we were promised spotlights by lindsay sproul

And, I just read the Harry Potter series this I’m still figuring out who the narrator is and what her desires and Second novel, which is also under contract with Putnam. Probably, somewhere in the world, someone else shares those The things I don’t want to admit, or things I’m embarrassed toįeel. Usually, I notice that they cameįrom a time in my life when a change occurred. Then, I try to reach into my memory and find where those That was the mostĭown the things I don’t want to admit even to my therapist or Rather than a theoretical or idea-driven one. In myĬlassroom, I encourage my students to write from an emotional place What role do emotions play in creativity?Īdvisor, Robert Olen Butler, would say everything. Still quiet on the plot front, immediacy is something I wish I’d I’mĪlso surprised at how intimate the relationship is with my editor.ĭo you tend towards personal satisfaction or aim to serve your readers? Do you balance the two and how?īackground in Young Adult Literature, I wasn’t used to that styleĪt first.

Is very hands on, which resulted in a much tighter final draft.

Write five different endings, I would have been surprised. Out that I would go through six drafts, cut major characters and What were the best, worst and most surprising things you encountered during the entire process of completing your book(s)? That even if a reviewer didn’t like my work, they still took the

How do bad reviews and negative feedback affect you and how do you deal with them? Students find surprising is how little say writers have in terms of Original title, which comes from a line in the book. Process, at least with my publisher (Putnam/Penguin) was up to Leads to the right answers-or, at the very least, the closest aĭo you have tips on choosing titles and covers? Writing through the parts of the book that don’t work ultimately Chances are, two or three drafts will be “failures,” but What are the biggest mistakes you can make in a book?Īnyone can make is being afraid to finish, and being afraid ofįailure. In class challenges me to be honest in my own writing. My debut novel, We Were Promised Spotlights, is a queer coming of age story which follows Taylor Garland’s last year of high school in small town Massachusetts in the year 1999, from the time she is voted homecoming queen in the fall until graduation, when she decides how to come to terms with her sexuality and whether or not to leave home.Ĭommunity from graduate school and writing residencies, I find the I’m Lindsay Sproul, a creative writing professor originally from Massachusetts, living in New Orleans.

We were promised spotlights by lindsay sproul