Martha Alderson, MA, has been exploring and writing about plot and creativity for more than thirty years, and helping writers develop plot and structure, character transformation and change. Author of The Plot Whisperer, along with several other plot books, Alderson’s latest work is Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Blocks.
A new edition of her novel Parallel Lives (A Love Story), a historical novel set in 1960s San Francisco Bay Area, releases this summer.
On May 24 at 2 pm, she’ll be presenting ‘Plan a Plot with the Help of the Universal Story.’ RSVP and we’ll send you the zoom link.
I spoke with her by phone in April.
What is the Universal Story?
It is similar to the Hero’s Journey of Joseph Campbell, but it is broader, more all-encompassing. It has to do with the seasons of the year, the lunar cycle, plant and animal cycles, the universal pathways that travel through everything.
You can analyze it for yourself, in your own life. When you’re writing a story, it’s where the energy rises and falls. It is so universal, that if you’re a reader and you don’t experience it in a book, it’s disconcerting. Readers expect certain things at certain times.
And you want to satisfy them without being formulaic.
But isn’t a formula of sorts?
Not really, because you can do anything you want within these guidelines. It depends only on your imagination. Hollywood is very formulaic, it will hit these markers without fail, on the dime.
There’s more latitude with literary fiction.
I would call this universal story an awareness. Once you become aware of these pathways, you don’t have to think about them anymore.
But is that really true? I mean, I’ve read your book and a number of other plot books, and I still have to think about structure and flow every time I sit down to write.
What I mean is that you begin to anticipate when things have to start happening. You know when the tension has to build. Because you’re aware that it’s needed.
How did you come to be “the plot whisperer”?
I started writing fiction late. I was a speech pathologist and learning disability therapist. I had a clinic. Then I changed course. I sold the clinic and decided I wanted to write this novel. As I was writing, I struggled with plot and the craft books that were around at that time didn’t devote much attention to plot. The thinking was that anything that was formulaic would conflict with the creative process. I thought I was the only one who didn’t get it, get how to structure a story, but then I realized I was not alone.
I’ve worked more with women than men. For men, plot may be easier to grasp because men tend to be more linear. For a lot of women, it’s counterintuitive to think in terms of plot. I became passionate about plotting. I started doing plot consultations with writers.
To debrief my experiences, I started a blog called, “The Plot Whisperer,” and a publisher reached out to me and that’s where the book happened.
Can you distill the wisdom of The Plot Whisperer into a sentence or two?
It’s really taking writers through the universal story. The pathways, what’s expected within the parts. To show the journey from the protagonist’s point of view. And also — and this is important — the writer’s journey is part of it, and it parallels the protagonist’s.
What do you mean?
So many writers struggle to write their story. Writing a book is a universal story itself. Understanding emotional traps. The negative talk. Wondering if we count. Telling ourselves that we can’t figure it out. Or we can. I’ve worked with a lot of talented writers, mostly women, who are challenged because of their own internal demons.
The creative process is meant to be a challenge. We grow from it.
We’re not all happy well-adjusted people. We come with baggage, which gets in the way of accessing our muse, our spirit. Too often, there are so many layers of expectations on top of the muse. We need to clear them to unleash our spirit. To believe in our talent.
So you work not just on plot, but on breaking through barriers?
I think if you get a hit of inspiration, that’s great, but we have millions of ways to discount that. The inspiration is a gift, but so is the negativity. By confronting it, you become a transformed person. Characters go through challenges like that. So do writers.
I recall you giving a talk about how you can read a novel and see, at the 25 percent mark, when the protagonist’s life changes forever. I remember afterward paying attention to those turning points when I read books and I was amazed at how close to the 25 percent mark they came. Why do you think that is? Is that all deliberate, or is it somehow in the subconscious?
I’ve analyzed so many books. Lots of them were classic. I’m sure Steinbeck never counted the pages, but he still hit those markers on target. It’s this universal pathway that is within all of us.
If your beginning goes on too long, you lose your reader because nothing is happening. If it’s too short, your reader isn’t ready. You have to give you the right amount of story before you turn that corner.
It probably goes back to cave times. The storytellers who kept their listeners’ rapt got the best cuts of meat. It’s almost imprinted on us now.
When you read, or watch movies, are you always looking at the structure and formula behind the story? Does that enhance the experience, or does it sometimes get in the way?
Well, I’ve stopped paying as much attention to plot as I used to. Now plot is something most every writer is attuned of. You can find lots of plot books now.
What my true passion is to empower people through creativity. The germs of that were in The Plot Whisperer, but I’m digging deeper now.
We are creators. We are creating right now. It’s part of who we are. Where does inspiration come from? If it’s this universal thing, the only way that anything can be manifested is through us, because we are the creators. We have to be open. To be free, to go the distance.
Whether you’re baking a pie or writing a book. We have moments of brilliance, but so many of us also get knocked down. You’re in a critique group and you get panned for the art you do. It hits hard. For the more emotional of us, it can stop us in our tracks.
This is your new book? Can you give me the elevator pitch?
The idea that when you embark on a creative project, you experience these moments of joy. You get feedback that makes you keep going.
But then you run into self-doubt. You may feel like giving up, but that’s where you have to persevere. Deal with the obstacles.
Is the process of writing the gift? When you get feedback, and it triggers you, you might stop. It’s not because you lack creativity. It’s because of the issues that get in the way. Do you need praise to keep going? When you hear something negative, how can you grow from that? The more the muse gets that we will go the distance, the more likely we will.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I have a garden that is a riot of color. I spend a lot of time beachcombing and boogie boarding in the bay. I love being in nature.
I asked her some questions on the phone earlier this week.
Q: Tell me about your journey to creating your audiobooks business. I don’t imagine that was your goal way back when.
No, it wasn’t. I started out training as an actor, and one of my first jobs after grad school was narrating books for Talking Books for the Blind. Through the Library of Congress.
I was living in Louisville, Kentucky, at the time, also reading scripts for the Actors Theater of Louisville. I fell in love with reading books out loud.
Most of the narrators for Talking Books were contracted one book at a time. Due to my popularity with listeners, I became one of the two narrators they hired full time. I narrated over 70 titles in the two years I was there. Then, in 1984, I had a baby and moved to California.
I wanted to start my own business, but at the time, home studios were not affordable. It was years later when the youngest of my three daughters was taking a voice-over class that I got back into it.
It was a master class, part of the Kids on Camera program, and I thought, hey, I do that. It stirred things up for me. Made me realize that I wanted to get back to that. I talked to my daughter’s teacher. We did a session. He said, “You are SO ready.” We did a demo, he introduced me to his agent, I signed and soon I was getting some work.
But after a few years, I decided it was time to take my career in my own hands. My friend Sandy Shepard told me about BAIPA. I joined in 2011, and started Pro Audio Voices in 2013. Now I do it full time.
Q: Don’t you also do some theater work — stage manager, props master, actor?
Yes, I love all the ways to bring stories to life. It’s good professional work, but audiobooks are my main focus.
Q: Tell us about the process of making an audiobook. You’ve made an agreement with someone. What’s next?
The first step is casting. Sometimes, there’s also pre-production work, like preparing a manuscript that has pictures or exercises — figuring out the best way to handle each item that doesn’t automatically translate to the audiobook experience.
For your average novel, casting means one person, though our company does a lot of multivoiced projects too. What we do depends on the manuscript. For example, we did a zombie book that called out for music and sound effects.
Sometimes we have a book that’s in three parts. As a way of setting it apart, we might put a bit of music in between. We’re always looking for the best listening experience. That’s what sets us apart. We always have a producer, who asks questions and can make recommendations based on years of audiobook experience, like would you like music or what would you like your listener to do in response to this part of your book – things like that.
Q: So you’ve cast the narrator. What happens now?
We’ll do a call where we have the narrator and author together, so that the narrator can ask questions about the book. Learn about things like target audience. The narrator will record the first fifteen minutes. The author listens to it, makes sure we’re on the right track. Then we record the whole book.
We have an editor who goes in and listens to the whole thing as well, takes notes. Maybe the narrator missed some key words. We expect the narrator to send in files that they believe are ready to go, so they do their own edit first.
If I’m narrating, and I’m reading a sentence, and I realize I have the emphasis wrong, I read it again, and then cut the first instance. Then the project editor gets it.
Q: Might that be like a writer who does a final edit of their own work and then gives it to a copy editor?
Very much the same. The editor makes corrections. We sent it to the clients for any additional corrections and adjustments. Fix those and the author listens again.
Then we head into the submission process. We use Author’s Republic as our distribution services—they have the broadest range of distribution. We take a look at their metadata, keywords. Many authors are uncertain about metadata or really need help crafting a stronger book description. We review metadata to offer suggestions to make it stronger if possible.
Q: You need a different sized cover image than for the book, right?
That’s right. 2400 pixels square.
Q: What kinds of books, or what elements of books work best for audiobooks?
It’s easier to answer what kinds of books don’t make good audiobooks. Like coffee table books, because they’re so heavily image-driven. Or reference books, which you don’t read from beginning to end.
Frankly, many nonfiction authors do not take advantage of opportunities that audiobooks provide. For example, creating incentives within the audiobook that makes listeners want to go to the author website. We also provide audio clips that authors can post on social media to drive people to their website.
Q: I’ve heard you do voices—on your answering machine. How you decide how to deal with multiple characters? For example, I have a scene in a kitchen with four characters who are talking to each other, over each other. How to distinguish who is talking in the audiobook?
We look for narrators who are actors, who have those skills to differentiate voices. So you can tell who’s speaking. The general rule is there’s one person narrating the full story. Usually, they do the of all the voices in the scenes. Another actor in the mix can sometimes be jarring for the listener.
We can do overlapping voices, though it’s not something we do often. It’s always a question of whether it will better bring the story to life versus being a distraction.
Q: What would you say to authors who want to record their book themselves?
I often have authors who want to narrate themselves. If they’re a local author, I give them a chance to record part of the book. Then I do the same narration, and have them listen to both. Even if you’re an experienced speaker, it’s a very different thing to work with a microphone in a studio.
Most of the time, they decide to have it professionally narrated.
But sometimes it does make sense for the author. Because they’re very good, or their topic and their voice is recognized by their following.
Q: What if they want to do themselves? What do they need to pay attention to?
There are a couple main categories. First is the physical studio setup. They need to create a space that is quiet enough. They need a decent microphone and professional audio software. And then there’s the learning curve of dealing with all those elements.
As for the performing side, the biggest thing I notice is problems with mouth sounds and audible breathing. Many people are not used to speaking so close to a mic. Listeners hear those sounds and it can drive them crazy.
From the acting perspective, many authors tend to read their material on the flat side. Because it’s so alive in their minds. They’re not used to having to translate that aliveness into verbal expression.
Q: Tell us about the audiobooks market. And marketing to it.
Audiobooks are hot now. Very popular. More and more people are listening. It’s a good place to be. Audiobook listeners are only going to find you if you have an audiobook.
It can be an expensive proposition. And you still have to be found. That’s why we created our Audiobook Marketing Program. We looked all over and didn’t find anything that already existed, so we pulled together a marketing team and built our own.
There are three main elements. First are the video trailers that we use as the hub of the marketing wheel. Second is we send out a weekly ten-minute marketing memo, with marketing tasks that authors can do in ten minutes or less.
For example, one week we might explain how to get your video onto Amazon’s Author Central.
The third part is community—for example, we ask authors to go watch someone else’s video on our Audiobook Authors YouTube channel and comment on that video and share it. Then follow the author. We leverage the community of audiobook authors to help everyone in it.
Q: What will you do at June 23 session at Book Passage?
I will be introducing writers to the audiobook scene. I’ll cover the things an author needs to know to make good decisions about the choices ahead then answer their questions. What’s the process? What are the challenges? Should I record it myself? I’m the audiobook world tour guide, but the audience will help direct where we go.
A Conversation with Author, Coach, Editor, and Teacher C.S. Lakin
C.S. Lakin is an author, coach, editor, teacher, and more, and on March 24, she’ll be presenting “10 Key Scenes That Frame Up Your Novel” at Book Passage, a workshop for the California Writers Club Marin. (Find out more and register at cwcmarin.com.)
Earlier this week, I spoke with her on the phone — she lives in Morgan Hill — to learn more her about her writing and her workshops.
When she answered the phone, she said, “This is Susanne.”
Q: I assume Susanne is the “S” in C.S. How did you come to be called C.S. when you so enthusiastically call yourself “Susanne.”
I started writing fantasy and used a pen name because many fantasy fans are male and most of my protagonists are male. I wonder if J.K. Rowling would have been as successful if she wrote under the name Joanne.
Q: My first question, well, my second one now, is about you — your journey to becoming a writer, editor, teacher. How did you come to focus on structure?
First of all, I’m very excited about doing this workshop. I look forward to meeting you all.
I’ve been writing for 30 years — it took me 23 years to get my first book contract. As for what got me started, well, I always loved editing. When I started doing that professionally, about 14 years ago, I got all riled up because I had clients who wanted me to polish their novels, but so many of them were structured poorly. The premises didn’t hold up. The characters didn’t ring true. All those important foundational elements were subpar. I was being asked to put frosting on a bad cake.
I began focusing on critiquing — not line editing. I’m interested in story. Novels have an expected structure, very much based on five turning points. Most writers know them intuitively, but they don’t necessarily think about them.
I encourage writers to take a different approach — what I call a layering method. We start with your first ten important scenes, then layer in the next ten.
Q: Can you give a sneak preview of one of the ten scenes you’ll be talking about?
Most writers know you have five turning points — an inciting incident, midpoint, dark night of the soul, climax, resolution. We’re going beyond that.
Michael Hauge, a Hollywood story consultant, says that modern stories are simple: they’re about one character pursuing a short-term goal. Every movie and every book has this same basic structure. You start with the setup, and then you go to your inciting incident, which triggers the story, moves the character out of what they were doing. If it’s a mystery, that’s when the dead body shows up.
Unfortunately, all too often, beginning writers spend half the book doing backstory.
Q: How do writers harness the formula without making it too formulaic? We’ve all read books or watched movies where the formula is too obvious.
People love formula. If you write Harlequin romances, there’s a strict formula. The danger is trying to be too original and rejecting the formula. Readers expect structure. They get antsy if it’s not there. They know intuitively there should be an inciting incident early on.
I used to buck the whole idea of structure. I wanted to be original. I didn’t understand structure is not only necessary but desirable. Think about a building. If you follow engineering principles — foundation, shear walls, and so on, you can create a basic structure that could turn into a fancy house, a restaurant, a museum. How you style it is what makes them different. But they all have that solid foundation.
Screenwriting is extremely precise — if you’re writing a two-hour movie, it’s 120 pages. A page a minute. When you turn to page 60, the midpoint must be there. When we watch movies, we’re so trained, we expect the midpoint right at that moment.
I’ve become a firm believer in structure after critiquing hundreds of novels.
Q: What are you writing these days?
I’m writing a sci-fi thriller called Lightning Man, so I’ve been reading and diagramming books. Best sellers.
I wrote a summary of each of six books, mapped out each scene. Across the top, I wrote scene 1, scene 2, scene 3, and so on. And then a scene synopsis for each book. I could see that what happened in all six books was the same. Usually, the first scene was high action that highlighted the protagonist, showcased their skills, abilities. Then the next scene something happened that changed everything, kicked us into the story.
The twist in Lightning Man is that the protagonist, who has been struck by lightning many times, has suffered memory loss, and he doesn’t know, until the end, that early in his life, he killed his 9-year-old brother while out on a boat. He thinks he’s an only child. He is angry at his parents for splitting up, but he doesn’t understand why. Meanwhile, I’m dropping hints along the way that tell another story. Other people know about what happened with his brother, but he doesn’t. Until he does.
Q: One last question. You’ve written dozens of books. You’re a writing coach and editor and blogger. You teach workshops. When do you sleep?
I sleep plenty. I also write fast. A lot of times I’ll write a novel in two or three months. I pick up an index card and write the scene. That’s because I’ve already mapped out the structure.
As important as structure is, I would add that there are two equally important things you need. One is an amazing concept. Something unique. If I tell you my elevator pitch, you should say “wow.”
I recently wrote a dark comedy The Menopause Murders. The protagonist is a woman suffering from menopause, and when she kills people, it relieves her symptoms. Her husband is the lead detective assigned to catch The Tacoma Terror. That’s a wow premise. He knows it’s her. She knows he knows. It’s a comedy. I have a co-writer, a very funny man. The book has publication offers, and you can see a sneak peak at themenopausemurders.com.
The other thing you need is a twist. Something surprising at the end of the story.
Like The Sixth Sense. Like The Planet of the Apes, where Charlton Heston discovers the Statue of Liberty in the sand, and we learn that the planet of the apes is really Earth.
You want to have this I-didn’t-see-that-coming moment.
Q: Like Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent?
That’s exactly what I was thinking of. A great twist that’s at the heart of the book. Something that the reader does not suspect but almost seems inevitable once you see it.
Q: But how do you create that twist? I’m thinking about the novel I’ve just about finished, which has a strong premise, but no twist as dramatic as Presumed Innocent.
The trick is how can you make things seem different than they really are.
A great example is Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. The premise is that the parents have a young girl with leukemia, and they have another baby for only one reason — to be a donor for the older sister.
The story starts with the younger sister suing her parents. There’s a high-stakes legal battle. In the prologue, we’ve seen this younger sister, Anna, thinking about how she might kill her older sister. We think Anna hates her sister. The twist is that the older sister, fighting leukemia, has begged Anna, please kill me. But Anna doesn’t want to. The beginning is misleading, on purpose. You think the whole book through that she hates her sister, because she’s thinking about killing her at the beginning. But the author misleads the reader, so the twist is surprising. That’s what I’m aiming for in Lightning Man.
To fool your reader, you might make a list of things readers assume. What can you make readers think it’s true, when it’s not?
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[Register for “10 Key Scenes That Frame Up Your Novel” here.]
Andrew Benzie, who will be presenting at the February 24 meeting, is a book cover designer and marketing strategist. I spoke to him on the phone recently to find out more about how he got where he is and how he does his work. (His presentation is on “Promoting Your Book: Building a Successful Marketing Strategy,” though many of my questions pertained to book cover design, which is only one piece of marketing your book.)
Q: How did you get into book cover design?
It almost kind of found me. I was in print design for years—corporate work—and the first book I designed was my dad’s. The cover and inside layout.
Most of the work I get comes from word of mouth and client recommendations. Obviously, there’s not a lot of repeat business—most people take years to write a book. I do a lot of speaking events and I’m also on the board of the Mt. Diablo California Writers Club.
Q: What attracts you to book cover design?
I really enjoy the actual designing process, each cover is kind of like a puzzle. And working with creative people, authors, to create something that’s powerful—to help them see their dream come true.
There’s nothing like seeing their faces when they hold the book in their hands for the first time.
Q: Take me though the process from initial contact to finished product.
The first thing is we decide what size the book. Usually 5 1/4” x 8” or 6” x 9”. We look at other books in same genre. And we find covers the author likes. Half the time the author has photos or an idea in their head.
We’ll often look at stock photos, find an image that works, and go from there.
Q: Do you need to read the book? How do you know enough to design the cover?
I ask the author for a brief description of the story. That gives them a chance to practice their elevator pitch. I figure out some appropriate typeface for the genre, whether it’s romance or sci-fi. I work up a couple of ideas and post them on a private site.
Mostly we work through email. I often use stock photos—I’ll do a search and send the author some potential images. Finding prospective images can take a while. I often have clients go to a stock photography site and search for images they like. As much as possible, I keep them as part of the process. I want them to be happy with the cover.
Ideally I can get the feel what the author wants. Most authors want to talk about their book, it doesn’t take a lot of encouragement.
I do the front cover first, then once they sign off on that, then incorporate front cover elements into the back and tie in the spine. I like it when I can find an image that wraps around the spine and back.
We have a blurb and bio and sometimes a photo of the author on the back, so there’s often not much room for a large image on the back. I often use part of the front cover image.
On a recent book I designed and published the author wanted some hands with paint on them on the top and bottom of the front cover. On the back, the hands were enlarged in the background.
Q: How do you figure out the fee?
I work for an hourly rate and provide a ballpark estimate. I try to adapt to what each client needs. I do as many revisions as my clients like. Usually I start by presenting one or two ideas.
Q: How do you persuade people to pay for a cover design?
I sometimes see people who who have spent a lot of time writing their book, then have a friend with photoshop and clip art come up with a sub-par cover design. A weak cover can guarantee that you’re not going to be taken seriously. I strongly suggest for a couple of hundred dollars to have a professional create a cover that reflects well on the work they’ve done writing the book. I encourage authors to produce the best possible product possible, that means professional editing and design.
I’m a one-stop shop for design—I can do the cover, the interior layout, business cards, bookmarks, websites, etc. I don’t offer editing, but I know a number of great editors that I can recommend. I also consult with my clients on branding and marketing.
Q: And when you’re not designing book covers?
I play drums in a jazz band and electric bass in a rock band. I perform about every three weeks of so. Our jazz band, Lewiston Jazz, has been together for ten years. We perform originals songs and jazz standards.
Mary Rakow will be leading the “Make Your First Pages Shine” workshop at the Marin Writers Conference on April 22. We talked on the phone last week about what makes a great first page, how she works with writers, and how authors can tell if an editor is right for them.
Q: First off, what was your path to becoming an editor?
I’m primarily a writer. Freelance editor is my day job. I learned editing and critiquing from many years in a writing group in L.A. We met twice a week, with a teacher, Kate Braverman, who was very rigorous, who also opened up the critique to the group.
Recently, we reconvened that group again, and I go back to L.A regularly. We spend the day together. First socially, then we switch into work mode. It’s so worth it.
Q: How do you work with authors? What’s the process?
Couple different things. I recently did first-page editing at San Francisco Writers Conference. Eight-minute time slots. I like to see the actual work, not just the pitch. The pitch is someone telling you about their boyfriend. I want to meet the guy.
I work in a variety of ways. I meet one-to-one, I read full manuscripts, partial manuscripts. I do workshops.
Recently, I met on the phone with an author from Silicon Valley. She gave me fifty pages. In the first three pages, she mentioned something about people lining up in straight lines, and then there was a character mentioning things being in straight lines. I asked her about that.
She said she studied at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). Is there something deeper, I asked. Something else going on? She started crying. Told me this story, all about identity. She’s left Singapore. She has two graduate degrees. She breaking rules she grew up with. I noticed this tick. That’s where the story is.
Q: Almost like being a therapist.
No, not a therapist. Not trying to heal. But providing the perspective that the writer doesn’t have. Deep attention. Deep listening to the work. It’s not a checklist. It’s about finding that distinct voice.
Q: Your workshop at the Marin Writers Conference is focused on making first pages shine. Without giving too much away, what characterizes a great first page?
The main thing is that there’s a sense of encountering a new sensitivity, meeting a unique consciousness.
Q: On your website, you say that we all have an original take on the world, and that the best artist explore that more deeply. You call it their personal crevice. How do you help a writer find that place?
You want them to focus on what’s deep for them in their writing.
When I have only eight minutes with an author, there are things that jump out at me. The same word over and over again. Who the narrator is. For example, there was one for whom every single observation was negative. That’s hard for a reader to live with.
Q: What problems or omissions do you see most in the manuscripts you edit? Or a variation on that, what problems are the most challenging for authors to address?
I’ll tell you one that I’m guilty of. So many writers are. This critique group I was in, we did seven pages each meeting. We continued on our own after our teacher moved away, and we had what we called Queen Day—we were an all-woman group at the time—and we would read the whole manuscript and give all day for feedback.
One of my friends, she says, your book doesn’t take off until page 50. You’re warming up the engine. We often think readers need all this introductory stuff, but we can drop them in the middle of the action. The reader can catch up.
There’s also a pattern I see with beginning writers, a tendency to say something in dialog that has just been established in the narration. Lot of editing is taking things out, and here and there going deeper.
Another common thing is the desire to be in control. There’s a misunderstanding that certainty is important. But that’s not the way art is. You want to take risks.
Q: Some critic once said that great art is almost always flawed.
They say you should write what you know. But the core of any work, whether it’s symphony or a novel, is engaging where you are uncertain. Move out of your comfort zone. Tolerate degree of chaos.
If you go into that painful place, then you can organize your feelings. You increase your comfort zone and go deeper. You’ve ordered the chaos. That is art.
Q: You’re a writer of literary fiction, yet you edit all kinds of genres.
I have varied clients. Some doing thrillers, sci fi, young adult, poetry, academic work for general public. It’s fun for me. I go where they are.
I mostly edit what I don’t write. My peer group is all literary writers. But my day job isn’t, which is fine with me.
Q: How does an author know if an editor is right for them?
For me, it’s when the editor makes a suggestion and it makes you excited, when you say to yourself, oh that’s exactly what I’m trying to say, when it makes your own work more yourself.
That’s why editing is so much about listening. There something alive in every single manuscript. My job, even if it’s a book I would never read, my job is to get quiet enough to hear the beautiful thing in the work. Listen for the pulse of this person’s work.
If you’d like your work edited as part of the workshop, email one to two pages to marincwc@gmail.com. Register for the Marin Writers Conference here.
Short-story writer, essayist, and now novelist Marianne Lonsdale is a founding member of Write On Mamas, a San Francisco Bay Area writers group. She will be presenting “Finding Your Writing Community,” Sunday, June 28, 2 p.m. at the California Writers Club–Marin Branch meeting at Book Passage. I interviewed her on the phone the week after the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley, which we both attended, though we never crossed paths.
Q: Tell me about your writing.
I’m working on a novel now, literary fiction. About a woman in her mid-30s in Oakland, in 1991. It follows the arc of a stormy relationship. The novel being such a long form, I’m usually also working on a personal essay, which is mostly what I write.
Q: Your talk is on finding your writing community. Why is that important?
For me, finding a writing a community that I liked was a surprise. I usually think of myself as introverted. But I found that being involved with other writers keeps me energized. I hear a lot of the same stuff at these workshops and gatherings, but I’m riveted nonetheless. I feel like I’ve found my passion. Last year, Brooke Warner, my writing coach, asked me on behalf of someone she was working with what tips I would give someone about being involved in writing communities, and at first I was taken aback, and then I realized how much I’ve become engaged in these communities, several of them.
I’m not a very published writer. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to get my work out there if I weren’t making connections.
Q: How have you made those connections?
One was through Left Coast Writers, led by Linda Watanabe McFerrin, at Book Passage. She pushed me to pitch my work, helped me find a home at this literary website called Literary Mamas. I stumbled into an opportunity I would not have otherwise known about. The other place was the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, where what I gained more than anything tangible was the feeling of community. It was the first time I felt such a bond with other writers. I wanted to keep that bond going. After I joined Left Coast Writers, I help found Write on Mamas in 2012.
It started as a small group. We write for the first 90 minutes of the meeting, and for some people, that’s the only time of the month they carve out time to write. We meet meet the second Sunday of every month at Mill Valley’s O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, and we also have been sponsoring some readings and interviews at the Mill Valley Library.
Q: How have you benefited most from your writing community?
Write On Mamas published an anthology that included a piece of mine, and we had readings all around the bay. I was thrilled to read as part of the launch at Diesel Books. I would not have been part of that anthology if I hadn’t been part of this community.
Some of the women I met at Write on Mamas also produced “Listen to Your Mother,” a national event leading up to Mothers’ Day that grew out of the blogging community. The national organization looks for local moms to put on the show. We sold out the Brava Theater in San Francisco.
Last year, I also curated a Write On Mamas’ event for LitCrawl, called “Your Mom Had Sex.”
Q: In Write On Mamas, how do you balance skilled and published authors with newbies?
The group is open to writers of all levels, published as well as those who do more thinking about writing than writing. It’s more of a salon than critique group. We write, then get short critiques, what I call “critique lite.” It’s a very nurturing community.
Q: What do you do when you’re not writing?
I work full time at Clorox, manage HR operations. I live in Oakland with my husband and 18-year-old son, who’s soon to leave for college. I’m going to take over his bedroom for a study. A big step. A writing space of my own.
Q: When did you first start identifying yourself as a writer?
That what my piece in the Write On Mama’s anthology is about. I remember as young child being interested in writing, but I didn’t start until I was in my 40s, after the birth of my son. I took a writing class Piedmont Adult School.
Q: Who do you like to read?
I read widely. Literary fiction, personal essays. I love the essays in The Sun. I recently finished Armistead Maupin’s Last Tales of the City. An Irish mystery writer named Tana French. We Are Not Ourselves, by Matthew Thomas, was fabulous. I also liked The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman.
Q: What do you know now that you didn’t used to know about writing?
I used to think that being part of writing groups and writing communities would take time away from my writing. Instead, I get more pages written because of the energy and opportunity. In my early years of writing, I didn’t meet people. I didn’t realize how welcome I’d be at most readings and workshops.
Martha Alderson, MA, has been exploring and writing about plot and creativity for more than thirty years, and helping writers develop plot and structure, character transformation and change. Author of The Plot Whisperer, along with several other plot books, Alderson’s latest work is Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Blocks. 
