See how I did that? Like on Wheel of Fortune where they do before and after?

Anyhoo.

So this weekend, I'm presenting a seminar at the Grub Street Muse and The Marketplace conference about high concept fiction, and today, I'm putting together the presentation. I was hoping that you guys might help me shape it...I've never really spoken on this subject, and it's something that's sort of innate to me, so...I'm not entirely sure what the most helpful things are to touch on.

Obviously: what high concept fiction is, some examples, why it's important. But that doesn't cover an hour and change. :) We're doing a pitch session, in which people toss out their ideas for their novels, and we work together to make them more high concept, but still...I feel like there are probably a lot of questions out there that I'm just not realizing, and I'd love to open up the blog to this discussion.

So, anyone willing to share his or her own ideas of high concept fiction and/or offer up your questions about the genre? Or want to offer examples of what books you think ARE high concept and why/why not? Please, help me help you! (Or the attendees of the seminar, anyway.) :) Thanks in advance!

So, I am seriously having a hard time believing this, but I am done the first draft of The Memory of Us. Honestly, I'm a little in shock! Writing this book has felt a little bit different than any of my others. Time Of My Life flew by in a whirlwind of two months. The One That I Want was a lot of hard labor. And this one? Well, this one was kind of when I realized that writing a book is just like any other task: if you build it slowly and methodically, it gets done. Like organizing a closet, cleaning out a pantry. (Now doesn't THAT make this gig sound glamorous!) :)

Now, that isn't to say that the real work doesn't begin now. Actually, no, that's not true. For me, the real work is getting from start to finish, but my work is hardly done. Often times - and I'm pretty sure that you guys will be able to relate - I'll think certain aspects of a book are really AWESOME while writing them, and then I'll go back and reread them, and just be aghast. AGHAST! Not only that I thought they were awesome, but that I wrote them in the first place! And conversely, I'm now spending a lot of time reflecting on the problems that I know are already there. Because there are plenty of problems. I think this is one of the biggest differences between who I am as a writer now, and who I was as a writer when I first started out. Not only my ability to pinpoint problems, but the recognition that a draft is...a draft. Not a finished product, not even close to a finished product. Five years ago, I bet that I'd have given this a quick one-over and thought it was pretty damn good. Now, I am literally keeping myself awake at night trying to figure out not only how to make it better, but how to eliminate every last weakness in the plot, the characters, the writing, the dialogue. And I think this evolution of understanding just how much work it takes in getting a manuscript just right can't be underestimated. Whether you're looking for an agent or already contracted with a publisher, I really, really recommend pouring over your manuscript on time more than you think you need to. It's worth it to be 1000% sure that you've gotten it right.

But anyway, that's for later. For now, I'm taking a day to enjoy it before I pull on the goggles and dive back in. 

Question of the day: My husband wrote a book about his dysfunctional childhood that is too painful for him to revisit. How should he deal with it, if at all?

Well, here's the thing: sometimes, a book isn't meant to be published, it's simply meant to be a place to store our grief. And it sounds like this may be the case for your husband. I think that every author has an essay, a piece, a something that is simply too personal for us to share with the public but that doesn't mean that it's not a piece worth writing, and to me, it sounds like this is the case for your husband. He got what he needed out of the writing process itself, and for him, that's more than enough.

I was actually discussing something similar with a friend of mine recently: we've both written intensely personal essays that we're contemplating submitting for publication, and we were chatting about our mixed feelings about exposing these essays -and the skeletons inside - to the general public. I'm okay with the line that mine draws, my friend was not okay with hers, so while I'll be sending mine in, she recognizes that writing the essay alone was enough for her. But certainly, it raises the question: what are you willing to expose as a writer? For me, there are some lines I won't cross: I don't write about my marriage, and I rarely write about my children. These are my private sanctuaries, and I don't want to open them up to criticism or really, anyone else's involvement. But I'm pretty open and honest about previous relationships, mistakes I've made in life, etc...in other words, anything that I'm responsible for, I'm okay with. That's my line. It's not everyone else's, and everyone else - your husband included - has to figure out what works for them. To me, it sounds as if he has. So know that the writing process was probably catharsis enough for him, and really, in the end, that's a pretty great thing.

Writers out there: I'd love to hear - have you ever struggled with where you draw the line and whether or not you should publish something? How did you resolve it?

Question of the day: I saw on Twitter that you got lyrics from The Killers for your epigraph. Can you explain how that process works and how you settle on what to use?

Sure! In fact, I covered the ins-and-outs of asking for music rights in this previous post, so I won't rehash the specifics of that right now. But I like this question because I think authors spend A LOT of time mulling over their epigraph (the lines on the opening page that proceed the first chapter), and I remain incredibly psyched that I was able to get permission from The Killers, whose music helped me write The One That I Want, for this book.

How do I settle on what to use? For me, music plays a really important role in my writing and my books. For Time of My Life, for example, I listened to a lot of songs about regret and longing and do-overs, and in fact, tried to get the rights to the song Waiting For My Real Life To Begin, as I wanted to use a stanza from that. When that didn't pan out, my lovely dear friend Laura Dave read my manuscript and called me in a frenzy, insisting that she had the perfect epigraph - her favorite quote - that I absolutely must use. She was right. There's no better way to start that book than with a quote from a Lou Lipsitz's poem: And now for the next life, the one without mistakes.

What I loved (and love) so much about the above quote is that it gives readers a very specific and tantalizing taste of what's to come - that's the entire purpose of the epigraph: to invoke the mood and spirit of your book in just one small morsel. And look, there's NO DOUBT that authors spend far more time considering what epigraph to use than readers do once they've read them, but still, they're so representative of your book that you want to get it just right.

For The One That I Want, as I said, I listened to The Killers endlessly while writing. I had about four of their songs on repeat, and when I'd go out for a run (where I do my best creative thinking), I'd tune into them, which would help me tune into my characters, whom, I thought, the music really spoke to. So when it came time for me to consider an epigraph, they were really the only ones on my list. I debated between two songs, and ultimately, one was more representative of who my main character was, but I couldn't find just the right concise stanza, so I went with my second choice because the lyrics were what I wanted to evoke exactly. To my great surprise, The Killers said yes, and an epigraph was born. 

Now that I'm working on The Memory of Us, I'm doing much the same as before: listening to loads of music, honing in the lyrics, debating (and discarding) a slew of options. I think when you come across the right epigraph, you just know: those few lines that will intrigue readers enough while also hinting at what's to come. At least, that's what I'm aiming for. I'll keep you posted on what I end up choosing.

I'd love to hear how you guys out there have selected your own epigraphs. Anyone want to chime in?

Question of the day: What if you have been told you have a creative way of writing but you are not sure what you want to write? The main storyline? Does it just hit you all of a sudden if you type a while?  

So listen, because you can't infer tone on a blog, please know that I mean this very kindly and as I type this, I'm typing it very sweetly, and I don't mean for this to sound harsh (okay, caveat enough), but I think a lot of people believe that they have it in them to be writers but don't recognize that what often distinguishes a published writer from an unpublished writer is the work that goes into the writing. Which is to say that being told you're a good writer and suspecting that you're creative is simply NOT enough. (Again, remember, I'm saying this nicely!)

I can't tell you how many times I've heard (as have my writer friends) from friends, peers, friends of friends, that they think they have what it takes to do what I do. Maybe they do. I don't know. But they don't know either since...drumroll...they don't write anything! I've mentioned this stat here before, but I swear that I've read a statistic that notes that something like 95% of the population think they have a book in them. And guess how many have actually done something about it? Basically squat.

Is what I'm saying helpful? Probably not. Okay, so let's try this. To be a writer, you have to write. For me, that starts with an idea. I don't begin writing until I have that idea. I DO NOT suggest just typing a while, which is actually what I think a lot of first-time writers do. This leads to A LOT, TOO, TOO much exposition and the pesky problem that words on a page do not equal plot or action or momentum, all things that you need to write a good book. Find your idea. Let it gestate. Consider your characters, the problems they'll have, the problems you'll create for them, the story behind your story and why you need to tell it AND - perhaps most importantly - why readers would want to read it.

Now, that said. If you're just interested in getting your feet wet, testing out your sea legs (to mix metaphors), then by all means, just start writing. Something is better than nothing. But don't expect that manuscript to go anywhere. Use it for practice, which is a wonderful and NECESSARY thing for a writer. Use it to figure out how you CAN write a book. 

Above all else, write. Until you do, you're just a statistic like everyone else.

Anyone else out there hear a similar theme from friends - that they think they can write a book or for a magazine too? What do you think separates the published from the unpublished? Curious to hear.