Laura Zigman Explains Her Faction

I’ve been a fan of Laura Zigman since I interviewed her way back when, so I’m glad to turn the site over to her briefly so she can tell you about her latest novel, Piece of Work, and how it illustrates the success you can have by “writing what you know.” (This essay originally appeared on the Warner Books website.)

People often ask authors if the stuff in their novels—the good stuff, the juicy stuff, the stuff most likely to get them into trouble—is true. And when asked, most authors will say that they’ve made everything up; that nothing in the book is autobiographical. One of the reasons they say this is because they don’t want to get in trouble, which is completely understandable. Another reason they say this is so that they can appear to be fabulously imaginative: it’s much harder, these alleged fabulously imaginative fiction writers would argue, to make stuff up than it is to simply write things down that have actually happened to you.

Not for me. I think recalling and dredging up and writing about painful and embarrassing events that have actually happened—bad blind dates, bad relationships, bad break-ups, acting like a completely insane obsessive-compulsive jealous suspicious (but almost completely justified) boyfriend stalker—and things that have been survived—gigantic narcissists; bad sadistic bosses behaving like complete lunatics—is much harder. But then, I’m biased. Because that’s what I do. I write about things that have happened to me.

What I also do is admit that I write about things that have happened to me.

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4 October 2006 | guest authors |

Scalzi’s Next Novel Auctioned for Library Fund

My pal John Scalzi’s just-completed science fiction novel, The Last Colony, isn’t coming out from Tor until May 2007, but he’s got one specially printed copy created at Lulu.com, and he’s selling it to the highest bidder to raise funds for the John M. Ford Endowment at the Minneapolis Public Library. And there’s an escalating series of bonus prizes:

• “If the bidding gets above $200, I’ll throw in a copy of my signed, limited-edition chapbook ‘Questions for a Soldier.’
• At $500, I’ll put in a signed Advance Reader Copy of Agent to the Stars.
• At $1,000, a signed ARC of The Ghost Brigades.
• At $2,000, a signed copy of Old Man’s War.
• At $3,000, I’ll make you a character in an upcoming book (note: I may kill you off. Hey, it happens).
• And at $5,000, I’ll write you your own short story. Because, damn, if you’re paying $5K, you deserve it.”

Bidding was already at $140 when I went to bed late last night; it’s probably higher now. Remember, all the money raised goes to the Minneapolis Public Library’s new endowment honoring the memory of the late SF/F writer John M. Ford.

3 October 2006 | uncategorized |