Making Stuff Up As You Go Along

“..she’s just making stuff up as she goes along ”  was what the scathing review in last week’s New York Times Book Review said of Alice Sebold’s new novel, The Almost Moon.  Of course most of us who write fiction do exactly this – make it up as we go along. Yes, novelists have an idea of where their novel is headed, what makes the characters tick, but a lot of us don’t make a detailed plot outline.  Who knows what’s going to happen until you and your character get to that point? This is the joy of writing fiction. Not being in total control in the first draft.

That said, I didn’t like The Almost Moon anymore than the reviewer did. I’ve been a great fan of Alice Sebold; she pulled off an impossible subject in The Lovely Bones, and Lucky, her memoir of being raped as a college student, is brilliant and heart wrenching. I use it when I teach memoir.  But what happened with this new novel?  I don’t think it’s impossible to write about a character who murders her mother (as her protragonist, Helen, does), but I just don’t get why Helen had to do this. Smothering her mother and then putting her body in the freezer after lovingly washing it, while shocking and riveting as the scene may be, appears to have no purpose. You’re either hoping Helen gets caught – or worse, you don’t care. And Sebold lost me completely when shortly after the murder, Helen has sex with her best friend’s son.  I’d love to hear from any of you who have read it – and if you liked it, please let us know why.

And next time you get a rejection slip that says Your work doesn’t suit our needs at the present time…or whatever it says, realize this is absolutely nothing compared to having your work discussed as “an insult to the lumber industry” in the New York Times Book Review. We all get our work rejected at some point, either in reviews or phone calls from our agents or in little notices that arrive in the mail. Just feel lucky when your rejection arrives in the mail or over the phone and you’re in the privacy of your own home. Then send your work out again. Or write something new.  Which is what I’m hoping Alice Sebold is doing right now. Because one book – or essay or story - going off the tracks doesn’t keep you from being a wonderful writer.

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FYI: I’ll be at Williams Books in San Pedro at 6:30 Thursday night, 11/1.  Thanks to all the writers in Laguna Beach who showed up at Laguna Beach Books yesterday and asked such great questions.

Comments

[Mardougrrl]

I tried with this one, I really did...but I just had to stop reading around page 130 or so. The effect of the writing was as though I was caught in someone else's fever...and not in a good way. Like being trapped in someone's headache. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters. That sex scene with the friend made me realize that not only were these characters not "real," they didn't even make sense for their own universe.

I enjoy Sebold's writing style and I know I'll read her next book. This one was just a serious "miss" for me.

[Barbara]

Mardougrrl - Exactly. Perfect - someone else's fever.

[Rebecca Laffar-Smith]

I haven't had a chance to read this book but I'm always reassured when I come across books that made it to print despite bombing with readers. I remind myself that if THAT could get published then I'll have no trouble getting my current WIP flying off bookshelves.

I wonder how Sebold took the critique or if she chooses not to read reviews. I wonder what she thought of the book as she wrote it. Most of us have a six sense that lets us knows if we're completely losing the concept. Perhaps it was a brutal editing that is the true culprit?

So many questions that only the author could answer. We'll never please everyone and I hope there are readers who find the book enriching for them. I'll have to dig up a copy to see what I get from it. :-)

[Barbara]

Rebecca - And in this week's NYT they quoted a good review of the book. But my question is: Where was her editor?

[Leonardo]

I feel very similar. Everyone I've heard talk about Clarion sepaks highly of it, and I know many of them were changed in their writing and in their lives. I sometimes wonder what it would do for my writing, if I had the time to attend. I know I can handle group critiques and the critique work was one of my favorite parts of getting a degree in writing. I can't imagine spending so much time just writing and critiquing; it sounds quite a bit like paradise.On the other hand, I've had some nasty experiences in writing groups, and I know I wouldn't have liked the group socialization. (Though those games sound fun, I would not want to do them with strangers, and there are times when I don't want to spend that long with my closest friends, much less people I don't know.)This was very interesting to read.