Jim Naremore writes about memorializing our losses

Jim Naremore’s new novel, American Still Life is about trauma and memorializing our loses – a perfect read for the many thousands of people going through those experiences as a result of the recent Los Angeles fires. Hopefully all affected will have time to read this important book, once they are on the road to recovery.  Jim has also written a guest post for us about the importance of being a member of a writing group. I’m in two, so I know how helpful they are.

Here’s Jim:

Why I Like Writing Groups

by Jim Naremore

I’m a writer’s group junkie. I have been formally writing for close to (over?) twenty years now and I’m sure I’ve been involved in over a dozen such groups. I’m currently in one now and wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s a harsh generalization that maybe strays into cliché that most writers are introverts or are maybe socially maladroit. I fall on some point of that spectrum for sure, and my writer’s groups were a big part of my ability to have and maintain friendships. People take up writing as an avocation or hobby because spending inordinate amounts of time alone in our heads making up strangers to talk to is appealing. That can make anyone a little edgy. Having a social group is healthy. That sounds trite, but it’s not. Mental health is a woefully underrated benefit of a writer’s group. Beyond that, exposure to other people’s works in progress is a huge benefit. If you feel like your first draft isn’t working, seeing someone else’s first draft that also isn’t working can make you feel a bit more normal. You become aware of aspects of your craft (hopefully, at least) that you may be weaker in than others. Watching how other writers in your group handing something you struggle with, like interiority or dialog, can lead to real breakthroughs. Of course, much of those benefits can also be had in a good book group, but a writer’s group will also help keep you on schedule. Seriously, if you made me list the single biggest benefit of a writer’s group for any writer, I’d confidently say deadlines. There’s nothing like a good external deadline to keep you at the computer making progress. When it’s my turn to submit I know I’m spending some time and effort on what I need to be creating. I’ve also had serious “OMG!” moments of inspiration based on talking through my own work. A piece of writing exists on a lot of subtle levels, a lot of it, especially in the early stages, is in the writer’s head. Your head is great, but it’s a tricky place, it’s not always what it seems to be in there. Actually sitting down and explaining what you are trying to write, plots, character motivations, etc. is enormously helpful. I can’t count the number of times I’ve learned about what I’m writing by explaining it in group.

I love my writer’s groups and the experiences I’ve had there… but there are some things it’s easy to think they are good for that they are not.

Real critical feedback on your work can be very hard to get in group. It is absolutely critical that you submit specific questions or points of emphasis to the group with your submission. “I am trying to achieve X in this scene. Am I getting there? If not, what could I try?” or “Does Tom sound authentic in his reactions in this set of dialog?” If you give your group direction, you get better feedback. If you just say “give me any general impressions” you are not going to get a lot of value. This is an important rule: it’s YOUR work. YOUR gut is always right. If you think something is good in your work and somebody else doesn’t, YOU ARE RIGHT. Do not be swayed by every comment! My rule is if I hear it once or twice, I can note it and then ignore it if I choose. If everyone in the group says the same thing, then I need to pay attention to it. Also, and this is super important, there are times when having too many eyes on your work is not a good thing. Those times tend to be right at the very beginning and right at the very end. Give yourself some serious time to get some traction with a piece you are working on. Get to know the characters and the plot a bit, get a roadmap of the work. Then you can start submitting sections. If you start submitting too early in the process, you will just spin in changes trying to fix stuff that doesn’t need fixing yet. The end is different. Writer’s groups are terrible at helping you finish something. Its hard enough to finish as it is, but a bunch of micro-level suggestions in the final part of the writing won’t work. At some point you need to take the piece off the table, lock yourself in your room, and write “The End” without any more feedback. Then let them see it as a “final draft”.

Last thoughts: Not all writers in the group are the same. I quickly got to know who was going to give me what kind of feedback. There were people I really needed to listen to more than others. Some writers are not as experienced or thoughtful as others. My current group spun out of my MFA program, we have three published novelists and four either submitting for publication or well on the way there. It helps if everyone is in it for the same goal. If you want to publish, find other people that want the same thing or have done it. A group between four and eight is a good size, meeting once a month. Submissions should be under 5000 words and allow an hour for a submission of that size. Stay focused. We do two submissions a month and meet for two hours-ish. Group won’t solve all your problems. Sometimes you get more feedback than you need, and not all of it will be helpful. But it can keep you sane and on target time-wise. And that alone makes them worth it.

Book Summary

We are all drowning, and we are all saviors.

Wresting with addiction, guilt, and self-loathing, gifted photojournalist Skade Felsdottir finds herself trapped in a web of her own creation when she is forced by circumstances to return to her hometown—the place that holds her crippling secrets. After screwing up her “big break,” a photo essay book about descansos—roadside memorials to people who have died tragically, Skade tries to salvage the project against a tight deadline. While simultaneously working and keeping her darkest demons at bay, Skade reconnects with an old boyfriend and befriends a unique but broken young woman named Kit. Their burgeoning friendship begins a process of healing for them both, until a devastating sequence of events plunges Skade into darkness, leaving her to decide between redemption and running away; between life and death. Set against a backdrop of the back roads of a forgotten America, American Still Life explores the crossroads of grief and artistic expression, of loneliness and atonement. A journey familiar.

Publisher: Regal House Publishing (December 17, 2024)

ISBN: 1646035054

ISBN: 978-1646035052

AISN:  B0CNTWJH98

Print length:  296 pages

 

Purchase a copy of American Still Life on:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/American-Still-Life-Jim-Naremore/dp/1646035054

Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/american-still-life-jim-naremore/1144401418?ean=9781646035052

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/american-still-life-jim-naremore/21166321?ean=9781646035052

You can also add this to your Goodreads reading list

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202538411-american-still-life?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=bDrIdOSiXR&rank=6.

About the Author

With roots in the American deep south and the midwest grounding his sense of place, Jim Naremore has published an array of short fiction and the award-winning novel The Arts of Legerdemain as Taught by Ghosts (Belle Lutte, 2016). He holds an MFA from the Solstice program at Lasell University in Boston and currently lives with his partner and cat in New York’s Hudson River Valley.

You can follow the author at:

Instagram: @jim_naremore    https://www.instagram.com/jim_naremore/

Website: https://www.jim-naremore.com/

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