Where the Story Comes Alive

Last week I finished a first draft of my second novel. Two days after writing the last line, I turned to the first chapter. I had planned to give the whole draft a rest, but about month or so ago, I read that Joyce Carol Oates writes the last chapter and the first chapter of her works-in-progress simultaneously, to ensure consistency of voice. I'm no Joyce, but I thought it made sense -- knowing what I now know about my story ending -- to plunge right into revision.

Many months ago, when my dear friends at the Writers' Group read my opening chapter, each member questioned whether or not the first chapter really was the first chapter. Guess what? It may have been the means by which I propelled my novel forward, getting words on the blank page, but once there was a full draft, one where major story lines were revealed and character transformations set down, it was clear to me it wasn't the true beginning of the story.

In previous posts, first drafts have been referred to as the journey of discovery draft. The first draft has also been compared to sculpting, while subsequent drafts compared to painting. At this year's Muse and the Marketplace conference, Lisa and I attended a brilliant workshop on revision given by Karl Iagnemma. By giving participants three versions of one of his fantastic short stories, Karl showed us his process, one he likens to using different types of sandpaper, as a framework for revision. He suggests beginning revisions on the broadest story level, then moving on to the scene level. Finally revising paragraphs, sentences, and words.

Hallie Ephron, in her terrific book, Writing and Selling your Mystery Novel, talks about flying high, what she calls big picture revision, and flying low, the little particulars in need of refinement.

The way I see it, there are three levels of work to be done in revision:

1. Reworking -- This is the work of wholesale retooling of a part of the story.
2. Rewriting -- Perhaps a chapter is partially moving the story forward, or exposing some of what readers need at a particular point in the story, but portions or parts need to be rewritten.
3. Refining -- This is the final polishing that every manuscript needs. Though it's tempting to skip this step, either because of exhaustion related to 1 & 2 or belief that you've done all you can do to tell the story, this step makes all the difference in getting an agent's or editor's attention.

So I'm off to rewrite and refine my work-in-progress. Does anyone else have a model they use for the revision process. While some find it a daunting task, I think this is where the real magic of story telling happens. This is where the story comes alive.

In the Company of Writers

I almost deleted his email, the subject line -- French Publisher Wants Publicity Shots -- looked suspicious. Surely this was another come on to entice an eager writer. But wait, I have a French publisher. So I opened the message to find that Belfond was sending famed photographer, Jerry Bauer to the United States to take two author photos. Mine was one of them.

We spoke first by phone. He was calling from Italy, where he lives most of the year. Charming yet directive, he suggested where we would meet -- the Inn at Harvard on a Saturday in four weeks -- and what I should wear. He said, "I will recognize you because I've been to your website and have seen your photo. Let me tell you how you will know me. On a good day, I am Elton John. On a bad day, I am Woody Allen."

Intrigued and excited, I prepped for the big day. New make-up. I got my hair trimmed. And thanks to my dear daughter, I found the perfect dress when we went shopping. She was on spring break and asked if she could join me. "Sure, he sounds like an interesting man. It will be fun," I said. He'd told me he'd photographed, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Sebold, Tom Perrotta, Gail Tsukiyama, Tim O'Brien, and the list goes on and on. I couldn't wait to hear more.

So we arrive on time and in he walks. More Woody than Elton, he came in holding only a well-worn bag. I must have looked puzzled. "Everything I need is in it," he said. With camera in hand, Jerry went looking for light. I followed.

Jerry Bauer is a light master. He would ask me to move and sit and stand, all while he looked for the right light. Each photo was painstakingly orchestrated, yet I felt relaxed, I posed effortlessly. While he worked, he talked, telling me about the thrill of photographing Simone de Beauvoir and Jack Kerouac. Dean Koontz likes to be photographed in his home, as does Gail Godwin. Luciano Pavarotti liked to share a meal before being photographed. And Elizabeth Taylor, well she didn't much care whether you took the photo or not. After all, she's Elizabeth Taylor.

In short order, he said we were done and that the tea would be out momentarily. It was as if he lived right there at the Inn. My daughter and I took our seats at the table covered in white linen, the tea and scones arrived, and Jerry told us all about being an on set movie photographer in the sixties and seventies. My daughter, a music major in college, swooned when she heard about all the opera singers Jerry has met and photographed.

At the end of our tea, I asked Jerry if I would be able to use one of the photos on my website. He said, "of course."

"I like the way you do business," I said.

"I don't do business, I meet people," he said.

And that sums it up. Jerry spends his life meeting people. His life is rich because he's doing what he loves. He's using his talent to capture each writer's personality and he enjoys every minute of it.

When I left the Inn, I didn't much think about whether the photos would be good enough to grace the cover of the French version of Life Without Summer. I had an experience of a lifetime. Photographed by Jerry Bauer, I was in the company of writers.

So here it is.

The Heart of a Seed

The faith waiting in the heart of a seed promises a miracle of life which it cannot prove at once.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

In 2000, my mother was flattened by a stroke and in her suffering she handed me the seed that would become my second novel. The character she inspired is not her in most ways. Nor are any of the other characters, found in my work-in-progress inspired by people I've known, real people. Or the plot points I've chosen, real events. Yes, I've taken details -- other seeds -- from my life and placed them in my protagonist's home or let them slip from the lips of my supporting characters' mouths. They are merely seeds. The dictionary definition of which is: that from which anything springs; a first principle; the original source.

My protagonist and her husband meet in a museum. My husband and I met in a bar, but the idea for my fictional couple's meeting place stems from the little known fact that I told my grandmother I met my husband in a museum because our reality would have been unseemly to her back then. She later told me she knew the truth, but liked my fib much better. "It's more romantic," she said. Seed.

A major symbol in my work-in-progress is curtains. Swag, tab and pinch pleat. With their names as unique as pets, one of my characters adores designing and sewing them. Though my own mother never designed anything, and could barely thread a needle to sew a button on, she did love to change the curtains in our home. I remember she once said to me, "You wouldn't wear the same clothes for six months, why would you want to look at the same curtains." Seed.

Last fall when Life Without Summer sold to St Martin's, my enormous delight was tinged with a spot of regret for not pursuing my fiction career sooner; I will be forty-nine when my debut novel hits shelves. Through the years I've looked in many places to find my personal form of artistic expression. Then came raising my children, launching my business, and writing my nonfiction. Still I wonder why I didn't pursue this creative passion years ago.

Then last week, fully into writing a first draft of my second novel, it hit me that my age is actually a gift I couldn't exchange now. I was reminded that I have no shortage of seeds to inform and give authenticity to my work. As I write, details spring from my life experience. Right there just underground, is a memory that is exactly what I need to round out a scene, the particulars act as motivation for a character. Digging deeper, I pull out a fabulous name from my childhood for a key character, and I unearth from a family vacation, the perfect setting for a cliffhanger. My days and nights working in an intensive care unit as a nurse, while putting myself through grad school, give me the fine points I'll need for two high stakes pivotal scenes. These details are organic, and though borrowed from another life, I have faith they will give genuineness to this one I am creating.

The seeds are there; planted over many years, they wait for all of us. Mature writers, like experienced gardeners, know when the time is right for harvest.

Postscript -- The opening quote was a seed for this blog entry.

Life Without Summer

Six days ago, the story I have believed in for over two years brought me unbelievable news. My novel, Life Without Summer, will be published by St Martin's Press in winter 2009!

Life Without Summer is a novel about what happens to relationships in the wake of profound loss. Two women face intensely personal struggles to deal with the death of a child, and their choices reverberate universal themes about the connections between truth and loss, and love and marriage.

After attending the wonderful Muse and the Marketplace conference, hosted by Grub Street in May, and participating in a manuscript review, the editor I met with requested a full. This charming and knowledgeable editor went on to decline my novel, but was generous with feedback.

Next, my very smart agent sent it out to another editor, looking for another perspective. Another declination came, this time some of the feedback resonated with the first editor's, some did not. I incorporated the feedback that fit my story goals, though I didn't take it all. My agent and I went back and forth three more times tweaking and polishing until we finally felt it was ready to be submitted widely.

On a Wednesday afternoon, she sent me the list of editors that had my manuscript; knowing it was out in the world was the best and worst feeling I've ever had. She didn't tell me how long she thought it would take or about any expectations she had for a deal. She did tell me this, "We will sell this." Her words sustained me for nine days.

Early on a Friday morning, she called and before I could register that we don't usually speak until late afternoon it dawned on me -- she had an offer! Over the course of seven hours, together we went from offer to deal. Phone calls and emails flew between us. And at the end of the day, I was a novelist.

My husband was with me the whole day, sharing in my mania. We later called our children and announced it together. The love my family offered, told me they knew how much this meant to me. Next a call to my dear sister. I had to tell Amy and Lisa and Hannah. Out to dinner. A bottle of champagne.

I woke at 4:30 am and whispered to my husband. "Are you awake?" When he murmured yes, I asked him if Summer was going to be published. Maybe I was just dreaming -- again.

"Yes," he said. "You did it!"

Negotiation Generation Review and Excerpt

Last week, Library Journal, a well-respected reviewer in the world of publishing, had this to say about Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment. (Penguin, 2007)

"Many parenting experts agree that spanking is never a good way to discipline a child. In its stead, they have recommended using methods like time-outs and grounding. Griffin... goes further: parents should never punish their child. Yes, children misbehave, but it's probably because they don't have the skills necessary to behave acceptably... Griffin firmly believes that parents know their children very well and can predict most of their behaviors. Therefore, parents should be proactive and build the skills their children need to behave accordingly... Griffin's ...arguments and repeated explanations will challenge parents to assert their authority differently. This book, rich in anecdotes, will make a great addition to any parenting collection. Recommended for public libraries."
—Maryse Breton, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, NY

If you're intrigued by what I propose in Negotiation Generation and would like to read an excerpt, you can visit my Penguin page online. Negotiation Generation will be in bookstores September 4th.

Lynne Reeves Griffin is a nationally recognized behavior management expert. She's helped thousands of parents, teachers and healthcare professionals understand child development, temperament and the issues affecting families today.

Lynne is the parenting contributor for Boston's Fox 25 Morning News and a faculty member in the Social Work and Family Studies graduate program at Wheelock College.

Her book, Negotiation Generation -- Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment (Penguin, 2007) is available now and her novel, Life Without Summer will be available in winter 2009.

Lynne's fiction and nonfiction is represented by Elisabeth Weed at Weed Literary in New York. She can be reached via email or phone. (646-715-8878)

Lynne's publicist at Penguin is Catherine Milne. She can be reached via email or phone. (212-366-2149)