Ask the Author: Alice Sherman Simpson
Answered Questions (17)
Alice Sherman Simpson
Definitely, New York City during The Gilded Age and Edith Wharton’s “House of Mirth.” I would interview the characters, visit homes, take in all the details; lifestyle, dress and listen to the gossip,
Alice Sherman Simpson
How frustrating after writing day in and day out to hear, “Sorry, but it’s too complicated and there are too many characters.”
So, I started again; removed the present, focused on the latter part of the Gilded Age, uptown and down. I fired the cast of thousands, and changed the tone.
I’m making progress …and one of the early chapters has just been chosen for publication in Persimmon Tree Magazine. TO READ: "Eldridge Street, 1902": https://persimmontree.org/fall-2021/e...
So, I started again; removed the present, focused on the latter part of the Gilded Age, uptown and down. I fired the cast of thousands, and changed the tone.
I’m making progress …and one of the early chapters has just been chosen for publication in Persimmon Tree Magazine. TO READ: "Eldridge Street, 1902": https://persimmontree.org/fall-2021/e...
Alice Sherman Simpson
Hi Anna,
I am extremely disciplined about writing. You can find me at the keyboard for up to eight hours a day, some days. Writing is such a pleasure, editing even more so. I am constantly challenging myself to bring the five senses to my work. Recently, a fellow writer suggested I read Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" in terms of my story, and this past week I've immersed myself every morning in the Audible version. Dickens reminds me of all the minutia of characterization.
I am extremely disciplined about writing. You can find me at the keyboard for up to eight hours a day, some days. Writing is such a pleasure, editing even more so. I am constantly challenging myself to bring the five senses to my work. Recently, a fellow writer suggested I read Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" in terms of my story, and this past week I've immersed myself every morning in the Audible version. Dickens reminds me of all the minutia of characterization.
Alice Sherman Simpson
Hi Anna,
Have been writing and re-writing The Waiting List, my next tale, which is quite unlike "Ballroom." Having become enamored of The Gilded Age along the way, which is so similar to our own times, I changed paths. The satire, while great fun and certainly apt for the present and past was getting in my way, and I've spent the year rewriting the entire saga.
Have been writing and re-writing The Waiting List, my next tale, which is quite unlike "Ballroom." Having become enamored of The Gilded Age along the way, which is so similar to our own times, I changed paths. The satire, while great fun and certainly apt for the present and past was getting in my way, and I've spent the year rewriting the entire saga.
Alice Sherman Simpson
Charles Dicken's "Bleak House"
Susan Isaac's "Takes One To Know One"
Elizabeth Strout's "Olive, Again"
Jean Strouse's "Alice James: A Biography"
Henry James' "The Golden Bowl"
Susan Isaac's "Takes One To Know One"
Elizabeth Strout's "Olive, Again"
Jean Strouse's "Alice James: A Biography"
Henry James' "The Golden Bowl"
Alice Sherman Simpson
Anna, So much has happened and changed since you first asked about my BREAKING NEWS! I completely rewrote the novel, which has become THE WINTHROP AGREEMENT, a work of historical fiction that takes place during the Gilded Age—in the crowded tenements on the Lower East Side and mansions uptown and on Long Island's Gold Coast. HarperCollins will publish it in 2023. READ A CHAPTER: https://persimmontree.org/fall-2021/e...
Alice Sherman Simpson
Thanks for your question, Ann,
Ballroom is the first and only book I've written so it is my favorite!
My next book is quite different and entails research into the Gilded Age. I have found it both challenge and exciting. The challenge comes from using my research to move the story without it being stilted. The exciting part has been learning about the Gilded Age. It is a psychological thriller about family, greed and legacy.
Ballroom is the first and only book I've written so it is my favorite!
My next book is quite different and entails research into the Gilded Age. I have found it both challenge and exciting. The challenge comes from using my research to move the story without it being stilted. The exciting part has been learning about the Gilded Age. It is a psychological thriller about family, greed and legacy.
Alice Sherman Simpson
"I do know people who blame others for their inability to have the lives they want and lack the ability to take responsibility for their own choices. I was challenged by Gabriel and Myra’s relationship; trying to understand why they stayed together — why she allowed him to dominate her. A psychologist told me that some dysfunctional relationships are like the infinity sign — an endless round-and-round dance in which partners know no other steps and therefore remain together."
[http://alicesimpson.com/blog/2015/03/...]
[http://alicesimpson.com/blog/2015/03/...]
Alice Sherman Simpson
It was the intensity and throb of my favorite tango CD, "Gotan Project," which inspired "Ballroom" I listened to it where and when ever I wrote, and even used it to set the tone while reading from the novel at Dixon Place, a performance space on the Bowery in NYC.
If you made your way down the stairs at the Ballroom on Union Square on a Sunday night, you'd likely here the DJ playing songs like:
RUMBA: "Besame Mucho" by Diana Krall
HUSTLE: "Stayin' Alive" by Bee Gees
FOX TROT: "More" by Nat King Cole
SWING:"In the Mood" by Glenn Miller
TANGO: "Por Una Cabeza"by Carlos Gardel
CHA CHA: "Let's Get Loud" by Jennifer Lopez
WALTZ: The Vienna Waltz by Strauss
That should get you going, Rachel! Which is your favorite?
I am going to Pass-It-Along and ask another author a question!
If you made your way down the stairs at the Ballroom on Union Square on a Sunday night, you'd likely here the DJ playing songs like:
RUMBA: "Besame Mucho" by Diana Krall
HUSTLE: "Stayin' Alive" by Bee Gees
FOX TROT: "More" by Nat King Cole
SWING:"In the Mood" by Glenn Miller
TANGO: "Por Una Cabeza"by Carlos Gardel
CHA CHA: "Let's Get Loud" by Jennifer Lopez
WALTZ: The Vienna Waltz by Strauss
That should get you going, Rachel! Which is your favorite?
I am going to Pass-It-Along and ask another author a question!
Alice Sherman Simpson
There are too many books on my nightstand. It's difficult to read and write--characters and voices get confused. It fascinates me that while reading, my ear picks up the writer's tone, cadence, and writing style.
'Alice James, a Biography' (Strouse), 'Stories of Jane Gardham' (Gardham), 'The Warmth Of Other Suns' (Wilkerson), 'Life After Life' (Atkinson), 'News From Heaven' (Haigh)-because my publisher compared me to her. 'Loving Andrew' (Wylie)-because she's a friend, a fine writer, and it's her story. 'Contents May Have Shifted' (Houston)-because I heard her read at the Red Hen luncheon and liked what I heard. And my book-because I still can't believe it's been published.
The books I look forward to adding are 'The Cherry Harvest' (Sanna) and Kate Southwood's next book.
'Alice James, a Biography' (Strouse), 'Stories of Jane Gardham' (Gardham), 'The Warmth Of Other Suns' (Wilkerson), 'Life After Life' (Atkinson), 'News From Heaven' (Haigh)-because my publisher compared me to her. 'Loving Andrew' (Wylie)-because she's a friend, a fine writer, and it's her story. 'Contents May Have Shifted' (Houston)-because I heard her read at the Red Hen luncheon and liked what I heard. And my book-because I still can't believe it's been published.
The books I look forward to adding are 'The Cherry Harvest' (Sanna) and Kate Southwood's next book.
Alice Sherman Simpson
8.14.24 STAY TUNED: Have just completed my third novel, which begins with a harrowing UBER ride— last summer (2023) in New York City. This one's contemporary fiction.
Alice Sherman Simpson
Something I want to tell you about BALLROOM…
“In this era of easy access to ebooks, if you’re going to create a physical book, you should make it special, something worth keeping on your coffee table or on your bookshelf. And that is what we always aspire to do when we publish.”—writes my agent.
We were all in agreement, my literary agents, publisher Harper, and I. We care about beautifully bound books. As some of you know, I also make artist books—paint the dancers—daringly cut around the pages—stitch, glue and bind them, sometimes even stand them on wooden feet. They are works of art, collected by rare book collectors and university special collection.
My agent’s father had been a bookbinder in Minneapolis and spent summers at his bindery making huge buffalo-hide cases for commemorative books and often crafted covers for favorite books, such as a leather-bound copy of D.H. Lawrence poems.
If you hold BALLROOM in your hand, look at the foredge, the part of a book that faces inward when the book is shelved; the part opposite the spine, you will notice it has a feathered, high-quality “deckle edge” as though the paper was handmade.
The cover of BALLROOM, painted by Phillip Bannister (UK), is an elegant watercolor with lyrical washes of sienna and brown and there is a lovely “S” curve of orange in her dress, which carries into the side of his face. You can almost see the artist’s brush marks— and there’s that small dab of green in her hair-the contrast of green and orange. The cover has the texture of watercolor paper, and you can run your fingers over the embossed text. These are the small details that I was so pleased went into the production of my debut novel.
Still Dancing,
Alice
“In this era of easy access to ebooks, if you’re going to create a physical book, you should make it special, something worth keeping on your coffee table or on your bookshelf. And that is what we always aspire to do when we publish.”—writes my agent.
We were all in agreement, my literary agents, publisher Harper, and I. We care about beautifully bound books. As some of you know, I also make artist books—paint the dancers—daringly cut around the pages—stitch, glue and bind them, sometimes even stand them on wooden feet. They are works of art, collected by rare book collectors and university special collection.
My agent’s father had been a bookbinder in Minneapolis and spent summers at his bindery making huge buffalo-hide cases for commemorative books and often crafted covers for favorite books, such as a leather-bound copy of D.H. Lawrence poems.
If you hold BALLROOM in your hand, look at the foredge, the part of a book that faces inward when the book is shelved; the part opposite the spine, you will notice it has a feathered, high-quality “deckle edge” as though the paper was handmade.
The cover of BALLROOM, painted by Phillip Bannister (UK), is an elegant watercolor with lyrical washes of sienna and brown and there is a lovely “S” curve of orange in her dress, which carries into the side of his face. You can almost see the artist’s brush marks— and there’s that small dab of green in her hair-the contrast of green and orange. The cover has the texture of watercolor paper, and you can run your fingers over the embossed text. These are the small details that I was so pleased went into the production of my debut novel.
Still Dancing,
Alice
Alice Sherman Simpson
Ann asks: Why did I write Ballroom in Present Tense?
I will let you in on a secret, Ann. My grasp of grammar and punctuation and the correct way to use tenses began and ended at P.S. 32. I just can’t seem to grasp where commas belong. It was quite embarrassing for me, when my first edit came back from Harper—my tenses and ubiquitous commas had run amuck. But these savvy editors were very reassuring and reminded me with every apology I made that that is what editors are for.
They were also quick to recognize that as I wrote and developed BALLROOM, I had shuffled scenes around—moving some from the present to the past and vice versa—from general back-story to specific flashback scenes. The tenses in quite a few scenes were inconsistent and therefore might be unclear to the reader. Writing in present tense made some chapters more immediate. By writing in present tense, I was able to shift into the simple past when a flashback began and then return to the present when it was finished.
I will let you in on a secret, Ann. My grasp of grammar and punctuation and the correct way to use tenses began and ended at P.S. 32. I just can’t seem to grasp where commas belong. It was quite embarrassing for me, when my first edit came back from Harper—my tenses and ubiquitous commas had run amuck. But these savvy editors were very reassuring and reminded me with every apology I made that that is what editors are for.
They were also quick to recognize that as I wrote and developed BALLROOM, I had shuffled scenes around—moving some from the present to the past and vice versa—from general back-story to specific flashback scenes. The tenses in quite a few scenes were inconsistent and therefore might be unclear to the reader. Writing in present tense made some chapters more immediate. By writing in present tense, I was able to shift into the simple past when a flashback began and then return to the present when it was finished.
Alice Sherman Simpson
Interesting question, Guy,
Love for some is constant. For others—fleeting and elusive. I write about people who have difficulty expressing themselves, sustaining relationships. They are scarred and wounded. Time is running out for some of them, the things they want are just out of reach. The Ballroom is a small universe—shabby with moments of moonlight.
Love for some is constant. For others—fleeting and elusive. I write about people who have difficulty expressing themselves, sustaining relationships. They are scarred and wounded. Time is running out for some of them, the things they want are just out of reach. The Ballroom is a small universe—shabby with moments of moonlight.
Alice Sherman Simpson
Ann, That was a very tactfully put question—"not under 30" author!
Had heard lots of rumors, while rewriting The Query Letter for at least the 200th time, that authors need to be young, photogenic, quirky—and have a query letter to knock an agent's socks off. I doubt that anyone receiving mine knew how old I was—really old! (Yes, it's only a number—unless you are trying to put your dance shoes on.)
Finding the right agent or publisher today is generally via email, which can, for a time, hide one's age and good looks. Ultimately the work stands on its own two feet, and BALLROOM found an agent who believed in it and, within a week, a publisher who felt the same way.
My creative life has been a rich and varied one, something I could and still can turn to for meaning, joy, a sense of accomplishment—and best of all, a place of serenity. My major roadblock was me—waiting as long as I did—to take a deep breath, stop working the manuscript to death and, excuse the expression, step onto the dance floor.
Had heard lots of rumors, while rewriting The Query Letter for at least the 200th time, that authors need to be young, photogenic, quirky—and have a query letter to knock an agent's socks off. I doubt that anyone receiving mine knew how old I was—really old! (Yes, it's only a number—unless you are trying to put your dance shoes on.)
Finding the right agent or publisher today is generally via email, which can, for a time, hide one's age and good looks. Ultimately the work stands on its own two feet, and BALLROOM found an agent who believed in it and, within a week, a publisher who felt the same way.
My creative life has been a rich and varied one, something I could and still can turn to for meaning, joy, a sense of accomplishment—and best of all, a place of serenity. My major roadblock was me—waiting as long as I did—to take a deep breath, stop working the manuscript to death and, excuse the expression, step onto the dance floor.
Alice Sherman Simpson
Fortunately, when it comes to writing, I have no problem getting to work—it's what I love to do. The jangle in my head, the constant conversations of shoulds, should-haves, whys, and what-ifs disappear— it’s just character and story, shape and form, light and dark.
Before BALLROOM, I was a graphic designer, illustrator, then made hand-painted artist books and worked in clay—each with a disciplined work ethic. It’s about the challenge of problem solving and process.
Judgement comes later but in the precious hours of ‘making’ things, 'self' disappears into a divine space of hand and eye.
Before BALLROOM, I was a graphic designer, illustrator, then made hand-painted artist books and worked in clay—each with a disciplined work ethic. It’s about the challenge of problem solving and process.
Judgement comes later but in the precious hours of ‘making’ things, 'self' disappears into a divine space of hand and eye.
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