Gayle Brandeis on expecting brilliance, NaNoWriMo, ebooks and more

My friend Gayle Brandeis began her novel-writing career with fireworks—she won Barbara Kingsolver’s Bellwether Prize in 2002 for THE BOOK OF DEAD BIRDS. Three more of her novels were traditionally published after that. Now Gayle is stepping into the self-published, ebook arena like many other authors.
I interview her here on why and how she chose that route for the sequel to Dead Birds, THE BOOK OF LIVE WIRES.
Before we start the Q&A, I want to share a sample of Gayle’s poetic, riveting style. Here’s the Live Wires opening:
It was the way she moved her arms. It was the way the four year old
moved her arms as he lifted his own arm to swing his axe. It was like they were dancing together, his arm, her arms, as he sliced through her mother’s stomach, her father’s chest. It was the way she moved her arms that convinced him to spare her.
They rose up from her shoulders like tendrils of smoke, like steam from a fresh wound. The tendons were so beautiful, streams running down her triceps, he almost cried. Her wrists turned as if oiled. Her fingers waved like wild grasses. He held his axe over his head and watched this girl’s blood-spattered arms undulate as she tossed her head back and screamed and screamed. He had never seen anything so lovely in his life. He lowered his axe, let it drop to the floor. He held out his hand.

You can currently order the ebook for $2.99 from Amazon or Smashwords. Here’s my interview with Gayle, in which she is simply awesome.

Me: When you wrote The Book of Dead Birds were you already imagining a sequel? How did The Book of Live Wires evolve? Is there a theme connecting the two?

Gayle: I definitely wasn’t envisioning a sequel as I wrote The Book of Dead Birds. The sequel came about through National Novel Writing Month in 2002. The Book of Dead Birds had won the Bellwether Prize earlier that year, judged by Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, and Maxine Hong Kingston, the three writers I most admire in the world, and while this was so deeply thrilling and affirming, I found I could no longer write. I suddenly felt as if those three amazing women were looking over my shoulder as I wrote, expecting brilliance, and I didn’t feel I could live up to those self-imposed expectations. When I heard about NaNoWriMo, I realized it could help me break through the creative blocks I had set up for myself--writing that quickly, there isn’t time to worry about whether you’re going to please your favorite writers.

I think I wrote a sequel that month because I had been curious about what my characters had been up to since I had finished the first book--I always had the sense that they were off living their lives, but I couldn’t access them until I started to write about them again. Live Wires is narrated by Darryl Sternberg, Ava’s love interest from Dead Birds and now her husband and the father of their baby. A couple of readers had told me that they couldn’t quite get a grasp on Darryl in the first book, that he seemed like too good a guy, and this was my opportunity to get under his skin more deeply. Just as Dead Birds alternates between Ava’s and her mother’s stories, this book alternates between Darryl’s and his grandmother’s stories (he is having her journals translated from Russian, French and Yiddish.) Along with characters in common, I’d say the theme that ties the two books together is the need to heal one’s past in order to move freely into the future.

Me: After four traditionally published novels why did you decide to e-publish The Book of Live Wires? Did other authors influence your decision?

Gayle: Over the years, I’ve mentioned the sequel at various book events, and readers have always been interested in the book, but I never thought I would share it--it was so hastily written, and I felt as if it was something that I had written for myself, not for a wider audience. After more people asked about it recently, though, I decided to revisit it and was surprised to find there was more life inside of it than I had imagined.

I decided to bring it out as an ebook because I want to embrace the shifting sands in the publishing industry rather than run away from them. I thought it would be fun to do an experiment with this book in particular because I have enough detachment from it, having written it so many years ago--it feels like I have nothing to lose.

A couple of writer friends have recently put out ebooks--Rebecca O’Connor’s Rise (a companion to her memoir, Lift) and Tod Goldberg, who released a short collection of stories. I had already thought about doing this experiment when I heard about their own, but watching them forge ahead into this new territory definitely inspired me on my own path.

Me: How do you feel about the rapid changes in publishing? Things that excite you or worry you?

Gayle: Change is both exciting and scary, and it has been a very conscious effort for me to shift my thinking to focus more on the excitement of this time of transition. How lucky we are to be able to watch history unfold, to be part of a changing landscape!

I won’t deny that I do worry about my ability to continue to make a living as a writer, however. My publisher had the right of first refusal on The Book of Live Wires, so my agent had to show it to them before I put it out as an ebook--it was a very funny feeling to be hoping for a rejection so I could move forward with my e-publishing experiment! I never imagined being in that position before. When the rejection did come, it was both better and worse than I could have imagined--the editor said that she loved the book and in a “kinder, gentler time” would have published it, but the larger editorial board wasn’t willing to take a risk on me because my earlier books don’t have the numbers they’re looking for. Of course now I worry that when I want to publish future books--and I do hope to continue to publish traditionally--publishers will turn me away because of my stubbornly midlist status.

It’s good to know that if need be, I can always take publishing into my own hands. I think that in many ways, this is a more empowering time for writers than ever.

Me: What was your experience with Smashwords? Any advice to other writers who are considering e-publishing? How many hats did you have to wear?

Gayle: I published with both Smashwords and Kindle--that seemed to be the way to reach the most varieties of ereaders. I am also working right now to get the book up on Google Books, because a large number of independent bookstores are now offering Google Books to customers through their brick and mortar stores, and I really do want to continue to support indies (that was one of the only things that made me hesitate about this experiment--I don’t want to contribute to the decline of beloved bookstores.)

This process has required the wearing of many hats--I think I have permanent hat hair from the constant shifting between being my own editor, proofreader, art department, typesetter, and tech person (although thankfully I have in house IT and graphic design backup from my husband Michael, and my friend Laraine Herring helped greatly with the editing). Smashwords offers a style guide to help with the formatting, but it can be a bit confusing anyway--I found this little video particularly helpful in clarifying some of the necessary formatting steps: www.norulesjustwrite.com/resources/indy-resources/

One other bit of advice--Flickr is your friend. There are lots of wonderful images that are available under creative commons that you can use for your book cover, and you can often negotiate with the artist to use an image when some rights are reserved (the photographer whose image I used just asked that I pay for a year of his professional flickr account, which was about $25.)

Me: How are you approaching marketing?

Gayle: I hired a professional publicist, just to get some extra muscle behind the book, and am excited by the potential contacts she’s making. I haven’t yet fully launched my own marketing campaign, but plan to use social media (Twitter and Facebook) along with emails to friends and family and colleagues, to get the word out. I’ll probably visit some other blogs, as well, and plan to write some essays connected with the book that will hopefully drum up interest.

I released the book when I did to celebrate National Novel Writing Month, and also the forthcoming 10th anniversary of the Bellwether Prize in January (when my friend Naomi Benaron’s amazing and much buzzed novel, Running the Rift, will be released. I helped her edit the book, and am hoping that our connection and this new ebook will keep my name alive in the Bellwether conversation.)

Me: What's next for you?

Gayle: I am in the throes of National Novel Writing Month right now, focusing on a YA novel that is currently making the rounds of publishers as a proposal (I had only written a couple of sample chapters). I am having so much fun fleshing out this idea that I’ve carried around in me for so long and am excited to try to blast out a draft in a month. I have a couple of other projects in the works--a new novel for adults and a memoir about my mom--but they are on the backburner while I give Seed Bombs my full attention.

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By the way, Gayle has kindly stopped by in the past to answer questions posed in the comments. So if you want to ask something go ahead and she’ll answer if she can around her crazy-busy schedule.

Gayle Brandeis's DELTA GIRLS and contest

Gayle Brandeis has a luscious way with words. Reading her books can be like having the juice of a ripe pear fill your mouth. Her newest release, DELTA GIRLS (Ballantine) is rooted in a pear orchard within the Sacramento Delta. While it's main story follows an unusual white migrant farm worker and her daughter, it alternates chapters to a very different world of a teen-age ice skater on the brink of Olympic-size fame. The two lives collide later in a shocking end.
Gayle, who won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether prize for THE BOOK OF DEAD BIRDS, gives us a glimpse of her writing journey and what inspired this newest book in the interview below. I'll give away a copy of DELTA GIRLS by random drawing to anyone who mentions a favorite fruit in the comment section.
Here are a few snippets to show off Gayle's literary style:

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Rows of pears stretched out as far as I could see, the trees shaggy vases, flaring open to the sky. The air was just on the edge of humid, the river lending a mossy tang. A few barn swallows dipped and swerved overhead, trilling.
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If you leave a pear on the tree too long, he told me, it starts to rot from the inside out. It develops stone cells, little places of hardness that feel like grit in the mouth. It starts to get eaten by birds, by bugs. Better to pluck it when it's green, store it someplace cold, let it forget where it came from.
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Q: What was the seed from which DELTA GIRLS grew--the initial character or situation that started your imagination going?

Gayle: My novel MY LIFE WITH THE LINCOLNS had just been rejected by my editor at Ballantine because she saw it as a YA novel and not right for her list. I suddenly had to write a new novel in the span of a year and had no idea what to write about, so panic was really the first seed! It was around that time, though, that I started to see news stories about a mother and baby whale that had taken a wrong turn and had started swimming up the Sacramento River. This sparked something in me, especially because I had already been intrigued by the region, thanks to my friend Stephan. He had grown up in the Sacramento Delta and I had always loved his stories about his family’s orchard (and have always adored pears). So I started to envision a mother and daughter taking their own wrong turn and ending up at a pear farm in the area.

It was also around that time that I started dreaming regularly about figure skating. I had been a serious figure skater when I was a girl, and this seemed like a message for me to get back on the ice. I took lessons for a while, which I loved, but it took a real physical toll, and I realized that maybe instead of skating, I needed to write about skating. The other thread of the novel emerged from there.

I am happy to say My Life with the Lincolns did end up getting published as a YA novel a couple of months ago, so that rejection led to two published novels!

Q: There is some awesome scene setting at an organic pear farm and in the California Delta. Did you spend time there? How did you go about the research?

Gayle: I didn’t even know California had a Delta until Stephan started telling me about his childhood. Since it was only a few hours drive away, I knew I had to go up and see it for myself (I love to do research with all my senses, not just my mind, so it’s helpful for me to be able to really feel and smell the places I’m writing about.) Just thinking about the Delta now makes me relax; there is a slowness, a peace, to the region—I think it’s from all that water steadily flowing along, not to mention all those fruitful trees.

Before my first trip, I found an article about an organic pear farmer, Tim Neuharth, who wanted to increase eco-tourism to the Delta. I contacted him, thinking he’d be a good person to talk to about pear farming, since he was already hoping to spread the word. He and his wife Laura proved to be invaluable. They spent a good portion of the day taking me around Steamboat Acres and answering all my questions about the running of an orchard. Vieira Pears, the farm in Delta Girls, wouldn’t be the same without their help.

During my second research trip, I attended the Pear Fair, a wonderful small town festival celebrating all things pear during the Bartlett harvest. I ended up writing a scene set at the fair, and am excited that I’ll be returning at the end of July to promote my book there.

Q: Delta Girls has a very Bad Boy. Did you know he would behave that badly or did he surprise you?

Gayle: Oh, Nathan, Nathan, Nathan. He was full of surprises from the very beginning, but he definitely went to a darker place than I expected him to. I don’t think I’ve ever written such a “bad” character before; there was something kind of liberating about that.

Q: Was it difficult to write a novel alternating between a first-person narrator and a third-person narrator?

Gayle: I had actually done this before with THE BOOK OF DEAD BIRDS, so I worried I might be repeating myself, but that’s how the story wanted to be written. I think it’s a bit easier for me to write first person narration, because the voice feels so immediate, but the third person scenes felt fairly natural to write as well (although I have to say it took a while for any of it to feel natural. Because I had an imposed deadline and I was still smarting from the Lincolns rejection, it took some time to find the book’s true rhythm. I really had to force myself into the story, but once I was fully immersed, the words began to flow.)

Q: By the story's end, you give redemption to the main character. Did you know there would be a theme of forgiveness, of being able to start fresh?

Gayle: I rarely know what themes are going to emerge when I start to write a story, and this was no exception. That said, I think it would be unusual for me to write a story in which there wasn’t some sort of redemption at the end. And I’m sure the theme of being able to start fresh was informed by my life—I made the incredibly difficult decision to leave my first marriage around that time, so starting fresh was definitely on my mind. I remember telling my friend and first reader Laraine Herring that I was surprised that I wasn’t writing more about the separation, and she told me “But you are” and pointed out the themes in the novel. It’s quite amazing how our lives, our issues, can seep into our fiction without our even realizing it. Our writing selves are so much smarter than our daily selves—at least that’s certainly the case with me!

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If you'd like to meet Gayle, she will be signing books at Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena CA on (postscript: date change)Aug. 6; Borders Books, Riverside CA on July 18; Avid Reader Bookstore, Sacramento CA on July 24; the 38th annual Pear Fair in Courtland CA on July 25; the Lincoln Memorial Shrine, Redlands CA on July 31 and the Riverside Public Library on Aug. 5. The Pear Fair is about twenty minutes south of Sacramento and features music, wines, arts and crafts and pear-inspired food. For more information on books and events check Gayle's website.
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Thanks for reading the interview, and please leave a comment with some fruit love so I can enter your name in the drawing. (Book provided by the publisher)
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Postscript: Today is the Festival of the Trees, so you can bloghop from this pear-tree post to more tree love than you can imagine.

Contest and interview with Gayle Brandeis

Imagine your dad is Abraham Lincoln. Well, not the President and not the 1800s but in the 1960s and he owns a furniture store.

Author Gayle Brandeis has woven a funny, endearing but realistic story of a girl, Mina, who is convinced her family is the reincarnation of Lincoln's, and she must protect her father from assassination, her mother from insanity and herself from dying of fever at age twelve.

Albert Baruch Edelman (ABE) might not seem a likely target for assassination, but when he starts taking Mina to Civil Rights marches in Chicago and to fair housing protests, he increases her anxiety and forever changes their lives.

I loved Mina's voice, and the way Gayle doesn't flinch from painting Albert as well-intentioned but, at times, misguided. This story delivers three-dimensional characters, as well as easily- digested morsels about social justice and our history. This is Gayle's first book for a middle grade/teen audience. She is the winner of Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for THE BOOK OF DEAD BIRDS. Disclosure: I have known Gayle for years, and we are friends.
Without further ado, here is an interview about writing MY LIFE WITH THE LINCOLNS. Gayle will check the comments section and answer questions when she can. Contest rules are at the bottom of this post.

Talespinning: How did this story come to you? Was it a place, a character, a concept?

Gayle: I actually wanted to write a memoir about my family called My Life With the Lincolns. Like my character Mina, I thought my dad was Lincoln reincarnated when I was young, and a few years ago, I learned that, like my mom, Mary Todd Lincoln had a lot of grandiose delusions around money. My mom had asked me not to write about her during her lifetime, though, so I decided to put this idea on hold. At some point, my editor and agent at the time asked if I could fictionalize my family's story; I didn't want to do that--I wanted to write a real memoir at some point--but then Mina started talking to me and I decided to listen. The novel ended up not being autobiographical at all aside from the Lincoln connection (and my own tendencies toward hypochondria as a girl, plus I wrote a neighborhood newspaper similar to Mina's Lincoln Log). My mom took her own life a few months ago, and I'm working on a non-Lincoln-related memoir about her now.
(Talespinning: I've condensed the interview here and am paraphrasing Gayle that the book initially was aimed at adults and Gayle attempted to write it in both Mina and her father's points of view.)
Gayle: The story was meant to be Mina's alone.
Talespinning: Did you do a lot of research, and where, on the culture of the Sixties? Any surprises or discoveries?
Gayle: I did a bunch of research online (especially at the website dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Chicago Freedom Movement) as well as at the Chicago Historical Society, plus talked to people who had been there. I have to say that my biggest surprise was learning about the Chicago Freedom Movement to begin with! I have been an activist since I was pretty young, but even though I grew up in Chicago, I had never known about the Chicago Freedom Movement before I started working on this book. I only found it because I decided to do a Google search on "Chicago" and "civil rights." I knew I wanted to set the story in my home town and I wanted it to deal with issues of civil rights so it would have some resonance with Lincoln's time, but I had never known that Martin Luther King, Jr. had come to Chicago to spearhead marches for fair and open housing. That little Google search spawned the whole setting of the novel.
Talespinning: Lincoln has always been my favorite president for the strength of his convictions and compassion for others. Did you have a special place for him in your heart? And what of Dr. King?
Gayle: Lincoln has always been my favorite president, too! I grew up in the Land of Lincoln and went to Lincoln Elementary School, where I touched a life-sized bronze statue of Lincoln every day as I went up the stairs. Also, my birthday is on the anniversary of Lincoln's shooting (I never liked this fact), plus as I mentioned I thought my dad had been him! Lincoln was a wonderfully idealistic, poetic, committed man. As was Dr. King (who was killed ten days before I was born, and who I've always also felt a connection with.)
Talespinning: What does it say about Mina--her choice of Lincoln as a reincarnated father?
Gayle: I'm not sure! What does it say about me? I supposed both Mina and I are dreamers and optimists, girls who adore our fathers and believe that, like Lincoln, they can make the world a better place.
Talespinning: I was impressed with the way your characters had layers. Mina's father is an idealist who rushes in and risks too much at times. Mina's mother is materialistic, but cares for her family. Mina observes and muses but doesn't have the life experience to always understand. How do you balance their strengths, weaknesses and growth?
Gayle: That is a hard question to answer. So much of the writing process for me is intuitive and organic. I really didn't think about any of those things; I just let the characters unfold on the page. I do know that I had to tone the mother down a bit. In the earlier drafts she was almost primarily materialistic, and I realized that I needed to give her more of a heart--she was a bit of a cartoon at first and I definitely don't want any of my characters to be cartoons (but I find that they often are in my early drafts. It's through revision that they find all their dimensions).
Talespinning: How did you discover Mina's voice, and was writing through her eyes any different for you than adult characters?
Gayle: Mina's voice was pretty much there from the start. I think it came so naturally because I still feel like a kid inside. I often say that the inner me is around ten years old, even younger than Mina. It was a treat to tap into that young voice and let it flow.

Thank you so much, Gayle! One of you lucky readers can win a personalized signed hardcover copy of MY LIFE WITH THE LINCOLNS. I will leave the contest open until Wednesday 6 p.m. Pacific time. The winner will be announced Thursday. You get one entry for a comment, another for posting the link to this interview on your blog and a third if you Tweet it. Total up your entries and leave an email addy. And, don't forget that Gayle has kindly offered to answer questions in the comment section.

Coming Soon! Gayle Brandeis

Contest alert. Next week you can win a signed copy of Gayle Brandeis' latest book, MY LIFE WITH THE LINCOLNS (Henry Holt).

And you may also ask Gayle questions in the comment section about writing or about the process of researching Abraham Lincoln and the Chicago Freedom Movement.

The book jacket blurb reads:

Mina Edelman believes that she and her family are the Lincolns reincarnated. Her main tasks for the next three months: to protect her father from assassination, her mother from insanity, and herself--Willie Lincoln incarnate--from death at age twelve.

Apart from that, the summer of 1966 should be like any other. But Mina's dad begins taking Mina along to hear speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago. And soon he brings the freedom movement to their own small town, with consequences for everyone.

Monday's post will feature an interview with Gayle about researching and writing this fascinating book. And Gayle graciously agreed to answer questions you ask.

This is Gayle's first novel aimed at younger readers. She is the winner of Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for THE BOOK OF DEAD BIRDS. The prize is awarded to books that address social justice and the impact on culture and relationships.

Gayle's writing is at once lyrical and meaningful. Here is the opening from 'Dead Birds,' a story of a mixed-race girl whose Korean-born mother had been trapped into prostitution with American soldiers.

I remember the first time I flew.

I was four years old. My mother decided to take me to Balboa Park for the afternoon. I watched the back of her short-sleeved blouse as we crossed the parking lot to the playground; the sky-blue fabric tightened, then loosened, tightened, then loosened, across her shoulder blades, pointy as chicken wings. I tried to catch up, but my mother was too fast. Even then, I knew she didn't like to be seen with me in public.

From the beginning, the tone is set for this difficult mother-daughter relationship, for a child who doesn't fit, for the freedom of flight.

Gayle's other books include SELF STORAGE, a novel set in the year following the September 11 terrorist attacks, and FRUITFLESH: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write.

2010 also marks the release of another of Gayle's novels, DELTA GIRLS (Ballantine) on June 22.

Disclosure: The hardcover copy of MY LIFE WITH THE LINCOLNS is from the publisher, and I should note that I've known Gayle for years and we are friends.

The contest rules will be like most. You'll get one entry for a comment, an additional one for posting a link and another for tweeting. I hope you'll join us.

See you when I come up for air

Sorry my photo of this postcard is off-kilter--so am I. It's early and I'm about to make a big commitment. This picture of a 4,500-year-old marble carving of a harp player sits in front of my keyboard. I found the postcard in a box of pictures I collected from museums and got chills when I discovered I had acquired it. My WIP is a YA fantasy about a girl with unusual harp-playing ability and roots that go back to the dawn of time.

Today I plan a marathon-writing session on the rewrite of that novel. I was inspired by Megan, as she was by the 10K for Writers. I'm not going to start a new work, since after two months of letting it rest I've finally started my rewrite. But I like the kick-in-the-butt of setting a goal, making a personal deadline.

I've never participated in NaNoWriMo, the annual challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. In 2008, there were 119,301 participants. NaNoWriMo's collective word count--1.6 billion words. Just wow. A friend of mine, Gayle Brandeis, wrote a first draft of Self Storage in NaNoWriMo. She was already the winner of Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for The Book of Dead Birds. But like many writers, she wanted the power of the deadline. So I know it works.

Since I'm a free operative, what goal to set? In the last few weeks since I started to rewrite I produced about 5,000 words/19 pages. The original novel is about 90,000 words. I'm going to try for another 5,000 words of rewrite today. I have no idea what to expect, but don't we all love a challenge?