Breaking In: July/August 2024
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Madeleine Cravens
Pleasure Principle
(Poetry, June, Scribner)
“Pleasure Principle is a series of lyric poems that look at intimate relationships, family history, and urban environments, written from the perspective of a queer woman living in New York.”
Writes from: I wrote most of the book in Brooklyn. I currently live in Oakland, California.
Pre-Pleasure: I moved back home to New York in late 2019, when I was 23, after several years away.
The city went into lockdown a few months later. I became sort of fixated with the strange, horrifying emptiness of public spaces I had known since childhood. Without crowds, the city’s architecture became so clear. So that was the place I began to write from, in my head, running around Prospect Park, or walking across the Manhattan Bridge, trying to stay sane.
Prior to my book getting picked up, I had some publications in journals, and had won a few prizes, but I wasn’t publishing extensively.
Photo credit: Yael Malka
Time frame: I wrote most of this book between 2020 and 2022. But some poems contain phrases I wrote far before that, from journals I kept throughout my teens and earlier twenties. In 2022, I moved to California for the Stegner Fellowship, and Louise Glück helped me radically revise the manuscript: cutting several poems, rearranging order, writing a handful of new pieces. She also encouraged me to go back to everything I’d ever written to see if anything could be useful. I would bring her pages of random lines written over the course of my life. Then she would tell me what she liked and what she didn’t.
Biggest surprise: I had more time between when the collection was acquired and when the final pass was due than I had anticipated. It was almost a year. I feel grateful for that space.
What I did right: I’m not sure if I’ve “broken in” yet: I still feel very much at the beginning of things. If I’ve done anything right, though, it’s been to write constantly while also giving myself permission to be an amateur, to write badly, to need to learn from others. And I read a lot.
What I would have done differently: Professionally, I have regrets about never achieving fluency in another language. I am hugely impressed by translators and envious of their relationship to writing.
Platform: I use Instagram and sometimes post my work on it, but I mostly see it as a personal platform, rather than a professional one.
Advice for writers: I think it’s important to learn to really appreciate and seek out criticism, even if this isn’t in your nature. I have a borderline masochistic love of critique, which has helped me. I enjoy it when someone takes apart a poem I’ve written; I think this is a gift.
Next up: I am tentatively working on a second collection of poems, set in California. The working title is Observatory. More largely, I need to find a job and figure out where to live.
Website: Madeleine-Cravens.com
Asha Thanki
A Thousand Times Before
(Speculative literary fiction, July, Viking)
“Over the course of a night and a day, Ayukta tells her wife why she’s been hesitant to have children: She comes from a lineage with access to ancestral memory, and to pave their path forward together, Ayukta must tell the story of those that came before her.”
Writes from: Brooklyn.
Pre-Thousand: I was publishing short stories and essays, but felt that I needed the support of time and funding to write a longer project. In the meantime, I attended a generative workshop where I wrote what was essentially a 5-page version of this novel. When I later when to my MFA, and when my last surviving grandparent passed early that first semester, I felt this was the novel I needed to write now.
Photo credit: Serena Seshadri
Time frame: I cannot emphasize enough the privilege of funded time. I spent two years on my first draft of the novel, and then the third year of my MFA was spent on revision. I think I revised almost five times.
Enter the agent: I found my incredible agents, Stephanie Delman and Danya Kukafka from Trellis, through AWP Writer to Agent. I tossed my query letter into the submissions almost on a whim—I didn’t even attend the conference—but was timing it alongside my emailed queries. I was instantly won over by Stephanie and Danya’s enthusiasm, care, and deep understanding of this book.
Biggest surprise: I have so much gratitude for how this journey has played out. I think one thing that has really helped is learning to be unafraid to ask any silly question, to speak up with a thought no matter how small, and to remember that, at the end of the day, the words in this book are all that I have control over.
What I did right: Listening to my mentors—especially V. V. Ganeshananthan, who helped me stay grounded and present while revising. She reminded me that I owed it to myself and the book to take my time and make sure I was 100 percent satisfied when I sent this book into the process of publication. That was a blessing.
What I would have done differently: Honestly? I would’ve started the next project sooner.
Platform: I’ve always used my handles socially. Transitioning to posting book content has been exciting but also surreal—people I haven’t met will have feelings about the cover, the story, and more, and I’m adjusting to this.
Advice for writers: “Just do it.” –Nike, and every mentor I’ve had.
But also, there’s no one way to do this. You might write every day, or not; you might pour yourself into a day job, or not. Whatever works for you is what works for you. Be unabashed.
Next up: Celebrating this moment with my community, and then pulling my laptop out so I can scribble my way through another novel.
Website: AshaThanki.com
MJ Wassmer
Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend
(Speculative satire, August, Sourcebooks Landmark)
“A young couple is vacationing on a remote island in the Bahamas when the sun explodes, causing temperatures to drop and class tension to rise.”
Writes from: Memphis, Tenn.
Pre-Zero: My mom would tell you I was published in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul at 15, but I try to forget that. I spent my 20s cubicle-surfing in various corporate communication roles. When I turned 30, I started my own business so I’d have more time to write. That’s when Zero Stars was born.
Time frame: The majority of the first draft was written during COVID lockdowns, so a lot of that existential dread—and gallows humor—made it onto the page.
Photo credit: Greg Campbell
Enter the agent: You merely adopted the slush pile. I was born in it, molded by it. After a failed first manuscript and about a year of pitching this one, I was lucky enough to catch the attention of the very charming Brady McReynolds at JABberwocky Literary.
Biggest surprise: The support of fellow authors! I think people assume that creatives in the same field all secretly (or not so secretly …) hate each other, but the vast majority of authors I’ve interacted with so far have been incredibly kind and helpful. Funny, too—that helps. Shoutout to the 2024 debut Slack group.
What I did right: I didn’t give up. Well, OK—my wife didn’t let me give up.
What I would have done differently: I would’ve written more in my 20s. I wasted a whole decade chasing paychecks when I should’ve been chasing word counts. I’m not sure I regret it, I met some great people, but I wish I hadn’t disregarded my passion for so long.
Platform: Does a Wordle group chat count as a platform? I’m terrible at social media. Thankfully, my wife’s a whiz. Together, we started an Instagram account to promote Zero Stars, connect with readers, and goof off. If anyone wants to shoot us a question about the publishing journey or watch me dance off rhythm, check out @wassmerwrites.
Advice for writers: “I’m singing for the love of it—have mercy on the man who sings to be adored.” That’s a Josh Ritter lyric I think about often. Write for yourself, write what brings you joy, what makes you laugh, cry, whatever. The second you start writing for anyone else, you’re cooked.
Next up: I’m currently working on my second novel, which I’m grateful has sold to Sourcebooks in the U.S. and Bonnier in the U.K. There’s an animatronic Benjamin Franklin in it.
Website: MJWassmer.com