Chat Transcript
#womenshistory January 26, 2000 9
p.m. EST
Chat with author Anita Shreve
Note: a few lines of extraneous text have been omitted to make the chat easier to read.
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| LeahTrabue | hi all |
| womenshistoryADM | Hi Leah, welcome! |
| LeahTrabue | thanks |
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| LeahTrabue | I've got newborn twins, so my hands are semi-full if I'm quiet |
| RobinW | I know you leah! |
| RobinW | you had your twins on dec 31 and jan 1, no? |
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| sica | ok thanks |
| sica | wow twins born on different days! |
| sica | must be rare |
| LeahTrabue | it was odd, but totally natural and unplanned, about 4 hours apart born at home |
| BarbaraW | hello all...has the chat started? |
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| womenshistoryADM | Hi, Barbara! No, we're just gathering now. |
| womenshistoryADM | Hi, Airolg, Lori. |
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| lori | hi |
| airolg | Hi, everyone. |
| BarbaraW | you all heard about the twins born in different centuries? |
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| womenshistoryADM | Hello, Anita! Jone Lewis here, chat host for the evening. |
| lori | welcome all |
| AnitaShreve | Hello |
| womenshistoryADM | And hi, Joanna! Welcome to you, also! |
| AnitaShreve | Hello very glad to be here |
| AnitaShreve | Looking forward to discussions |
| RobinW | Hi Anita: I just wanted to say that I just saw you at Hawley Cooke in Louisville, KY and really enjoyed it |
| lori | i cannot believe one of my favorite authors is here |
| JoannaSTAFF | Hello, Jone; Hello Anita |
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| AnitaShreve | I really that occasion that breakfast it was very nice |
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| AnitaShreve | Thank you Lori |
| RobinW | Well, we were all grateful that you came, but Hawley Cooke usually does very nice meetings |
| lori | i really enjoyed Pilots wife and Fortunes Rocks just started Resistance |
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| lori | What are you working on now, Anita |
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| lori | I couldnt put fortunes rocks down read it on trip from florida to canada |
| AnitaShreve | I hope you like Resistance, let me know at some future date what you think |
| lori | Do you have a website |
| AnitaShreve | I am working and am very superstiius and don't tell until I am finished |
| AnitaShreve | whoops spelling! |
| womenshistoryADM | Ah, the joys of speed typing! |
| womenshistoryADM | Anita, I'm particularly intrigued by the way you re-created 19th century language for the book. |
| airolg | I'm always behind, got Fortune's Rock for Christmas, haven't read it yet. |
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| womenshistoryADM | It really felt like being transported to the times you were describing. |
| lori | airolg you must read Fortune's Rock now it is one of the best i have read in ages |
| AnitaShreve | Thank you and it was one of the most pleasurable writing experiences I had. |
| AnitaShreve | I particularly enjoyed combination 19th century language and present tense. |
| lori | it was a people i could tell my husband about since he is canadian and new some of that history |
| RobinW | I actually gave my copy to my mom, very few books I can do that with these days |
| womenshistoryADM | Yes, it was definitely a way to put us, the reader, into the time with the characters. |
| JanaJ | . |
| JoannaSTAFF | I gave a copy to my dad! |
| AnitaShreve | It was particularly wonderful time to write about, very rich. |
| womenshistoryADM | (I missed JanaJ and Jackie and Immigration -- Hello and welcome!) |
| Jackie | :-) |
| lori | very rich such colorful history i didnt want it to end |
| immigration | Hello :) |
| womenshistoryADM | What drew you to that time, in particular? |
| JoannaSTAFF | what do you think are the affinities between this fin de siecle and the last? |
| AnitaShreve | In a previous book, The Weight of Water - I visited the 19th century and it was |
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| AnitaShreve | so rewarding an experience I wanted to do it again. |
| RobinW | have you always wanted to be an author? |
| lori | how many books have you written and do you have awebsite |
| AnitaShreve | If we are comparing the ned of this century to the end of the last century |
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| AnitaShreve | one of the most interesting similarities that I discovered was all the prophecies of doom. |
| womenshistoryADM | (Hi, Joanne, and welcome to the chat with Anita Shreve.) |
| joanne | Thank you. |
| AnitaShreve | I think I've wanted to be an author from a very young age, but never considered it seriously as it was an impractical thing to do. |
| AnitaShreve | Fortune Rocks is my seventh novel. |
| LeahTrabue | what advice would you give to us aspiring authors? |
| jNNY | Type HERE |
| jNNY | aRE YOU WRITING A BOOK NOW? |
| JoannaSTAFF | How did you end up deciding to take a leap of faith and pursue writing? |
| AnitaShreve | Joanna.. I worked for a lot of years as a journalist and kind of fell into it. |
| womenshistoryADM | Folks: we're getting a full room and lots of questions. Let's move to "protocol" -- indicate that you want to ask a question by typing a ? and we'll call on you in turn. Or indicate a comment with a !. |
| Jackie | ok, good idea |
| womenshistoryADM | Now, don't let that stop you! |
| LeahTrabue | ? |
| Jackie | lol |
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| womenshistoryADM | Leah? Go ahead. |
| LeahTrabue | What advice do you have for aspiring authors? |
| AnitaShreve | Don't Quit |
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| Jackie | ? |
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| womenshistoryADM | Jackie, go ahead. |
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| tander | joanne, it's Teri. how's it going? |
| Jackie | Did you have a lot of rejections before your first book sold? |
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| AnitaShreve | I did not have a lot rejections with my first novel, but certainly had my share when I was sending out short stories early in my career. |
| womenshistoryADM | (New folks: we're using protocol -- use a ? to ask a question, and a ! to indicate you have a comment, and we'll take you in turn. Use "private chat" for comments to others, please. Thanks!) |
| joanne | ? |
| womenshistoryADM | Joanne -- go ahead. |
| joanne | Hi, Anita, What is the best way to find an agent? |
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| LeahTrabue | ? |
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| AnitaShreve | Joanne, there are two ways I know of. One is to take a look at a book called Writers Market, in that book is a list of all the agents. |
| Nash | ? |
| lori | do you have a website |
| AnitaShreve | What type of material they are looking for. The second way is to take a look at the acknowledgements of a book that is similar to a book you would write and see if the author thanks the agent. |
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| RobinW | good suggestions |
| lori | ? |
| AnitaShreve | I don't have a personal website. |
| womenshistoryADM | Leah? |
| joanne | Thanks |
| LeahTrabue | I was just wondering if you would talk a bit about the research you did on birth. Having just had my own babies a few weeks ago, I discussed some of it with my midwife. |
| JoannaSTAFF | Does anyone have questions specifically about FORTUNE'S ROCKS? |
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| LeahTrabue | that one was about fortune's rocks |
| AnitaShreve | I had a medical text that had been written in 1899 that talked about |
| AnitaShreve | the specific procedures for a home birth. |
| AnitaShreve | and of course, certainly aspects about birth are universal |
| LeahTrabue | because I just had a homebirth and it was totally different, my midwife was mad at you ;-) |
| AnitaShreve | I myself have had two. |
| AnitaShreve | hmmm |
| RobinW | let me jump in as a midwife |
| RobinW | homebirth by doctors is very different from teh way midwives do it, even now and then |
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| womenshistoryADM | Nash, you'll be next. |
| AnitaShreve | Thanks Robin |
| AnitaShreve | Next |
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| Nash | I've read "The Pilot's Wife" & liked it. "Fortune's Rocks" is billed as from the last century. Why might I like it? |
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| AnitaShreve | It takes place in the same house as the Pilots wife |
| avidreader | hello |
| womenshistoryADM | (Those who have recently joined us: we're using chat "protocol" -- just type a ? and enter if you have a question and we'll call on you in turn. Or a ! if you have a comment.) |
| AnitaShreve | Hello |
| Nash | I enjoyed getting a sense of that house. I think you do descriptive narrative very well. |
| JoannaSTAFF | Anita, is this a real house? |
| Nash | Yeah? |
| avidreader | I haven't read you book, but I like to read about historical romances... I want to write one myself ?What is the best way to get started writing, do you have to do alot of research? |
| lori | the same house? |
| AnitaShreve | Thanks Nash, I hope you like Fortunes |
| womenshistoryADM | Avidreader, I'll add you to the list of those waiting. |
| AnitaShreve | and it is a real house. It is a house I've spent a lot of time looking at. |
| Jackie | ? |
| womenshistoryADM | Lori? Do you still have a question, or did you get it answered? You're up next. |
| womenshistoryADM | (though I feel compelled to add that I just loved the sense that I got about the house -- that I could practically smell and feel it in this book, more than in The Pilot's House) |
| womenshistoryADM | Oops The Pilot's WIFE. |
| Nash | Hmmm, OK. But is there much else that is similar between Fortune's and Pilot's? |
| AnitaShreve | Thats not surprising, I gave it a much fuller treatment this book |
| avidreader | ?I like most of the books written about the late 19th century...I like opera houses! |
| JoannaSTAFF | Yes, me too. I wanted to go there immediately. |
| AnitaShreve | Passion, love and betrayal |
| AnitaShreve | is the similarities |
| AnitaShreve | are the similarities |
| womenshistoryADM | Lori? |
| womenshistoryADM | Then Avid reader -- you wanted to know about how to get started writing historical romances? |
| lori | so where is this house |
| avidreader | yes |
| AnitaShreve | I don't know, I don't write historical romances. |
| suzanne | ! |
| JoannaSTAFF | I just feel the need to clarify that Anita is not really a writer of historical romances. |
| AnitaShreve | Thanks Joanna! |
| lori | i really enjoy reading your books because i cannot put them down |
| AnitaShreve | The house is on the coast of Maine |
| AnitaShreve | thanks Lori |
| indigoblu | ? |
| Janet | ? |
| Nash | ! |
| lori | you gave so much detail to the history of the time period in fortune rocks and the historian in more appreicates that |
| womenshistoryADM | But about research, Anita -- where do you start when you're writing in an historical setting. |
| avidreader | What are your books about mainly... I've never read any? |
| lori | would love to see that house in maine you should buy and they can turn one of your books into a movie and use the house |
| LeahTrabue | . |
| AnitaShreve | LIke a lot of novelist I know, I research on a need to know basis. |
| Nash | Interesting... I had the location as near the Massachussets/New Hampshire border. |
| womenshistoryADM | Avid, you might enjoy the book excerpt that's at http://bookclub.about.com -- you can get a sense of the writing. |
| AnitaShreve | The story and the characters always come first. |
| womenshistoryADM | Good advice to a would-be writer! I hate books that are all research and no plot or character. |
| womenshistoryADM | Jackie? You're up next. |
| AnitaShreve | Great Idea on the movie and the house. |
| Jackie | Is there a photo of the house published anywhere, so I could see it? <I know story & characters come first, but I LOVE looking at houses and writing about them -- from an architectural p.o.v.!> |
| avidreader | !Laura Ingalls Wilder is a good author. |
| AnitaShreve | No published photos of the house. |
| womenshistoryADM | Indigoblu? You're next up. |
| AnitaShreve | I think the people in the house wouldnt be that happy about it either. |
| Jackie | true! |
| Nash | ! |
| AnitaShreve | any more questions |
| indigoblu | i'm sorry i haven't read fortune's rocks, yet...it's on my list! but i was wondering if you travelled to London for the Pilot's Wife |
| womenshistoryADM | Indigo? Your turn. |
| lori | i Buy that house and do a movie! You are one of my favorites! |
| womenshistoryADM | (Janet, then Nash after Indigo.) |
| AnitaShreve | Yes I did travel to London and Ireland as well. |
| suzanne | ? |
| Jackie | ? |
| indigoblu | i wondered...there was a great sense of place in the book...i loved that |
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| AnitaShreve | Thanks |
| womenshistoryADM | Janet? Go ahead. |
| Janet | Who were your early influences? |
| lori | you should get a website and keep us posted to what is happening that would be awesome |
| womenshistoryADM | (Then Nash, Suzanne, Jackie) |
| Janet | I mean ,inspiration, influence, etc. |
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| AnitaShreve | Janet - Edith Wharton, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Eugene ONeil |
| avidreader | ?Is writing fun once you get started? |
| womenshistoryADM | To add to that -- I kept wondering how much Kate Chopin's The Awakening was in your mind writing this book. |
| JoannaSTAFF | me too! |
| AnitaShreve | There is a website, in the flap of the book there is a note about website |
| Janet | Well :) I don't have much more to ask about that! Those names stand on their own, as yours does :) |
| AnitaShreve | www.twbookmark.com |
| lori | i can see that edith wharton would be an influence |
| AnitaShreve | It is the publishers website. |
| womenshistoryADM | (Nash, then Suzanne, then Jackie) |
| Nash | I think we may all learn about the price of inadvertent fame from the folks who owned the farm where "Field of Dreams" was filmed. |
| lori | thank you |
| AnitaShreve | Thanks Janet |
| avidreader | ? |
| indigoblu | ? |
| AnitaShreve | Nash... yes |
| womenshistoryADM | Suzanne, you're next. |
| suzanne | Is study of the craft an ongoing thing for you? Do you attend workshops, seminars and such? I found Robert Kee to be very helpful in my writing career, also Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft. |
| AnitaShreve | None on Kate Chopins |
| womenshistoryADM | ! from me, to get into the queue. |
| JoannaSTAFF | ? |
| AnitaShreve | Suzanne, I don't attend workshops. All the time I have goes to writing and my family. I have although taught creative writing at |
| AnitaShreve | Amherst |
| womenshistoryADM | Avid, it's your turn now. |
| Nash | ! |
| avidreader | Do you speak at lectures? |
| womenshistoryADM | (then Indigo, JJL, Joanna, and Nash) |
| AnitaShreve | Yes I do Avid. At various places around the country. |
| LeahTrabue | . |
| avidreader | ? |
| AnitaShreve | Next? |
| womenshistoryADM | Indigo, you're next. |
| indigoblu | do you write longhand, on your computer...do you have a special "spot" where you like to write? |
| RobinW | ? |
| AnitaShreve | I write at my desk, and always begin a novel in long hand. By the end of the novel I am on the computer. |
| AnitaShreve | next? |
| womenshistoryADM | Me: back to Kate Chopin and the Awakening -- one of my favorite stories -- I felt like Fortune's Rocks was the ending I'd have preferred -- but I keep wondering whether that's 20th century sexual ethics speaking, or universal sexual ethics. |
| womenshistoryADM | (Joanna, then Leah, then Nash, then Avid, then Robin are in the queue) |
| AnitaShreve | I am not following you ADM. |
| indigoblu | ? |
| womenshistoryADM | The decisions that Olympia, especially, made... they were similar to what we'd do in the 20th century |
| womenshistoryADM | about sexual decisions -- whether to go ahead with the affair -- |
| womenshistoryADM | but I also would like to think that those kinds of thoughts are universal, not just our time. Yet, |
| AnitaShreve | I dont think that is only from 20th century, think that is timeless. |
| womenshistoryADM | in much 19th century literature, the decisions are different. |
| womenshistoryADM | In other words: if you'd written this in 1910, would the book have sold, or would you have been scandalous? |
| AnitaShreve | I am sure it would have scandalous, but it doesnt mean the decision would have any different. |
| AnitaShreve | We are talking about two different things.. |
| womenshistoryADM | Thanks! Joanna? |
| JoannaSTAFF | 2. I know you've written a couple of books on the feminist movement in the 70's. Do you view yourself as a feminist? Also, what do you think of the state of contemporary feminism - from Riot Grrls to Naomi Wolf? |
| womenshistoryADM | (Leah, Nash, Avid, Robin, Indigo are in the queue) |
| AnitaShreve | I wrote feminists in the 1980s, and yes I am a feminist, but not an expert |
| AnitaShreve | cannot comment on others. |
| womenshistoryADM | Leah? |
| LeahTrabue | what was the deal with Zachariah Cote. What were you getting at with his character. |
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| AnitaShreve | Leah, I wasnt getting at anything. I was just having fun with him. |
| AnitaShreve | THe malicious characters are sometimes the most enjoyable to create. |
| LeahTrabue | I did enjoy him, just wondered if the ppoor bastard was the book's scape goat in a playful way |
| LeahTrabue | excuse the typing I'm nursing twins and tping! |
| AnitaShreve | No he's not a scapegoat, he causes his own problems. |
| womenshistoryADM | Nash? |
| AnitaShreve | Oh my god.. |
| Nash | Amherst is my old ('69) neck o' the woods! AND, do you find that teaching can really hone your craft? |
| AnitaShreve | No Nash, the two are separate. |
| womenshistoryADM | Avid, you'll be next after Nash. |
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| avidreader | Will you be speaking anywhere in Kansas City, MO? |
| Nash | Interesting... I've found that it helps in my work in renovation to have to explain it to another. |
| AnitaShreve | Not this trip Avid. |
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| avidreader | ! |
| JoannaSTAFF | Robin you're up. |
| AnitaShreve | The things I am teaching are fairly basic and writing for me is a largely unconscious project. |
| RobinW | Do you see Olympia as a feminist character? |
| LeahTrabue | ? |
| avidreader | Louisa May Alcott wrote some scandulous novels. |
| AnitaShreve | Robin, I don't like to think of my characters as feminist or not, that is too limiting |
| womenshistoryADM | Indigo, you'll be after Robin. Then Avid. |
| JoannaSTAFF | ? |
| AnitaShreve | what interest me about Olympia is her struggle |
| AnitaShreve | and her unstanding of consequences. |
| AnitaShreve | understanding |
| Nash | Got it, thanks. |
| AnitaShreve | next? |
| JoannaSTAFF | Indigo, it's all you. |
| indigoblu | do you feel more pressure in your writing, now that you are famously published, to be more productive, to find the "right" story that the publishers want? |
| AnitaShreve | I have to leave in about five minutes |
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| AnitaShreve | No Indigoblu, I dont think about that at all |
| indigoblu | well, that's good to hear! |
| womenshistoryADM | Avid? |
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| AnitaShreve | I always written what I want to write and hope to continue to do so. |
| avidreader | When will you be lecturing in the Midwest again? |
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| AnitaShreve | Avid.. I dont have any plans to be there in the near future. |
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| AnitaShreve | anymore questions? |
| womenshistoryADM | Anita, where else will you be going in the tour? |
| avidreader | What is the name of your next novel? |
| AnitaShreve | San Diego, New Orleans, Miami, No Carolina and New York |
| AnitaShreve | I cant say avid.. |
| AnitaShreve | Thank you for your questions, |
| AnitaShreve | this has been very enjoyable |
| Nash | ? |
| avidreader | Nice chatting with you |
| AnitaShreve | I hope to chat with you again sometime soon. |
| indigoblu | thank you for chatting with us |
| immigration | Thank you Anita |
| womenshistoryADM | Anita, we'd love to have you back again! |
| RobinW | thanks |
| JoannaSTAFF | Can we take one final question? |
| AnitaShreve | Good Night |
| AnitaShreve | okay |
| Janet | Yes, thank you Anita. We've enjoyed it. |
| JoannaSTAFF | Nash -- go. |
| Nash | Anita, has being a writer been as much fun as you thought it would be before you started? |
| womenshistoryADM | Nash raised his hand, hope you have time for one more. |
| AnitaShreve | Joanna |
| AnitaShreve | One final question? |
| womenshistoryADM | good last question, thanks, Nash! |
| AnitaShreve | Much More Nash! |
| AnitaShreve | thanks again |
| AnitaShreve | good Night |
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| womenshistoryADM | Again, thanks to you, too, Anita. |
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| immigration | :) |
| JoannaSTAFF | Thank you so much for joining us Anita! |
| Nash | Good fer ya! |
| Nash | and thanks |
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