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So. Much. Buzz

As the Duke of Sussex's memoir, Spare, hits #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list, there is an amusing divide on both sides of the pond.

UK readers are crazy offended that Prince Harry had a ghostwriter.

US readers shrug and don't care.

On which side of the pop culture divide to you fall?

Are you curious to unpack what it means to be a ghostwriter, how it impacts the reader experience, what interaction Harry and his ghostwriter might have had, and - most importantly - what a ghostwriter snacks on while under deadline?

You don't want to miss the bruised banana story, either.

I'm so thankful to be a featured guest on the Authors & Audiences podcast. Listen to it wherever you enjoy podcasts or visit the A&A homepage for direct links. Let me know what you think!

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No other topic will be as discussed in 2023 publishing as AI. If you’re not yet paying attention, you should be.

Let’s break down the perks and concerns of artificial intelligence as it pertains to self-publishing. As with everything in this industry, I encourage you to investigate the subject and reach personal conclusions. My aim here is to ensure my clients are informed and protected.

Machine learning is here. We’ve all laughed at the social media posts of AI spitting out a Hallmark movie script, a holiday coffee commercial, or something else to entertain us about how wildly accurate, yet off, they are. But as we all know, the quality of content that ai generates improves with more time and more publicly available content. And yes, that includes your books, blurbs, bios, blog posts, and marketing pitches.

December marked the first time I’ve seen someone publicize their entire journey for a children’s book, from idea to uploaded for sale on Amazon, completely leaning into ai technology for everything. The subject matter was a robot, so this creator/programmer used his ai experience as a marketing tool for the book. Check out the polar reviews for yourself—hailed as groundbreaking! and abysmal! The point here isn’t the quality of the reading experience—it’s early, and I agree with one reviewer who suggested if this guy was a writer, he might have instructed the ai software better. The point here is that soon, as ai improves, potential buyers will not know the difference between books generated by ai and your books.

There is no way to stop this technology, so we should think about how to ai-proof our brand and our businesses. The human element will be imperative.

This statement may seem strange coming from someone who’s built a freelance business as a ghostwriter. Ghostwriting is a form of deception when considering the marketing angle. It's problematic when an author presents herself as someone who has locked herself away in her office and toiled over every sentence when, in fact, she hired out the process. But at its most basic level, the unfolding words are still a dynamic interplay and creation between a writer—a ghostwriter—and a reader. Human to human.So what happens when that dynamic interplay happens between software/algorithms and a reader? Social media platforms already feed us content that most excites us. Does that mean we can look forward to books in our favorite genres that align our most desirable tropes like catnip and deliver a story we’re guaranteed to love, or does that mean a fundamental breakdown in the heart and themes and human connectedness readers feel after a great read?

THE WORDS

ChatGPT is probably the ai interface you’ll hear most about this year. In exchange for signing up on the site with your name, phone number, and email address, this interface allows you to feed it information about what you want it to generate, and it will write copy for you. I promise that your author competition is already availing themselves of this technology to brainstorm plots, write rough drafts of back cover blurbs, and come up with those punchy marketing lines in their ads. For example, compare these two blurbs for my Kindle Vella story, FARTHERMOST:

Blurb written by Laura:

Five years past the End Times War, inside the bombed-out shell of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, seventeen-year-old Ronin Black discovers a portal to a secret realm where all of art's masterpieces, from doodles to Degas, blend into a vast canvas of shared emotion. Together with a motley band of art misfits, this thief-turned-guardian discovers that the key to restoring humanity is closer than he ever imagined. New episodes on Thursdays and Sundays.

Blurb written by ChatGPT:

Ronin is a teenage boy thief with a knack for finding trouble. One day, he discovers a secret portal to an art realm where all of the world's masterpieces blend together. With the help of new friends he meets there, Ronin becomes the guardian to the realm and sets out on a mission to restore humanity. But danger lurks around every corner, and Ronin must use all of his skills and cunning to protect the art realm and the people he has come to care about.


Obviously, it generates the specificity you put into it. Maybe it's more compelling than mine - who knows? But you can see how it becomes a baseline for ideas in many publishing areas.

Some things to know about ChatGPT:

The potential for plagiarism is ripe (after all, it’s picking content from public sources), so use it only as a brainstorming tool. Word-for-word will get you into hot water.

Don’t believe everything it generates. Fact-check everything independently.

Never submit personal information. For example, if you’d like it to write you a resume, input fake-but-similar information while it generates. Then substitute your personal information when preparing to send the material.

This site is run by ai researchers, which is the reason it requires an account to log in.The site goes down frequently because its traffic is climbing exponentially.

Keep trying if you don’t get in the first few times.


THE GRAPHICS

I used Midjourney (ai for graphics) to generate the art I used for FARTHERMOST for several reasons. This choice allowed me to (a) have meaningful conversations with my graphic artist/software engineer daughter regarding the future of this technology as it relates to publishing, (b) brought me closer to the genre art expected by teens and young adults, and (c) was accessible behind a paywall my daughter had already bought into for coding work.

Midjourney, like ChatGPT, scours all graphics ever created and uploaded to the internet, along with keywords that the user inputs, to generate graphics that sample and unify the illustrations and art of others. How much of any one artist is anyone’s guess, but without any one of the source materials, I would not have these precise graphics.

As with text, it's early and imperfect, but your author competition already uses programs like Midjourney to create book covers, marketing ads, social media/brand banners, and website graphics.

Will I use these graphics when I release FARTHERMOST on KDP? The short answer is that I’m still determining how I feel about all this. I still have a few months to decide.

And so do you.

Think about what "secret sauce" you bring to your readers that no one, especially a machine, can deliver. Focus the nurturing of your business in those directions. 

I encourage all of you to read up on ai and its potential impact on the publishing industry. What was once a futuristic sci-fi theory is here. Only you can decide how you feel about it and what impact you’ll allow on your brand and business.
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Originally published Writers in the Storm, July 1, 2022

I’m often asked, “Who pays for ghostwriting?” An all-encompassing response escapes me. My clients are people with the desire and resources to chase dreams, but they lack essential components to get them to the finish line. For celebrities, entrepreneurs, and the elderly, that component is time. For publishers, companies, and professionals at the peak of their careers, that component is writing talent. Clients come to me with vast and powerful life experiences, like musicians whose song deserves to be heard on a guitar with a missing string. 

As a ghostwriter, I am the missing string. 

Respect is the heart of a successful ghostwriting relationship. My clients respect the dedication it took to hone my writing skills. I respect that a missing string, while essential to the song, cannot take credit for beautiful music. 

I’ve amassed a network of remarkable individuals who come to me to be their words. They refer others so I can become their words too. Their identities remain protected, a component of that respect, but knowing more about the types of clients I help elevates the discussion around the often-misunderstood practice of ghostwriting and may encourage writers to share their talents in ways that have the potential to elevate us all. 

Celebrities

Always a fun topic. It’s no surprise that an estimated 70 to 80 percent of celebrity memoirs are ghostwritten. Peak earnings for ghostwriters fall into this category. Legacy publishers keep proven bestselling ghostwriters as favorites in their contact list, so once you’re in, you’re in. 

The main currency of clients at this level is trust. Unless you already know a celebrity, it can take years to build enough of a high-power network to ghostwrite at this level. For me, year nine aligned in a crazy, magical way. Through referrals, I was simultaneously ghostwriting for an international supermodel, a Sundance Film Festival nominee, a songwriter in collaboration with a Grammy-winning producer, and one of the most connected health gurus in Hollywood. One client told a publisher that he would not sign a contract unless I was his ghost. And like that, I was in.

If you overdeliver for mid-level ghostwriting clients, you will eventually run across someone with a powerful connection. The trust you’ve nurtured with mid-level clients transfers to your celebrity referral if that celebrity likes and trusts your mutual acquaintance.  

Entrepreneurs/Thought Leaders/Business Rock Stars

My first ghostwriting client was a software engineer who wanted a choose-your-own-adventure story for the Apple format. My most recent client in this category just launched his own nutritional company. I’ve ghostwritten for business professionals who do improv comedy at night, multi-million-dollar energy companies, and the guy handling my personal investments. What do all these business-minded people have in common? They all have a desire to control their narrative.

Beyond the buzz words of authority marketing and social proof, clients in this category want content that works for them, in whatever form best reaches their audience. Sometimes it’s an article in a trade magazine. Sometimes it’s a press release or a regular feature in a periodical. Not everyone has a dream to write a book, but almost every person can better connect to professional goals with quality written content.

You likely already know ghostwriting clients who fall into this category or are (at most) one degree of separation. Announce to your network that you’re interested in taking on writing projects in all forms. Then help professionals brainstorm how written content can turn into multiple revenue streams and elevate their professional visibility.

Mid-list Authors/ Self-published Authors/Hybrid Authors

Self-published and hybrid authors who create a publishing company and master the production cycle from idea to release understand that turning a profit is directly tied to the number of releases. One way to increase output is to use a ghostwriter in the creative process.

One client, a traditionally published USA Today bestselling romance author, utilizes me for first draft assistance. She gives me a series bible and a detailed book outline. I weave plot threads, arc emotions, drive intimacy beats, and drop cliffhangers. Ultimately, however, readers want her, so she transforms my first draft into her voice. She loves revision, so this method works for her. Her publisher is pleased by her prolific output, she doesn’t get mired in her most challenging phase, and I spend my writing days in her fantastic story worlds.

Another market-savvy indie author client who pays close attention to subgenre trends hires ghostwriters. This allows her to chase reader demand while her personal writing stays in her favorite genre lane. In her case, each ghostwriter is tied to a different pen name under her control, but it’s just as easy to tie a group of ghostwriters to the same pen name. Readers don’t notice voice differences the way authors do, or they don’t care. As long as the books deliver on the promise, this model works.  

Ordinary Extraordinary People

Ask almost anyone, “What’s one story from your life that no one would believe?” Answers to this question often deliver the best of humanity—stories that pull at the heartstrings and set us all firmly inside our feelings. 

These clients come from your network or from referrals. They may only have one story, one memoir inside them. That’s okay. One story may not make them the most lucrative client, but they are often the most loyal referrers. My litmus test for taking on such projects is simple: will this project make the world a better place? If hearing their story puts me inside my feelings, I embrace the project. This question helps me steer clear of the people chasing ego or using their memoir as therapy.

Others who fall into this category initially enter my stable as coaching clients but realize that compelling writing is a marathon, not a sprint. After a goal milestone, I ask, “Do you love writing or do you love having written?” For those who adore the community or the romanticized notion of being a writer but not the process, this epiphany sometimes leads to hiring me as a ghostwriter because we’ve shared their creative space for so long. Poets and screenwriters often have trouble translating their gifts into the narrative form, so we’ll tackle novels together.

Book Packagers & Legacy Publishers

Smaller book packagers who post for contractors on marketplace sites like Upwork enjoy an established framework of contracts, communication avenues, and legal resources backing up the exchange of words for money. Book packagers and traditional publishing houses understand that talented writers travel in talented circles and encourage writers to spread the word among writer friends or ask their established writers to dabble in ghostwriting. Both business models treat ghostwriting with the efficiency of a well-established cog in the publishing machine.

If you want to ghostwrite for packagers or publishers and already have an agent and editor, communicate your willingness and your reasons for ghostwriting with your team. So long as your output doesn’t impact your personal career, you’ll be seen as a team player who prioritizes publisher success. If you aren’t yet connected to a publishing house, a quick internet search leads you to the opportunities offered by book packagers.

Ghostwriting has been one of the greatest blessings in my writing journey because of the scope of incredible clients who enrich my life and creativity. Everyone has a story to tell. Start from a place of respect, nurture your network, and you’ll be amazed at the projects that come your way.

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As writers and consumers of the written word, we must live with the idea of omissions. The process of getting a story on the page is one of inherent loss.

Some of you know that I lost my father this past June. I am so thankful for the times I listened, really listened to his life stories, and for the questions I asked.

One night over drinks, my father told me his story of survival: a plane crash in Central America in the late 60's, drug runners with guns, a pilot's last words in a language he did not know. 

I grew up in suburbia with a Malibu Barbie dream condo and skis on my feet. What I understand of that day in the Guatemalan jungle is far less than my father was able to verbalize. Someday, when some small piece of his plane crash story creeps into one of my novels, as fragments of memories and experiences often do, readers will understand far less than I was able to articulate on the page.

As creators, we must learn to live with that loss, to be okay with the reader not knowing the precise slant of the brutal equatorial rays as they invaded the cockpit at an unnatural angle or the caliber of weapon my father picked up for the first time in his young life to defend himself as he walked for help. As in other aspects of life where loss lives, what choice do writers have? We'll never get it all in. 

In fiction, we aren't meant to chronicle anything that closely. We must also leave room for the reader to unpack his fragments. We leave the essence and hope it is enough.

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My home office window faces north. In southern winters, dreary rain splatters the brick sill past glass I should have cleaned ages ago. My bare feet needle into the lush area rug at my feet. Everywhere are reminders of the convergence of my two writing journeys - first, as an author, and second, as an editor and coach. Most days, I cannot tell the difference. I am open to both. My phone is nearly always audible for a text; my laptop screen is nearly always open. 

Typical days. But this January day was anything but typical.

To properly explain my connection to coaching, I must be vulnerable. Last December, the siren song of another of my freelance branches, ghostwriting, lured me to the firm promise of a lengthy and lucrative contract. Several of my coaching clients were ending our run together because they had reached their goals. A self-published novel. An agent. A traditional contract. Most clients transition away from me on a celebratory note. Many clients return to me for editing projects, but I'm always happy when they find editors elsewhere. It means they are continuing to grow and learn. When I put myself out of business with a client, I know I've done my job well.

One of the remaining clients had been with me for three years. We had accomplished much together, many novels under the bridge, yet her brass ring eluded her. I wondered if she might grow in new and different ways with an alternate voice in her head. I convinced myself of this because, well, Hollywood called.

She set off on a journey to find a new coach. If you don't find anyone, I told her, let me know. This past January day, she contacted me. Through her quest, I learned so much about what other writing coaches do. What coaches should never do. What I will never do. My anger at what she found - money grabs, help that was no help at all, coaches unwilling to roll up sleeves and dirty hands in messy projects, coaches that had the audacity to sublet their services (!!)- sparked this series.

Today, we are working together again. I am grateful that she is part of my writing journey. She pushes me into finding creative solutions. She challenges my notions about genre and the changing landscape of publishing. She reads to her horizons and broadens my perspective. Helping her find that brass ring is the least I can do. 

If coaching holds little interest for you, I invite you to skip my series posts these five days. But if you have ever paid someone to make you better at tennis serves or cooking, if you have ever wondered what heaping servings of personalized advice can bring to your writing table, I encourage you to dive in with me. I will shoot straight so that you may make good decisions with your creative fire.

This series is what I believe a client-coach relationship should be, what I strive to create with each individual, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution. My approach is more of a hybrid between an ongoing editor and a coach. If you want a coach who will mind your days and self-imposed deadlines and fill you with rah-rah pleasantries, I am not for you. Writing is always messiest before the brilliance.

Tomorrow: The Writer-Coach Relationship, Reinvented. Every. Time.

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It's December. Time for the annual roundup of writer-ly gift ideas from people whose romanticized idea of a writer comes from movies or legends handed down from the Edwardian age. Even Writer's Digest is guilty this year. A notebook? Really? Where is the creativity? Where's the sensitivity? Give a writer an expensive moleskin notebook and you might as well have gifted him a crippling case of writer's block. A 15-cent spiral on clearance from a big box store after the back-to-school rush? Now you're talking. Three hundred pages of permission to write crap with a cartoon turtle on the front equals productivity. And the gift of a subscription to Writer's Digest? Wow.

Have no fear, Vortexers. Straight from the 20-year trenches, I present what the writer on your list really wants for a gift.

Time

Time is one of the hardest gifts to give, but it's the gift most writers need. There is never enough of it, and sometimes we fritter it away when the ideas aren't flowing and the prose isn't sliding into place. Figure out the have-to-do chores on your writer's list and select ones you can do. Multiple times. Like a week or a month's worth. Something the writer in your life can count on consistently. The best part? This gift is absolutely free.

Space

If your writer doesn't have a dedicated space to devote to her craft, make one. It doesn't have to be a glammed up she-shed in the backyard or a Hemingway-themed treehouse (though both of these sound amazing). It doesn't even have to be a dedicated room. A corner or desk in a quiet space will do nicely. If space is at a premium in your world, an AirBnB gift card at a local spot for a nice stretch of time would be heaven.

Craft Books

Do not purchase a Writer's Market tome or a Guide to Literary Agents for the current year. By the time the book goes to print, the information is already outdated. A Google search will score the writer in your life the most current information when it comes to getting published. And please no books with writing prompts. Every writer I know already has enough ideas to fill 20 lifetimes. Instead, investigate the best how-to plotting/writing resources that fit your writer's genre. If you're unsure, lean on screenwriting technique-oriented plotting books. Look up the most recent bestsellers in the category of writing. Ask your writer's critique partners or mentor for suggestions.

Knowledge

An extension of craft books, why not purchase an online workshop for the writer in your life? A few hours with a reputable writing coach or developmental editor? A writing retreat or conference? Beyond enhancing his craft, he will make connections, find his tribe of like-minded people, build his network. So much of the great things in this industry are the relationships and the who-you-know along the way.

Tools

Step away from the fancy pens and textured paper. Serious writers today need an arsenal of technology. If a laptop isn't in your budget, consider writing software like Scrivener or programs for editing, productivity, or note-taking. Check around before purchasing. Almost always, online discounts abound.

A Website

This is a deeply personal but necessary part of a writer's personal brand, so unless you have knowledge of exactly how your writer wants to present herself to readers, give the gift of a site consult, an initial design, a hosting/domain package or a mini-course on how to set up a site. If you have design talent and wish to do the work for your writer, sit with her for a few hours and listen to her website needs. Read her work. Get a feel for the colors and textures and tones of other successful writers in her lane. Create it and then gift her the autonomy to run with it.

Books

The greatest teacher for any writer are the greats who have come before. If he writes horror, don't gift him the latest NY Times Bestselling memoir. Dig deep. Find out what critics and readers consider to be the BEST in that genre then hit the discount bookstore and bundle them all up together. If you're unsure, a gift card to his favorite bookstore is always a win.

Experience

Let's say the writer in your life is trying to capture WWII. Why not give her a tour inside the cockpit of a vintage aircraft? If he's writing a police procedural, how about a citizen ride-along or a day at the shooting range? Writers already have to stretch to capture what we do not know on the page. Anything to help with that stretch is most welcome. Experiences spark creativity and create lasting memories.

Apparel

One of the best writer-ly gifts I ever received was a T-shirt imprinted with my entire story. Yes, it gets awkward when I'm wearing it in a long check out line and I can feel people's eyes on it, but writers love wearing things that put us squarely inside our niche culture. Edgar Allan Poe pajama bottoms. Little Women slippers. Just remember, we don't dress in our Neiman Marcus best when we write. Out of necessity, we write dressed comfortably. It's impossible to slip into an alternate universe in a tweed coat and loafers that pinch.

If you have other suggestions, we'd love to read them in the comments below. Happy shopping!

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When I sit down to write a fiction story, I make ten thousand decisions: what to detail, what to leave out; what to hang on the walls and echo through the chambers of story space, what remains silent; what of the laundry list of emotions I should pluck and what those emotions look like on each character in my story.

When Augustine sat down to write his memoir, he made the same ten thousand decisions. His choices were informed by reality, but the fact that they happened does not negate the details and echoes and emotions he carefully selected to tell his story. A huge portion of my job as his writing coach was to teach him to remain in individual memories, to look around, to remember his five senses, to immerse himself in that breath so that he could draw the reader into the page in the same way.

Diaries and journals contain details, but they largely preoccupy themselves with internal thought and the telling of emotion. By virtue of writing the diary, the narrator is an expert. In a memoir, however, the writer must convince the reader of his expertise. A memoir writer uses every tool in a writer’s toolbox because he must. Readers come to fiction ready to suspend disbelief. Readers come to memoirs from a place of challenge: make me care, make me scream or laugh or cry, I dare you.

Because this is the last day of my memoir series, I want to finish an excerpt from THE NATURE OF SHADOWS that, I think, captures Augustine’s essence as I’ve come to know him.

From chapter 16: (In exchange for an education during the day, Augustine secretly takes a job as a night janitor, cleaning up after his classmates):

On a few occasions, I became a one-man show in the empty hallways. Lean on Me was my tune of choice. The lyrics fed me. I was Fred Astaire’s footwork, Al Green’s soul, and the vocal powerhouse of a fully-assembled, cloaked and clapping background choir rolled into one.

Occasionally, this song pops up on a random radio station, and I’m right there in an empty school in Liberia, watching him dance, making joy out of sorrow and light out of darkness. I scream, I laugh, I cry, I care. I am a changed individual because I know Augustine’s story. I hope you will be too.

Thank you for reading.

Coming Oct 18

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Memoir, by nature, is self-indulgent. Unless someone is famous or comes with a platform of admirers who enjoy a sneak peek at a private side of their life, the memoirist can wonder if what he/she has to say is beneficial to anyone. What is it inside some people that makes them burn to tell their stories? Adversity? Narcissism? A uniqueness of background or perspective?

I suspect that more than a handful of memoirs began as self-therapy projects.

Coming Oct 18

At some point, however, the writer must flip the narrative. The book becomes about the reader, not the writer—or, at least, it should. Many times, Augustine questioned—who would want to read about a boy who grew up in a hut in Africa, a boy who could accurately describe an absence of food that clawed from the inside, a boy who did not use eating utensils until he was fourteen? My answer to him was simple: who wouldn’t want to know a boy who grew up in polygamy, who had the courage to walk away from his abuse at twelve and raise himself, who, time and again, chose poverty over the easy route of becoming a child soldier because he was a pacifist before he even knew what that meant, and who rose above an  oppressive adversity to become the man he knew he was inside? Most of all, who wouldn’t want reassurance that we’re all on this horrific and wonderful ride of life together and that kindness will always be the rising tide that lifts all boats?

I love this quote from Rachel Cusk, a Canadian-born novelist and writer:

“In memoir, you have to be perfectly careful not to alienate the reader by making the material too lived-in. It mustn’t have too much of the smell of yourself, otherwise the reader will be unable to make it her own.”

Augustine showed great care to inject universal touchpoints of the human experience: first love, the challenges of a father-son dynamic, that teacher who believed in you before you believed in yourself, the first time someone hustled you out of hard-earned cash, a days-long adventure with your friends that aged you tenfold. Disappointment, elation, grief, humiliation—everything a coming-of-age story should be—it’s all here. His Africa is immersive and lived-in (and there are smells, you can imagine), but there is plenty here for each reader to make his/her own.

Day 6: What of the Ones Who Still Draw Breath?

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One of my greatest personal challenges with co-writing the memoir THE NATURE OF SHADOWS was a total ignorance about the subject matter. I was coming at Augustine’s life with all the preconceptions and bias and indifference that his target audience would bring to the page. In the book’s introduction, Augustine addresses some of those cultural blind spots. They were my blind spots. He meets them head-on, like a literary throat clearing, as if to say: I know you don’t think of Liberia, but here is what you probably think about it if it does cross your mind. His candidness allows readers to take those first few emotional steps of investment without feeling ashamed of all they don’t know. The map in the book’s pre-matter was his idea. He didn’t want Liberia to be some place in the reader’s mind. He wanted Liberia to be a specific place.

Is this a donut? Someone please inform.

As writers, we know specificity is the key to reader immersion. It’s counter-intuitive, really. We want our settings to appeal to all, to be universal, but by using general and inclusive language, the narrative appeals to no one. Specificity resonates. Specificity allows the reader to lean into the writer, as if to say: I believe you. I trust you as an authority on the subject. Now take me somewhere I’ve never been.

From Chapter Four:

“Those early days were filled with Mano and Vai and Bassa dialects and the common house-language of English. I understood none of it because my native tongue was Mende. My father had spoken Mende to me on our journey but left our common language at the border like a discarded shoe that no longer fit him. I found Mano to be swift and abrasive, prime for winning arguments. Bassa was flat and slurred and lazy, while the Vai dialect packaged words into tidy bundles. Kinnie’s Vai resonated at a low frequency—monotone, peaceful. I wanted her to be my mother because of her tone and cadence, but my father had made it clear the first night that she was not to be my mother.”   --THE NATURE OF SHADOWS

And Chapter Twenty:

“The medicine man entered the room. He was naked but for a white cloth at his waist and a carved, wooden lion head and fang suspended from a cord around his neck. His gray hair was untamed; his teeth were like nuts that had sprouted from a decaying earth. He carried a small aluminum cup and the tail of an animal—a rabbit or some other small mammal—charred to grizzle where it had been severed. Where the two met, inside his gibberish chants and wild gesticulations as if he was fending off a swarm of bees, was his potion that appeared nothing more than soiled water and smelled of rotten oranges. And as if the spraying of the room’s four corners and my brother’s body hadn’t been sufficient, the herbalist tipped Sheriff’s lips to the bowl and poured the remainder of his potion down his gullet.”  --THE NATURE OF SHADOWS

No amount of research could show me what it was like to be inside a hovel made from dirt with a medicine man. I trusted Augustine to take me somewhere I had never been. And boy, did he deliver. Bringing remote Africa to a Westernized audience was a steep hill to climb. Some of our discussions were a hyper-specific Q&A. Oddly enough, I remember a lengthy back and forth about the animal part hanging from the medicine man’s neck. Pretty sure I pictured everything from a wild boar incisor to those dyed rabbit’s foot keychains that were around when I was a kid (which, by the way, ew. Why were those a thing?) Such a crazy-specific discussion about the animal part and a thousand other details about life in the remote villages of Liberia was fascinating and tedious and necessary.

Specificity resonates. In fiction. In memoir. In all writing.

Day Five: Getting Past the Veneer of Narcissism

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Arguably more than any other genre, memoir leans on the concept of theme to be potent and focused and effective. Whereas autobiographies are careful to detail the entire scope of a person’s life, memoir is a snapshot. That snapshot can last a day or a decade, so long as there is a unifying point.

Coming October 18, 2019

One of the first big decisions Augustine and I encountered was how to effectively tell his story. Chronological seemed most obvious. THE NATURE OF SHADOWS covers his life from his earliest, unreliable memories until the United States granted him a diversity visa as a young man in his 20s. We were looking at a span of twenty years, which fit genre expectations as a maximum amount of time memoirs should cover. Obviously, not everything that happened in Augustine’s life in those two decades was memoir-worthy. To narrow the scope, we had to dig deeper.

Mary Karr, in her book THE ART OF MEMOIR, writes about the overabundance in the memoir genre of “butt-whooping” stories. The phrase perfectly describes what I found to be true in my early research of the genre: a glut of drug and alcohol dependency and abuse journeys. Augustine’s life could certainly fit into the latter category. But from the beginning, Augustine wasn’t about that. He always wanted his message to be pure and clear and hopeful. A memoir can’t be all unicorns and rainbows to be effective. Light always shines brightest next to darkness. So, the balance of the two, light and dark, became a tightrope in our writing journey.

Time and again, we circled back to the essence of what he wanted to say—that he would not be where he is today without the people he encountered in his life. He viewed his fortune like a house of cards. Take any one person out of his scaffolding and his entire journey would not have happened. We decided to dedicate one chapter to each influential person in his childhood, but how to organize further? At the time, I recalled a plot diagram in Damon Knight’s CREATING SHORT FICTION that looked like an arrow spiraling inward, approaching the story's core by degrees.

I remember the day I proposed this unconventional idea to Augustine. I brought index cards and a Sharpie to our meeting. As if by some miracle, a huge table emptied at Starbucks. We used every bit of that prime coffeehouse real estate. After he distilled his life to those who most comprised his house of cards, one name on each card—no easy task—I asked him to do something even more challenging: place them in order from least impactful to most impactful. As in fiction, I secretly hoped the encounters would build to an organic climax. I wasn’t disappointed. The people and the arrow came together so flawlessly, I knew we had our structure.

The fleshing out of the draft came with additional challenges. Beta readers came back with important feedback about how the non-linear structure still confused them. We added chapter headings, dates and subheadings, and a bit of an explanation of the book’s structure in the introduction. People from one chapter sometimes reappear in other chapters like layers of an onion peeled back for greater understanding. By aligning theme and structure, every movement in the book became focused and effective. And sometimes, the juxtaposition between light and dark, between child and young man, was so potent, it might have been magic.

Telling a memoir in non-linear form was a risk, but what is writing without risk?

Day Four: Specificity

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