I have piles of notes from my weekend at the wonderful San Miguel Writers’ Conference. Very briefly, from Barbara Kingsolver’s keynote address on how The Lacuna evolved:
1. She first asked: what are the big questions?
2. She wrote pages and pages on what the novel would be about.
3. As she was doing this, scenes begin to “pop up” and characters appeared.
4. She asked: Who will tell the story? To find the voice, she did a lot of practice-writing.
5. She started, but in bits, not chronologically.
6. Then, when she could see the shape of it, she felt ready to start a proper draft. From this point on (she made it very clear), she was in control—of the story, and of the characters.
7. During all this time she was doing research.
The first draft, she said, was like “hoeing a row of corn.” It hurt, like giving birth.
Revision is “where the art happens,” making everything fit, “pulling the meaning up.” (Again, beautiful.)
Her husband is her first reader, then trusted others.
A problem with early drafts is failing to visualize scenes. She goes through the manuscript, “turning on the lights.” (I love this image as well.)
She likes to hold a balance between mystery and revelation—but tends, she confessed, to mystery.
She quoted Chagall: “Great art begins where life leaves off.”
I wanted to know more about her work at the sentence level. It is, no doubt, intense. She uses a thesaurus constantly (which interested me).
Right now, I’m reading through the second draft of The Next Novel, editing it. With each pass, I get closer to the meaning. Soon, I’ll be going through the scenes, “turning on the lights.”
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your note (and again for your wonderful blog).
I have the good fortune to live half the year in San Miguel!
Cheers, Sandra
Sandra, what wonderful thoughts you've shared. I spent a few weeks in San Miguel some years ago. I hope you found it as charming as I did. Did you have time to take in any of the other town near by?
Thank you for your note and for linking to Hyacinths for the Soul. I had much fun writing the reviews of the Josephine trilogy and making connections to food. I've had several notes from personal friends who have now read all three books. As I said in the post on the LAST GREAT DANCE ON EARTH, I miss Josephine. Through these novels you gave me a dear friend. I can only imagine how you must feel toward Josephine.
Thanks again for sharing both your knowledge and your creative spirit through these books.
Best ~ Sarah @ hyacinthforthesoul.blogspot.com