is…capable of
endless variation without sacrificing
any of its magic, and it will outlive us
all.” —Christopher Vogler, The Writ-
er’s Journey
Christopher Vogler makes an impor-
tant observation about applying
Campbell’s mythical structure in his
book The Writer’s Journey: “Every sto-
ryteller bends the mythic pattern to
his own purpose or the needs of her
culture.” So, feel free to sift the ideas
through your own sensibilities. With
that in mind, consider these archetypi-
cal elements:
» Briefly show the protagonist in his
or her “Ordinary World.”
» Sound the “Call to Adventure”
soon, letting readers know the
protagonist’s goal and why it mat-
ters. The protagonist may “Refuse
the Call” at first, but events pro-
pel him or her forward to “Cross
the First Threshold;” that is,
action begins!
» Introduce Mentors, Tests, Allies,
and Enemies in what writers
would call “the rising action.”
» Approach the “Inmost Cave,” or
preparing for the “Supreme
Ordeal,” the major crisis point in
the story.
» Portray the protagonist “Seizing
the Sword,” in other words,
attaining, learning, or growing as
an outcome of the Ordeal.
» Take the “Road Back,” facing the
results of what has transpired
while returning to the ordinary
world.
» Face the “Resurrection,” a final
ordeal.
» “Return with the Elixir,” to rejoin
the ordinary world with a “boon,”
something to share with others or
an internal shift in understanding
or growth.
writermag.com • The Writer | 15
 PROMOTIONAL
PITFALLS
Twenty-three mistakes first-time authors
must avoid when marketing a book.
BY BRIAN FEINBLUM
rankly, this article could have easily been titled “73 mis-

F takes to avoid” or “103” or even “500,” because there are

so many potential pitfalls new authors must navigate or
avert when promoting their books. Even seasoned authors with
several books on their resume can misstep when it comes to mar-
keting a book today.
Having promoted authors since 1989, both as an in-house book
publicist and now as the head of marketing for a public relations
firm specializing in book publicity, I can assure you that all authors
are vulnerable to making these mistakes, no matter their age,
hometown, or genre.
Here are the 23 missteps you need to avoid as an author.

16 | The Writer • September 2017

 01
You start too late.
Timing is everything. For example, you must
send copies of your book to leading book
reviewers at key publications three and a
half to four months prior to your publication
date. Don’t delay and fall behind. Plan ahead
and work backward to ensure everything is
taken care of.
02
You fail to make a plan.
Have a marketing plan, not a wish list.
Sure, you can have a mission statement and
set goals, but you also need to have a con-
crete, detailed plan and timeline to execute
this plan.
03
You don’t play nice with others.
Realize that you should collaborate and
cooperate with fellow authors. Don’t see
them as competitors or enemies. Authors
are stronger when they exchange ideas,
share resources, and support one another.
04
Your head isn’t in the game.
Ditch the lousy attitude. Lazy authors are not
successful ones. Authors who give up too
quickly shortchange themselves. Another
problem is having an all-about-me approach:
Illustrations by blambca/Shutterstock
Too many authors have huge egos and fail to
hustle because they are blinded by an
inflated sense of self. Tone it down and get
off your high horse. Be ready to do whatever
it takes to get your book out there.
05
You don’t think your book is worthy of
awards and accolades.
You absolutely should pursue awards. Too
many authors doubt their self-worth and fail
to apply. I say put it out there and dare oth-
ers to reject your work.
06
You don’t have a website.
Authors absolutely need one. Nothing sub-
stitutes for having a dedicated site for you
and your book. Further, they must be
updated and expanded on a regular basis.
You don’t want outdated, incorrect, or
incomplete information out there. Updating
your site regularly helps with search engine
optimization (SEO), too. Aesthetics matter as
well: Freshen the site regularly to give it an
updated, modern appearance.
07
You don’t network.
Methodically identify and reach out to your
network of online connections and real-life
personal relationships. Don’t be shy, and
don’t be afraid to ask for help from others.
08
You put all your promotional
eggs in one basket.
Diversify your media outreach. There are
three types – traditional (TV, radio, print);
digital (bloggers, podcasters, video chan-
nels, websites, forums, reviewers), and
social (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube,
Instagram, Pinterest). Think of these buckets
of media and content sharers as your media
portfolio. Don’t just zero in on one type of
media or narrowly focus on one channel.
writermag.com • The Writer | 17
 09
You wait too long to see ’what works best.’
It’s okay to test the waters and experiment
before you plunge a ton of resources into
something, but don’t wait too long to com-
mit or you’ll miss the boat.
10
You don’t go all in.
Don’t say you are doing something when all
that you are doing is scratching the surface.
For instance, don’t say you have a Facebook
presence when all that you did is put a pro-
file up. You need to consistently engage and
interact in all of the areas that you say you
are active in.
11
You’re afraid to open your wallet.
Many authors fail to commit resources to
their books. They may spend some money
initially, perhaps for editing or for an ad
campaign, but they fall short of investing in
the types of marketing and publicity that are
necessary to establish their brand and make
a significant attempt at growing book sales.
12
You focus on your book and
ignore your brand.
Most authors don’t realize they are actually
promoting their next book – or their backlist –
with what they do to highlight their current
book. An author is always promoting him- or
herself, not his or her book. When he or she
builds up a media resume, it helps convince
people to follow him or her online, to buy his
or her book, to go to his or her website, or to
consider buying his or her next book.
18 | The Writer • September 2017
13
You don’t know the industry.
Authors fail themselves when they don’t
stay informed and read publications like The
Writer or Publishers Weekly. They should
keep up with informative blogs and podcasts
on writing, promoting, and marketing.
14
You ignore the resources at your disposal.
Writers fall short when they don’t join useful
groups such as Independent Book Publishers
Association, Writers Guild, PEN America,
Association of American Publishers, or
genre-specific organizations such as
Romance Writers of America.
15
You don’t stick with a strategy.
Authors give up too quickly. They try some-
thing, don’t see a bump in activity right off
the bat, and are quick to conclude – mistak-
enly – that their efforts aren’t working. Try
tweaking your strategy or giving it another
go before giving up completely.
16
You don’t think about pre-sales.
All authors should have a pre-publication
strategy. Thanks to pre-ordering, you can
position yourself to hit a best-seller list in
your launch week, because the sales that
you have secured over many months all get
applied to tabulations for your launch day.
17
You don’t think about marketing until the
book is already written.
Authors, to be successful with publicity,
should think about how to make their book
more promotable when writing and editing
it, rather than first trying to see how what
they wrote will be promoted. I recommend
splurging for media coaching, which can
help you identify the most marketable quali-
ties in your idea.
18
You’re not original.
Authors all too often copy other authors.
Instead, look for your unique selling propo-
sition. Let your personal brand and style
stand out. Don’t strive to be as good as oth-
ers; be better.
19
You have a one-size-fits-all
promotional strategy.
Be prepared to customize your public mes-
sage and speaking points to various tar-
geted readerships. What works for one
audience may not be ideal for another. Be
flexible. Think about what relevant visuals,
personal stories, provocative statements,
and insightful ideas would work best for
each appearance.
20
You don’t have an elevator speech.
You never know who you are talking to or
where you’ll chat about your book. Have a
15- to 20-second soundbite about you and
your book at the ready, and share it as often
as possible to as many people you come in
contact with.
21
You ignore the power of reviews.
Secure paid reviews with Kirkus Reviews,
Foreword Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Blue
Ink, and others. Put your book on Goodreads
and NetGalley. Get as many reviews as pos-
sible. You can never have enough.
22
You waste efforts on meaningless displays.
Displaying your book at various conferences
or exhibitions is generally not cost effective.
It’s one thing if you purchase a booth or
make a speaking appearance, but to just pay
to have your book sitting in a cluttered
showcase makes little sense.
23
You expect others to do the lion’s
share of promotion.
Lastly, don’t expect anything from anyone.
Your publisher, if you have one, or literary
agent, or even your paid publicist can’t do
everything that’s needed to promote your
book, nor can they do everything well. It takes
a village to create a successful writer. Get
help from everyone and anyone – but realize
you must assert yourself and take matters
into your own hands. It’s all up to you!
Brian Feinblum is the chief marketing officer for
Media-Connect, one of the nation’s lead book
publicity firms, and is the founder of BookMarket-
ingBuzzBlog.blogspot.com, where over 2,500 free
posts about book publicity are available.
writermag.com • The Writer | 19
 WHEN
DISASTER
STRIKES
HOW AUTHORS CAN RECOVER
FROM UNEXPECTED
PUBLICITY DISRUPTION.
BY KEYSHA WHITAKER
 AH, THE BEST-LAID
PUBLICITY PLANS
OF AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS
ALWAYS GO ASTRAY.
Well, not always, but what’s an author to do
when a tragedy dominates the news cycle the week
of a book’s release and all those carefully scheduled
television and radio interviews are canceled?
“Be flexible,” says publicist Mike Onorato.
“When we are pitching media, there are things
that are beyond our control. Let’s recognize we
need to be flexible. I counsel my clients: when
they worry, we reposition. There are a lot of other
things we can do that aren’t at the level of
national media.”
Onorato has been in book publicity for about
15 years, as an in-house publicist at John Wiley &
Sons, as a publicist at a small boutique firm, and
now as the executive director of publicity at
Smith Publicity in New York City.
When national coverage is disrupted, he
says, authors often turn to “secondary” and
“tertiary” media.
“In the book world, maybe we’re going after
bloggers that cover books, maybe we’re focusing
on social influencers, maybe local radio,”
Onorato says. “[And] I say secondary not in a
pejorative way, but just in terms of the exposure.”
Whether an author is self-published, with an
independent or university press, or published by
a major house, a publicity plan is essential to the
success of a book, but the extent to which that
plan can be implemented in the midst of a trag-
Ververidis Vasilis/Shutterstock
edy may vary.
Authors with smaller publishers may fare better
since those houses may have fewer books and
more time to devote to promotion, but large pub-
lishing houses like the Big Five (Hachette Book
Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, Pen-
guin Random House, and Simon & Schuster) “tend
to have a window when they promote the new
book and if, for any reason, that window is closed,
they just go on to next book,” says John Kremer,
author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.
“When the media is hitting, you want books to
be in stores. If for some reason the media is lost,
then the whole plan has fallen by the wayside,”
Kremer says.
Onorato agrees.
“It’s just a certain amount of time and certain
amount of books,” he says. Though publicists will
pitch authors in their backlist for timely events,
“the focus is always on the new titles.”
One person’s tragedy, another person’s
TV appearance?
When tragedies happen, not all publicity oppor-
tunities are affected in the same way.
“TV is the main place where you are impacted
by shootings and tragedy and news events,” says
Kremer, who began his publishing and book
marketing career in 1985. “Sometimes you get
kicked out of newspaper, but not often. Once in a
while, a radio interview will get bumped, but for
most places, you will still get interviewed.”
Onorato was working at a small boutique PR
firm on 9/11.
“The coverage was so dominating in the weeks
to come, we had to be cognizant of what we were
pitching and recognize the national media would
not be picking up anything that had nothing to
do with search and recovery,” he says.
writermag.com • The Writer | 21
 And the unexpected event doesn’t
have to be a shooting or bombing, Kre-
mer says.
“Hurricane Sandy,” he says, refer-
encing the 2012 storm, “…shut down
an incredible number of speaking
opportunities because that wasn’t the
news at the time.”
Onorato recalls a client who was
flying in to a national morning show
during the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, but the day before his arrival,
officials found E. coli in the water in
New Orleans and the show canceled
the guest.
“We always tell our clients: You’re
confirmed – barring breaking news,”
Onorato says. “They are pretty under-
standing [about] what drives those
particular shows. They recognize they
are going to be bumped, that’s the
nature of the beast.”
Kremer says though many TV
shows book their guests two to three
months in advance, an author’s first
goal should be rescheduling.
“If they are really interested, they
will work with you to rebook,” he says.
Some authors may turn to the pub-
lisher for help, which, Kremer says
“probably isn’t the best place to go”
because of the publisher’s commit-
ments to upcoming books.
“It would probably be better for
some authors to contact a publicist, and
that’s expensive,” he says. “Most authors
don’t have money for a good publicist
with media contacts. Those tend to be
fairly expensive because they have built
relationships over the years,” notes
Onorato, who says his company works
with clients with a range of budgets.
At Smith Publicity, Onorato says
staying on top of bookings and re-
bookings is a priority.
“If something like that is canceled,
of course we would check back,” he
says. “We will work with the producer
on trying to get something scheduled.”
22 | The Writer • September 2017
“WE ALWAYS TELL
OUR CLIENTS:
YOU’RE CONFIRMED –
BARRING BREAKING NEWS.”
Fixed events, like elections, can also get in an author’s way. Onorato
describes the 2016 election and the period leading up to it as “a very
tough news cycle.”
“We weren’t even going to pitch a client that couldn’t speak to an
angle from that,” he says. “If we had a children’s book or cookbook, we
had to recognize the media is not going to want a particular story at
that time.”
In those cases, publicists may have to “take it down a notch” by
going after more appropriate venues and not necessarily national
media, he says.
“We need to recognize that we are not able to get this [booking]
right at this moment, so what else can we do?” he says.
But what if the tragedy is a private one instead of a public one?
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be promoting when you are dealing
with a personal tragedy,” Kremer says. “Your heart won’t be in it. Your
heart has to be in the promotion.”
He advises writers to “deal with your tragedy first,” though he rec-
ognizes that may be a risk.
“With the New York publishers, if you wait three months, they will
have told the stores to take it off the shelves,” Kremer says. “Work with
a publisher or agent to say ‘I am dealing with this – what can we do to
keep the book alive so we can relaunch?’”
Onorato says most of the producers his firm works with are
understanding.
“We can’t predict when things will happen,” Onorato says. “If some-
thing is happening, I don’t want you hopping on a plane for five hours
when a family member is sick.”
Kremer recognizes that canceling a book tour or appearances will
depend on the nature of the tragedy and the person.
“Let’s say that your spouse dies,” he says. “A serious question is ‘What
would they want me to do?’ If I were in the middle of it, I know my wife
would want me to continue. Some [authors] would have spouses who
would want them to take the time to mourn because they know that’s
what you need.”
Dealing with personal tragedy
Author Carla Buckley is no stranger to
tragedy.
Her novels often feature characters
navigating life in the midst of affliction
and adversity: rare medical conditions,
flu pandemics, horrific accidents, and
even deaths.
But Buckley’s first novel, The Things
That Keep Us Here, faced its own near-
death experience. The novel’s publica-
tion was pushed back 10 times.
The sixth-month delay was partly
due to internal issues at Random
House, Buckley says, but mostly due to
an untimely coincidence: the spread of
H1N1, the “bird flu.” Ironically, Buck-
ley’s book was about a flu pandemic
that exhibited the signs of the one in
1918 but was caused by a different
strain of the virus. The book finally hit
stores in 2010.
“I was worried on a personal level
about H1N1,” says Buckley, “[but] the
selfish writer part of me worried that
after writing for 12 years and not get-
ting published, that it may never be
safe to release that book.”
Then in 2012, her novel Invisible hit
stores in December – the same week of
the Sandy Hook school shooting in
Newtown, Conn.
Buckley says, “I found myself as a
writer retreating, going quiet. Not
wanting to talk about my novel. Not
wanting to do events. Really grieving
with the country as a mom. It was such
a terrible thing; I felt it deeply.”
While she didn’t cancel any inter-
views, she did cancel her events, which
were scheduled in January.
“I actually canceled a really important
one,” Buckley says. “I don’t think it made
a difference in my sales. I honor my obli-
gations, and that’s my only regret: That
people went to the trouble to make
something happen [and it didn’t].”
Buckley says Invisible’s subject mat-
ter influenced her decisions.
“Sandy Hook lost lives, and I have lost lives in Invisible, too,” says
Buckley, “and so I have to be sensitive to those that are actually dealing
with the things that I’m only imagining.”
Buckley’s fourth novel, The Good Goodbye, which was released last
year, is about “a mother who has just sent her first child off to college,
and she gets a phone call that her child has been in a serious accident.”
“I was in the middle of writing that novel and promoting my third
one,” Buckley says. “I was on my book tour when my husband called to
say my son, who was in college, had been in a serious accident. I had
to drop everything and rush to him.”
Buckley recalls the irony.
“Here I was writing about a child in the ICU – and [now] here I was
sitting next to my son in the ICU,” Buckley says.
Her son survived (“a miracle,” she says) and she recognizes that
many people in a similar situation are not that lucky.
“In the end, because it had a positive outcome, it helped me finish
the book because I could understand my mother [character] in a way I
had not been able to before,” Buckley says. “I could feel her.”
Aspen Matis, author of Girl in the Woods, had to literally write her
way through a personal tragedy.
In 2013, when she was in the middle of writing a memoir about
meeting her husband, he went missing, forcing Matis to write about
him while she was mourning. Though she eventually learned that he
was alive and “apparently didn’t want to be found,” Matis still had to
manage the trauma of his loss while writing about him.
“For me, the stakes were too high to just not write about it,” says
Matis, who explains she was emotionally and contractually obligated
to finish the manuscript.
She’d received her advance and had already begun living off it; not
writing the book would have meant paying back the advance.
“I would have lost everything,” Matis says.
Even though she completed the manuscript, she suggests otherwise
if writers have an option.
“I think the healthiest thing is to not write about that stuff,” says
Matis, who credits finishing the book to the support of her family and
close friends. “I would say wait until you’re ready.”
Stay on your toes
Even though unexpected events may hamper one author, they can
help another.
Experts are often booked on shows to analyze an event and provide
supporting information and context.
Kremer notes that when Malaysian Flight 370 disappeared in early
2014, it presented an opportunity to certain authors.
“If they wrote about Southeast Asia or airplane safety, there were
different writers that had the opportunity” to speak about it, Kremer
says. “Even people who wrote about loss and what you do when you
lose a family member. They may have had a book that was older [but]
because there was a news story, that made people interested.”
writermag.com • The Writer | 23
 Onorato says much of publicists’ days are
spent monitoring the media for angles.
“We figure out who we have within our cli-
ent database that can speak to a certain subject,”
he says. “If we can find an angle, we can pitch
that out.”
While a publicist might search their backlist
for relevant authors, Kremer says a writer should
always be employing their own strategies to be
called by producers.
“One of the key things for authors is that
you have to keep your name in front of the
media. [So] whenever they do have a breaking
news and you match it, [they will call you],”
Kremer says.
He suggested doing an “old-fashioned” mailing
of Rolodex cards, headlined with your name and
the topic that you can talk about.
“For an author, I would do it probably every
three months,” he says. “You want to be front of
mind. A lot of reporters and editors remember
the people they were recently contacted by.”
Some writers may have a conflict with pro-
moting themselves on the backs of someone
else’s tragedy, but Kremer believes it can be
done morally.
“Be principled and ethical in your heart,” Kre-
mer says. “The main purpose should be ‘How can
I help people by being interviewed?’”
All hands on the publishing deck
When the best-laid plans do go astray, it might be
best to call in some backup.
“One of the publicists I’d probably go to first
is media-connect.com,” Kremer says of the
50-year-old company formerly known as
Planned Television Arts. “Some of the services
that they do are TV placements, and they will
bring an author into the studio and do 20 inter-
views from around the country – they call it a
‘Satellite Media Tour.’ They have good relation-
ships with the top shows. They work with a lot
of authors, and they are reasonably priced in
terms of [what] an author [will] probably make
[in book sales].”
Whether a writer is working with an in-house
or independent publicist, Onorato says all authors
should adopt the same philosophy when they
approach a publicity campaign: Be flexible.
“Books have – pun intended – a shelf life,” he
says. “Yes, we want as much to happen in a cer-
tain amount of time…[but] if something is going
to happen to prevent media from taking a look at
it, we can try other things.”
24 | The Writer • September 2017
THE PUBLICITY STRATEGY
OF PRESTON & CHILD
When Douglas Preston, of the infamous Preston and
Child writing duo, emails, you respond. After you verify
it’s really him and not an assistant or intern, (“I am
indeed Douglas Preston, not an assistant!” he writes),
you manage to write semi-coherent questions that
explore whether veteran writers with an enormous fan
base approach publicity campaigns in the same way as
lesser- (much lesser-) known authors would.
I count 26 on your books page, but with the latest,
that’s 27?
I count 25, including the upcoming one, entitled
City of Endless Night. To be honest, I’ve lost track.
Are you working on a new book or do you have one
scheduled for later this year? 
City of Endless Night will be published in January
2018, and we are working on a new one, as yet
untitled.
Since you both are very established authors with a
following, do you feel that you have to do less pro-
motional work with each book because of a built-
in-base, or do you approach each with a rigorous
PR plan?
We approach each book with a rigorous PR plan,
even though we have a built-in base. Our books
are like our children, and we want to support
each one as best we can. It is a competitive world
out there, and it would be a mistake, I think, to sit
back and assume our fans are legion enough to
support a new book.
I suspect that if a national tragedy or personal
event disrupted promotion for an established
author, they might not be as affected by potential
loss of sales. What do you think?
I certainly agree. My book The Lost City of the
Monkey God was published a week before Trump’s
inauguration, and I know the incessant news cycle
focus on Trump hurt my sales, but it was still a
No. 1 best-seller. If I had been a debut author, that
book would have sunk without a trace, I think.
Less-established authors are badly hurt by being
published at the wrong time.
Do you work with an in-house publicist,
an independent one, or both for your
books? And what about for The Lost City
of the Monkey God?
We have worked with independent
publicists, but our in-house publicists
at Grand Central [Publishing] have
been fantastic and we have not recently
felt the need to hire outside publicity.
Monkey God was publicized in-house
by GCP and, again, the publicist, Cait-
lin Mulrooney-Lyski, did a fabulous
job. We are very happy with our in-
house team at GCP.
A publicist and book marketer that I
interviewed said that publishing houses
limit their main post-publication efforts
to the week the book goes on sale. After
that, they’re on to the next book, usually.
Is this your experience? How does your
experience differ?
With our books we get a month of
dedicated publicity, with a lot of prepa-
ration ahead of time. That is unusual,
and we are very fortunate. When I was
starting out, I would get a week or two
of focused publicity and then the pub-
licist would move on. Some books, I
got almost no publicity at all. As your
sales grow, your publisher’s commit-
ment to publicity for you grows.
Have you ever had to promote a book in
the midst of an event that dominated the
national news cycle? If so, can you
describe that experience? What was
challenging? How did you overcome?  In general, after all these years, is there
Yes, as I mentioned, the inauguration
of Trump and all the noise that fol-
lowed affected the promotion of The
Lost City of the Monkey God. It also
impacted sales. Word-of-mouth is
really the best way for a book to have
sustained sales, but if everyone is talk-
ing about something else (e.g. Trump),
they aren’t telling their friends about
your book.
I am lucky in the sense I have a ded-
icated and passionate following who
will buy my books regardless of what’s
happening in the world beyond. I feel
very sorry for the writer who is strug-
gling to become known, who has
written a wonderful book and has the
misfortune to have it published during
a national tragedy or event that domi-
nates the news cycle. It is so unfair.
The answer is simply to always be
working on the next book, always
looking forward, and not looking back
or regretting something you had no
control over.
Were there ever any television appear-
ances or other media canceled
because of that event? Did they get
rescheduled?
Yes, I did. Often. Some got resched-
uled, some not. I did a taped segment
for an important national show that
has not yet aired, three months later. It
may still air when they can find a slot
on a slow news day, but we haven’t had
a slow news day all year, with the
Trump Variety and Comedy Show
running 24/7.  don’t get hung up on that one book
How did the election impact your pro-
motion efforts?
It didn’t affect my own promotional
efforts or how I talked about the book.
The Lost City of the Monkey God has –
thank god – nothing to do with the
current political scene. I hoped that
some promotional outlets, television,
radio and print, might have wanted to
give their readers a break from the
Trump Show by featuring my book,
and that may indeed have happened.  ally nice because they understand
something that either of you still finds
the most challenging about promoting
your books – in good times or bad?
The truth is, promoting a novel, par-
ticularly a suspense thriller, is very,
very difficult. First, you can’t talk
about the book much without giving
out spoilers! Second, novels are hard
to promote in general because they
are fiction. I love reading fiction, but I
can hardly stand to listen to a fiction
writer talk about his or her book – it’s
like a painter talking about his paint-
ing or a composer describing a sym-
phony. You want to read the novel,
you want to see the painting, you
want to hear the music – you don’t
want to hear a lot of talk about it. Of
course, if you can connect your novel
to real events or actual things that
happened in your life, that can make
for an interesting interview. Nonfic-
tion is so much easier, because you
always have something solid and
interesting to talk about.
What advice would you give to an
author whose book is released at an
inopportune time in the news cycle or
their personal life?
What has always saved me is that by
the time my book is published, I’m
deeply into the next one. It’s much eas-
ier to deal with disappointment if you
have more irons in the fire, so to speak.
My former editor Michael Korda gave
me a great piece of advice: “Remem-
ber: it’s not a book; it’s a career.” So
and have a nervous breakdown if it
fails. Look ahead and bury yourself in
the next one.
What advice would you give to a new
author about book promotion in general?
You are your own best publicity agent.
Get out there, make the cold calls, and
hustle. I recall so vividly when I was
trying to promote my first novel, Jen-
nie, which pretty much failed. I made
all these cold calls. People are gener-
you’re a struggling first-time novelist
and sympathize with how difficult it is
to get exposure and traction. Of
course, you will be rejected, and some-
times not so nicely – such as when
Terry Gross hung up on me, saying “I
don’t have time for this.” In retrospect,
I understood that she was busy and
probably under deadline, and I was
blathering on about my novel for too
long, so I picked myself up and kept
cold calling and did in fact get on
some good shows, like Leonard Lopate
on WNYC.
Keysha Whitaker’s work has appeared in The
Writer, the New York Times, and The New
Yorker. She has an MFA from The New School.
writermag.com • The Writer | 25
 BALANCING BOOKS
AU T H O R S W H O O W N B O O K S TO R E S TA L K S H O P.

BY MELISSA HART

26 | The Writer • September 2017

 If
you’re an author or poet, there’s only one way to get even closer to words: featuring author interviews. Along with
Purchase a bookstore. Giant shopping malls and generic big-box stores book events, customers can take work-
have fallen out of favor, giving way to a renewed appreciation for unique, shops in writing, public speaking,
independently owned businesses. Many towns across the country offer corner cooking, parenting, and, of course,
bookshops filled to bursting with readers. And many of these bookstores have wine appreciation.
owners who write poetry, fiction, and nonfiction themselves. “There’s always something happen-
We caught up with five such owners to offer insight into what makes for a ing in the store,” she says. “We want
successful reading event, how to best develop a relationship with your region’s patrons to ask, ‘What’s happening at
own bookseller, and how to create a vibrant literary community. Turn of the Corkscrew tonight?’”
Turn of the Corkscrew is located at 110 N
BOOKS AND WINE proceeds as planned. “Even if you have Park Ave, Rockville Centre, NY 11570 and
In October of 2015, author Carol Hoe- two people show up, you give them online at turnofthecorkscrew.com.
nig and her business partner, Peggy exactly what you were going to give 50
Zieran, took their 35 years of combined people,” she says. “It’s rude not to.” BOOKS AND SOCK PUPPETS
past experience at Borders Bookstore As an author and a long-time book- “How can you live in a place where
and opened their own bookstore and seller, she knows first-hand the impor- there’s not an indie bookstore?”
wine shop in Rockville Center, New tance of treating booksellers with Steve Mitchell and business partner
York. Called Turn of the Corkscrew – respect. She advises authors to resist Brian Lampkin asked themselves this
in a witty nod to the Henry James the temptation to walk into a store and question when they realized no inde-
novella – the little brick building with a expect to speak immediately to busy pendent bookstore existed in Greens-
cozy reading nook by the fireplace staff members about carrying the book boro, North Carolina and the
hosts book groups, workshops, music or hosting an event. Rather, she sug- surrounding region. “It’s impossible to
recitals, and wine tastings. gests reaching out via email, then fol- conceive,” Mitchell says, “not just for
“We knew we needed another reve- lowing up with a polite phone call. the books, but for all the other things
nue stream in order to be successful,” Word-of-mouth is the No. 1 way that happen in an indie bookstore.”
Hoenig says. “Customers love the fact she and her staff sell books. They get to He and Lampkin launched Scupper-
that when they come into the store, know their customers personally, and nong Books in 2013, with an attached
they can grab a glass of wine or a craft they recommend books based on café that serves food, wine, and beer.
beer or coffee, and walk around and patrons’ previous purchases. “We’re It’s a big, bright space with green walls
peruse our shelves before an event.” extremely interested in what they want and round café tables under star-
Hoenig is the author of two novels, to read,” Hoenig says. “That personal- shaped lamps. Where once downtown
as well as The Author’s Guide to Plan- ization really does benefit the town.” Greensboro suffered for lack of busi-
ning Book Events. She’s a firm believer She notes that small, independently nesses and pedestrians who flocked to
in moving away from the traditional owned businesses such as Turn of the the malls on the outskirts of the city, it’s
reading/Q&A/signing event in favor of Corkscrew make each town unique, “as now a vibrant space in which the book-
creating a party. She emphasizes the opposed to every town having the store thrives. “People don’t necessarily
importance of reaching out to commu- same big-box stores that are every- want to go to the mall now,” Mitchell
nity members and specialty groups, where,” she says. notes. “They want do go downtown to
recalling two self-published authors “Please know,” she states on Turn of the park and the movie theater, to res-
who wanted to host events in her store. the Corkscrew’s website, “that when taurants where they can eat outside.”
“They explained that they had a you make a purchase from your local Since the launch, they’ve hosted 30
strong following and would create independent bookstore, you are invest- to 40 events each month – not just
excitement about their book events via ing in a town that offers diversity author readings but also weddings and
social media,” she says. ““Both authors rather than domination.” receptions, baby showers, and class
worked in law enforcement, and they’d Her community has responded in reunions. “People enjoy the space, and
written crime novels. They knew how kind. Last year, when construction it means something to them,” Mitchell
to promote their events. Their books closed the street outside the bookstore says. “A good bookstore generates lots
did very well.” of different kinds of traffic.”
Mascha Tace/Shutterstock

for eight months, customers contributed

However, all the planning and out-
reach in the world can’t guarantee a
large audience. If that’s the case, Hoe-
nig says, a professional author
to a GoFundMe campaign to keep the
store in business despite sluggish sales.
These days, the store is thriving. On
Monday nights, Hoenig hosts a podcast
The bookshop also provides a place
for political discussions fueled by
“Scup TV,” a series of short videos
online featuring sock puppets. After
writermag.com • The Writer | 27
last year’s controversial House Bill 2 in
North Carolina, which stated that peo-
ple must use the bathroom that corre-
sponds to the gender on their birth
certificate, Mitchell and the rest of the
Scuppernong staff made sock puppets
and shot a humorous video designed
to let people know that the store
offered a unisex bathroom. Last
November, staff shot a post-presiden-
tial election video with the socks, sug-
gesting relevant books to purchase and
read in response.
“It’s a lot of work, but we try to have
fun,” Mitchell says. “At the same time,
we’re very serious about being involved
in the community and giving people a
space to have difficult conversations.”
Mitchell, who writes poetry and
essays as well as short stories, will pub-
lish his first novel in 2018. He readily
acknowledges the vital role an author
plays in ensuring the success of a book-
store event. Authors have to do a great
deal of publicity and build an audience
for a reading, he notes. “One of the mis-
takes people make is that they believe
the bookstore’s own clientele will come
out to their event,” Mitchell says. “But if
we’re doing 30 or 40 events a month,
that’s impossible. An author must
engage a support network – neighbors,
friends, other authors, professors.”
He promotes the store’s events on
social media and explains that the
more resources authors offer for pub-
licity, the more he can help them. “If I
can find a post with a selection of your
work or a really cool review or a You-
Tube video, I’ll use that on our Face-
book page to promote your event,” he
explains. “Obviously, that’s a little more
engaging than just posting a photo and
saying, ‘Joe is coming in three days to
talk about this.’”
Authors and community members
committed to keeping Scuppernong a
viable meeting place for booklovers
can adopt a shelf for $125, which gets
them a store membership with dis-
counts plus their name on a hand-let-
tered sign on the shelf of their choice,
along with one of their favorite books
added to the store’s inventory.
28 | The Writer • September 2017
“There was a community already
here that knew it was something they
were missing,” Mitchell says. “The ini-
tial excitement about the bookstore has
continued; it’s been amazing.”
Scuppernong Books is located at 304 S Elm
St, Greensboro, NC 27401 and online at
scuppernongbooks.com.
BOOKS AND POETS
Poet Billie Swift had been a patron of
Seattle’s Open Books: A Poem Empo-
rium for six years before she pur-
chased the little red-painted shop with
antique typewriters in the window.
“Our family trips generally involved
dusty used bookstores, and I’ve had
books around me for as long as I can
remember,” she says. “The physical
book is such a remarkable, magical
object, and where one gets them is
equally magical and important.”
A successful store event, to Swift,
means the poets feel they were given the
opportunity to stand up and feel appre-
ciated for their work. Often, two or three
poets read together at her store, and they
bring with them a strong community of
both poets and nonpoets. She loves to
see crowds of people in the audience
who aren’t necessarily “into” poetry.
“They’ll say, ‘Oh my god, I didn’t even
know I loved poetry that much; that was
amazing,’” she says. “This store has a way
of surrounding poets so they feel
respected and appreciated and heard.”
The number one thing anyone can
do to support independent bookstores,
Swift says, is to buy their books. But
she also believes in the value of simply
showing up as a reader, whether or not
there’s an exchange of money. “Having
people in the store, having books taken
off the shelves and thumbed through
and either loved and hated and dis-
cussed in some way, there is an energy
that gets created,” she says. “The next
person who walks into the store feels
it; the person standing next to you feels
it. People can inhabit those spaces
physically, even if they’re not necessar-
ily buying books.”
She notes that some people ask to
put their book on the shelf but don’t
buy poetry themselves. “There’s a large
number of people who say, ‘I don’t read
poetry; I only write poetry,’” she says.
“Come in as a reader. That way, the
bookstore gets to know you and build
a relationship with you.”
She admires those readers who refer
friends and family members to inde-
pendent bookstores, including shops
specializing in mysteries, cookbooks,
and of course, poetry. “One of my favor-
ite moments is when someone walks
through the door and they have 45 min-
utes to kill, so they decide to come into
the store, even though they don’t read
much poetry,” she says. “They start ask-
ing questions, and they find a book that
means something to them.”
She acknowledges that feeling that
emerging authors and poets sometimes
get when walking into a bookstore –
the overwhelming sense that so many
books have already been written, so
why write their own? “The flip side is
that it’s also an opportunity to com-
mune with an impulse which is expan-
sive across the globe, across cultures
and languages and histories,” she says.
“This urge to write, to create that
moment and hand it to somebody else
and let them take that moment is beau-
tiful. Standing around a bookstore
thinking 'there are so many books here,
what is the point of writing another,' or
'how can I possibly say something new,'
is the overwhelming side, but it’s also
abundant and really grounding.”
Open Books: A Poem Emporium is located at
2414 N 45th St, Seattle, WA 98103 and online
at openpoetrybooks.com.
BOOKS AND MUSIC
Chuck Beard, freelance editor and
author, opened East Side Story in
Nashville five years ago with a com-
mitment to stock only local authors on
the shelves. Prints by regional artists
and posters for Nashville’s indie musi-
cals line the bookstore’s bright blue
walls. “Make the most of your space,”
he advises booksellers, “and go into the
community and do different things.”
In 2015, he invited local poets and
authors to submit original short
stories with Nashville in the setting
and then asked artists to produce a
piece inspired by those stories. Musi-
cians wrote original songs, also
inspired by the stories. Beard pub-
lished Based On: Words, Notes, and
Art from Nashville as a book of text
and artwork, including a CD.
“We did a big event at a local the-
ater – readings of original prose, and
the artists and musicians talked about
their process,” he says. “It was a cul-
mination of a lot of creative people
and communities.”
One of Beard’s ongoing projects is
Book Me!, a program that asks kids of
any age to buy and read five books
written by Nashville authors and then
write each author a letter. Beard gives
the letters to the authors and gives
readers a gift certificate for an area res-
taurant. “Everyone wins!” the book-
store’s website notes. “Restaurants get
great PR, authors get great feedback
from readers, and kids of all ages sup-
port local writing and enjoy the pas-
sion of reading good stories!”
Having recently finished a novel as
his MFA thesis, Beard is well aware of
how daunting publishing can be for
authors. To showcase their shorter
work, he invites writers to respond to
prompts on East Side Story’s website –
prompts like “Best Gift I Ever Got” and
“Spooky Story Campfire.” He refers to
East Side Story as a blank canvas for
local literary ideas.
“Most bookstores can’t necessarily
take every book,” he explains. “They’re
thinking of making money and paying
bills, as are agents and people in the
publishing business. It can be more
about the money and less about the
story. Our bookstore, and several other
bookstores in the area, aren’t con-
cerned with just mainstream books.
We’re interested in those stories that
might be self-published or unique and
random – stories that deserve to be
read and are as good or better than the
New York Times best-sellers out there.”
Beard is equally supportive of inde-
pendent musicians. “Just like writers,
these musicians are some of the most
talented people, and you won’t see
them on billboards or in honky-tonks,”
he says. “They’re in the same frustrated
pool, trying to get their artwork across
and connect with an audience.”
To that end, Beard hosts twice-
monthly performances at a local res-
taurant for writers and musicians, and
records and edits each event into an
hour-long podcast. “I love that cross-
promotion where an author’s fans will
get to know a musician’s fans, and then
there’s fandom between the artists,” he
says. “Take away the writers, artists,
and musicians in this city, and Nash-
ville wouldn’t function.”
East Side Story is located at 1108 Woodland
St., Unit B, Nashville, TN 37206. (615) 915-
1808. eastsidestorytn.com.
BOOKS AND STORYTELLING
“Sometimes, being a bookseller almost
feels like being a bartender,” Laura
Kendall of Second Flight Books in
Lafayette, Indiana, explains. “People
tell you all sorts of interesting stories
about themselves. So many people
want to talk with someone about what
they’ve been reading.”
In the fall of 2016, Kendall left her
government job to purchase the inven-
tory of a store that was closing and
open up her bright, spacious shop full
of new and used books. She writes
about the decision on her store’s blog:
“I’m a millennial – part of the gen-
eration that people assume live on
screens – and I want a solid book in
my hands. I want the smell of paper, of
dust, even. I want a tactile thing to curl
up with. I want dog-eared pages and
the ability to scribble inside them if the
words merit scribbling about.”
Author Roxanne Gay read about
Kendall’s new business and reached
out, offering to do a reading. The
event attracted a sizeable crowd and
brought new customers to the store.
“Word of mouth is the best way we
advertise,” Kendall says. “Regular cus-
tomers get super excited about our
store, and they’re constantly telling
people about it. It’s been really awe-
some to have that support.”
A recent MFA graduate busy revis-
ing a collection of essays, Kendall has
learned about how important booksell-
ers are to an author’s success. A confer-
ence in January offered insight into the
enormous influence wielded by book-
sellers. “We’re the ones recommending
books to people,” she says. “If you can
get one bookseller to love your book,
they’re going to tell other customers
about it. Creating a relationship with a
bookseller is an A-plus idea.”
She suggests that authors come into
the store to talk with her about their
new book. “There are so many presses
and so many books out there,” she says.
“It’s hard to support people and books
you don’t know about.”
She notes the importance of book
covers and back cover blurbs when
deciding which books to stock on her
shelves. “When I get a stack of ARCs
every month, I can’t read them all, so
blurbs matter a lot,” she says.
She works with the library and the
local university to put on events, and
Second Flight Books will sponsor Lafay-
ette’s One Great Read event in the fall.
She’s also collaborated with the owner of
another independent bookstore in
town. “She’s been great about referring
people to us if she doesn’t have a partic-
ular book,” Kendall says. “We teamed up
for Small Business Saturday, too; if you
went to both stores, you got a discount.”
To help grow the bookstore, Kendall
has been networking with community
members, learning all about this busi-
ness that has been – for decades – her
dream job. Locals seek her out as well,
in the bright, airy space she’s created
for book-lovers. “Stories connect peo-
ple,” she says. “When you read a good
story, you want to tell people about it.”
Second Flight Books is located at 2200
Elmwood Avenue Suite D7, Lafayette, IN
47904 and online at facebook.com/
secondflightbooks.
Contributing editor Melissa Hart is the
author of two adult memoirs and a middle-grade
novel, Avenging the Owl. She’s an independent
editor and consultant for Creator & Collector
Services. Web: creatorcollector.com.
writermag.com • The Writer | 29
 Best-selling novelist David Hagberg
on how to write stories that sell.
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE

W hile it’s great to get your book published, if we’re

being honest with ourselves, don’t we all wish our
advances and royalty checks were a bit more…robust?
Perhaps massively so?
This is the question I wanted to pursue with the best-
selling author of international thrillers David Hagberg.
With over 70 books to his credit, along with a good bit of
Hollywood work (including work on Terminator 3: Rise of
the Machines), he’s one of the most financially successful
writers I’ve run across in years. Since we live in the same
town, we met up at The White Horse Pub – one of his
favorite eateries – and chatted over liver and onions (him)
and fish and chips (me), plus an adult beverage (or three).

How did you get your start?

It was with The Writer magazine. I devoured that!
But I really got the writing bug in fourth grade when my
teacher, Ms. Violet Nelson, read us Little House on the Prai-
rie and Little House in the Big Woods. At the end of the
school year, she said the most astounding thing: “This
woman, Laura Ingalls Wilder, writes these books, and she
gets paid for it.” Wow! I thought. This is my gig!
By the sixth grade, I was writing mystery stories in spiral
notebooks.
Quite a few years later, the Air Force sent me to Madi-
son, Wisconsin. I went up to the English department [at
 the University of Wiscon-
sin-Madison] and told
an assistant dean that I
wanted to write. “What
do you want to write?”
he asked. I said that I
might dabble with writing
literature, but I’d really like to
make a living as a commercial writer.
“Don’t come here,” he told me. “We’re
going to teach you how dead writers
wrote. Go home, have your wife get a
part-time job, and give yourself 10
years. You’ll know within five years if
it’s going to happen or not.”
In 1975, [my] first book came out
from Dell, and I started making a
full-time living by 1980 or ‘81. I’ve
been at it a long time. There were
some tough years. The Nick Carter
series was a blessing.
I used to read those Nick Carter books.
Phoenix Force, Able Team, Mack Bolan.
I’ve done 20-plus of those. Me and
Martin Cruz Smith were putting out
one of those a month.
That’s how you cut your teeth in
those days. That’s how you learned
how to write. Three thousand per
book, no royalties, so $1,500 on sign-
ing and the rest on delivery, and on to
the next book. I put four kids through
college with that money.
I’d sign a four-book, one-year con-
tract. Martin Cruz Smith would do the
same – this was before he wrote Gorky
Park. And another guy did too, Bob
Sweet Art/Shutterstock; Tatiana Akhmetgalieva/Shutterstock; galastudio/Shutterstock
Randisi, but you probably don’t know
him since he never branded, despite
writing 500-plus books. He wrote
detective stories, Westerns, mysteries,
a bit of everything.
It was the same with the early Har-
lequins – that was a place to cut your
teeth. The only place you can get that
kind of writing training now is the
local press.
Tell me about the difference between
writing literature – literary novels – and
writing commercially successful ones.
Now I’ve written literature, been short-
listed for the American
Book Award, things like
that, and my long-term
publisher and editor
asked, “David, do you want
to be famous or rich?” I said
I’d like both. He told me that
one of the top literary writers makes
her living as a barista at a Starbucks in
Seattle. There’s no money in literature,
but there is a satisfaction that you’ve
done something, you’ve added to the
world of art.
So when I run a workshop or class,
I tell my students, “I’m not going to
teach you literature. You go figure that
out on your own. But I’ll teach you
how to write things that sell.”
Let’s talk turkey. What’s the difference
between a commercially successful
writer and other published writers?
Over the years, I’ve been asked to be a
judge for contests with organizations
like Mystery Writers of America, Inter-
national Thriller Writers, and others.
Recently, I agreed to read the top six
manuscripts for one of those contests,
which meant I got to see the first 20
pages of each of those six books.
One was really, really good – darn
near ready, though it needed a little
editing. But the others? It amazes me
that beginning writers make exactly
the same mistakes over and over again.
Those mistakes, however, are fixable.
Don’t hold back. What are those
mistakes?
First of all, modern novels are told in
scenes, scene by scene. And every
scene has only one point-of-view char-
acter. You can’t lie to the reader – the
reader has to know everything inside
that guy’s head. That’s why a lot of the
English cozies were all in first person,
because we solved the murder along
with them, knew what they knew, etc.
What the reader gets to see is what
the POV character gets to see. Same as
in the movies.
A second way beginning writers go
wrong? I call it layering. You have a
POV character. You also hope that
every paragraph – certainly every
scene – has got to have action, move-
ment. You can’t have characters just
sitting around. Plus you’ve got to have
access to the characters’ interior world,
what they’re feeling, how so-and-so
really ticked them off today. Or it
looked as if she was ticked off by the
expression on her face.
And people have to say something
to each other. Even Dorothy in The
Wizard of Oz was talking to the tor-
nado, which was a character.
Then there’s description – you
describe everything. The day. The
character. What they’re wearing. The
room they’re in.
Layering is handling all four of those
things simultaneously. You layer them
together like a cake. Don’t stop to
pound a reader with a lengthy descrip-
tion. Keep all of it up as best as you can.
What else do you tell students?
As soon as possible, get branded. The
moment The Hunt for Red October
came out, Tom Clancy’s branding was
[set]. Dan Brown wrote two or three
books, but it changed once he wrote
The Da Vinci Code. When that hit,
they reissued the earlier books (with a
lot of much-needed editing), and he’s
suddenly got a brand. Now you see The
Da Vinci Code’s Dan Brown on the
cover on all of his books. His name is
in great big letters.
Vince Flynn was a friend of mine.
He died in his 40s, and now someone
else is writing his books as a franchise
and they’re all best-sellers. They’re not
as well-written as they used to be, but
it has his name on them, so they still
sell well. That’s the value of a brand.
It’s the same with Jason Bourne
books.
You’re doing more teaching these days.
What else do you do to help your stu-
dents move from being “unpublished”
to “published,” and then “published” to
“published in a commercially success-
ful way?”
writermag.com • The Writer | 31
I did this two-year thing, it ran from
September to May, and we met one
time a week for a couple of hours. All
the students learned what their voice
was, and we talked a lot about how to
research what they needed to make the
book work. Then they were off for the
summer. They came back in the fall
with a substantial portion of the novel
written, and we spent the next year
working on that.
I told them that you should write
about what you know about or what
you’re passionate about. One woman
admitted that she wanted to write hard
science fiction. I said fine, you must
have a science background, know
about warp drives and all that, worm-
holes, singularities. “No, no,” she said.
“I was a trauma room nurse for 25
years at Miami General.”
I asked, “Why don’t you write about
that?”
She said, “Nothing ever happens
there.”
Now, I knew a doctor down there,
and he said they called it the “Miami
Knife and Gun Club.” Yet she refused
to write about what she knew well –
and couldn’t see the stories right in
front of her – and she ultimately never
got published because she didn’t know
the sci-fi genre well enough.
So young writers should find out
who you are and what you are.
So passion is key.
It’s as simple as this. You can’t write fic-
tion unless you’re passionate about
something. You can be passionately in
love with it or be passionate with hat-
ing it. But you have to have passion. If
you don’t, go somewhere and read,
read, read until you get so interested in
a topic that you have to write about it.
I don’t know how many writers I’ve
talked to who don’t even read. Doctors
read medical texts and have to keep up
their education with credits from
classes, etc. But writers? They claim
not to have the time.
Every semester, I run across one student
who tells me that he/she doesn’t read
32 | The Writer • September 2017
because “I don’t want to
damage my own voice.”
That’s crap. Case in point?
The Ludlum stuff, the Vince
Flynn books. The people now
carrying on these brands
have busted their butts.
They’ve read all the previous
books and studied them, and
they don’t even have the style
down yet. And they WANT
to have that style.
Since you’re so well-pub-
lished in the world of thrill-
ers, what tip can you offer for
would-be thriller novelists?
Make sure that each scene
has a clear beginning, mid-
dle, and end, and be able to
stand by itself.
Nowadays in thrillers,
they want cliffhangers as
much as possible at the end
of each scene. Leave them hanging,
then go someplace else. It’s hard to do.
It’s the same with humor – you have to
be born with that knack. You can’t learn
it, though you can improve on whatever
ability with it you were born with.
I’ve heard that you have a writing formula.
It’s called the David Hagberg Handy-
Dandy Plot Machine, and it’s based off
something Sinclair Lewis used to gen-
erate so many of his plots back in the
days where short story writers could
really earn a good living. It’s this:
PPE/C/KISS.
P = Person
P = Place
E = Event
C = Conflict
KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid
You make a chart with three col-
umns, and label them P(erson),
P(lace), E(vent). Beneath each, you
come up with possibilities for each cat-
egory. Then you mix them up by using
one from each category, and just like
that, you’ve got the ability to create an
unlimited variety of plots.
So long as you insist on having con-
flict in the plot you’ve just created and
If you have
ensemble
characters
and the
plotline begins
to sag,
keep the writing clear and simple,
you’re set. Just let it rip.
Say a bit more about keeping the writing
clear and simple.
If you look at [most] American literary
novels, they’re done at a pretty funda-
mental fourth-grade, fifth-grade Eng-
lish level. The New York Times is
written at [near] that level. As soon as
you get erudite, you’re losing people.
More Hemingway, less Faulkner.
How much time do publishing pros give
a manuscript before they give up on it?
Every publisher, editor, and agent I
know will give a new submission one
page. You either grab the reader or you
don’t. You can see whether the story’s
working in the first paragraph.
I tell my students the same thing, but
they think I’m kidding. Or they say,
“Wait, my manuscript gets REALLY
cooking on page 50!”
Throw away 49 pages and renumber
the manuscript.
You have to pretend that god has
given you 1 million sentences at birth.
Nine hundred thousand of those are
crap. One hundred thousand are really
good. The problem is that you have to
type out those first 900,000 first before
you get to the really good stuff. If you
wrote a million words, you’d be a
pretty good writer. If you wrote 2 mil-
lion words, you’re probably going to be
twice as good of writer.
Readers don’t have time for any-
thing but the really good stuff, and the
writer needs to deliver on page one.
You’ve been lucky to have amazing men-
tors along the way. What did Mickey
Spillane offer you?
If you have ensemble characters and
the plotline begins to sag, kill some-
body. And the more important the
person you kill is, the more zip it’ll put
into the story.
I’ll give you an example. In one of
my Kirk McGarvey books, the hus-
band of Kirk’s daughter is shot in the
line of duty. Then his wife and daugh-
ter get blown up in Arlington.
Now my wife is the model for Kirk’s
wife, and my daughter is the model for
his daughter, so I kept this quiet and
just sent in the manuscript. My agent
called me: “What did you do?”
I said that I zipped up the plot.
Admittedly, my wife didn’t want to
speak to me for a week.
What else can a young writer do to
make their work sing on the page?
Ninety-nine percent of the writers I’ve
given this advice to won’t follow it. It’s
too much work. But here it is anyways.
A bunch of writers I know – Lee
Child, Vince Flynn, Ken Follett, even
William F. Buckley Jr. and Mickey
Spillane, who were both my mentors –
say the same thing: “Figure out your
genre as soon as possible.”
Let’s say you want to write spy
books like Robert Ludlum. Type out a
couple of his Jason Bourne books. Lit-
erally type out the entire manuscript.
Then go back and create an outline of
the story you’ve just typed up.
Reverse engineer the writing process.
Exactly.
And then, if you’ve got the cajones,
do three more of them. Print them up.
Four piles of manuscript. Now work
on YOUR book. Get a couple of chap-
ters of your book finished. Then sit
down in your favorite chair and read
the first chapter of each of the four and
then immediately read yours.
WHOOPS! What didn’t I do that
they did?
Most of the young writers violate
the dilation of compression of time.
The real world? What we’re doing right
now at this table is happening at
around 125-150 words a minute. That’s
what our social intercourse, our news-
casting, happens at.
TED talks are around 150 words a
minute, I believe.
Right. Here’s the issue, though. People
consume books at 250-300 words a
minute. So you’ve got to create some-
thing on paper that appears to be hap-
pening at 150 wpm but only will
appear so when you read it at 300
wpm. Like a movie isn’t really a
“movie,” but rather it’s 16 still frames
that give the illusion of motion.
The way to create that illusion of
proper speed of story is by layering.
Here’s an example.
A guy watches a woman come into
the bar and he thinks, “Wow, that’s one
pretty lady.” Who comes into a dive
like this wearing three pounds of
grandma’s jewelry and wearing a
crushed velvet party dress? But wow, is
she pretty. Like TV newscaster pretty.
So he gets off the bar stool and ambles
over to her, then says, “Hello,
sweetheart.”
All this fellow did was get up and
say hi, but you had to decompress the
whole thing. That’s probably the most
common mistake beginning writers
make. They just zip through it. They’re
actually giving us 125 words per min-
ute vs. the 300 we need, so the story
feels off.
Writing a screenplay, now, is a
whole different thing. With that, you’re
writing 125 wpm, and you leave almost
everything else. The director has his
cut. The set designer has his. The cos-
tume designer has theirs. The actors
have theirs. Everything else. Screen-
plays are just outlines, more or less.
With all the dialogue.
And the dialogue is even broad-stroked
since so many of the actors say, “I don’t
want to read this crap.” Unless you’re
writing for a specific actor, they’ll inter-
pret it and say it their own way.
Did Spillane give you any other advice?
He said, “Let me tell you about
ensemble characters. Dagwood Bum-
stead has been the same age since the
late 1930s. Don’t age them.” So Kirk
McGarvey is “around 50” and he’ll
stay around 50 forever.
Jason Bourne is another ageless one.
So’s James Bond.
Those Bond books are far better than
the movies, which are all about gad-
gets. Though in the books, Bond
smokes 60 cigs a day, and yet he runs
up and down stairs like an athlete. I
used to smoke two packs a day, and I
was always winded!
Tell me the best thing about being a
commercially successful writer.
I don’t pitch ideas to my publisher
anymore. For example, I just signed a
three-book contract. Now, I just deliv-
ered a book a few months back, and I
still owe them one more under a pre-
vious contract. But I needed some
money, so I said, “Let’s do a three-
book deal,” and they said “fine,” with-
out knowing what those books would
be about.
So long as I’m a selling author, it’s
kind of like whatever David wants, give
it to him. Now I’m not a mega-writer
or anything, but I’m comfortable, and
other writers can be too if they take the
time to figure out what publishers and
readers really want.
Ryan G. Van Cleave is the author of 20 books,
and he runs the creative writing program at the
Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota,
Florida. Web: ryangvancleave.com.
writermag.com • The Writer | 33
 The
Dance
R E A D T H E F I R S T- P L A C E W I N N E R O F O U R
“ S P R I N G C L E A N I N G ” S H O R T S T O R Y C O N T E S T.
B Y K AT E M A C N A M A R A
I
t was under the enormous sky, our
last dance. There was little else, just
us and all that blue. We talked of
urgent things, of course we did. But it
wasn’t one of those preposterously
heavy conversations about love, and
what it all means. We did not wallow
in goodbye.
You know, at first, I wasn’t even
sure you called. It was hot, you
remember, and there was that wind.
There always is when it’s hot like that.
Heat rising from the land, and cooler
air rushing in, the sea breeze, it makes
quite a sound. The gulls were scream-
ing, but then gulls always scream,
they’re in a constant state of panic,
gulls. There was, too, the roll of peb-
bles, raked and clawed by the waves,
like a grinding of teeth.
Your shout was one word, I think,
though I couldn’t make it out. I could
see you a good way out, your faces
turned toward me, but too distant for
Tracey Jones Photography/Shutterstock
features. Then there was nothing. I had
imagined it as I had imagined you
needing me countless times before. It
was my wont, to turn a late hour, a
missed meal, looming weather into
misadventure, some trouble that had
befallen you. At times I wondered,
worried, even searched – the goat
tracks up the cliff, along from the
beach – panic tearing at my throat like
the calls of a mad woman, ringing in
my ears, always ending in a wave of
relief: Silly, we told you not to worry.
In my uncertainty, I walked to the
water’s edge, straining to hear. And
then you called, clearly this time, you
called my name. You were both of you
rising and falling with the swell and the
waves, and I struck out into the water.
The cool of the water numbs the
brain a little, which was a mercy when
the waves rose between us and blotted
you out. When I came to you, your skin
was washed and grey, the color of old
rags, the pallor of a dead man, and you
were coughing and fighting for breath.
In that first moment I thought it was
your heart, otherwise how to make
sense of this struggle? I don’t remember
you saying – though you must have told
me – that you swam out after the child.
“Daddy,” she asked you, “are we being
swept out to sea?” Then I knew it was
the current the surfers ride, maybe 50,
100 feet across, that carries them away
from the beach. It is a narrow serpen-
tine, I expect you could throw a stone
across it.
writermag.com • The Writer | 35
 She was calm, and in that moment I
told her to swim, swim diagonally,
picking a point far up the beach. I
didn’t touch her cool skin, or squeeze
her hand, but her long hair fanned out
around her shoulders in the water, it
looked like the hair in fairy tales I’d
read her, and I wished I had a lock of it
to keep.
She struck off on her back, her yel-
low polka-dot mask tipped up at the
bright sky. Away from me. God forgive
me, I thought, the swell pushing
between us, the sound of the waves,
their rush and wash, replacing the
sound of her steady strokes. All of this
in broad daylight, under the warm Jan-
uary sun, casting its heat on us as soon
as anyone. A daylight robbery.
You were in my arms, waterlogged
as you were, your breath rasping, your
lungs sodden. I held your body as high
as I could in the water, your back
pressed to my chest. Chin up, darling.
But the waves washed across your face
and overwhelmed you, like a baby
fallen back in the bath, powerless to
right himself. What a power it is to
breathe, and then not to breathe, to
hold your breath and wait, wait, wait,
then breathe again.
“Kick. We’ll try the frog kick.” Your
ear next to my mouth. “We’ll call it the
frog kick waltz.” Did you laugh then,
or was it the cry of the gulls, harrying
one another, swooping and calling
across the empty beach. In a low
trough, between waves, my foot
grazed the pebble, I think yours did
too. I could see the long fetch of the
beach in my mind’s eye, its slow climb
beneath the water. I knew that some-
where close beneath us, there was that
long sickle of sand, proud above the
gravel channels on either side. You
would name it properly, careful as you
are in topographical description: the
ebb tidal delta.
On its far side is the estuary mouth,
a busy span of water ever occupied
with the labor of filling and emptying
the tidal flats. When the tide is run-
ning fast out of the inlet, the main cur-
rent sweeps far into the bay, but it also
36 | The Writer • September 2017
eddies around this sickle – forming
and reforming it – creating a second,
lesser channel, and this channel is
blind. The force of the eddy pushes the
water up the beach, higher than sea
level. Then, its energy spent, that water
begins a hasty retreat and rushes to
equalize. So we were in the path of
gravity. I think your clear scientist’s eye
must have creased in a wry smile; a
nod, not to fate, but to physics.
They say drowning men will panic,
flail and struggle, and sink their res-
cuer. So I thought, against all contrary
evidence, that you must not be drown-
ing, for you were as gentle as a lamb,
but you were as saturated too, your
chest heavy as a bale of wet wool.
To tell the truth, I was preoccupied
with the child, squinting to see through
the waves, straining for a glimpse, even
as we struggled, you and I. Water in the
mind’s eye is flat, biddable, that you
might see across it. But out there it is its
own thing, peaked and heaving, and not
ours to command. Nowhere in that wild
expanse was there visible a polka dot
mask. And that is perhaps the crux of
the thing; the choosing one, and so, not
the other.
I strained to see a figure emerge,
upright on the beach; I willed a small
figure to take shape against the dunes.
It consumed me, this desire. I prayed,
possibly aloud, let it be either of us, let
it be you, but not her. I think, though I
cannot hear you say it, I think you
must have said go. Or was it me who
screamed it, snatched it, struck out and
fled, as in the middle of a dance while
the music played on.
It is not a matter of deserving, for
any of us. You get what you get. Well,
tell that to the coffee pot, standing
there – ramrod straight – like a Meth-
odist minister. Quietly damning.
She asked me, my daughter, as she
lifted this vessel, if I feel guilty, “survi-
vor’s guilt,” she called it. Her face was
flaming red even as she searched, these
years later, to find the words. It is not a
subject either of us find easy. If you
were glib (and why not be, they are
only feelings, these raw, butchered
ends) you might say there are danger-
ous currents that move through this
topic of conversation, and indeed, even
at the surface, you can read their
treachery. From the kitchen window,
now as I break the eggs – one, two,
three, and a splash of milk – I can see
the tidal bore at the inlet, that wave
that curls up. It does not move up and
break, but stays put, marking that tur-
bulent place where the outpouring of
the estuary and the big water of the bay
meet. It is not spectacular like some
bores you may know, ridden by surfers,
causing their rivers to flow backward.
All the same, it marks a place. “The
guilty party,” I said hotly and against
my better judgement, willfully miscon-
struing her, whisking so that a splash
of egg escaped the bowl. “I didn’t mean
that…” she trailed off, flustered. “I
meant to help you understand,” she is
taking a degree in psychology, this one,
“that it isn’t your fault.”
What can I possibly loose into the
ensuing silence? It takes so little chew-
ing, this meal, that I am left to fuss
with the pouring of milk, and then to
press into the pad of my index finger
the crumbs from suppers past that are
scattered across the table, depositing
them obsessively into a small heap at
the side of the plate. I hate myself, that
I cannot master this impulse and let
them lie. And if I am honest, I hate
that she will read all of this, like runes,
and make some textbook prognosis.
She will be wrong, of course. So
wrong, I think later with my hands
thrust red and deep in hot water and
suds that even the dirty dishes look dis-
mayed. Dismayed, as only dirty dishes
can look and egg especially. Egg is very
judgmental, all the more so the longer
it lies. It has the measure of me, egg,
and that glazed, jaundiced eye beholds
not guilt but resentment.
Kate MacNamara is a business journalist with
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She
lives in Alberta, Canada. “The Dance” is one of
a number of stories she wrote while living in
New Zealand for a year with her family, on hia-
tus from real life.
 Interview
K AT E M A C N A M A R A O N “ T H E D A N C E ”
What inspired you to write “The Dance?”
The story concerns a real place, Delaware Bay
on New Zealand’s south island, where I have
holidayed with my family, and where we lived
for a year in 2015. My husband and daughter
did indeed get caught in the strong currents off
Delaware beach. That’s where real life ends and
fiction begins. Their story ends happily.
How did the story change over time from draft to
draft? How many total drafts did it take to arrive
at the final version?
The original story was longer and a little more
rambling. It included a paragraph, close to the
beginning, that mused on the mundane things
that become monuments once someone dies,
the notepad on the phone table with a few
words scratched there. It took the reader away
from the swimmers, and diluted the intensity of
the story. This was pointed out by a friend who
gave the piece an early read.
What’s your writing process like?  inspired you to give such voice and character to
I keep a journal of sorts, a couple of notebooks
at any given time – they float between my desk
at work, the kitchen table, my bedside table,
and points between – sometimes I lose one and
go a little berserk. In these, I jot down all sorts
of scraps from life, ideas, turns of phrase that
appeal to me. When I have an idea for a story, I
often find I am exhuming it from one of these
notebooks. I tend to write the story out long-
hand, then type it up on my tablet, and revise it
as I go.
How about your revision process?
I work through a number of drafts, two or three
making substantial changes. Once I have the
broad brushstrokes, I tinker quite a lot with lan-
guage. I also dragoon a friend or two to read
through to catch what I’ve missed.
One of the most powerful points of the story is
when we transition to the present – not only are
readers forced to bear witness to this terrible
tragedy, but we also see the lingering, lifelong
effects on the survivors. Why do you think it was
important to visit the present-day narrator and
her daughter? How did you decide how much
weight and space to give each time period in the
final draft?
I hope that the present day adds an emotional
heft to the events in the first half of the story.
The passage of time can do that. I don’t think I
thought much about weighing out and appor-
tioning the two pieces of the story, I think I just
felt my way along.
Why do you think this POV was the right choice
for the narrative voice in this story?
The story is written in the first person, but
through much of the first portion, the narrator
speaks directly to her lover. I hope this lends it
intimacy. It is, in its way, a love story.
Some of our favorite imagery in this story hap-
pens at the end in the kitchen - the “quietly
damning,” “Methodist minister” of a coffee pot,
the “glazed, jaundiced eye” of the egg. What
these everyday objects? What do you think it
added to the story?
It’s hard to explain why I give consequence to
the objects. I suppose they allow another way of
reflecting and articulating what is going on
inside the protagonist’s head. I don’t think I
could ever tilt as far as magic realism as a
device in writing, but I’m not averse to talking
to the coffee pot, and if it has a few thoughts of
its own, well, that’s to be expected.
Speaking of the “glazed, jaundiced” egg, the last
line of the story is one of the most memorable
sentences we’ve read in a long time. How long
did it take you to craft the ending, and when did
you know it had landed just right?
The ending was formed, much as it remains, in
the first draft. I did get feedback, early on, that
the egg bit didn’t work. I thought about it and
decided to keep it anyway. It’s always a tricky
thing soliciting an opinion. Sometimes other
eyes absolutely help to hone writing. It’s impor-
tant to be able to take advice. But it’s also
important, sometimes, to ignore it.
writermag.com • The Writer | 37
LITERARY SPOTLIGHT INSIDE LITERARY MAGAZINES
BY MELISSA HART

Hotel Amerika
Cross-genre works of all shapes and sizes are
welcome in this quirky journal.

T
wo years ago at a book fair
and writing conference in
Los Angeles, Hotel Amerika
staff passed out eye-catch-
ing promotional postcards. On the
front, an image of dancer Fred Astaire
mid-leap, a manic smile stretched
across his face. On the back, a quote by
author James Geary: “When in doubt,
remain in doubt.”
The image appears on the cover of
Volume 14, dubbed the TransGenre
Issue. The Geary quote speaks to the
playfulness of the issue and to the
15-year-old literary magazine’s partic-
ular aesthetic. “We love work in any
genre. We’ve published startling essays,
poetry, fiction, prose poetry over the
years,” says editor David Lazar. “But I
and my fellow editors also like to con-
fuse the issue.”

Tone, editorial content

Lazar describes Hotel Amerika as an
“eclectic international magazine sup-
porting writing in all its provocative
and transgeneric forms.” “Transge-
neric” refers to work that can’t be easily
categorized into recognizable genres
such as fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
“We aren’t immune to the ways, ety-
mologically and in terms of zeit-
geist, transgenre seems to fit the
cultural moment,” Lazar says.
Last year, editors held a contest for
transgeneric forms that culminated in
an issue of the journal devoted to work useful in the promotion of work that A glance at the most recent table of
published without identifying genre couldn’t be easily categorized into contents includes pieces grouped by
labels. “The genre of the work was the available, known, created genres...that essay, fiction, poetry, prose poetry,
piece itself, as presented. We found this we decided to keep it as a running and transgenre. Editors also publish
liberating, as did many of our readers, ‘formless form’ or ‘genderless genre’ for work in translation, along with some
apparently,” Lazar says. “We found it so our contents page.” interviews.
38 | The Writer • September 2017

Contributors
Past contributors to Hotel Amerika
include Maxine Kumin, Floyd Skloot,
Phillip Lopate, John Ashbery, Billy
Collins, and Sue William Silverman.
Issue 13, 2015, includes an excerpt
from Margaret Barbour Gilbert’s book-
length prose poem Sugaring Off, titled
“First Snow.” She writes:
“Snow was coming down in big,
white clumps, and I felt very
empty inside. I remember the
snow that cold autumn and the
stillness. There was a grim hush
about the city and cold, icy
winds, gusts of freezing air,
swept down Park Avenue. At
night the city was deserted. It
felt desolate. In the early morn-
ings, I could hear the sirens
from the ambulances, all day I
felt the brutality of Christmas.”
Lazar looks forward to publishing
“Fragments Toward an
Index of Birds” in the
2017-2018 issue of Hotel
Amerika. He describes
the author, Desirae
Matherly, as “one of the
most interesting younger
essayists writing today.
Her work has a combina-
tion of formal play and
intellectual expansive-
ness that I don’t see
much,” he says.
He’s also eager to share
Lee Ann Roripaugh’s
story, “Space,” in the same issue. “A
wonderful, dreamlike story,” he says,
“which I haven’t been able to shake.”
Advice for potential contributors
Interested in studying Hotel Amerika’s
quirky aesthetic before submitting your
own writing? A selection of pieces
appears online, archived on the journal’s
website. Readers can also order single
back issues of the magazine for $10.
INSTANT PUBLISHER
“Work with a quirky, unconven-
tional edge – either in form or ;
content – is often favored by our ;
editors.” ;
ANNUAL PRINT/ONLINE, $15. ;
Genres: All.
Reading Period: Sept. 1-April 1. 800-259-2592
www.instantpublisher.com
Length: Varies.
Submission format: Email via Submitta-
ble on website.
Contact: Editor David Lazar. C/O The
Department of Creative Writing, Columbia
College Chicago, 600 South Michigan Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60605.
Email: editors.hotelamerika@gmail.com.
hotelamerika.net
Editors welcome submissions in all
genres (including work identified as
transgenre) with a particular interest
in pieces that offer insight into little-
known demographics and settings.
“We are publishing an
essay in our 2017-2018
issue by a writer who has
been in jail recently,”
Lazar says. “This essay,
called ‘The Pussy Room,’
jumped out at us.”
The author, Michael
Fisher, was released from
state prison in 2015 and
is currently working on
his MFA degree. While
Hotel Amerika receives
numerous submissions
from prisoners, this par-
ticular submission commanded editors’
attention. “Exceptionally well-written,
and experientially a world we don’t see
represented very often,” Lazar says.
“Who could resist that combination?” #storieseverywhere
Contributing editor Melissa Hart is the Creative writing classes
author of two published memoirs and the YA in NYC and Online.
novel Avenging the Owl (Sky Pony, 2016). She’s
an editor/consultant for Creator & Collector Ser-
vices. Web: creatorcollector.com. GOTHAMWRITERS. COM
writermag.com • The Writer | 39
CONFERENCE INSIDER
BY MELISSA HART
Write-by-the-Lake
Dive deep into craft at this intensive five-day
retreat on Lake Mendota.
C
hristine DeSmet, director of Write-by-the-Lake
Writer’s Workshop and Retreat, has a favorite
part of the annual five-day gathering on the
University of Wisconsin-Madison campus:
Open-mic night.
“Many people have never found their voice, on paper or
in speaking, before this week,” she says. “They get up behind
a microphone with the support of everyone in the audience
and read for two minutes, and they’re so pleased. People are
in tears, clapping – it’s a wonderful party experience.”
The event invites writers to spend a Monday through Fri-
day in June on Lake Mendota, taking genre-specific work-
shops and master classes in the morning, writing in the
afternoon, and touring the college town of Madison in their
free time. “People go canoeing and boating and take dinner
cruises on the lake,” DeSmet says. “We give people plenty of
time to explore the city and to write.”
40 | The Writer • September 2017
Write-by-the-Lake, which will celebrate its 20th anniver-
sary in 2018, attracts participants looking for focus and
insight on a particular writing project, such as a novel. “You
can spend five years messing around with your writing,”
DeSmet says, “or spend five days getting it done and making
Reel Wave Media/Shutterstock; Suzanne Tucker / Shutterstock.com
new friends. It’s like two semesters of an MFA program. You
work so hard and get so much to take home with you.”
What you’ll learn
DeSmet teaches a master class for novelists, limited to six
participants. She requests a full manuscript and chapter syn-
opsis two months before the workshop and retreat. She
reads and critiques each one and distributes her notes at the
event; attendees then focus on plot points and story struc-
ture by both chapter and scene in class.
“Story structure is the No. 1 thing that gets people rejected
by agents and editors,” she says. “Looking at your book with
 CONFERENCE:
Write-by-the-Lake
DATES: June 11-15, 2018
COST: $395-$775
LOCATION: University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 21 N. Park
Street, Madison, WI 53715
CONTACT: Christine DeSmet,
director, 608-262-3447,
christine.desmet@wisc.edu.
continuingstudies.wisc.edu/
conferences/write-by-the-lake
new eyes and five other writers in the
room really shows you how to deepen
the fiction and sell that novel.”
Participants in her master class get
a full year of coaching included with
their fee as well. She looks at pages and
answers questions long after workshop
and retreat participants have returned
home. “A lot of people don’t realize it
can take a while to write a good novel,”
she says. “It might take you another
two years to hone that manuscript.”
Many participants have gone on to
publish their work, both traditionally
and independently. One of these is Bibi
Belford; Sky Pony published her mid-
dle-grade historical novel, Crossing the
Line, in July 2017. Blair Hull partici-
pated in the same master class as Bel-
ford; Apocryphile Press published her
mystery, St. Mary’s Private Dancer, in
March 2017.
“One of my students from the
retreat – when I taught the section on
how to write first novels – has now
returned this year as one of the
instructors,” DeSmet says. “That’s
Ann Garvin, the author of excellent
women’s fiction, including one book
that made the USA Today best-seller
list. It was fun to see somebody go
from blank page newbie to successful
author, with her start being here at
our retreat.”
Featured presenters
Retreat participants can chose between
14 different sections at the retreat,
described in detail on the organization’s
website. Most are limited to 15 partici-
pants. Garvin teaches writers how to
create compelling plots, while veteran
editor and storyteller Christopher
Chambers leads participants in a study
of the basic elements of short fiction.
Writer and history professor Theresa
Kaminski teaches a section titled “Writ-
ing Women’s Lives” designed to explore
the particular challenges women face as
writers. “Understanding the nature of
those challenges will provide you with
further insight into your characters’
motivations and/or limitations,” she
notes in the section description.
Writer Angela Rydell teaches a
master class focused on the first 50
pages of a novel manuscript. Limited
to eight participants, the class focuses
on when to introduce a sympathetic
protagonist in a novel, how to
introduce a problem and a narrative
trajectory, and how to incorporate
strong characters and subplots.
Advice for first-timers
Enrollment for Write-by-the-Lake
opens in January, and classes fill up
quickly; however, some instructors take
a waiting list in advance. DeSmet
advises writers to contact her with an
indication of what class they want to
take. “Master classes always have a wait-
ing list of six to 10 people,” she says.
She advises new participants to
realize they’re among friends. “Writers
are introverts, scared and unsure
whether they should even leave the
house,” she says.
“Here, you’ll meet introverts from
both coasts and the states in between,
all scared and nervous. People leave
feeling so good about all they’ve
accomplished. I feel good about them
going home with that feeling of finding
their voice.”
Contributing editor Melissa Hart is a fre-
quent conference presenter and an editor/con-
sultant at Creator & Collector Services. Web:
creatorcollector.com.
writermag.com • The Writer | 41
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gal@creativewritingcenter.com
creativewritingcenter.com
IAP Career College. Offers a selection of
part-time professional certificate courses,
including book editor, book publisher, and
Students may also choose a specialization:
literary fiction, genre fiction, or nonfiction.
Degree type: Diploma. Contact: Penn Fos-
ter Career School. 800-275-4410. Email
through website. pennfoster.edu/programs-
and-degrees/writing-and-language-skills/
freelance-writer-career-diploma
Poynter Institute. The Basic Reporting
and Writing Certificate is comprised of a
series of assessments covering interview
techniques, rewrite skills, and more as part
of Poynter’s NewsU. Journalists and commu-
nications professionals can evaluate stu-

42 | The Writer • September 2017

dents’ core journalism skills. Degree type:
Certificate. Contact: News University, c/o
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, 801
Third St. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
727-553-4200. info@newsu.org
newsu.org/courses/reporting-writing-certificate
Stanford Continuing Studies. Stanford
University’s online writing program offers a
wide selection of courses for adult writers of
every level. Topics include narrative voice in
nonfiction, pitching a magazine, writing
habits, personal essay, short story, histori-
cally based fiction, revision, YA novels, and
poetry. Also offers the Online Certificate
Program in Novel Writing. Degree type:
Certificate. Contact: Stanford Continuing
Studies. 365 Lasuen St., Littlefield Center,
Stanford, CA 94305. 650-725-2650.
continuingstudies@stanford.edu
continuingstudies.stanford.edu/
writing-certificate/writing-certificate
University of South Florida - St.
Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida. Writ-
ers focusing on the culinary world can take
advantage of the Food Writing and Photog-
raphy certificate, which takes place both
online and in person. Students must take 15
credits in this graduate certificate program,
which will hone mass communication skills
and teach ethical and legal issues that could
arise in culinary media. Degree type: Cer-
tificate. Contact: USF St. Petersburg. 140
Seventh Ave. South, St. Petersburg, FL
33701. 727-873-7748. Email from website.
foodwriting.usfsp.edu
Writers Store Free and paid online writing
classes teaching the craft of filmmaking and
storytelling by experienced Hollywood writ-
ers and directors. Topics include subtext,
writing for TV, connecting with characters,
finding your process, crime scenes, scene
building, and more. Contact: The Writers
Store, Inc. 3510 West Magnolia Blvd., Bur-
bank CA, 91505. 800-272-8927. Email
through website. writersstore.com/courses
Writers’ Village University Offers a reg-
ularly updated schedule of online writing
courses for every level, as well as certificate
programs in Fiction MFA, Short Story MFA,
and Creative Writing. The more than 200
courses and workshops range from two to
16 weeks and cover topics from comedy
writing to literature studies. Annual $99
membership fee. Degree type: Certificate.
Contact: Writers’ Village University. Email
through website. writersvillage.com
Your Novel Year, Arizona State Univer-
sity, Virginia G. Piper Center for Cre-
ative Writing. Draft and revise a young
adult novel within the span of a year and
then spend six months preparing it for publi-
cation. Online courses are offset by optional
meetings at the university’s annual Desert
Nights, Rising Stars writing conference.
Degree granted: Certificate. Contact: Vir-
ginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.
P.O. Box 875002, Arizona State University,
Tempe, AZ 85287. 480-965-6018.
pipercenter.info@asu.edu piper.asu.edu/novel
ALASKA
49 Writers Courses and workshops for
varying levels offered in two terms (fall and
spring). Elements courses cover nuts-and-
bolts writing techniques and run six to eight
hours long while genre-based workshops
alternate between fundamentals and
advanced technique run 12 to 15 hours. Spe-
cial topics also offered. Registration dates:
August (for fall) and January (for spring).
Contact: 49 Writers, Inc. 49 Alaska Writing
Center, P.O. Box 140014, Anchorage, AK
99514-0014. info@49writers.org
49writingcenter.org/index.php
CALIFORNIA
Book Passage, Corte Madera and San
Francisco, California. Writing courses from
craft basics to tips on publishing held at a
famed San Francisco bookstore. Craft topics
include memoir, the antagonist, travel writ-
ing, blogging and intensive writing weekends.
Contact: 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera,
CA 94925. 415-927-0960. Email through
website. bookpassage.com/writing-classes
Conejo Valley Adult School, Thousand
Oaks, California. Dedicated to helping
adults enrich their lives, for professional and
personal goals, including through its writers’
program. Previous topics have covered nuts
and bolts screenwriting and creative writing
workshops. Contact: Conejo Valley Adult
School. 1025 Old Farm Rd., Thousand Oaks,
CA 91360. 805-497-2761.
AnneB@ConejoAdultEd.org
conejoadultschool.org/Generalclasses/
writers-program.htm
The Grotto, San Francisco, California. A
writing community that offers flexible com-
mon workspaces, as well as classes in genres
including fiction, nonfiction, journalism,
spoken word, poetry, and social media,
seven days a week and for different lengths
of time. Six-month fellowships offered
through application. Contact: The Grotto.
490 2nd Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco,
CA 94107. info@sfgrotto.org
sfgrotto.org/classes/upcoming-classes
Los Angeles Writers Group, Los Ange-
les, California. Creative writing workshops,
classes, groups, and private coaching for
writers of all genres. Some workshops focus-
ing on using art as writing inspiration. The
organization also produces off-site writing
retreats. Contact: Los Angeles Writers
Group. Nicole Criona, president. 8033 W.
Sunset Blvd, P.O. Box 910, Los Angeles, CA
90046. lawritersgroup@gmail.com
lawritersgroup.com
San Diego Writers, Ink, San Diego, Cali-
fornia. Multi-level classes and one-time work-
shops in multiple genres including fiction,
nonfiction, memoir, playwriting, and poetry.
Basic and advanced certificates also offered in
novel writing and memoir writing. Limited
class size. Degree type: Certificate. Contact:
San Diego Writers, Ink. 2730 Historic Decatur
Rd., Suite 202, San Diego, CA 92106. 619-696-
0363. programs@sandiegowriters.org
sandiegowriters.org/programs/classes8
University of California - Berkeley
Extension, Berkeley, California. A post-
baccalaureate writing certificate program to
prepare for the MFA. Helps build regular
writing practice, grow portfolio, and gain
credentials. Flexible schedule of eight
writermag.com • The Writer | 43
MARKETS
required courses in a variety of topics, from
YA novels to children’s picture books, story
structure to American fiction. Degree type:
Certificate. Pre-requisites: Bachelor’s
degree. Contact: UC Berkeley Extension.
510-642-4111. extension@berkeley.edu
extension.berkeley.edu/cert/writing.html
University of California - Los Angeles
Extension, Los Angeles, California. Certifi-
cate programs in screenwriting, creative
writing (fiction or nonfiction), and journal-
ism. Students must take six or eight courses,
depending upon the program, which may be
completed in person or online. Degree type:
Certificate. Contact: UCLA Extension.
enroll@uclaextension.edu uclaextension.edu/
pages/ProgramDetails.aspx?reg=CF503
University of California - San Diego
Extension San Diego, California. Creative
writing courses on fiction, creative nonfic-
tion, children’s writing, poetry, stage and
screenwriting, and the business of writing.
Also offers humanities and writing certifi-
cates in children’s book illustration, children’s
book writing, copyediting, and technical
communication. Contact: UC San Diego
Extension, 9600 N. Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla,
CA 92037. 858-534-5760. ahl@ucsd.edu
https://extension.ucsd.edu/courses-and-
programs/creative-writing
Writing Pad, Los Angeles, California. Two
locations in LA and one in San Francisco
offer writing classes according to genre,
including children’s and YA, fiction, mem-
oir, poetry, web writing, personal essay,
journalism, writing for actors, playwriting,
publishing, screenwriting and more. Also
available are a plethora of resources, special
events, and online classes. Contact: Writing
Pad Headquarters. 688 S. Santa Fe Ave.,
#312, Los Angeles, CA 90021. 323-333-2954.
info@writingpad.com writingpad.com
Writing Workshops Los Angeles Los
Angeles, California. One-day seminars, plus
eight-week classes on fiction, nonfiction,
and poetry offered in locations around LA.
Classes are adult only and geared toward
varying levels, with some sessions being
44 | The Writer • September 2017
mixed levels. Refreshments always served.
One-on-one critiques and editing services
also available. Contact: Writing Workshops
Los Angeles. info@writingworkshopsla.com
writingworkshopsla.com
COLORADO
University College, Denver, Colorado.
Offered online and at the University of Col-
orado campus, this certificate program lasts
10 weeks, and no GRE is required to apply.
Learn the skills of writing and revision, as
well as insight into the publishing process.
Credits may be applied to a future arts and
culture master’s degree if so desired. Degree
type: Certificate. Contact: University Col-
lege, University of Denver, College of Profes-
sional and Continuing Studies. 2211 South
Josephine St., Denver, CO 80208. 303-871-
2291 chris.heriza@du.edu
http://universitycollege.du.edu/pwri/
GEORGIA
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. The
certificate in creative writing is geared
toward adults who want to improve their
writing skills and develop a publishable man-
uscript. Individualized guidance from
instructors through a series of workshops:
short story, fiction, essentials of creative
writing, and more. Degree type: Certificate.
Contact: Emory University. Emory Continu-
ing Education, 201 Dowman Dr., Atlanta,
GA 30322. 404-727- 6123. Email through
website. ece.emory.edu/creative_writing
ILLINOIS
Story Studio, Chicago, Illinois. Offers three
programs: Words for Work for business writ-
ers, Creative Writing for in-person work-
shopping, and SSC 360˚ Online interactive
weekly courses. One-day workshops are also
available, covering topics such as grammar,
blogging, and meditation. One-on-one man-
uscript review and youth writing camps also
available. Contact: Story Studio. 4043 N.
Ravenswood, #222, Chicago, IL 60613. 773-
477-7710. info@storystudiochicago.com
storystudiochicago.com
The Writer’s Studio, Chicago, Illinois.
Studio workshop courses that meet for four
or eight weeks and cover topics from editing
to basic creative writing, character develop-
ment to mastering detail. These courses are
open to the public and take place both in
person and online. Contact: Graham
School, The University of Chicago. Gina
DiPonio, Program Director. 1427 E. 60th St.,
Second Floor, Chicago, IL 60637 773-882-
1160. grahamschool@uchicago.edu
grahamschool.uchicago.edu/noncredit/
certificates/writers-studio/index
The Writers Loft, Chicago, Illinois. A writ-
ing community with courses in short stories,
plays, biography, memoir, and more taught
by bestselling author Mary Carter. Work-
shops consist of six two-and-a-half-hour eve-
ning sessions that cover technique, feedback
and a half hour of writing. The first class is
free. Contact: The Writers Loft. Mary Carter.
206-618-3747. mary@immediatefiction.com
thewritersloft.com
INDIANA
Indiana Writers Center, Indianapolis, Indi-
ana. Writers of all levels participate in fiction,
poetry, and nonfiction classes and workshops.
Topics have included essay writing, story writ-
ing, novel writing, travel writing, editing and
proofreading, mystery, and getting published.
Course lengths vary from single days to eight
weeks. Contact: Indiana Writers Center. P.O.
Box 30407, Indianapolis, IN 46230. 317-255-
0710. Email through website.
indianawriters.org/pages/classes-workshops
IOWA
Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, Iowa City,
Iowa, July. High school students spend two
weeks in the summer at the famed Iowa Writ-
ers’ Workshop. Students choose between
three tracks: fiction, poetry, or creative writ-
ing (a mix of genres). Classes are presented in
seminars and workshops of 12 people or less.
Enrollment deadline: February 2016. Con-
tact: Iowa Young Writers’ Studio. Stephen
Lovely, Director. The University of Iowa, 309
CC, Iowa City, Iowa 52242. 319-335-4209.
iyws@uiowa.edu iowayoungwritersstudio.org
KENTUCKY
The Carnegie Center for Literacy &
Learning, Lexington, Kentucky. Seasonal
writing classes in a family-friendly learning
center. Most classes are free, and those that do
require payment are for a low fee. Adult writ-
ing courses cover fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
multi-genre, and publishing. The center also
runs writing contests, book series, and the
Young Women Writers Project. Contact: The
Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning. 251
West Second St., Lexington, KY 40507. 859-
254-4175. ccll1@carnegiecenterlex.org
carnegiecenterlex.org
MARYLAND/WASHINGTON, DC
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Graduate
certificate in science writing. Part-time pro-
gram with locations in both Baltimore and
D.C., plus online classes. In five courses, stu-
dents learn the skills to write about science,
medicine, and technology. Topics cover jour-
nalism, social media, digital and print, craft,
creative writing, and editing. Optional resi-
dency course. Degree type: Certificate. Con-
tact: Johns Hopkins University, Zanvyl
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences. Advanced
Academics Programs, 1717 Massachusetts
Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20036. 202-452-
1940. sciencewriting@jhu.edu
advanced.jhu.edu/academics/certificate-
programs/science-writing
MASSACHUSETTS
Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts.
Certificate programs in copyediting, graphic
novel writing, and screenwriting. Learn
craft, technique, and skills to improve
knowledge in the specific field. Students
have three years to complete the program.
Degree type: Non-credit certificate. Con-
tact: Department of Professional Studies
and Special Programs, Emerson College. 120
Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116. 617-824-
8500. continuing@emerson.edu
emerson.edu/academics/professional-
studies/certificate-programs
GrubStreet Workshops, manuscript cri-
tiques, and young writers groups in Boston
and online. Scholarships available. Courses
cover short fiction, personal essay, book-
length memoir, playwriting, publishing, pro-
motion, professional development, and
more. Contact: GrubStreet. 162 Boylston
St., 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02116. 617-695-
0075. info@grubstreet.org grubstreet.org
MICHIGAN
Springfed Arts, Royal Oak, Michigan.
Educate writers about their craft, be it in the
form of prose or song, and performance of
works. Courses in poetry, memoir, fiction,
YA fiction and creative writing take place
both in person and online. Writing work-
shops and mini-camps for teens also avail-
able. Contact: Springfed Arts. John D.
Lamb, Executive Director, P.O. Box 304,
Royal Oak, MI 48068. 248-589-3913.
info@springfed.org springfed.org/index.
php?option=com_content&view=article&id
=62:writing-classes&catid=1:latest-news
MINNESOTA
The Loft Literary Center Adult and
youth classes for ages 6-17, as well as online
options. Adult and online classes cover fic-
tion, creative nonfiction, and poetry, as well
as a variety of genre-specific classes, screen-
writing, playwriting, graphic storytelling,
and more. Youth classes are mainly held in
the summer and are broken down according
to age group. Scholarships available. Con-
tact: The Loft Literary Center. Suite 200,
Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. South,
Minneapolis, MN 55415. 612-215-2575.
loft@loft.org loft.org/classes
NEW JERSEY
The Writers Circle, North-central New
Jersey. Weekly writing courses, from work-
shops for children to adult classes for all lev-
els in genre-specific sessions, fiction,
nonfiction, and poetry. One-on-one coach-
ing, editorial services, and summer sessions
for teens also available. Courses held in
Ridgewood, Montclair, South Orange,
Maplewood, and Summit. Contact: The
Writers Circle. Email through website.
writerscircleworkshops.com
NEW YORK
92nd Street Y, New York, New York.
Advanced workshops in writing, poetry, fic-
tion, and memoir led by bestselling authors
such as Myla Goldberg, Wendy Salinger, and
Cynthia Cruz. Master classes and literary
seminars also available focusing on topics
such as Greek tragedies, reading Chekhov,
and poetry with J.D. McClatchy. The 92Y In
Session series covers topics such as chil-
dren’s writing, autobiography and live story-
telling. Contact: 92Y. 1395 Lexington Ave.,
New York, NY 10128. 212-415-5500. Email
through website. 92y.org/Uptown/Classes/
Adults/Creative-Writing
Gotham Writers Workshop, New York,
New York. Workshop classes in New York
City and online, covering a wide array of
genres: fiction, nonfiction, scriptwriting,
comedy, poetry, songs, and business. Also
offers teen classes and one-on-one sessions.
While classes on location operate on a fixed
schedule, online courses can be completed
at the student’s own pace. Contact: Gotham
Writers Workshop. 555 8th Ave., Suite 1402,
New York, NY 10018. 212-974-8377.
contact@gothamwriters.com
writingclasses.com
MediaBistro New York, New York. In-per-
son courses in New York City and online
courses and boot camps. Topics include
query letter writing, children’s writing, nov-
els, and nonfiction book proposals, as well
as social media how-tos, copy editing, and
journalism. Contact: MediaBistro. 825
Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10019. Email
through website. mediabistro.com/courses
The New School, New York, New York.
Certificate in screenwriting. Students will
complete a script for a full-length feature film,
learning character, story, action, dialogue, and
more. Courses may also be completed online.
Degree type: Certificate. Contact: The New
School. School of Media Studies, 79 Fifth
Ave., 16th Floor, New York, NY 10003. 212-
229-8903. media@newschool.edu
newschool.edu/public-engagement/
screenwriting-certificate
New York Writers Workshop New York,
New York. Offers free writing classes and
presentations at various New York Public
Library locations, in addition to mid-level
writermag.com • The Writer | 45
MARKETS
and advanced workshops at Goddard River-
side Community Center and the JCC in
Manhattan. Courses are also offered online
via Skype. The group also hosts nonfiction
and fiction pitch conferences. Contact: New
York Writers Workshop. 200 Riverside Blvd.,
Suite 32E, New York, NY 10069.
newyorkwritersworkshop@gmail.com
newyorkwritersworkshop.com
Stony Brook Southampton Children’s
Lit Fellows, Southampton, New York. Year-
long certificate program for 12 children’s
book writers from Stony Brook Southamp-
ton’s MFA in Creative Writing and Literature.
Writers work independently with faculty and
then convene in July and January for a pub-
lishing and editing conference. During the
year, fellows complete one publishable YA or
middle grade manuscript or either a series
concept with one completed manuscript or
three separate manuscripts. Degree Type:
Advanced certificates in creative writing.
Deadline: November 1. Contact: Southamp-
ton Arts. Chancellors Hall, Stony Brook
Southampton, 239 Montauk Highway, South-
ampton, NY 11968. 631-632-5030.
southamptonarts@stonybrook.edu
stonybrook.edu/southampton/mfa/childrens_lit
The Writing Institute at Sarah Law-
rence College Bronxville, New York.
Adults and young writers can take advan-
tage of the writing program offered at the
Center for Continuing Education at Sarah
Lawrence College, with courses on fiction,
nonfiction, and poetry. Additional topics
include cross-genre, publishing, and the
writer’s process. Two students will be chosen
for the Kathryn Gurfein Writing Fellowship.
Contact: The Writing Institute. 914-395-
2205. cce@sarahlawrence.edu.
sarahlawrence.edu/ce/writing-institute
OHIO
Clifton Cultural Arts Center, Cincinnati,
Ohio. The CCAC holds ongoing creative
writing workshops with a maximum class
size of 8 students. Course takes place twice
per week with different instructors for each
section. Contact: Clifton Cultural Arts Cen-
ter. P.O. Box 20041, Cincinnati, OH 45220.
46 | The Writer • September 2017
513-497-2860. info@cliftonculturalarts.org
cliftonculturalarts.org/classes/creative-writing
OREGON
The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters,
Portland, Oregon. A private literary studio
that offers creative writing workshops in
poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir, personal
essay, storytelling, and more. One-day ses-
sions offered, as well as ongoing multi-week
workshops. Free phone consultations and
teen summer program offered. Contact:
The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters. 4232
SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR
97215. 503-236-0615. Email through web-
site. atticinstitute.com/classes
Literary Arts, Portland, Oregon. Rotating
schedule of writing classes ranging from one
or two days to eight weeks. Past topics
include memoir boot camp and travel
essays. Class size limited to 12 students.
Scholarships available. Contact: Literary
Arts. Susan Moore, 925 SW Washington St.,
Portland, OR 97205. 503-227-2583 ex 107.
susan@literary-arts.org literary-arts.org/
what-we-do/oba-home/workshops
PENNSYLVANIA
Community College of Philadelphia,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Creative
Writing Academic Certificate includes both
creative writing and literature courses, as well
as workshops. In the Portfolio Development
course, students prepare to apply to four-year
writing programs and develop works for pub-
lication. The certificate credits may be
applied to an English or liberal arts associate’s
degree. Degree type: Certificate. Contact:
Community College of Philadelphia. 1700
Spring Garden St., Philadelphia, PA 19130.
215-751-8000. ccp.edu/academic-offerings/
all-offerings/liberal-arts/academic-certificate-
programs/creative-writing
TEXAS
Writers’ League of Texas, Austin, Texas.
Courses open to members and non-mem-
bers of all experience levels. Topics include
structure, pacing, finding a critique partner,
social media, writing with emotion, using
metaphors, submitting, research, revision,
and more. Half-day and full-day Saturday
classes and weeknight sessions available.
Contact: Writers’ League of Texas. 611 S.
Congress Ave., Suite 200 A-3, Austin, TX
78704. 512-499-8914. wlt@writersleague.org
writersleague.org/6/Classes
VIRGINIA
The Muse Writers Center, Hampton
Roads, Virginia. Creative and creative writing
classes in journaling, poetry, novels, memoir,
creative nonfiction, flash memoir, professional
development, outlining a story, blogging,
magazines, pitching, reading in public, gram-
mar, and more. Courses held for various
lengths of time – from one day to eight days –
and at all times of the day. Contact: The Muse
Writers Center. 2200 Colonial Ave., Suite #3,
Norfolk, VA, 23517. 757-818-9880.
muse@the-muse.org the-muse.org/workshops
Writer House Eight-week classes are made
up of 5 to 12 students, though some half-
day, one-day and two-day seminars do allow
for 18 students. Topics range from the son-
net to travel writing, memoir to voice,
agents to fantasy writing. Youth writing pro-
grams and scholarships are available. Con-
tact: WriterHouse. 508 Dale Ave.,
Charlottesville, VA 22902. 434-296-1922.
programs@writerhouse.org writerhouse.org
WASHINGTON
Classes and Workshops, Seattle, Wash-
ington. Non-credit writing classes in screen-
writing, novel and short story writing, sci-fi
and fantasy, and more. Many courses are co-
sponsored by the University of Washington’s
Experimental College. Contact: Classes and
Workshops. 425-286-2937.
classesinseattle@gmail.com
classesandworkshops.com/writing-classes
Hugo House, Seattle, Washington. Genera-
tive classes, workshops, discussion-based ses-
sions, and reading courses focusing on writing
and literary craft. Sessions range from half day
to weekly for 10 weeks. Young writers mentor
program also available. Contact: Hugo House.
1021 Columbia St., Seattle, WA 98104. 206-
322-7030. welcome@hugohouse.org
hugohouse.org/classes
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writermag.com • The Writer | 47

HOW I WRITE
BY ALLISON FUTTERMAN
Matthew Norman
I
n both of his books, Matthew
Norman cleverly mixes serious
subjects with a sense of humor.
This Baltimore author and copy-
writer has written two novels, Domes-
tic Violets and We’re All Damaged.
Though the books differ in plot, both
titles have a first-person POV, focusing
on a male protagonist who must deal
with family dynamics, relationships,
and an inner desire for change. And
although both deal with serious issues,
there is much humor and witty dia-
logue to be found throughout each.
Norman is currently at work on his
third novel, about a couple who are
forced to consider why their marriage
is still intact while every other couple
in their lives have gotten divorced.
Follow-up pressure
After Domestic Violets, I realized that
was the last book I’ll ever write as a
first novel. When you’re writing your
first book, nobody really cares, except
you. It’s totally self-motivated. Writing
We’re All Damaged was the toughest
thing I’ve ever done. There is that
“sophomore slump” everyone talks
about. I worked on We’re All Damaged
for about a year, but threw it all away
because it wasn’t coming together. It
took me forever to write it – three
years, not counting that first year.
Writing great dialogue
Dialogue is something I really work
on. Every writer has strengths and
weaknesses, and dialogue has always
been a strength of mine. I like to stay
in the scene as much as possible, and
dialogue puts you in the scene. It
draws in the reader. I’ve rewritten
scenes over and over to make it sound
seamless, effortless. Also, I read
48 | The Writer • September 2017
“I tend to see the world
through a humor lens. I use
it as a defense mechanism.
That may be a personality
flaw, but it makes me the
writer I am.”
everything aloud. That’s start. I usually have about
when you know if it’s work- 50 pages mapped out and
ing or not working. some idea of where I want
to go. I put plot points on
Humor cards and put them in
When I wrote Domestic Violets, I sat chronological order on a corkboard.
down to write a comedy. My main This way, I can see the entire plot in
character, Tom, works for a company front of me. But I don’t know how I
that was a carbon copy of the company will get to those plot points. That’s
I worked for while I was writing. I what takes so long: It’s like fighting
hated my job, but it’s not interesting to your way through the forest with a
listen to someone rant about their job. machete.
Humor makes pain more palatable.
With We’re All Damaged, the main Writing routine
character is in a bad place, he’s a It’s all based on logistics. I wake up
depressed guy. I didn’t know if it and get my two girls ready for school.
would be embraced as a comedy, but Then I go to work. I get home around
people found it funny. With my per- 6, and then it’s about the kids until 9. I
sonality, I tend to see the world sit down to write during the week
through a humor lens. I use it as a from 9 to 11:30. Friday nights I take
defense mechanism. That may be a off to spend time my wife. On week-
personality flaw, but it makes me the ends, I steal a couple of hours at a
writer I am. time. Lately, I’ve been changing it up
by taking my laptop to Starbucks or
Starting point local coffee shops.
I think when you sit down to write a
Jason Rice
novel, you have a strong beginning in Allison Futterman is a freelance writer based
mind. That’s what motivates you to in Charlotte, North Carolina.
At last!
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