My conversation with My Friend Amy

Amy Riley has been a force for good in my life since she mentioned my little blog on her very big blog and introduced me to her wide circle of friends.  She has known me through three books now, has generously supported each one, has taught me many things about books and life, and once I even had the chance to meet this book angel here, at the site of the first-ever Book Bloggers Convention, which she, but of course, helped organize.

A few weeks ago, Amy and I began an e-mail conversation that had me reflecting on the joys, fears, and behind-the-scene-ism of the writing life.  We talked at length about Dangerous Neighbors and about what's next and what I hope for and what I cherish.  It's all here.

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Collisions

I have been at work on a book off and on for two years, as I have previously posted. It's an historical novel, deeply researched, and three voices carry the plot.

Here is the lesson of a multiply voiced novel: Collisions are essential, and they should not look like coincidence. The collisions (between characters, within moments, across voices) must carry meaning. They must signify.

I work on the signifiers now. It is slow but fascinating going. I look to the masters to see how it is done—Louise Erdrich, William Faulkner, and now Jayne Anne Phillips in her new novel, Lark & Termite, which got her a starred PW review, for starters, but more than that, it has Tim O'Brien saying:

What a beautiful, beautiful novel this is—so rich and intricate in its drama, so elegantly written, so tender, so convincing, so penetrating, so incredibly moving. I can declare without hesitation or qualification that Lark and Termite is by far the best new novel I've read in the last five years or so.

I'd love to know of other masters of collision, of when you think multiply voiced novels work.

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