On writing the nonfiction book While In Darkness There Is Light

 In early spring of 2004, when Howard Dean was running for President, my husband Harry sat on the front porch of our Vermont house with a glass of beer and talked about Howard’s younger brother Charlie. Harry had met Charlie in 1968 when they were students at St. George’s School in Newport, Rhode Island. There were only two hundred students in the boarding school—all boys—and they knew each other well. 

Harry had told me about visiting a farm commune some friends had started in Australia. Three friends had dropped out of college—Harvard, Yale, and University of Denver—during protests against the Vietnam War. They traveled in Kenya and drove the coast of Australia. On York Peninsula they purchased 460 acres of land and started a farm commune they dubbed Rosebud. 

Harry and Charlie finished college—Harry at Harvard and Charlie at UNC—and in 1973 they joined their friends at Rosebud Farm. After six months of tilling fields, fertilizing with chicken manure, and lots of partying, Harry headed back to the U.S. and Charlie traveled in Southeast Asia, planning the join the Peace Corps the following year. 

Although U.S. troops had left Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos was still at war. While Charlie and an Australian friend were traveling on a Mekong riverboat, members of the communist Pathet Lao ordered the boat to dock. Charlie took a picture—his big mistake. For three months he and Neil were held in a rainforest prison camp. In December 1974, they were both executed.

Harry finished his story, put down his beer, and disappeared into the house. He returned with a shoebox filled with letters from Charlie, written from Bangkok and Cambodia, and a journal covered in red leather. I leafed through pages barely holding onto the binding after thirty years and found an almost daily accounting of those days in Australia. 

I had met Howard when he was governor of Vermont and when I tracked him down on the campaign trail, he gave me permission to tell his brother’s story. Harry’s journal entries and Charlie’s letters reveal vulnerable young men trying to find themselves. Their privileged families gave them the means to travel the world, buy a large parcel of land, build a 54-foot sailboat, and know that they would never have to be chained to a desk or to scramble for a living. They had the freedom to explore and take risks. But with risks come mistakes born of youthful exuberance. Mistakes must be paid for, and Charlie paid the dearest price. 

While In Darkness There Is Light is available from Black Lawrence Press (https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/...) and from Amazon and Barnes & Noble or wherever books are available online.

Readers ask about my novel Beside the Long River

 

1. 1. What’s the novel about? 

In spite of objections from English teenager Sarah Lyman, in 1632 her Puritan family boards the ship Lyon bound for Massachusetts Bay Colony. When the Massachusetts laws prove unbearably harsh, Sarah and her family join Thomas Hooker’s group in settling Hartford, Connecticut. There Sarah befriends two Pequot Indians whose camp is near the English settlement. Fearing the Natives are dangerous, the governor declares war against them and Sarah disguises herself as a boy and joins the soldiers—to try to stop them. 

2. Where did this story originate?  

My father-in-law Steve Parson asked me to help him write a book about his mother’s family history. In research into the early Lymans, I became enthralled with young Sarah Lyman and Steve gave his permission for me to write her story into a novel.

3. How authentic (real) are the characters? 

The Lyman elders, Richard and his wife, are as I wrote them, as are the four children. There was a baby, but I left him out as I couldn’t figure how he contributed to the story. Thomas Hooker, Massachusetts Governor Winthrop, and Captain William Pierce of the ship Lion actually existed, as did Captain John Mason, who led the raid on the Pequot encampment.

4. How much of the story is based on actual events? 

• The Lion sailed from England in June 1632 with the Lymans aboard. 
• A young boy fell overboard on that voyage, which I’ve included in the book. 
• Earlier, English passengers brought small pox to the New World, an outbreak which made its way to Native tribes.
• The Lyman family are listed among the original settlers of Hartford.
• I’ve found no evidence that the Lyman family was involved with the Pequot War, but the massacre did occur in May 1636 under the direction of Captain Mason.

5. Why did you have Sarah Lyman dress as a boy and join the English infantry? 

The massacre of Pequot women and children was so horrendous, I wanted Sarah to see the action firsthand rather than being told about it. Female characters dressing as men in Shakespeare’s plays was common to the period.

6. What about this story drew you to it?

From the time I first read about her, I saw Sarah as a modern badass. She bucked convention and wanted more for herself than a husband and a brood of children. She didn’t marry until she was in her twenties, whereas most girls married in their teens, and she lived nearly to 70, a ripe old age for people of that time.

7. Who is your audience for the story?

Anyone interested in Colonial America, Native American history, or a just a good story of adventure, bloodshed, and love.

8. What gives you the authority to write about Native Americans when you’re white?

As Ken Burns said, “I’m in a business of history and that includes everyone. And I have, throughout my professional life, tried to tell the story of this country in an inclusive way and that means talking about race and trying to tell stories from multiple perspectives… But I do not accept that only people of a particular background can tell certain stories about our past.” 

The character Ayaks is the son of a Dutch trader and a Pequot woman. My first novel, The Black Bonnet, is the POV of a slave girl who discovers her father is the white slaveowner. If we test our DNA, we’ll find we’re all a mixture of races. Why should writers limit ourselves to stories only about white people? 

President Barak Obama says we’ve got to talk about race, to bring it into the daylight. Discussions of race are a disinfectant, he says. We can’t pretend native history doesn’t exist side by side with white history. We need to look at it in order to heal the deep wounds, the indignation, the anger, the pain. I hope in some way Beside the Long River helps to do that.

9. What is the takeaway—what is it you hope your readers will gain from the book?

The 1636 Pequot War in what today in southeast Connecticut was a massacre of six hundred natives justified by the belief that English colonists were destined by God to expand their dominion across North America. The Pequot nation stood in the way of fulfilling that destiny. Few settlers objected and even fewer tried to stop the attack. That persecution and bloodshed continued well into the 19^thcentury, and prejudices against Native Americans continues to this day.

10. Where can readers purchase the book?

Beside the Long River will be released in January 2022 and is available for preorder from Black Rose Writing (https://www.blackrosewriting.com/historicaladventure/besidethelongriver). Also check my website, louellabryant.com. Look for the book this winter from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever books are available online. 

A writing space of my own

   An MFA in Writing student recently asked for a photo of my writing spot for a lecture she was working on. I’ve never given it much thought, but looking at the space through someone else’s eyes, I see it differently. The big desk was a bargain I couldn’t pass up when a realtor was breaking up her office and wanted to rid herself of the monstrosity. I could never have afforded the heavy seven-drawer thing had it been new or even in a used furniture store. 

When I complained about all the drooping cords blocking the drawers, my husband took his drill and to my horror drilled a hole in the top so I could run the cords through the bottom. I put the bookcase over the hole to hide it and voila! 

I’ve recently changed the pulls from the heavy Victorian style with fancy curves and embellishes to more modern brass pulls that seem to me like em dashes. I use the em dash in place of the semicolon, so the effect pleases me. 

Stephen King keeps his desk under a stairwell with no windows, but I need light. When I first set up the office, the window above the desk was a blank opening to the living room below. That wasn’t working because I could hear my husband talking on his phone or playing his seventies music and his YouTube comedy shows. George Gobel was his favorite, and I heard him giggling at Gobel’s lame jokes. He also likes to vacuum—I’m not sure why. But the growl of the vacuum cleaner was a major distraction. He once put his chainsaw ear protectors on my head while he vacuumed, but that felt weird. We needed to do something else.

He found three antique windows online just the right size and ordered them. They came with a broken piece of glass, which he replaced. I cleaned up the frames and painted them, and he installed them. That meant moving the desk, which turned out to be a good thing since I’d never cleaned under it or behind it. While I was at it, I painted the office a nice buff color. No writing for a week, however. 

The look now gives the sense of a real office, like one of those antique bank offices with windows that look out on the business at hand but which muffle sound. The windows also keep me from thinking about pitching myself out the opening when I get a rejection, which happens at least once a week. Fortunately, these windows don’t open. 

My office also has a pocket door, which I can close when there’s noise downstairs. To the right of the desk I’ve set up a small cot for napping and lots of pillows for propping myself up when I need to think about where a story is going. There’s a radio, which is useless because we live in a rural area that only receives an AM station that sells farm equipment and plays lousy music. But the device has a CD player, and you may be able to see the stack of CDs above the floor lamp. I like to listen to instrumental music when I’m writing. Blues peps me up when I need to gut through a paragraph. And Buena Vista Social Club gives me a chance to get out of my swivel chair and do some dancing to relieve stress.

Atop the desk you’ll find a water bottle, framed family photos, a calendar book, notepads, and lots of important scraps of paper on which I’ve made scribbles about something or other. Often I can’t decipher my own writing. There’s a New Yorker cartoon tear-off calendar for some comic relief when I can understand the esoteric meanings. In the book case are a Roget’s, Rumi translation, journals, Bartlett’s, a dictionary, two books of quotations by famous women, and more scraps of paper with undecipherable snippets of thoughts. 

Under the desk is the printer which works only sometimes. I have to hold my mouth just right, as my mother would say. Fortunately, most publishing venues want work submitted online these days.

I’m lucky to have an extra room upstairs where I’ve been able to make a space that’s all mine. I’m not one to seek out a busy coffee shop or even the library with youngsters dashing about and the librarian greeting customers. Every writer needs a place, even if it’s in a stairwell. Rent if you must—above someone’s garage or a stall in a barn or an unused shed. Surround yourself with what’s familiar and what makes you comfortable. Fix the light just right but don’t get too comfortable. Whatever you do, you mustn’t allow the muse to fall asleep.

On Getting an agent

 Who doesn't need an agent? Getting book representation is harder than getting published. I should know. 

My 4th book came out in September 2008 with Black Lawrence Press under Dzanc's umbrella, and this one, like the others, found its way into print without an agent. I don't doubt that an agent could have gotten me a better contract if she had been able to sell my manuscripts. But how can I be sure she'd work hard enough to land me a publisher in the first place? And would she negotiate enough money to make her 14% or 15% commission justifiable? 

I was at a League of Vermont Writers meeting on a Saturday where four agents spoke about their businesses, each focusing on a different type of writing. One specialized in cookbooks. Another wanted good young adult lit. One handled only romance novels. The fourth was rather, well, vague about what she wanted. 

I have so many questions about agents: If I get an offer, how do I know I've got the right person for my book? How do I know the agent is legit and not a scam artist (all it takes to become a literary agent is letterhead). How do I know the agent is good at selling manuscripts? How do I know this is a person I can get along with? 

I wish I had the answers to any of those questions. You can check AAR to see if the agent is listed, but some good agents are not members and, anyway, I'm not sure being a member of AAR is a sure bet that an agent can sell your book. Other than that, finding an agent is a crap shoot, at best. But there are some things to be wary of. 

Foremost, never pay an agent up front to represent your manuscript. An agent from Stylus Agency responded with bubbling enthusiasm to my query and sent me a contract which asked for a check for $2500 to "start the ball rolling." She must've thought I was an idiot. But do the math. If she gets four suckers a week to send her a check, that's ten grand without lifting the telephone. Times that by, say, fifty weeks a year, considering that she may take a vacation, and, well, not a bad racket. And her letterhead wasn't even that good. 

The four agents I met at LVW did not lack for business. One said she gets 8,000 queries a year. Math again--that's 32 a day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year. Each query has up to 50 pages of manuscript, and each needs a response--usually "sorry." A few might look good enough that she'll ask to see the manuscript. My eyes are burning just thinking of it. 

I have a friend with a dynamite young adult novel he's trying to sell and is looking for an agent. I told him about the YA agent and gave him the link to his website. He sent a query and within hours got a negative response. Now, I know the agent is still traveling because he said he'd be out of town until August. He could certainly check his emails while he's away, but the rejection said just, "Dear Writer," which tells me that he has his email on auto response. He probably never even saw the query. Too bad for him. 

For the time being, I'm not going to waste my time navigating through the wilderness of haughty and supercilious would-be agents. I'll let the agents come to me. I've usually got a little novel waiting patiently for some attention.

The Writing Group

One of the best ways to move your writing along is to have good readers, and a writing group can fit the bill. Read my last entry for how to find people you can trust. Make arrangements for a comfortable and convenient place to meet, a place with good light at a time that works for everyone. My group meets at our local library every other Wednesday morning. Because we have flexible schedules, we're able to meet as the sun is rising over Mt. Abe and shining in the big library windows while we lounge on upholstered furniture in the reading area. 

We've tried meeting at houses of members, and that's fine if someone is willing to provide the space, but the library is central for all of us. If you decide to meet in the evenings, the library may also be able to accommodate you. Some groups have dinner meetings, but I find that a meal distracts from the work you've set out to do. You can define your own purposes, but my fellow writers come to work on writing, and we budget our time so we can fit in all our business within our scheduled time. If someone wants to bring a little snack, that's fine. But, for us, the discussion of our writing is most important. 

I suggest you limit the size of your group to half a dozen writers so that everyone has a chance to speak. You can invite eight and expect that a couple won't be able to make every meeting. Four writers means that I'm getting comments from only three other writers, which doesn't offer enough variety of opinion for me. You might start with a larger group and expect that some will drop out. 

Committing to a regular schedule of writing is very hard for most people. The real writers will hang in there. At your first meeting, make introductions and let everyone talk for a few minutes (keep time if you must) about their writing projects and their writing objectives. Then set up a schedule you can keep. Once a week is a whale of a commitment. Once a month is not nearly enough. My group used to meet once every three weeks, but we found that we wanted feedback more regularly than that, so we agreed to every other week, which works well for us. 

Make sure that everyone understands that being in the group means commitment, loyalty, and confidentiality. All groups function differently. In my group, we have a rule that we email our work to each other by Sunday night before the Wednesday meeting. That gives us a few days to read and mark up the pieces. We also write a brief note of explanation for the reader and hand her the manuscript back after discussing the piece. Having the story ahead of time allows me to go more deeply into the spirit of the work and give the writer better comments. 

We have a length limit of 20 pages, double spaced. Often early drafts are less than that, and sometimes the pieces run over. We're flexible with the length rule. If a writer wants to send a huge chunk of, say, a novel, she needs to make sure it's okay with the group before she sends. Exercise courtesy. Don't take unfair advantage. 

Make sure someone with a watch keeps time, and allow about a half hour for each piece or however long you need to fit in all writers within your time frame. When we discuss a story, we begin by having the writer read a paragraph so we can hear her voice and how she inflects. Usually she will pick out a strong section of the story, and we begin by talking about that. A "leader" generally emerges in each group, someone who makes sure everyone is involved and one or two speakers aren't dominating the discussion. You may become that leader. 

Always always always begin on a positive note. There is something worthy in every story, essay or poem. Bring the strengths to the front of the discussion because once the train of negativity starts rolling down the track, it picks up speed and is hard to derail. Everyone needs to toss in a positive comment before questions and suggestions. We are all sensitive about our writing, and we all are trying to do our best. Be sure to acknowledge the heart behind the words. 

While the work is being discussed, the writer is silent. The tendency is to defend our work, the precious offspring of our muses. Defense is a waste of time. Th

e writer needs to hear what the readers like and don't like, what they agree or disagree about, what suggestions they have to make the writing stronger. Afterward, the writer can clarify, ask a speaker to elaborate or, yes, defend the piece. 

I also exchange comments once a month with another writer. The two of us meet either at her place or mine, and we have tea and a snack and read our pieces aloud to each other. In a large group, I find I get distracted when I try to listen, but with one other writer, it's not a problem, especially if the meeting place is cozy and private. While she reads, I take notes on phrases that impress me and questions that arise about something in the story. Usually the pieces are no more than a dozen pages. When she finishes reading, we discuss her purpose, how well she had addressed it, and what she might do to tighten. Reading my own story aloud, I always "hear" things I miss when I'm just looking at the words on the screen or page. 

I hope it's obvious that I enjoy my writing group. I even socialize with a couple of the members. But you don't have to be best friends. You just need to respect each other and honor each individual's best intentions when it comes to writing.

You've written something...now what?

 

Let's assume you've written a story or an essay or a poem. Good work! Now put it in a drawer and walk around the block. Ten times. Or, if you live where I do, walk up the dirt road a mile and trot back down. 

What will happen is that your brain will begin to sort out your writing, fill in the empty spaces, cut things you don't need, organize your thoughts according to some logic that escaped you when you were communing with the muse. For some reason, the rational mind engages when you're away from your work. 

I think of that first draft as a big crush. That fellow is just the cutest thing. How could anyone be any cuter than he? I want to show him off to the world so everyone can agree that I'm a great gal to be with such a jolly fellow. But if I put him in the drawer and take a walk, I start thinking about the lump on his forehead and his giggle (which seemed so endearing at first and now is inane and vacuous). I begin to think like my mother, who would wonder what I'm doing with such a loser. And then I have to decide if this fellow has enough going for him that I'm willing to work with him. I can trim the hair growing in his ears. I can buy him a belt to hold up his pants. I can teach him how to order good wine. I think I can do these things. And so maybe I'll give him another shot. 

If you do decide to go back and work with the draft, give it a solid rewrite. When you think it's ready, ask someone else to read it. Michael Chabon says you need a conscious critic, what he calls a guy on the dock. Writing a story is like designing a ship. You've got a good drawing and a pretty smooth idea of what the ship is going to look like. Now you've got to start building it, but in order to do that, you've got to go down into the boiler room. But once you're down there, you can't see how the ship is coming along. So you need a guy on the dock to tell you if the deck is level, if the portholes are even, if the mast is straight. For you, the guy on the dock is also a good reader. 

So, how do you find this guy? In the last blog, I suggested you talk to your local librarian about good books to read. Now I suggest you go back to her and tell her that you need a reader. She probably knows people who like to write or at least people who like to read and know something about what they're reading. You don't need a Pulitzer winner to give you feedback on your story. Some of my best readers don't write at all, but they read everything they can get their hands on, and they read really good literature. They know when I'm off course, and they get a little thrill when they read a description that lifts off the page. Don't discount someone who hasn't published. Good readers are hiding in your neighborhood like gems in the cracks of the floorboards. See if you can dig them out. 

You may have to do favors for a good reader, like bake her a pie or take her out to lunch. When your story is farther along, you may even want to pay someone to read it, but save that for just before you're ready to send it to a publisher. In the meantime, ask your librarian to put a small ad in her monthly newsletter inviting people in your community to start a writing group. 

My writing group is my most valuable resource. Two other members are published writers: one writes a weekly finance column for a women's newsletter; the other is an acupuncturist with a book about medicine and spirituality. Then there's a midwife, a retired elementary school teacher, a Buddhist nun, and a 21-year-old genius. They are each good eyes for my work, and I value every word of feedback they give me on my writing. 

Next time I'll write more about writing groups. There are some things you should know before you hand your tender paragraphs over to outsiders. Stay tuned.

How to get off the mark with writing

 

This article is meant to be about you and how to get you started down the literary path, but perhaps I should tell you first why I think I can help you. 

I taught high school English for 25 years, helping students not only improve their writing but also develop a love for good literature. It was hard for them to believe that the authors of the works in their anthologies were at one point living, breathing people. 

When my first book, a young adult historical novel about the underground railroad, was accepted for publication, the call came into the classroom while I was leading a group of ninth graders who qualified as reluctant learners. To my surprise, when I told them my book was going to be published, they burst into applause. Here was an author standing in front of them. Not just a name in black letters on a white page, but a real person, someone they knew. It was a defining moment for me. 

For the rest of the year, not only did I have these students' attention, but I became committed to writing and to trying to get published again and again. To improve my writing technique, I enrolled in the MFA in Writing program at Vermont College with a focus on fiction. During the two-year program, I worked with four instructors who looked closely at my work and gave me individual feedback. One of those mentors was author Sena Jeter Naslund. She must have seen something in my writing and in my workshop comments because she confided that she was going to start her own MFA program in Louisville and asked me if I would serve on the faculty. I didn't have to think long about my answer. 

When Sena was ready to launch the Spalding University MFA in Writing Program in Louisville, she gave me a call. I took early retirement from teaching and began mentoring adult students in fiction and writing for children. And the longer I work with writing students, the more I learn about writing. 

So, let me give you some tips that might help you improve your writing. First, writing goes hand-in-hand with reading. Ask your local librarian for tips about good literary books to read. Librarians love it when you ask about books because they became librarians because they love books, so don't be shy about approaching a librarian. Start with the classics, like Tolstoy, Flaubert, Garcia-Marquez, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner, O'Connor, Cather and Wharton. Join a book group so you'll have someone to talk with about what you read. 

As you read, ask yourself questions about the main character. What is her desire? What stands in the way of fulfilling that desire? What conflicts does she face, and are they outside of her power or within herself? How does she go about getting what she wants? Does she succeed? What does she learn by the end? Also pay attention to the passages in the books that you particularly like. Are they action or reflection? Are they simple phrases or long, looping sentences? Or is it the dialog that attracts you and what is it about the dialog that you like? It's a good idea to buy an inexpensive copy of these books so you can write in the margins and highlight passages that you want to come back to. Maybe you'll want to read a book twice, once for the story and a second time to study the story's structure and the author's techniques. 

Read as much as you can. Listen to books on CD when you're driving in the car. Think about where your mind drifts away and when you're caught up closely in a scene. Make a list of books you like and books you don't. Read more titles by the authors you like and get to know their style. Lots of writers even copy passages from good books so they can "feel" the words as they flow through the pen onto paper. I like to read passages aloud so I can taste the words and experience the breath it takes to say them. And read books about writing, like Ann Lamotte's Bird By Bird or Betsy Lerner's The Forest For the Trees or Stephen King's On Writing. 

For inspiration, I turn to Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write, which was first published in the 1930s, although there are more recent editions. You'll find a whole section of books related to writing in your local bookstore. Browse and see what catches your eye. 

Second, get writing. If you want to write, you must write. Flaubert wrote only a paragraph a day, but it was one fine paragraph. When I'm writing a novel, I force myself to write two pages a day, double-spaced. Some days two pages doesn't seem like much and I'll write five or even ten pages on that good day. On other days, two pages takes hours and hours and at the end of the day I feel as if I've given a quart of blood. Some days those two pages are pretty darn good, and other days they are nothing but drivel. 

On days when I can't stand my own story (and those days happen often), I write in a journal about the weather or what happened at the gym or what I had for breakfast. I have a dozen friends who started out wanting to write, gave it a shot, and quit. That's tragic because if you want someone to read what you have written, you must have written something. As I have said, if you want to write, you must write. And if you must write, you must also be willing to plant your bottom on a horizontal surface for long periods of time. Without the television on. Without people talking to you. And, for me, without music blasting (although I know lots of writers who like instrumental music while they write). 

Try writing in a variety of places. I have one writer friend who can only begin a new story if she is wearing her fuzzy pink bathrobe while sitting on her green couch with a dozen sharpened pencils and a brand new pad of yellow legal paper. And a cup of tea. Or a pot of tea. Some people like to write in the kitchen, where they can be near food. Writing and snacks make a nice pairing. Other lucky writers have an office or a studio all their own, and they write there. 

If I'm writing something new, I like to take pen and paper to the mall or to the airport or the train station where I can see people and hear snippets of conversation and look at what people are wearing and how they struggle with the ATM machine and watch how they scratch their noses or jiggle a crossed leg. Sometimes I go for a long walk with a voice-activated tape recorder and "talk" my story out. The rhythm of my pace on the dirt road helps me get a cadence, especially in dialog. But the editing takes place at home in total quiet in my writing loft. Find a place that works for you. Make sure it's a comfortable place because, as I have said, you should be there for a very long time.

Okay, that's a start for now. I'll give you more tips in the next blog. Good luck, and good writing!