On Writing: More on Genre

Women Writers, Women's Books recently tweeted a 2017 article on writing by author Maddie Dawson.

Article name: Oh, You Write Fiction? What Kind?

An excerpt:

“Oh, you write fiction? What kind?”

I sighed. I’ve had six novels published, but I still don’t know how to answer this question.
I usually start out by saying what the publisher calls my books on the contracts. “I write women’s fiction,” I say.

The trouble is what happens next.

“Ohhh!” the person invariably says, bright-eyed with understanding. “You mean romance novels! Chick lit!”

And then I get all shifty-eyed and fast-talking, explaining myself like a crazy person, and making the situation even worse.

Ms. Dawson shares bittersweet stories of how richly textured so-called women's fiction is.

She ends with this statement: "So what about if we didn’t try to pigeonhole novels, give them a category to belong to? What if we just called them—for lack of a better word—fiction? And let it go at that. Would that work?"


I can relate.

O wishing well, wishing well: What genre is my book? 

Image: “A Young Woman at a Well” by Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux) via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0

Camel and Scorpion's Playlist: Dreams

The Camel and the Scorpion opens in Texas in 1977.

What music did protagonists, Caroline and Lydia, hear on the radio?

"Caroline noticed Lydia’s navy blue pea coat was pilling, frayed at the sleeves. She watched Lydia struggle to clasp the bottom black button, but it wouldn’t fasten around her large hips. Probably a hand-me-down, or else Lydia was once much thinner.

"Students spilled out from the four, three-story limestone buildings that comprised much of the campus, accidentally brushing against Caroline and Lydia in their haste to make their next class or grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate at the student union. The students slapped each other on the back, chatting excitedly on that first day of class, snippets of their conversation drifting in the wind, 'Hey man, who you have for psych, what’d you do over Christmas break, isn’t Fleetwood Mac’s song ‘Dreams’ far-out?' But none said hello to Lydia. 

"Up ahead, Caroline winced as she spied her colleague Joe Lambert turn away from the magnificent outdoor fountain in front of the student union, and head straight toward her and Lydia. Lambert taught American Politics, sported a Fu Man Chu mustache, pony-tailed hair and a green army jacket, though he’d never served a day in the military. He had spearheaded the UTSB search committee that led to Caroline’s hire, but informed her she’d been their second choice—the first being a Georgetown University male grad who’d bowed out after landing a job at Princeton. As if UCLA were some rinky dink outback. As if graduating summa cum laude from there were second-rate.

"As Lambert passed Caroline and Lydia, he said hello with an exaggerated smile and mimicked pecking frantically at a typewriter with his index fingers. 'Remember, dissertation professor!' 

"Lambert had also given Caroline an ultimatum during the interview—her dissertation had to be finished in six months. Or else."

Fleetwood Mac's Dreams:

"You say you want your freedom

Well, who am I to keep you down?"

Fleetwood Mac, Dreams

On Writing: Writing Despite Illness

Jane Friedman hosted a guest blog in 2017 by Audrey Berger Welz.

An author with Parkinson's Disease and a survivor of an abdominal aneurysm, Ms. Welz shared how chronic and acute physical events intertwined with her writing.

Ms. Welz wrote How I Used Writing to Survive. An excerpt:

I was very proud of how I was dealing with [Parkinson's]. Emily and Bess melded into the Circus of the Queens after my husband had asked me who the queens were and I couldn’t come up with an answer. It also slowly became a full-blown adult novel and it grew and grew as I wrote and rewrote until I fell in love with my own pages. Then in just a second my world changed. Like a tsunami crashing its way to shore with all the force and destruction it could muster, an undiagnosed aneurism exploded in a major abdominal artery as my novel was nearing completion.

... While in my coma I saw my novel written out word for word. It was in a triangle surrounded by a circle and encompassed by a square. I used it to draw out every ounce of strength in me. Even though I couldn’t move, talk, and could barely see, I would recite passages in my head trying to communicate with the doctors that I was the same girl who had written this beautiful book. Though now disabled, my brain was intact, and I wanted to live. I was worth saving and I needed to hold my finished novel as a book, in my hands.

The Camel and the Scorpion is a book inspired by true events. It is the story of #StrongWomen - Caroline, Lydia, Anna - who spoke out for a good world despite their personal challenges. 



Image credit: “Life of Nichiren: A Vision of Prayer on the Waves” by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861), Japan via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0

Quotes to En-Courage: You Have Your Own Dignity

"All that a person has is his or her own story: Who they are, what they've gone through, what their families have gone through. This is their story, and when you're trying to deny them their story, you're taking away their power. ... You don't have to cower to power. You have your own dignity." 

Dolores Huerta, in the documentary, Dolores

Credit: Gage Skidmore

The Camel and the Scorpion is a book inspired by true events. It is the story of #StrongWomen - Caroline, Lydia, Anna - who spoke out for a good world despite the personal and professional risks to themselves in doing so.

On Writing: Tips for Author Blogs

Thanks to Women Writers for retweeting a nutrient-rich 2016 article by Katie Rose Guest Pryal: Tips for Author Blogs.

Ms. Pryal's introduction to her tips:

Here they are, in order of importance: (1) create relationships, (2) entertain your readers, and (3) sell books.

The first rule is, by far, the most important. (Most of) Your blog posts must have as their main goal to create relationships with your blog readers.

Whether you are writing blog posts on your own blog, writing guest posts on someone else’s blog, or “microblogging” on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, your primary goal had better be to create relationships with other people.

If you are simply spamming people to “buy my book,” then you are driving readers away from you. You are failing at social media, and worse, you are being annoying.

Repeat this to yourself every time you sit down to write a blog post: “My job is to create relationships with my readers.”

As an introspective sort, I both welcome Ms. Pryal's tips and feel trepidation about them.

But I'm committed to sharing my book with as many readers as possible.

Consequently, I must show the same courage in reaching out to people as Caroline, Lydia, and Anna do in The Camel and the Scorpion.




Image credit: “Girl in the Dunes” by Jozef Israels (Dutch, 1824–1911) via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0

Quotes to En-Courage: Know Your Worth Even If They Don't

“Make sure you don’t start seeing yourself through the eyes of those who don’t value you. Know your worth even if they don’t.” 

― Thema Davis

The Camel and the Scorpion is a book inspired by true events. It is the story of #StrongWomen - Caroline, Lydia, Anna - who spoke out for a good world despite the personal and professional risks to themselves in doing so.

Image: “Nude Woman” by Jules Pascin (American (born Bulgaria), Vidin 1885–1930 Paris) via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0

Camel and Scorpion's Playlist: Don't Leave Me This Way

The Camel and the Scorpion opens in Texas in 1977.

What music did protagonists, Caroline and Lydia, hear on the radio?

Disco was almost at its 1978 peak.

Thelma Houston's Don't Leave Me This Way is an iconic song from this time:




As Caroline drove about the city in Brunhilda, her 1968 red Buick Skylark, don't you think she was bouncing her shoulders to the infectious dance beat?

"Set me free, set me free!"