Blog Posts for Caroline Leavitt

Truth in Fiction

Caroline Leavitt — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:31:45 -0700

A novelists, we struggle to put the truth on the page. We hope to tunnel so deeply into our characters' lives that what is on the page feels absolutely and complete real-so real that we fully expect the characters to walk past us. But we novelists also deal with some people thinking that what we have written is really about us personally, about our lives, that even though it is fiction, it is ...

Finding the story in everything

Caroline Leavitt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:50:41 -0700

I've been thinking a lot about how writers see the world. Recently on Facebook, a writer I really, really admire (the extraordinary Rhian Ellis, who wrote After Life, which I've written about here before) was telling me how she had been arrested for protesting some white supremacists in her neighborhood. I instantly peppered her with questions. What did it feel like to be in a cop car? Did she ...

Can I get a little respect, please?

Caroline Leavitt — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:03:31 -0700

Recently a person approached me to help him with his manuscript. He needed editorial work and wanted to get his book in shape for a publisher. I explained what I do and how I work and how thorough I am, and the success I have had with clients. I love doing this work--love to help other writers, plus it helps me in my own work to figure out what is and isn't working in someone else's work, and ...

Why I love editing other novelists

Caroline Leavitt — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:10:48 -0700

I love writing novels, but I also love editing other writers' novels. I've done this work for agents, for UCLA Writers' program where I teach advanced novel writing, and for private clients, and I love the work with a passion. Part of it is because seeing what does and doesn't work in someone else's manuscript really helps me figure out what isn't working in my own! I love reading a manuscript ...

Some days I am just a slug

Caroline Leavitt — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:04:30 -0700

I hate writing days when I just seem to sit at my desk staring at the computer and nothing happens. I write one line, "He went inside" and then cross it out and write another. I try to refresh myself by playing on Facebook (doesn't work. I'm more tired.) I tell myself that my subconscious is still working, that one lean day might lead to riches in the following ones. Only today it ...

Torn between two novels and feeling like a fool

Caroline Leavitt — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:15:06 -0700

I've always been obsessed with one novel at a time, but now, I am writing two, and I can't tell if it is folly or just my process. I feel jet-lagged between two story worlds, never sure where I am or who I am with, and the sense of discombobulation makes me more than a tad anxious. Sometimes I think it is fine to just keep working on both, that sooner or later I will gravitate more to one. ...

Life imitates art, or me and magic thinking

Caroline Leavitt — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:26:08 -0800

Magic thinking and meAnyone who knows me knows that I believe in ....well everything. I believe in science and rational thought. But I also like to be open about the possibility of ghosts in the closet, (friendly ones, and they are there for scientific reason), teleportation, healing with quantum physics, and the power of thought. I visit psychics and I have a deck of tarot cards, and I ...

My nails made the New York Times

Caroline Leavitt — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:08:34 -0800

When I had my last book reviewed in the Sunday Times, I got about five congratulatory emails and calls. That was nice! But when an article about resolutions appeared today in the NYT, with two paragraphs about my nail biting, I heard from THIRTY people. So wait, does this mean my fingernails are more important than my books?SIgh, it's enough to make you want to bite your nails.....

Why would such a happy person write such a dark novel?

Caroline Leavitt — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:27:08 -0800

It happened again. A woman I genuinely like, who seems to genuinely like me, asks to read one of my novels. Of course I give her the one with the best reviews, the best cover, the best everything, and I wait, hoping she will love it. But two weeks later, she approaches me, my book in her hand and she gives it back to me! "No, no, the book is for you," I say, but she's shaking her ...

Book Fundraiser for Obama

Caroline Leavitt — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:54:48 -0700

This is from an email from Amy Tan--Jeff and I just signed our books (I drew a coffee cup with a fork and spoon and stars on mine) and sent them off.Dear Fellow Writers,Below is a plea from Ayelet Waldman for contributions to a fundraiser. No, you don't have to WRITE a book for Barack. We are talking about THIS year's election. But if you are inclined toward voting for Barack/Biden, please be ...