Today on the podcast Hayley Chewins talks about writing upper middle grade. Also covered - the process of an R and R - revising and resubmitting - which can be extremely frustrating and high stress. Lastly, learn about Hayley’s class, and how to have 100 Ideas in 10 Days.
Q&A With International Best Seller Matt Haig Talks Anxiety, Panic, Depression & Writing As Therapy
Don’t miss yesterday’s podcast with Matt!
What if there were a library that catalogued all your regrets – and opened the door to all the lives you could’ve led? What would happen if you could undo your choices, small and big, and change where you ended up?
This is the situation that Nora Seed faces in THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY (Viking; On Sale: 9/29/20), the imaginative new novel from the internationally bestselling author of How to Stop Time, Matt Haig. When Nora—depressed and unsatisfied by her current life—finds herself in a magical library, somewhere beyond the edge of the universe, she has the chance to change everything. Confronted with an infinite number of possibilities, Nora must consider: Should she have stayed with her ex-fiancé? Stuck with playing in that rock band in case they hit it big? Moved to Australia with her best friend? Followed her dream of becoming a glaciologist? Gotten coffee with that cute neighbor? As she tries on these different lives, experimenting with her great what ifs, she discovers what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
Where did the idea for THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY come from?
I’d had an idea about a library between life and death for a long time. I have always been fascinated with fantastical libraries, such as Jorge Luis Borges’s Library of Babel, because I feel libraries are a kind of magic in themselves. In the Midnight Library, each book on the shelf is another version of the protagonist, Nora Seed’s, life. There are infinite books and infinite versions, so –with the librarian’s help –she has a chance to undo some of her regrets. Every time she opens a book, she falls into that life.I think the idea of wondering how your life would have played out differently is one that a lot of us think about from time to time. Also, my own personal experience with mental health issues, like depression and anxiety, obviously informed some of Nora’s experience.
Your two nonfiction books, Reasons to Stay Alive and Notes on a Nervous Planet, discuss depression and anxiety, issues that are also at the heart of THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY. How do you blend your nonfiction writing with your fiction?
I think that whether I’m writing fiction or non-fiction, I always make sure I am writing the thing that interests me most at that time. I don’t think there has been a book that has fused my interests more closely than this one. It just turns out that fiction was the most obvious way to explore the ideas of regret and happiness that play out in this book. When I was 24, I had a breakdown. I experienced depression, anxiety, and panic disorder, and was suicidal for quite a while. My recovery was long and slow. And yet despite all that, a lot of goodness came out of that experience. It made me a better, more grateful person, and one that wanted to write about these issues clearly and transparently and shamelessly. Non-fiction is great for this, but sometimes fiction allows you to go even deeper. It can allow you to use fantasy as a way of exploring ideas and experiences. For me, depression was often flavored with the desire to inhabit parallel lives, lives where I had done something differently and ended in a different place. THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY explores that idea and takes it to the next level,I suppose. Writing it was a kind of self-therapy.
THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY is your first adult novel written from a woman’s perspective. How did you approach writing from this different point of view, and how did it differ from writing from a man’s perspective?
When I started writing this book, the narrator was male, but for some reason, I couldn’t get a handle on the character –in some weird way –maybe because it was too close to me. So,I needed a narrator who was less obviously me and switching the gender helped do that. In terms of writing her character, there are certain moments –in terms of how she is treated by other people –where her gender plays a part, but to be honest I wasn’t seeing her as being defined by her gender, more by her initially desperate state of mind and the lack of options she felt she faced.
Several of your novels play with different fantasy elements, such as immortality in How to Stop Time, ghosts in The Dead Fathers Club, and now, of course, the titular magical library in THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY. What draws you to fantasy?
I like to use fantasy and science fiction in a way that sheds more light on our reality. I’m not into pure fantasy for fantasy’s sake. It’s more about exploring ideas and sometimes the easiest way to do that is to step into the imagination. Borges, Ursula K Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, Margaret Atwood, Mary Shelley, are among my favorite writers for this reason.
In THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY, Nora gets the chance to live out alternate versions of her own life, based off her past regrets. During her exploration of these alternate realities, Nora becomes a pub owner, a glaciologist, a rock star, and an Olympic swimmer, to name a few. How did you come up with these alternate lives? Were any based on your own interests, or past regrets?
I gave up piano lessons when I was twelve years old because I was a self-conscious boy trying to fit in. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to continue with music, so the musician strand of her life definitely overlaps with my own wish fulfillment. I never wanted to be a glaciologist or an Olympic swimmer though. I suppose as a British person I have had the odd fantasy of being a pub landlord, but I’m pretty sure that would be a bad idea.
Libraries (as the title suggests) play a key role in THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY. Why are libraries meaningful to you?
Libraries have always been my safe space. When I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time after school in my local library. There was a library in the center of the small town where I lived and it was my safe space. I think libraries should be especially valued these days, when particularly in my country, they are increasingly under threat. Libraries are one of the last public spaces that like us for who we are and not for our wallets. Libraries seemed the perfect metaphor for parallel lives as they are places that really do allow you to enter other worlds, if only for a while. In THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY, Nora encounters her school librarian from childhood, Mrs. Elm, who acts like a kind of guide, and she is an amalgam of various teachers and librarians I encountered in my youth. For other people in the world of the novel, their portal to other lives is something different, but I’d like to think mine, like Nora’s, would be a library.
During our current moment, when many of us can barely leave our own homes, I’m sure a lot of people would like to enter a library full of alternate realities they can slip into as easily as opening a book. How do you think THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY relates to the current state of the world?
I think that when we are feeling physically confined our imaginations tend to roam into wilder territory. The idea of a place where we could go and be absolutely anything at all is possibly even more attractive now than in 2019 when I wrote it.
Of all the lives Nora tries out in THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY, which would you like to live in the most? Which would you like to live in the least?
I would probably like to live in a vineyard in California, at least to give it a try. I am not that great in cold weather so I would probably skip being a glaciologist.
What do you hope readers will take away from THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY?
Well firstly I just hope they enjoy the story, but I also hope it helps them to think about their own lives and offers some comfort when feeling a sense of inadequacy or regret about their own present situation. Ultimately, like a lot of my books, I wrote it for myself. A kind of therapy for myself, a way of dealing with my own doubts and worries about the passing of time. So, I hope readers find the same comfort in reading it as I did in writing it.
7 Advantages of Joining Book Clubs
by Michael Gorman
As an excellent outlet for people who love to geek out over the same genres, there are tons of advantages of joining book clubs.
But before you start or join a book club, you need to know what it is. Like any other club, book clubs consist of groups of people who share common literary tastes. These can relate to an author, a series, or a genre. People in a book club normally read books based on a predetermined reading list and then get together to discuss them as a group.
These discussions will differ between book clubs. Some prefer a more academic style, where they critique the book on a literal level. Others might prefer talking about the characters or the story in more general terms. But all in all, anyone can attend a book club, as long as they can follow the rules, and benefit in many different ways from being an active member. Here’s how!
Read More and Expand Your Horizons
The best part of being in a book club is that you get to read more! By reading more books, you’ll also develop an interest in sharing your thoughts in a group setting, and maybe even reviewing them on your own.
You can share why you liked or hated a book, and through these opinions ignite a strong discussion with the other book club members. These discussions can help you identify new things that you might need to try, in your reading habits or in writing projects of your own. You might even resolve to try entirely new books, authors or genres.
By being part of a book club, you get to tick off more books in your “To Be Read” list. Of course, you can choose to skim through books you aren’t as sure about, but this takes away from the experience. You won’t be able to delve as deeply into discussions during meetings, and so you might feel left out.
We all have our own biases; you may be a fan of a certain genre or author and rarely stray from that. This isn’t a bad thing, but you can still stand for some diversifying in your collection. Since many book clubs have a reading list that is made by members, these are great opportunities to check out something new.
You can also reach out to other members for book recommendations. This way, you can try new genres that you never thought were any good, and make personal connections with your fellow members.
Meet New People and Learn New Things
Book clubs happen to be one of the best environments for intellectual stimulation. Members study books in depth and provide critiques that might open you to new ideas and different viewpoints along the way.
On top of that, a book club is a great way to meet new people. A good book club brings people together from different backgrounds, races, religions and more. People come in as strangers and join the collective to become a part of a new community that shares a common interest.
The different emotions, insights and knowledge that you share with the rest of the club will help foster a meaningful connection to each member. You can make connections and friends that you never thought you would!
Support Local Businesses
Book clubs can also help support your local businesses. After all, where do you think those great snacks come from? Book clubs may meet at the local book store, restaurant, or at someone’s house and sample all sorts of specialty treats.
No matter where you meet, the amount of shopping and foot traffic to a local business for a book club session can make a huge difference in the establishment’s numbers. If you want to support the mom and pop shop, join a book club and suggest that business as the next meeting point.
Boost Your Writing Skills
Is there a better way to learn how to write better than to listen to the opinions of actual readers? If you’re trying to be a better writer, then a book club meeting is an excellent place to start.
Book clubs offer a great way to learn what the recipes are for a good story. As a writer sitting in on a meeting, you’ll get to listen to the critiques being offered by the other members on the books they read.
Sophie McGraw, who is a team leader for essay writers service at Assignment Writing and dissertation service UK, has something interesting to share. She says, ‘’You can use these sessions to learn what makes the best plot points, settings, and how to develop your characters in the most appealing ways. By regularly attending book clubs, you can improve your writing skills in order to write the best book for your audience.’’
Improve Your Soft Skills
Book club meetings are some of the best places to improve your soft skills such as communication, negotiation and debating.
Some book clubs are huge, with more than ten members. You can imagine ten people sharing their viewpoints on certain aspects of a book and having to convince them that yours is viable. Being able to navigate through that and share your ideas in a manner that’s accepted by a majority of them (you can’t please everyone), is an awesome skill to have on hand!
Besides, if you’re a fan of debating, but are tired of the politics around it and want a calmer arena in which you can share your ideas, join a book club, where you can debate in a civilized and respectful manner.
An Affordable Way to Have Fun
There are many ways that you can have fun with your friends. You can go for brunch, clubbing, or catch a movie. All of these are fun, but can get expensive.
If you’re looking for an affordable way to have fun, a book club is both. All you need to pay for is either the club membership, if required, or to chip in for snacks when you’re meeting at someone’s house. Book clubs also allow you to take a break from your routine. The discussions and books can transport you to whole new worlds, allowing you to relax and recharge for busy days ahead with great food, drinks, and lots of laughter.
All you need to start a book club are people with a shared interest and an undying love for books. If you want to join one, look around your community to see if some already exist. Joining one will provide you with intellectual stimulation, possible lifelong friendships, and most importantly, great reads.
Michael Gorman is a highly skilled freelance writer and proofreader from the UK . Being interested in everyday development, he writes various blog posts and discovers new aspects of human existence everyday. Feel free to contact him via Facebook or check his Twitter.