Anatomy of a Novel #20

Influencers, the influenced and the desire to escape influence

“Influencers” have been around for centuries. Here’s a portrait of one that I fell in love with in an antique (but my husband hates it.) Personally, I enjoy that wry little look on her face.

This is a section of the newsletter The Curious Kat. Follow along as I write novel #4. If you join me here, you’ll be taking a deep dive in the psychology of drafting long form fiction. Who knows, the process may surprise you. What comes easily and what is hard? What kinds of choices am I making and why?

In the coming months I’ll be focusing more on sharing the process of bringing Sho Fu Den back to life than on writing. Stay tuned as I build momentum for tackling decisions about the best way to shape this story of identity, belonging and class.

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My spreadsheet is overwhelmed with orange tabs, along with a smattering of green.

I just confirmed the last author who will be coming to teach in Key West next January¹ (green). This year I got SIXTEEN “no’s” (orange) compared to just seven last year, so I’ve been searching far and wide for faculty to hire.

Mostly, authors decline because they’re too busy, or they don’t want to teach. Sometimes (though rarely) it’s about money.

We’re a tiny nonprofit, and many respected writers happily come to Key West for a week and pocket our smallish honorarium - after all, they get to be among other like-minded authors wearing T-shirts and sandals in the middle of winter. And we take great care of them. But this year one of the booking agents (all authors, even new ones, seem to work through booking agents these days) practically laughed in my face at my invitation: “To be honest, if we can get closer to $100,000 then it might be possible.”

For four days of work? I was impressed that a literary writer can command that sort of fee. Does this mean the arts are flourishing?

I kept searching and musing… looking up new names and reading newsletters and brainstorming.

It’s all a bit of a balancing act. I’m looking for big names, of course, but am also interested in up-and-coming authors with strong voices, writers who’ll add something fresh and different to the roster.

I’m thinking about whether these authors will be good teachers… do they have an interesting point of view… are they high energy and generous… will they represent our “brand” well… are they famous/ intriguing enough to attract people willing to pay a lot to come to Key West… do they compliment the other writers on the faculty… are they too niche or too broad - or not niche or broad enough?

For about three months each year I’m occupied by reading reviews, following tips and links, reading books, looking up prizes and nominations and trying to assess whether an author will be enough of a draw. (Each year at least one workshop ends up getting only a trickle of applicants. It’s my job to make faculty feel satisfied and useful - and happy they agreed to come - so it’s no fun dealing with workshops that are hard to fill.)

Quite a lot of my thought process revolves around what makes a published writer APPEAR to be successful, high profile, a mover and shaker.

I write “appear” to be successful because there’s no actual definition of a successful author, it’s mostly about public perception.

Every person in these pictures (authors, students, scholarship winners) was invited to Key West by me - such a fun part of my job!

Sure, a bestselling author is “successful,” but s/he might be a poor choice in terms of fulfilling my various mandates. Equally, a not-yet-"successful”-but-highly-talented-writer might make an incredible teacher.

Here I always have to ask myself whether or not my applicants will think so, too. People who end up applying are influenced by an author’s body of work, of course, but often their perception of the author is just as great a motivator.

And who creates that perception? The media.

Are you “in” or are you “out”?

Of course I’m driven in these choices (at least initially) by my own curiosity and inclinations. There has to be something about the writer that I’m drawn to. I admire boldness. The deft breaking of rules. An attempt to reveal something fresh and relevant. A clear interest in community (in other words, a good dose of empathy).

When this process is over, I inevitably end up where I am right now: thinking about what it is that makes a writer trendy or popular.

How do some writers with one modest publication under their belt achieve such high profiles in such a brief amount of time? How do other more established writers continue to be “in” when they are, in fact, neither generous nor especially insightful?

What is it that turns readers into fans? Why do some amazingly talented writers seem to be immune to this magic?

Getting my hands dirty

This summer I’m going to turn away from obsessing about the business side of writing and publishing to focus more directly on reactivating creativity. I’m going to stop reading my 147 Substacks about the book industry. I don’t need to know the numbers, the strategies, who’s winning and who’s losing.

And I’m going to move away from being so concerned with productivity and toward the freedom of allowing things to unfold more slowly.

I don’t want to think about the influencers, or be influenced. What I want to do is get my hands dirty.

If I’m going to be writing about Sho Fu Den and all the fabulous and crazy stories that have swirled around it for 120 years, why not think and write more about the house itself? So get ready for posts about gold paint, whether cement foo dogs are acceptable or not, hanging wallpaper murals and how to stencil an absolutely ginormous ceiling.

It’s a roundabout route to novel writing, and one I’ll be taking soon.

Sho Fu Den, rising from the dead

1. Each year, in my capacity as program coordinator for Key West Literary Seminar, I hire 8 - 10 authors to come teach in Key West for a week in January.