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Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Thoughts About Linked Short-Story Collections

by Erika Dreifus on
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If you follow me on Goodreads, you know that a few days ago I finished reading Shani Boianjiu’s soon-to-be published debut novel, The People of Forever Are Not Afraid. And if you’re a member of the Jewish Book Carnival group on the Goodreads site, you may also know that one of the lingering questions I’m considering is whether anyone considered publishing this book as a collection of linked stories rather than a novel (and also, perhaps, omitting the final section, composed of two chapters which in my view are the weakest pieces in the book–but taking that discussion any further will send us on a tangent from which we are unlikely to return).

I wanted to love Boianjiu’s book without reservation. I’d been anticipating it since Boianjiu–recommended by Nicole Krauss–was named one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” for 2011. I was delighted to find an excerpt included in the Publishers Lunch “BEA Buzz Books” compilation, and I quickly obtained an electronic galley (thank you, NetGalley!). Then, The New Yorker published another excerpt. And I was hooked.

And there’s so much in this book that I do admire, especially considering a) the author’s youth–it seems that she is the youngest person ever to be honored among the “5 Under 35”, and b) the fact that English is not her native language. Not to mention the complicated political issues embedded in the work and its in-the-middle-of-things perspectives on life in Israel, matters of ongoing interest to this practicing writer-who-reads.

But I hadn’t progressed all that far in the book when I realized that I was going to have trouble accepting The People of Forever Are Not Afraid as a novel. Perhaps because, as a fiction writer, I’m somewhat obsessed with these distinctions? Perhaps because recent work on one of my own stories-in-progress, which I’ve realized could easily be linked with another four or five I’ve published over the years (but not yet in book form), has given me a case of linked-stories-on-the-brain?

In the meantime, Junot Diaz has gone ahead and fueled my cerebral struggles with a Q&A for The New Yorker. A new Diaz story appears in the magazine this week (sorry–it’s paywall-protected). And in discussing this story, which appears in his forthcoming collection, This Is How You Lose Her, Diaz says: (more…)

Quotation of the Week: Rebecca Makkai

by Erika Dreifus on
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“One of the first difficult lessons that I had to learn as a writer was to push my characters into doing really inappropriate things, whether it’s a criminal act in this really extreme case, or just saying something that a normal person would keep their mouth shut about, or forcing a confrontation. In everyday life we act really politely and we don’t always say what is on our mind and we don’t always get ourselves into messes. But you have no story unless you’re willing to push somebody to the brink. You find the moment where the character says something they wouldn’t normally say or does something they wouldn’t normally do. They go over that line and you have a story.”

–Rebecca Makkai

Source: This terrific, extensive interview in Trop. (FYI: We have a Q&A w/Rebecca right here on this site, too.)

The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled
  • Cathy Day’s delightful dispatch from AWP: “If you’d like to teach a class in novel-writing but don’t know how, have no fear. My panel is here! David Haynes, Patricia Henley, Sheila O’Connor, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, and I have all taught the course, and we’ve compiled a Best Practices handout: syllabi, exercises, and other resources to guide you on your way.”
  • The time is approaching for the Big Poetry Giveaway 2012!
  • Reasons to write (other than for money).
  • Robert K. Massie explores the leave-taking process for biographers when they finish a book.
  • And there’s a new interview with yours truly up on the Last Light Studio website.

    • The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Last week brought some buzz–including a New York Times article–about an author whose unsellable manuscript scored a deal as soon as a pseudonymous byline entered the picture.
  • The Poets & Writers contests blog presents a Q&A with Jennifer Perrine, who has won multiple contests and competitions.
  • You know how I’m always reminding you that I’m a #writerwithadayjob? Well, with my appearance on writerwithadayjob.com, it’s official! (Thanks to Aine Greaney for the affirmation, and for introducing me to your excellent blog.)
  • For the next five days I expect to be seeing a lot on Twitter from the folks heading to Chicago for the annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference. With the help of the #AWP12 hashtag, that is.
  • And speaking of AWP–allow me to leave you with this creation, “Annual Conference: 8,000 Writers Expected,” written and read by Rebecca McClanahan.

    • The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • On Lisa Romeo’s blog, Stephanie Vanderslice introduces her new book, Rethinking Creative Writing: Programs and Practices that Work. (We’ve got an interview with Stephanie about this book right here, too.)
  • A voice from the adjunct trenches.
  • This story of how one author found her agent on the subway (technically, the agent found her) has been making the Internet rounds.
  • A lovely account of how Sage Cohen’s young son reminded her of writing advice from Galway Kinnell (which happens to echo advice I recall from Arnost Lustig, who passed away one year ago this week).
  • I really like this interview with my fellow Last Light Studio author, Ericka Lutz, in which Ericka talks about her new novel, the experience of publishing with our small press, and her “nontraditional” routes in both writing and promotion.
  • I was amused (but not at all surprised) to learn that Stephen Colbert has landed a deal for his children’s book (but can we please do away with the verb “ink”?). Check this GalleyCat report for details, plus links to the two-part interview with Maurice Sendak that started it all!