Making The Novel

Introduction: The excerpts below were deleted from the published version of   DOVELION: A Fairy Tale for Our Times   (AC Books, New York, 2021). I thought to share them outside of the book because they also exemplify a tactic with which I was experimenting for writing the book: the collapse of time (hence, an early draft's use of "XXXX" instead of a specified year). Theoretically, the linear unfolding would be irrelevant for  DOVELION ’s story. This means, in part, that one could print out each individual section, throw them up in the air, gather the pieces in the random order they’re picked up, and then be published in that order … and the story would still work. One could try that with these five sections; the change of emphases would be logical but would the story still work?    The author on why these excerpts were deleted: These excerpts repeated other themes addressed by other sections and deleting them ramped up the energy flow of the novel.   ...

Introduction : The novel begins with a series of events that leads to the loss and rediscovery and loss and rediscovery again (and again) of a St Christopher medal. But that’s incidental. It’s about the people that encounter St Christopher along the way. In this early chapter, we meet Suzanna Quinton, who receives the medal from a friend.   Excerpt from  STUCK INSIDE SAMSARA WITH THE NIRVANA BLUES AGAIN Everybody called her Suzy Q and she hated it—but what can you do? Her first day in kindergarten was her introduction to inhumanity: —Hey Suzy Q, wanna play  Little House on the Prairie ? —No and my name is Suzanna. —Suzy Q Suzy Q her hair looks like doggie poo! Even the teacher laughed and when Suzy delivered a left uppercut to Veronica Dean for starting it all, it was Suzy who got yelled at and sent to the principal’s office. By junior high she had accepted that she would be called Suzy but drew the line at the Q. In homeroom one morning in 7 th  grade Joey Paternows...

Introduction:  I started this novel inspired by the idea of a young woman discovering that not only were her parents Soviet spies, they disappear without a trace while she’s in college and she now has to make her way in the world alone. She's left with more questions than answers and finds clues in unexpected places. This scene is written in present tense and left that way, since this novel is abandoned.   “Leave It to Anna” I arrive at my parent's apartment, home for Thanksgiving weekend. Nobody answers the door, so I let myself in with my key. The apartment smells stale, like no one has been home for a while.  "Anyone home?" I say, although I can tell no one's here. Great, I’m talking to an empty apartment. I head to the living room and sit on the couch, kick off my shoes, excited to stretch my toes after what has already been an exhausting semester. I glance down at the coffee table before I put my feet up. Where are my fuzzy bunny slippers when I need them? Ri...