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Thursday’s Pre-Publication Post: Behind the Screens

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to comment last week when I presented the cover of my forthcoming story collection, Quiet Americans. I’m so glad that you agree with me: The cover designer has done an wonderful job.

Since last week, lots of behind-the-scenes (or, should I say, behind-the-screens) work has been taking place to build up my brand-new website. I’ve mentioned before that the impending book publication has motivated me to try to consolidate my various online locations/projects/identities. A couple of days ago, the talented web designer I’m working with unveiled a mockup of the homepage. All I’ll reveal for now is this: If you like the book cover, you’ll love the homepage!

The cover is also appearing on the Facebook page I’ve just created to help share information about the book (and hold contests/giveaways). I hope that you’ll “like” that page, too–in all respects! (But please forgive me in advance if I keep my personal Facebook goings-on more or less limited to family members and those of you I’ve met/worked with/studied with/etc. in “real life.” For now, at least.)

Thanks again for the enthusiasm about the cover. It really means a lot to me!

Thursday’s Pre-Publication Post: Giving Thanks

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

This week’s post will be relatively short and sweet. The crux of the message is simple: THANK YOU!

You have all been wonderfully receptive and supportive since I began tracking the pre-publication life of my story collection, Quiet Americans, earlier this year. You’ve read these posts. You’ve commented. You’ve opined.

I’m so grateful for all of that. I’m also grateful to those of you who have taken the time to send me messages privately. Some of you have written incredibly comprehensive messages packed with advice from your own experience and expertise. And since I’ve sometimes been on the giving end of the advice spectrum, I know how much time that can take. So here’s a special, public thank-you to you (and what really amazes and humbles me is that among you are both people I know in “real-life” and practicing writers I didn’t even know read this blog until I received their messages).

Whether you’ve offered me sage advice, the names of contacts for potential reviews or readings, or, in one case plucked from this week’s correspondence, an actual venue where I can sign copies of Quiet Americans next year, your generosity means more to me than you can imagine. So I’ll say it one last time (for now): THANK YOU.

Thursday’s Pre-Publication Post: "Real-Life" Characters in Fiction

by Erika Dreifus on
2

One of my favorite themes in writing-about-writing resurfaced this week: real-life characters in fiction. A big thank you goes to the Hayden’s Ferry Review blog for leading me to Meg Rosoff’s blog post for the Guardian‘s Books Blog, “Tackling real-life characters in fiction is fine – as long as you do it well.”

Most of the writing on creating fictional characters from real-life personages focuses on recognizable people: historical figures, celebrities, and so on. (The tour guide who appears in my story “The Quiet American, Or How to Be a Good Guest,” may well be based on an actual tour guide, but I did not give too much thought to the implications of creating a fictional döppelganger in that case.) And it’s this traditional emphasis that continues in the Guardian post as well.

If that focus isn’t necessarily relevant in the context of the tour guide character, it’s much more applicable when viewed in the context of some other stories in Quiet Americans. “For Services Rendered,” which opens the book, includes as key characters Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and his second wife, Emmy. (For some background on what inspired this story, and the research that went into it, you can read the essay I wrote for the Scribblers on the Roof website awhile back.)

“Real-life characters” (not to mention events) appear elsewhere in Quiet Americans. For instance, Golda Meir makes a cameo in a story titled “Homecomings.” (Admittedly, one of the MFA classmates who critiqued an early version thought I’d invented Mrs. Meir. But the first female prime minister of Israel was, in fact, a “real-life” person.)

And anyone who reads “Floating” and recalls the brouhaha concerning a certain state poet laureate and a 9/11 poem will be able to identify the real-life inspiration behind a certain sub-plot, even without the use of the poet’s name. I’m still not certain why I chose not to name the poet in that story. One may be this major difference between the other characters and the poet: The poet is still alive.

As I continued to think about my stories this week in the context of the Guardian article, I realized something else: In a way that’s quite different from the situation with “For Services Rendered,” where everything that Hermann and Emmy Göring say and do has major repercussions on the rest of the story, the real-life characters within “Homecomings” and “Floating” are minor players, presences that help illuminate aspects other, major characters and events in each piece.

Or at least, that’s what I think. Come January, we’ll see if you agree.

Thursday’s Pre-Publication Post: On Attending (and Arranging) Readings

by Erika Dreifus on
7

Living in New York City, one could easily attend a literary reading (make that multiple readings) every day. The city presents a true embarrassment of riches in that respect.

If you have the time and energy, that is.

Alas, time and energy are precious commodities for this practicing writer. Between a full-time office job, family life and friends, a revitalized commitment to visiting the gym at least a few days each week, and, lest we forget, a bit of writing (and reading, and blogging) here and there, boarding a subway or bus to attend a reading too often falls off my to-do list. Especially when it’s really hot outside. Or really cold.

This week, however, I persevered. After an especially intense workday and facing the oppressive heat and humidity that is also oh-so-characteristic of this lovely city (this time of year, anyway), I rallied. I was determined to attend what Ron Hogan had billed as “An Evening of All-American Fiction” midtown at the Center for Fiction, featuring the following authors and new books:

  • Pearl Abraham, American Taliban
  • David Goodwillie, American Subversive
  • Jane Mendelsohn, American Music
  • Hilary Thayer Hamann, Anthropology of an American Girl

American fiction. Get it?

Well, how could anyone with a forthcoming story collection titled Quiet Americans resist?

I sure couldn’t. And I’m very glad I went, not only because it is always good for me to get out and go to these events, see authors and hear new work read. But the event also got me thinking about readings in another respect.

Right now, I shouldn’t simply be attending readings. I should be arranging them, too.

I’ve already explained that Last Light Books, the publisher of Quiet Americans, is a small, new press. There is no money for me to go “touring” around the country, although a virtual book tour is definitely on the agenda.

So here I am, trying to figure out how to arrange readings in the New York area, Boston, and D.C. (I expect to be in D.C. in early February for the 2011 AWP conference, and I’m planning to get to Boston a few months later.)

And here are some of the questions I have:

  • Which reading series/venues do you go to? For my current purposes, the NYC-Washington corridor is most relevant, but why don’t we hear recommendations for other locations, so everyone can benefit from the comments? If there are links available for your favorite venues/series, please share those, too!
  • For those of you who have arranged your own readings (or for any publicists who have arranged readings for others), what’s the magic formula? How far in advance do you try to arrange a reading? What are the basic how-tos to arrange a reading? It strikes me as something a bit like inviting yourself to someone else’s house. Not exactly comfortable or intuitive. How does this whole thing work?
  • What else should I be thinking about (readings-wise) at this time, a little more than six months before Quiet Americans: Stories meets the world?

As always, thank you in advance for your comments and advice!