Writing fiction requires a substantial mix of audacity and humility. The writer sets out to illuminate a sliver of reality. Even though that place may be achingly familiar, it will contain spaces and experiences the author has never lived. How do we fulfill our promise to the reader? The challenge is especially thorny for a white writer tackling issues of race. Ignoring race isn’t an option, because silence is also a statement. Even cultural pieces we may like can lose impact because of … [Read more...]
Beyond Missoula: A Challenge to Feminists and to Jon Krakauer
Acquaintance rape, the subject of Jon Krakauer’s newest book, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, is a topic feminists have been writing about for decades with barely a head nod from the mainstream media. Now Krakauer’s book is being hailed as “fascinating,” “excellent,” and “a passionate, maddening jeremiad.” How should feminists feel about that? Understandably pissed off that it takes “a mansplainer’s guide to rape-is-bad,” as Jessica Valenti put it, to get so much … [Read more...]
Did NY Times Ethicists Get a Sneak Peak at My Novel?
A past acquaintance rape, a political candidate, a pesky reporter, a friend with a moral dilemma – these are all ingredients of my novel. And they were also the subject of a recent Ethicist column in the Sunday New York Times magazine. The letter-writer focused on one question only: “Do I Have to Tell About a Co-Worker’s Rape?” The political candidate wasn’t the rapist (unlike in my novel) and may never have known about the assault. The intern who was raped did tell higher-up’s in the … [Read more...]
The Stories We Need to Tell
When I started the search for a publisher for Again and Again, a high-profile friend referred me to a big name agent (we’ll call him Mr. Big). “He wants women writers,” she told me. “Your novel is just what he’s looking for.” Mr. Big worked the old-fashioned way: no electronic submissions. As directed by his website, I sent a single-page query via snail mail. Six weeks later I got a one-paragraph reply in my mailbox asking for the first 50 pages, which I shipped immediately. Another six weeks … [Read more...]
Behind the Book: Again and Again: Origins of a Novel
My friend “Carol,” a school principal, got the call at lunch time just as she was leaving for the hustle-bustle of the cafeteria. The caller identified himself as an investigative reporter who’d tracked Carol down because she’d been good friends in college with a woman raped by a fellow student. That guy had gotten off scot free and was now a candidate for the U.S. Congress. It was up to Carol to stop him, the reporter insisted. The reporter happened to be from a Republican news outlet; the … [Read more...]