Just yesterday Gwendolen Gross published her third novel, titled The Other Mother . It’s about two women who live next door to each other but lead very different lives (one works as a children’s book editor and the is a stay at home mom). So far it’s gotten great reviews, so here are Gwendolen’s insights into the publishing world.
Urban Muse: Your website calls you the “reigning queen of women’s adventure fiction.” What exactly IS “women’s adventure fiction”?
Gwendolen: Joanna Smith Rakoff wrote a wonderful article about women’s adventure fiction in BOOK magazine—I’m not sure I can sum it up quickly, but one reviewer referred to GETTING OUT as “into thin air with lipstick,” which I love. The idea is that adventure and introspection and the conquering of inner demons and outer limits isn’t reserved for men—but that there aren’t enough books about it for and by women.
In high school and college I was extremely adventurous—in travels, backpacking, rock climbing (I went on almost all the trips my narrator, Hannah Blue, does, in GETTING OUT, and I studied fruit bats in the Australian rainforest like Annabel in FIELD GUIDE), which gave me both a frame for live and a frame for fiction, when I started writing in earnest. Now I’m writing more domestic fiction (like THE OTHER MOTHER, which releases August 7th), but there are still adventures to be had in the strip of woods in the suburbs, or in the houses themselves.
UM: You’ve worked in publishing and one of the main characters in your new novel is a book editor. How much of that story is drawn from your own life?
G: To be honest, THE OTHER MOTHER is the least autobiographical of the three—though there are parts of me in each of the narrators, you probably could never guess which parts. I suppose what matters to me most in writing fiction is finding and illustrating truths (versus facts, which can be very boring)—the things that matter to me about how people relate, how we grow, how we accept or change who we are and what we believe. But it all needs a frame—a point of reference. And as a fiction writer you get to choose the whole world.
I’ve gotten kind of far away from the question. I do, like Amanda, have a Franklin Day Planner!
UM: How do you combat writer’s block?
G: Being a mom means I don’t have time to have writer’s block. I believe in writing practice (Natalie Goldberg, Judy Reeves…lots of pioneers in writing freedom), that is, even when I’m not in the middle of something, I write during my work days (when I have work days available!). I take topics from books, invent topics, give myself assignments. Writing practice (which I also teach) usually helps me find what’s next, what’s going to be important in my next novel, or the characters to populate the next world.
UM: What is your favorite book (aside from ones you’ve written)?
G: Just one? Eek! I love LAURIE COLWIN. Love, love, love her. Domestic fiction at its best. I also was a HOBBIT lover from way back (before it was cool)—my dad read us all the Tolkien out loud when we were kids on vacations. It had a huge influence on me, even though my writing is very different. Amy Bloom’s short stories, Alice Munroe, Grace Paley. Sorry, that’s a lot more than one.
UM: Any tips for first-time novelists?
G: Write because you have to, write because you need to. Do the writing, the revising, the making meaning of the world. Then worry about publishing, and when you do, make it business. Do your research; there are a thousand books at least on publishing, and you should read them before you rush out trying to get your manuscript into the right hands. Write a great query, get an agent. Don’t ever stop loving the writing, or it’s not worth it, it’s just too tough a business. Sorry to say, there’s no secret handshake. That said, I think all great books will eventually get published, even if the authors have to be dead first. Oh, or else be famous. That helps a lot.
Thanks, Gwendolen, and good luck with the book!