30 Inside the Emotion of Fiction LUCY, GO SEE by Marianne Maili, published by Chez Soi Press on January 15, 2018
https://chezsoipress.org/order-lucy-go-see-here-marianne-maili/
Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? At one point the work was titled The Beautiful Chaos of Camels and Gold. It is a tragicomedy, a bildungsroman, a quest, a coming-to-voice, and a roman a clef based on a true story.
What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you finished the piece of fiction? (Below: Marianne Maili in March 2018) September 1999 – January 2018
Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? It has been an amazing journey of writing and refining. I wrote some of it in Olivet, France, and most of it in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain.
I edited it in many places: Spain, Canada, England, California, Vermont, Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida, Illinois. In some ways, it has taken me 40 years to get it out, and in others, 25, and in others, 18. There are so many fabulous stories involved in the making of this one.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? At the beginning, I often wrote while my son napped. When he woke, we played music and danced; we used chopsticks as drumsticks and pretended the daybed in the sunny den was a set of drums.
I wrote the first draft in 14 months. I set a minimum goal of 1,000 words a day. I usually wrote in the morning, either at home or on the train, or wherever I was that I could. I wrote on a Powerbook, an iBook, a MacBook. I like mornings for writing though I also sometime worked in the evening, and nearing the end, all day. I worked on that first draft off and on, contracting and expanding, and playing with narration and voice for the next 17 years. Some years it hummed softly on a shelf or in a drawer, other times it sang out to me to pay more attention and play and dance and work with it.
Please include the excerpt and include page numbers as reference. The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. Lucy, go see. Pages 326-327, Hardcover, First edition:
“[…]As Viola parked, Lucy looked at her and blurted, “I feel like Dad is never going to respect me again.”
Viola snapped her head to face her, her hands tightened around the wheel and her eyes were fiery, “So what? Is he God of the universe?”
And that’s how Lucy realized he wasn’t. Once again, her mother, in a matter of seconds, gave her the gift of freedom.”
Why is this excerpt so emotional for you? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? The excerpt is emotional for me because it is based on my own experience and it had a double impact – I could feel the relief my mother said it, and I could see the gift she gave me with that statement even more clearly when I wrote it, years later, which gave me even more appreciation for my mother. She died last year, a couple of weeks after the novel was released. It meant so much to me to see it in her hands, as the writing of it showed me all she had given me, much of which I did not see at the time. We so often heard growing up, those of my generation, “oh, just wait until your father gets home, or what will your father think?” This is a powerful counter statement to that, a reminder that fathers are not God.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. I kept going back and forth on leaving off the last sentence about Lucy realizing her father was not God of the Universe and that what he thought of her was unimportant to her future development. I still wonder. It is difficult for me to go back into the book and not want to change things. In many ways, this story is about how women’s concerns about what men think of them affect their ability to be free, to be themselves.
Lucy, go see was recently honored as Finalist in American Book Fest’s 2018 Best Books Awards in the women’s issues category. The prima materia of the story is of the most intimate nature. I both hope that the novel leaves readers speechless, and that it inspires thoughtful, careful conversation.
Lucy, go see is currently a finalist for the Eric Hoffer da Vinci Eye Award for outstanding cover art.
1 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
Nathaniel Kaine’s Thriller Novel:
John Hunter – The Veteran
2 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
THE ANTIQUES DEALER
by Ed Protzel
https://christalcooper.com/002-inside-the-emotion-of-fiction-the-antiques-dealer-by-ed-protzel/
3 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
EXODUS ARCON
by Janice Seagrave
https://christalcooper.com/003-inside-the-emotion-of-fiction-exodus-arcon-by-janice-seagraves/
4 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
THE FIDDLER IN THE NIGHT
by Christian Fennell
5 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
DEATH ADJACENT
by J.L Mathews.
https://christalcooper.com/005-inside-the-emotion-of-fiction-death-adjacent-by-j-l-mathews/
6 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
RUBY THE INDOMITABLE
by Robin Jansen
7 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
SCRIM
by Adair Valerez
8 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
DEAD COPY
by Kit Frazier
9 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
THE ROAD OF A THOUSAND TIGERS
by Robert Craven.
10 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
THE OTHE TWIN
by Kristine Goodfellow
https://christalcooper.com/010-inside-the-emotion-of-fiction-the-other-twin-by-kristine-goodfellow/
11 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
TRIMMED TO DEATH
by Nancy J Cohen
12 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
Second Story Man
by Charles Salzberg
13 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
HIS FULL ATTENTION
by Alexis Rhone Fancher
14 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
POKEWEED: AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA
by Brian L. Tucker
15 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
REDUCED
by Robin Tidwell
16 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
LITTLE BOY LOST
By J.D. Trafford
17 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
VOID
18 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
HOTEL MOSCOW
By Talia Carner
19 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
ALLIGATOR ALLEY
By Rick Robinson
020 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
VOID
21 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
THE NOWHERE MAN
By Marlon L. Fick
22 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
VOID
23 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
“The Penitent Go to Texas” from the short story collection THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO WORSHIP THEM
By Samuel Snoek-Brown
24 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
“Pasture Art” from the short story collection by the same title PASTURE ART
By Marlin Barton
25 Inside the Emotion of Fiction
BELOVED MOTHER
By Laura Hunter
26 Inside the Emotion of Fiction MAGICAL MISTLETOE by Magnolia Maggie Rivers, published by Freeman Group, LLC on February 14, 2018.
27 Inside the Emotion of Fiction RAFAEL by Faith Gibson
https://christalcooper.com/27-inside-the-emotion-of-fiction-rafael-by-faith-gibson/
28 Inside the Emotion of Fiction TO THE BONES by Valerie Neiman published by West Virginia Press on April 25, 2019.
29 Inside the Emotion of Fiction VEILED VISIONS OF LOVE by Betty Bolte on August 25, 2018