Episode 29: Craft and Plot in Novel and Memoir. A talk with Janis Cooke Newman.

May 5, 2016 | Show

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We had such a rich and helpful conversation with the multitalented Janis Cooke Newman, author of memoir and novels, editor of the newly launched Technically Literate column of fictional short stories on CNET, and leader of LitCamp. We talked about the isolation of writing and ways to undercut that. We delved into the great origin stories of her books–where to find inspiration and what makes an idea a good one. We delved into craft, from the necessity of writing dialogue and the scenes in memoir to the differences between plotting a memoir and a novel to the way a character who really want something provides an unbeatable engine for your book. We talked about how she curates and edits the contributors to Technically Literate, and the intersection of technology and the literature in the bay area and Silicon Valley/San Francisco. Other topics include: the art and struggle of the letting go of pages that are no longer necessary to the work, the experience of being edited, letting your readers worry about your characters for longer to create tension and suspense and to raise the stakes, the need for clear objectives for your characters with measurable results, how to interweave multiple points of view in a book, the benefits of narrative distance, of the narrator having some perspective on the events being described, and more. So much inspiration!

Links:

 


A Master Plan For Rescue


Mary


The Last Flight of Poxl West


The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao


The Anatomy of Story

 Lit Camp 

Lit Quake

Squaw Valley Writers Conference

Alexander Chee

Michelle Richmond

Janis Cooke Newman

Twitter: @Janice Newman

Lit camp

Technically Literate

Janis Cooke Newman

Janis Cooke Newman

Janis Cooke Newman is the author of the novel, A Master Plan for Rescue, which was an SF Chronicle Best Book of 2015. She is also the author of Mary, which was an LA Times Book Prize Finalist and USA Today’s Historical Novel of the Year, and the memoir, The Russian Word for Snow. She is editor-at-large of Technically Literate, CNET’s new fiction series, and the founder of the Lit Camp writers’ conference.

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival–everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.