by Mary | Jan 13, 2018 | Natural History of a Novel, Uncategorized, Unremembered Lives, Writer Tech
“Publishing a book is one accomplishment you get to celebrate over and over.” That’s what my friend Karen’s mom used to say. You finish the first complete draft. YAY! You finish editing it. You sent it to your agent. YAY! The agent likes it but...
by Mary | Jun 14, 2017 | DOC, Natural History of a Novel, THE SPARROW, Unremembered Lives, Writer Tech
A week ago, I got to the final scene of my work-in-progress. It is complete, which is to say, it’s got a coherent plot with a beginning, a middle, and an end. My elevator pitch for Unremembered Lives is “a Romeo and Juliet story set against the backdrop of...
by Mary | Mar 16, 2017 | Natural History of a Novel, What I'm working on now., Writer Tech
Technically, novelists can make up anything they please, but getting things right is important to me, particularly when writing historical novels. I always try to create characters whose actions, decisions, dialog, and thoughts are comprehensible and who feel real...
by Mary | May 27, 2015 | Natural History of a Novel, THE PRICE, What I'm working on now.
When young writers ask my advice, I always tell them, “Marry an engineer. They’re not only funny, creative, rational people, they get benefits at work and there’s been been a good job market for them since the Renaissance.” I’m not...
by Mary | Jul 16, 2014 | Edgar Allan Poe, Natural History of a Novel, What I'm working on now., Writer Tech
The first book I didn’t write was about Jean-Louis Michel. The son of a French soldier and a Haitian slave, he was born in 1775 in what is now Haiti. In 1795, Toussaint Louverture and the black population of the island defeated the French army. Those of mixed...
by Mary | Jan 31, 2014 | Edgar Allan Poe, EPITAPH, Natural History of a Novel, What I'm working on now., Writer Tech
The semi-final manuscript for Epitaph went to my agency Dystel and Goderich a month ago. That was the first time they’d seen it since selling the first 150 pages to Ecco at HarperCollins a couple of years ago. If I’d asked for help along the way, I’m...
