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Writer Q & A (Archived)
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Q and A with Arleen Williams
No worries, A.F and thank you for this opportunity. I have to admit I was a bit confused this morning and not certain what to do. I thought I might need to start the discussion myself, so that's what I did, and NYKen asked some great questions already. NYKen if you're still out there, let's move the conversation to this spot, okay?
Mod
Hello Arleen, Two questions--I know that you write with a couple of other groups. How helpful is that for writing a memoir? When you start a memoir, what do you do first?
Hello Arleen, Was there a specific event where you decided you had to record your memoirs? Have you always written and has your personal writing remained autobiographical rather than fictional?
Hi Arleen, I am going to add your books to my list to read. I love memoirs. Since, I have not read your books, I must ask you this question and that is "What motivated you to share your personal journals with the world?" When did you know that it was time, to share anything in particular happen?
Hi Arleen. Have you received feedback from readers of your memoir? If so, has any of it been negative? I'm asking because I, too, have published a memoir. Most of the feedback has been encouraging, but a few comments are sharply critical, not about my writing, but about certain things I included. I'm just wondering if you've experienced anything like that.
Yikes... I've been sitting here in front of my computer grading student papers and just received 4 questions all at the same time...hmmmm. Wonder if I should change a setting of some sort. Let me answer these in order received...
Hi A.F.,
Cathartic? Absolutely. My family and I had been through a 20-trauma that nobody (within the family) was talking about. Writing the memoir was my way of doing the research to figure out what happened and at the same time heal my pain by facing it head on. But more importantly in terms of writing is that my writing that The Thirty-Ninth Victim I freed myself to write other things as well. I'd attempted both fiction and creative nonfiction off and on for years, but until I signed up for a memoir course and cried out the memoir, I couldn't get anywhere. I've since written a first novel and a second memoir - both of which I'm seeking homes for. I've gotten a number of small pieces published and post on my blog as well. In other words, I've freed myself to write (and, yes, it feels wonderful)... which leads right into the next question....
Hi Jack,
Yes, as you mentioned, I practice timed writing with two wonderful groups. For those of you who are unfamiliar with timed writing, it works like this. At a set time, in a set place, writers gather every week. A timer is set for 30 minutes and we write. When the timer sounds, we stop and read around the table. At Louisa's Cafe in Seattle beginners and published pros gather twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays to pour words on pages and share.
How helpful is it? I couldn't find that inner truth without timed writing. I remember Robert Ray once telling us to put both feet on the floor, relax, breathe deep and let it flow. It works! That's not to say I have a finished product in 30 minutes by any means, but I do have a rich flow of deep ideas whether I'm writing memoir or fiction. The revision and editing comes later.
Jack's other question...when you start a memoir, what do you do first? Feel and think, laugh and cry a whole lot. Then I start putting those feelings on the page and lacing the scenes together around a central theme to create story. Earlier this morning I was "talking" with NYKen about universal truths. With memoir I think it's especially important to find those truths that go beyond personal experience so that as a writer you've created a shared experience with the reader. As I mentioned to NYKen, not everybody has experienced the vicious murder of a sister, but we've all experienced loss and pain, we've all grappled with how to overcome loss. That's universal truth.
Hi Carol,I have always (or almost always!) kept a journal, but no I didn't start writing for publication until much later. I signed up for my first yearlong writing program at the University of Washington in 2002. The Thirty-Ninth Victim was the product of that course. My sister had been murdered by the worse serial killer in 1983. The case was unresolved until 2003. As I mentioned above the book was my way of coming to terms with my family's story that led to my sister's death, but it was also my way of finding voice and giving voice to my sister and the other victims of violent crime.
All of my published writing to date is memoir. I have just finished putting the final touches on a first novel and have begun the arduous process of seeking publication. Wish me luck! If you have any good suggestions or contacts, I'd love to hear them!
Thanks for the questions, Carol.
Hi Ann,Thanks for adding The Thirty-Ninth Victim to your reading list! You might want to take a look at Sunday Ink, too. It's an anthology of works pulled together by my writing group...and it holds an excerpt from my second memoir titled Moving Mom that I hope to find a publishing home for in the near future. (Fingers and toes crossed!)
What motivated me to go public? That's hard to explain. Like many of my generation, I was raised in silence and taught not to talk about family outside of the tight limits of our large family. When I started writing it was to preserve sanity...my very creative artist husband told me that since therapy wasn't doing the trick maybe writing would. The UW program and timed writing practice that I mentioned above provided safe, supportive and in the beginning sort of anonymous environments that allowed me to find voice. When I was encouraged to seek publication, I'll admit that I was terrified, but I also knew that if I didn't publish, I would not have truly found voice and that was very important to me.
I hope that answers your questions, Ann. If not, send me another!
Hi Lyn,Yes, I was rewarded with an overwhelming and unexpected response to my memoir when it was published in 2008. Although my siblings were not immediately supportive, readers were very positive. In fact it was readers questions and comments that led me to write my second memoir, Moving Mom.
Because I don't know your memoir, I can't speculate on what fueled the critical comments, unless it might be political or religious in nature... those topics tend to set folks off, don't they? Anyway, don't be discouraged. The fact that they read and commented is great, isn't it?
Hi All,I'm headed off to an unexpected and oddly scheduled mother's day dinner at my mom's dementia care home. I'll be back in a few hours and look forward to your questions.
Hi Arleen,I really enjoyed reading The Thirty-Ninth Victim. I admire the way you wove your family memories with the horror of your sister's disappearance. When you started to write your memoir, did you have a clear idea of the book's structure, i.e. combining your sister's story with the larger family story or did it emerge as a whole at a later point?
Susan wrote: "Hi Arleen,I really enjoyed reading The Thirty-Ninth Victim. I admire the way you wove your family memories with the horror of your sister's disappearance. When you started to write your memoir, d..."
Hi Susan,
Thanks for reading The Thirty-Ninth Victim and for your kind words. To answer your question, in a word, no! I had given no thought to structure at all when I began writing. When I signed up for my first writing class at University of Washington with Robert Ray and Jack Remick, I had no idea why I was there at all. Within a week or two it became clear what I needed to write about: my sister. But what was more important to me wasn't the murder itself, but what led to my sister's decisions that made her so vulnerable. It was really the process of digging deep into emotional memory through timed writing practice that allowed the story to emerge.
About a year and several hundred typed pages of scene work later, I started what I call the lacing process... pulling the scenes together into a story that I was comfortable with. It's funny ... at the time I was still so lacking in computer skills, I needed to see, read, feel the work on paper. I remember taking my computer and my pages and heading off to a cabin on the Oregon coast alone for a week. The plan was to pull the manuscript together. Problem was I forgot to take a printer. So I ended up doing it all old school with scissors and tape. I'd cut pages and scenes into pieces and tape them together in the order I wanted them so I could see how it would read. There were pages spread throughout that tiny cabin! Once I was satisfied that I had a story with past and present woven together in a way that wasn't terribly confusing, I did the cutting and pasting on the computer. Fortunately, I've moved beyond the need to print every version. Though I have to say when my house was burglarized this week and both my laptops were stolen, there were a couple of hours there when I feared I'd be relying solely on my hard copies of works in progress. Fortunately most of my work was saved on a cloud. Lesson to share: back up, back up, back up... but now I'm rambling.
Hope I answered your question, Susan. If not, let me know!
NYKen wrote: "Arleen wrote: "No worries, A.F and thank you for this opportunity. I have to admit I was a bit confused this morning and not certain what to do. I thought I might need to start the discussion mysel..."Hi NYKen,
Thanks for finding me on the official Q&A page! Must've been the day for tuna! In my case, it was trout for dinner with my mother. There's nothing quite like the ideas you can find in a dementia care facility. So sad, funny, crazy all mixed together. Anyway, on to your questions...
1. I'm hesitant to broad stroke what women's fiction is particularly good at exploring, as you put it, as it does include a wide range of interests and topics. That said, I think there tends to be a strong focus on human relationships and interactions in women's fiction. I once heard Ann Patchett say something to the affect that she liked to put her characters in a room and watch what would happen. I suppose you could say that women's fiction tends to be more character driven than plot driven.
2. Themes? Well, human relationships! I'm also interested in the destructive nature of secrets, in human perseverance against all odds, and in topics of immigration and cultural interfacing on a personal level. In my first novel (Running Secrets), I'm telling the story of a young woman who attempts suicide in response to a lifetime of rejection and loss. It's only when she unravels certain family secrets that she's able to begin again. Not an earth shattering plot, but I hope the unique characters themselves will make it a book worth the read.
3. Yes, I suppose Chris does "pretty much reflect your own view of the world and how it operates." I began writing Running Secrets during the pre-release wait for The Thirty-Ninth Victim. Then when the memoir came out, I was asked numerous times about my mother. In the years following my father's death in 2002 and the release of the memoir in 2008, my mother was living alone and slowly losing her memory to dementia. Before I knew it I had begun another memoir, this one about memory loss, motherhood, and the cost of writing memoir. I ended up finishing the second memoir just recently. Then I returned to Running Secrets to do an extensive revision. I think the time and distance was a good thing. It's a much deeper and richer manuscript now.
Thanks for the great questions! Keep them coming!
Hi, Arleen,what do you think turns journals into memoir? Maybe I'm asking how you decide the focus when you have so much material?
The Thirty-Ninth Victim was a page-turner for me.
Looking forward to your next memoir.
Pam
Arleen I wish you well. Many of us have had horrors to deal with in life that luckily very few have to endure, especially the worst such as this. Those that survive attacks have a different set of difficulties to try and come to terms with.Regards publishing...I'm an independent editor, and I have a formatting expert for those who wish to self publish. However, if you wish to go to a publishing house, I suggest you get a reputable and if possible a known agent. Do not send them your script. Ask them what they require. They send out criteria for you to follow. Each agent is slightly different and will be looking to see if you've read and followed to the letter their instructions. If they're not followed, they won't add that writer to their stable. Work submitted is best pre edited too. Unless they state not to have done...rarely though. Good luck Arleen.
Hi Arleen~I have just been enjoying reading some posts on your blog. It seems like any questions I may have had about your writing have already been asked here, so I'll ask about teaching ESL; how fascinating it must be to have students from all around the world in your class! Have you written about this aspect of your life or do you plan to?
Thank you for answering our questions,
Mari
Hi Arleen, your conversaion looks to be going well - lots of good info here. Thank you for the time spent on these thoughtful answers. Very helpful.Any questions I had have been answered in your postings. Cheers, Mindy
Arleen: do you have any suggestions for writers who want to shift from memoir to fiction or fiction to memoir? When you started your novel about Chris, how much of your memoir life did you bring to it and how much did you choose to invent?
Pamela wrote: "Hi, Arleen,what do you think turns journals into memoir? Maybe I'm asking how you decide the focus when you have so much material?
The Thirty-Ninth Victim was a page-turner for me.
Looking forw..."
Good morning Pam,
I'm getting off to a slow start this morning and may need a second cup of coffee to find an answer to your question! How do I turn journal into memoir? When I journal, I'm usually half asleep and simply write whatever flows from groggy brain to page, often time in script that I struggle to read later. When I decide something is memoir or scene material, I go to timed writing practice and the structure is different. Maybe it's just the difference in writing for myself and writing for an audience. I think memoir needs character and plot development just as fiction does. It has to have universal truth, as I mentioned in an earlier post.
I would say that we all have a lot of material...the older we are, I suppose the more we have! As I mentioned last night, I had dinner in my mother's dementia care facility. Already thoughts are churning...a novel, another memoir? I don't know. But the character possibilities, wow! Not only do you have the missing and made up memories of the residents, but you also have the memories and lives of the immigrant care providers (because the majority of CNA elderly caregivers in this country are immigrants) and then there are the upper level, predominantly middle class, white administrators. Some of these ideas and experiences have already made their way into my second memoir and my first novel, but there's so much more there to mine. My point being, we all have memoir (or fiction) material. It's all around us in every aspect of our daily lives. We just have to narrow it, pull it down to size, to turn it into a manuscript. And I suppose I focus on what interests most, what jumps out as me, what I'm living in the moment. My house was burglarized for the first time last week...I have no doubt that at some future point there will be a burglary in one of my manuscripts or at least a blog piece!
Have I come even close to an answer? Not sure, but on to the next question and that second cup of coffee.
Carol wrote: "Arleen I wish you well. Many of us have had horrors to deal with in life that luckily very few have to endure, especially the worst such as this. Those that survive attacks have a different set of ..."Hi Carol,
Thanks for your solid suggestions. I'm wondering if it is difficult in the UK today as it is here in the US to find an agent and publisher. Here it seems the move is towards self-publishing, predominantly through Amazon/CreateSpace. I have wanted to make that move yet, and continue to look at small indie presses. Is the situation the same on your side of the world?
As to answering--yes, thanks.This is fun. It's my first time participating in a Goodreads Q&A. I'll keep reading this one and look forward to further offers. I'm glad to learn/hear from the other side of the Atlantic.
Mari wrote: "Hi Arleen~I have just been enjoying reading some posts on your blog. It seems like any questions I may have had about your writing have already been asked here, so I'll ask about teaching ESL; ho..."
Hi Mari,
Thank you for taking a look at my blog. I'm flattered. Yes, I love my other job just as much as I love writing! I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet and learn from my students on a daily basis. And though I haven't written anything exclusively about teaching ESL or the immigrant experience, the many of the characters in my new work are immigrants and refugees.
Because of the nature of the refugee experience, I find I tread softly. I started to work with one student because he had a story I wanted to tell, but after numerous months and talks, his fear of repercussions back home put a stop to the project. I've thought about fictionalizing, but some work just needs to be creative nonfiction. Still those stories I learn from my students do inform my character development. In Running Secrets (the working title of my first novel), the protagonist's home health care provider is an Ethiopian refugee. In my second novel, still in the development stage, one character is an ESL teacher and another is an undocumented Salvadorian, brought into the country by her parents with help from the sanctuary movement of the 80s. Now, twenty years later, she needs to go underground again.
So to answer your question, yes I'm including the ESL teaching in my fiction, but not in memoir yet. Though I'm toying with another idea about my early years teaching in Mexico...so many ideas, so little time!
Thanks for the questions.
Mindy wrote: "Hi Arleen, your conversaion looks to be going well - lots of good info here. Thank you for the time spent on these thoughtful answers. Very helpful.Any questions I had have been answered in your p..."
Thanks for checking in, Mindy. If anything comes to mind, you know where to find me!
Arleen wrote: "Carol wrote: "Arleen I wish you well. Many of us have had horrors to deal with in life that luckily very few have to endure, especially the worst such as this. Those that survive attacks have a dif..."Yes to a certain extent. Most people don't know the publisher's or agent's rules...just as you think you are understanding, they are very good at shifting the goalposts.
Waterstones and WH Smith are our countries leading bookstore chains. I know Waterstones publish some work. It's best to apply to literary agents en masse. I advise
send out a simple request. Introduce yourself, and ask what there requirements are for considering a writer and their work. At this point if they have vacancies they send
information. Every agent is different if only by a margin. This is where most writers hit the fence and fail. They don't read each of the rules and regs from each agent. They also try to send whole scripts through. It's a don't and wastes your money. Ensure your book has
been edited or proofread by an expert...English language teachers included here. If an agent is interested they will ask to see a sample only. If a writer can read and follow the agents precise instructions they have a chance. After that it's whether your work is good enough and whether a publisher will risk taking you but the agent deals with that. You
probably sell more but you make less of the pie, that's well and truly divided. Self publishers if good may be picked up by the big e companies like Amazon and they publish and promote some. They do the approaching I believe. However, you keep more of the profits. You control more, the hardest part is promoting your book. The best works will have people recommending that work to others. Some set their books for free days which sends them up the listings, which others see and buy. Like fishing, patiently, wait for the bite and strike. Promoting is tiring and never ending.
Hope this helps and stay realistic. Good luck.
Jack wrote: "Arleen: do you have any suggestions for writers who want to shift from memoir to fiction or fiction to memoir? When you started your novel about Chris, how much of your memoir life did you bring to..."Hi Jack,
Thanks for coming back with another question...
Let me preface these remarks with a disclaimer: I am not an MFA. In fact, I've never taken a fiction class of any kind. That said, I can share what I do and little more. (Reminds me of an Isabelle Allende talk I once attended. She said that when House of the Spirits first came out and she was being interviewed, she'd get questions using vocabulary - the syntax of "real" writers - that she'd never learned.) That said, let me take a stab at this...
I was interested in suicide and the many forms it takes. Doing just a bit of research, I learned that it is even a bigger issue than I realized. When I looked it up in 2006, I learned the suicide rates were higher than homicide rates in the US; 730,000 attempted suicides per year, five million living Americans have attempted suicide, etc, etc. A character - Chris - popped into my head and I had the story of her attempted suicide. But I still needed motivation and had to go through several extensive revisions to land on a motivator that made sense to me: not only a family secret, but an identity secret as well.
Now, how does memoir inform fiction and vice versa? Attempted suicides were a part of my family history, and like Chris, I too played the "What if..." mind game for a number of years in my twenties. Family secrets, those unmentionables, shaped the writer I am today. Both memoir and fiction are stories with character and plot. I started with my character, added more characters and developed the plot. The subplots came later.
One of the biggest challenge for me as I move from memoir to fiction is my obsessive need to deal with exactitude! When writing memoir, I am very precise with dates and times. Unlike other memoirists, I don't do time shifts to improve the story. Instead I try to find other ways to enhance or clarify the read. As I write fiction, I find myself muddling through fictional timelines to make certain that everything could really happen. The characters become so real to me, I almost feel that I am them and they are me and therefore I am writing memoir...a bit schizoid? Maybe. But it seems to work for me.
NYKen asked a question yesterday that I've been thinking a lot about. I don't know that he meant it as a challenge, but .... He asked, "In your women’s fiction book that you have completed, does your protagonist pretty much reflect your own view of the world and how it operates?" And I had to admit that the answer was affirmative. I'm wondering what it would be like to write a protagonist that reflects totally different from my own. I don't know. I've done that with antagonists, but with protagonists? I'm not sure if I could do that. Certainly different sex, race, religion, ethnicity...I can do that, but different world view? I don't know. What do you think?
And as I reread your question, Jack, I'm not sure I've answered it. "...how much of your memoir life did you bring to it and how much did you choose to invent?" I brought my life experiences to the story, I invented the characters and plot.
Thanks for the great questions... you've got me thinking this morning...
Arleen wrote: "Hi Ann,Thanks for adding The Thirty-Ninth Victim to your reading list! You might want to take a look at Sunday Ink, too. It's an anthology of works pulled together by my writing group...and it hol..."
Hi Ann,
I reread your question from yesterday and my answer and I realized that I missed an important clarification. Your questions was: "What motivated you to share your personal journals with the world?"
I want to stress that journals and memoir are very different animals. I didn't share my journals with the world, I shared a memoir. My journals served to fill the gaps where memory alone would have failed. Make sense?
Arleen
Pamela wrote: "As to answering--yes, thanks.This is fun. It's my first time participating in a Goodreads Q&A. I'll keep reading this one and look forward to further offers. I'm glad to learn/hear from the other..."
It is fun, isn't it! Thanks for participating, Pamela.
Carol wrote: "Arleen wrote: "Carol wrote: "Arleen I wish you well. Many of us have had horrors to deal with in life that luckily very few have to endure, especially the worst such as this. Those that survive att..."Yes, I second your suggestions, Carol. Agents have websites and it's essential to read and adhere to their posted posted guidelines. What I find particularly interesting in today's publishing world and the move to self-publishing is not only the questions of control and profit margins, but also in promotion and distribution. Promotional budgets have been slashed even by the major publishers, so even if you are one of the lucky few to land a contract, you still need to do most of your own promotional work. The greatest challenge that I see to both self-publishing and going with a small indie press, as I did with The Thirty-Ninth Victim, is that your book is then Print-on-Demand. In the U.S. bookstores will not stock POD books because they can't return unsold copies. With the move to e-books here in the States, I'm not sure what direction publishing will continue to take. I do know that POD is a more environmentally sound practice and for that reason alone, I'm supportive.
Hello again, Arleen:I see questions about form and content, how to do stuff. I'd like to know how you work your stories and memoirs for style as well as content. Can you describe your self-editing process as well as your group process. I know you work with some writers who share not just ideas but skill techniques as well. How do you do work sentences? Do you resist suggestions? or do you cave in and take the group read?
Arleen wrote: "Carol wrote: "Arleen wrote: "Carol wrote: "Arleen I wish you well. Many of us have had horrors to deal with in life that luckily very few have to endure, especially the worst such as this. Those th..."My clients are mainly self publishers Arleen. The one that isn't, as you say he goes from town to town each weekend and guests and signings are barely covering his budget hotel stops. Yet the book is excellent. At least the others are able to work from home. Definitely better for the environment. Good luck with whichever method you choose. To be sure e-readers and e-books will overtake paper and be the main reading medium in future...much as I love a book!
Hi Jack,When I started writing ten years ago, I was a master caver. I made two big mistakes, perhaps common to new writers, though I really don't know. First, I asked too many people to read my work. Second, I asked too soon, before I was confident that it was the best it could be. And then, I caved. I needed to write for a number of years before I felt confident that my work was worthy, so I depended on others to make it better than I felt I could make it.
The groups I write with are timed writing practice groups only. They are not critique groups and we don't edit or work sentences together. I've limited myself to two readers and I wait until I am satisfied that my work is as good as I can get it before I ask for a read. I'm fortunate to have two writers whose opinions I greatly value. But before I ask them to read, I read the entire piece aloud to myself. I go sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, checking for sound and rhythm. This is, of course, after I'm satisfied that the story itself is complete.
I suppose style is voice. We each have a unique voice. When we're true to that voice and we trust it, our style emerges. When I pay attention,I can usually feel when I'm being dishonest to that voice, when the style doesn't ring true.
And then there's study...so many great books out there to work with I won't even begin to list them here. But one that I'm loving at the moment is Writing with Clarity and Style by Robert A. Harris.
A question to our moderator, A.F.,Is there a way to post a photo in this comment box?
Hi Jack,I was thinking a bit more about your last question and I realized that if we're talking about process and self-editing, I'm leaving a big hole in the middle... and that is the number of times I see and read each sentence and paragraph before it reaches a manuscript.
For those unfamiliar with timed writing practice, let me explain that most writers use pen and paper. So that means, in terms of style and self-editing, I see and read my scenes aloud after the first write.
Then I see them again as I type and save them. I save them as individual pieces, in appropriate computer folders, and I tend to label them according to the storyboard I have on my writing room wall (here I'd like to insert a picture of the story board, but since I can't figure out how to do that, I'll send you to my blog at http://www.arleenwilliams.com to see the storyboard!)
When I have enough scenes to start lacing together a manuscript, I read again as I pull scenes from folders and put them into manuscript form. As the manuscript grows, I read aloud on a regular basis to hear how the story flows.
Though seemingly cumbersome, especially to those who prefer to draft on computer, all of those steps contribute to the self-editing process.
Now, I'm headed to my blog to post that picture of my storyboard. This is for a new novel that is still in the planning stages, so the board is very simple showing only the plot lines. No subplots are currently included. As to the two colors, those represent points of view of the two main characters.
Okay, time for a break. I'm off to see if I can find a replacement bike for my new one that was stolen on Monday. I'll be back in a few hours, so keep those comments and questions flowing. Thanks!
Carol wrote: "Arleen wrote: "Carol wrote: "Arleen wrote: "Carol wrote: "Arleen I wish you well. Many of us have had horrors to deal with in life that luckily very few have to endure, especially the worst such as..."I'm with you there! I can't imagine not having that wonderful new paper fragrance of a new book! I'm hoping there will be room for both paper and e-books, but that all paper is POD.
Okay, I really do need to step away for a few hours...be back soon!
Thanks for going into that kind of detail, Arleen. Very helpful, very informative. It's good to know that books don't just happen, but come out of hard work and attention to detail. Thank you again for that fine answer.
Mod
Is there a way to post a photo in this comment box?"
What's the photo? If it's hosted on the internet you should be able to add it with html.
Jack wrote: "Thanks for going into that kind of detail, Arleen. Very helpful, very informative. It's good to know that books don't just happen, but come out of hard work and attention to detail. Thank you again..."Thank you, Jack, for asking the questions. I'm finding it interesting to spend this time thinking about process.
A.F. wrote: "Arleen wrote: "A question to our moderator, A.F.,Is there a way to post a photo in this comment box?"
What's the photo? If it's hosted on the internet you should be able to add it with html."
Hi A.F.,
I really don't know anything about adding something with html...but it's okay. If anybody's interested, they can head to my blog to see it (mentioned in Message 36 above).
NYKen wrote: "Hi Arleen,Good evening. Thanks for the insightful answers. I loved your answer to Jack's questions, it was very thought-provoking.
I would like to ask the following questions:
1] In your resea..."
Hi NYKen,
Thanks for following this conversation and for continuing to contribute interesting questions. Yeah! Now let's see...
One truth about suicide? I suppose I'd say there is just too much of it, especially among teens. And as a nation, I don't see us doing much to address the problem. That lack of attention may well be because of the taboo that you mention. It's easier to look at problems in far away lands than those in our own backyards, neighborhoods,streets and schools (a similar topic that comes to mind is that of human trafficking...something I did a blog piece about recently).
As to why the taboo, several thoughts come to mind. My best guess is that because suicide is condemned by all the major religions of the world, as a nation and as individuals, we struggle to admit that we have a problem. Suicide is a call for help and a last ditch act of desperation. To examine what leads to that level of desperation means taking a deep look at the lives of those connected to the suicide victim. There's no easy way to place blame, no other that we can point to. We don't want to point at ourselves. We want to have somebody to blame when bad things happen. Anyway, that's my off-the-cuff treatise on suicide and the human condition. Sorry if I've gone overboard.
Manhattan Clam Chowder...yum! I hope you're enjoying your dinner. Mine? My husband and I just returned from a long walk punctuated by a stop at a local fish market for fish and chips. I'm thinking we'll skip dinner or have a late bowl of leftover soup from the frig. I call it hamburger soup and make it with ground beef and whatever veggies I find getting old and needing to be cooked asap!
Hi,This isn't a question. It's just an observation. I just did an arts/crafts/whatever show in Cape May,NJ this weekend and found that just about everyone who talked with me (and there were a good 100-200 people who did) was just entranced with the theme of my new book "Up from Down and Out"..a young woman marries the wrong man, an up and coming politician, and he tires of her, wants her dead, and dumps her unconscious body in a swamp off the Garden State Parkway here in NJ. She survives and gradually works her way back into the world. They adored this theme as it related to what they had been through or were going through. As a result, I sold a lot of copies of that book. Scary world we live in!
This is shameless self-promotion in a Q and A dedicated to another writer. Where is your question, Alice?
Good morning, Alice. I think what you're touching on is that human need to believe that we are capable of overcoming adversity, that no matter how bad the challenge, we can persevere. We also seem to love to live vicariously through others, hence the popularity of reality TV. But really I think it's that need for hope that NYKen asked about yesterday. I experienced a bit of the same interest with my memoir, The Thirty-Ninth Victim. People often felt awkward talking about my loss and always, always offered their condolences, but at the same time they were interested in how my family came through the hell that life had handed us. In fact the questions regarding my mother, let to a second memoir, a sequel of sorts.
Thanks for you comments and congrats on your sales. I'm curious... You mention doing a arts/crafts show. Did you have booth for the sole purpose of selling books, or do you do other artwork as well? You've got me thinking... Seattle writers, maybe we should pull together a group and do a summer fair tour with all our books? Has anyone ever done anything like that? I've never seen an author booth at any of our neighborhood fairs here in Seattle.
NYKen wrote: "Hi Arleen. Good morning. That's a tasty hamburger and veggies soup. I should try making one of those in that style.I just wanted to ask the following questions:
1] In writing your fiction work, ..."
Good morning, NYKen. I'm still working on my coffee! I assume you're on the other coast and almost ready for lunch.
1. An outline? Yes, of sorts. The storyboard (photo at http://wwww.arleenwilliams.com because I couldn't figure out how to put it here!) is a type of outline that I learned about in a screenwriting presentation at a writers' conference. It delineates the main plot line from beginning to end. I like the format because each time I go to timed-writing practice, I can pull a card or two from the board and I have a startline to work from. But yes, I often veer off in a different direction when I actually put pen to paper. Again, that's the advantage of a storyboard - you can add scenes (each card is a scene), move them around or remove them with ease - and it's very visual, especially if you color code for POV. I need to clarify that the photo of the storyboard that I posted on my blog yesterday is the very, very beginning of a new novel. I wish I could share a photo of the final storyboard for Running Secrets. There were cards on top of cards, on top of cards! Unfortunately, I lost all my photos when my computers were stolen...reminder to all: Back up! Back up! Back up!
2. (Love the numbers, they help me stay on track!)
How did I handle Chris's redemption.... Chris was a young woman who felt rejected and unloved by all but her older sister who she adored. When that sister was lost, Chris spiraled downhill. To survive she needed to learn self-worth, gain self-esteem, love herself. But how? She had to relearn or rediscover self worth with the guidance of others. Chris found the help she needed in the hands of an Ethiopian home heathcare provider who'd lived through her own hell and a mental health professional as well as through interactions and activities with other characters. But as a writer, I felt I was on a bit of a tightrope sometimes. It's hard to open a book with a slightly unlovable protagonist! Also, I didn't want anyone to simply ride in on a white stallion and save her. So, I had to find ways for her to save herself. In the end, I think the story works.
Thanks for asking NYKen....keep them coming!
Alice wrote: "Hi,This isn't a question. It's just an observation. I just did an arts/crafts/whatever show in Cape May,NJ this weekend and found that just about everyone who talked with me (and there were a go..."
I did not intend self-promotion, but wanted to put it out there that people are fascinated by stories where the husband gets sick of the wife and kills her off, or the wife gets sick of the husband and has him killed. Good grief, why can't upset mates just move to another state and call it quits.
Jack wrote: "This is shameless self-promotion in a Q and A dedicated to another writer. Where is your question, Alice?"Thanks for your concern, Jack. I am very curious about the arts/crafts fair idea and would like to know where Alice set up a booth. Was it only for books? Was it just one writer or a group?
Alice wrote: "Alice wrote: "Hi,This isn't a question. It's just an observation. I just did an arts/crafts/whatever show in Cape May,NJ this weekend and found that just about everyone who talked with me (and t..."
People seem to be interested in all sorts of stories. It's just a matter of figuring out how to get the right books into the right hands, isn't it? But first it's a matter of getting the right manuscript into the hands of just the right agent or press!
It's after 10am in Seattle and I'm off to timed writing practice. I meet every Sunday with a group of dedicated writers. Together we put out Sunday Ink: Works of the Uptown Writers. Check it out...it's an eclectic, fun, interesting collection with a bit of everything in it!I'll return in a few hours and look forward to more questions...
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Arleen is currently at work on a new memoir titled, Moving Mom, a story of motherhood, memory loss and the consequences of writing memoir.
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http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/46...