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Sanctioned Lying
Relationships are messy. In Jessica Barksdale Inclán’s latest novel, The Instant When Everything Is Perfect, Mia Alden is an author and UC Berkeley professor whose yearning for more than the status quo will resonate with readers.
When Mia meets Robert Groszmann, the plastic surgeon who will reconstruct her mother’s breasts after a mastectomy, a new longing rises up. She moves out of her comfort zone, digs deep into her soul, and considers her place as a wife, mother, daughter, and sister, discovering many layers of
complexity in being female and over forty. Is it possible to have all that she wants or is it too late? Her mother becomes a surprising role model for seizing happiness.
A new relationship can be a diamond in the rough, requiring much cutting and polishing before it shines. Inclán polishes all kinds of relationships in The Instant When Everything Is Perfect. As she explores mothers and daughters, breast cancer, betrayal, and neediness, she creates a gem of a
story that becomes as multi-faceted as a world-class diamond. Her writing shines.
In the Q & A below, author and teacher Jessica Barksdale Inclán, shares tips for bringing people and issues to life.
LG: Tell us about yourself. How did you find your niche in the writing world?
JBI: If my mother hadn't been a reader, I would have never been a writer. She taught me to read before I went to kindergarten. Books were always a part of our life at home--stories before bed, weekend trips to the library. I realized that a book was the most interesting thing in the world, and I
started to write my first one when I was twelve. It took twenty-four years from then to actually finish a manuscript, but I knew early that I wanted to have books of my own.
My stories are about people and what life can be like, so I suppose that's my niche. Thank goodness readers want to read about people's lives as much as I want to write about them.
LG: Experts say to write what you know yet the story is classified as “fiction for the way we live.” Where do you draw the line between fiction and non-fiction in The Instant When Everything Is Perfect?
JBI: The best part about fiction is that it is sanctioned lying. Not lying, really, but making up. So, life may begin the story and then fiction takes it over. I did start this story when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, so it definitely began on one side of the line. Then it moved to the
other because as of this date, I am not currently dating her plastic surgeon!
LG: Robert and Mia are wonderful characters. How did you find and develop them? Are parts of either one taken from people you know?
JBI: Mia started with my reaction to my mother's breast cancer, and Robert literally just walked in the door of my imaginary exam room. And it was fun to really work with him as he was unlike anyone I knew. He had deep fears and anxieties and he was a man. I find writing from the male point-of-view
much more difficult--and finding out all about plastic surgery was interesting as well. So, his life was an exploration for me.
LG: Your plot is filled with surprises dropped in at just the right time. How much of the story was planned before you began drafting and how much was altered as you wrote?
BJI: I tend to not outline a novel. I have an idea of where things are going and then I let the characters take over. All the surprises that you felt while reading came from my characters being put on the page and allowed to explore their environment. I hoped that the ending I currently have in the
book would occur, but I wasn't sure until I wrote it. In that way, writing is a joy for me as I feel I am on a journey, too.
LG: You’ve written several novels. What gets easier and what is still a challenge?
JBI: The challenge is the market place. Editors want stories that will sell, not necessarily the ones you want to write. All my novels that I've published I've wanted to write, but I have about three that my editor did not want to publish. One of the reasons she gave me was that they were "too sad."
Readership is on a decline, and publishing houses usually lose money. So, they want that big seller, that feel-good novel of the year--or that novel that somehow manages to catch up people, something like The Lovely Bones (which WAS sad). It's hard to know if you are writing a novel like
that--and I don't want to set out TO write a novel for marketing sake. Of course, I'd love to have a novel go blockbuster, but that can be fairly alchemical.
What has gotten easier for me is thinking in novel form. I think in novel shape. It took me two novels to actually begin to think like that, and now stories take up vast landscapes in my mind, which is nice.
LG: What a great way to put it. What advice would you give to unpublished writers who are ready to find an agent or published authors looking for a new agent?
JBI: The biggest piece of advice I have is to make SURE that whatever you have to send out is done, done, done. You've had it read and re-read by readers. You've workshopped it. You've proofread. You've correctly formatted it. You only have one chance with agents, so don't waste that chance.
You have to do your homework: research the people you are sending your work to--don't waste your postage and trees by sending materials to agents who just don't want what you are trying to sell. Get the books--Writer's Market, etc. Read them carefully. Also, see what agents are selling the books you
like. Often, authors will acknowledge agents in their books, so you can get an idea there, too.
LG: Who are some of your favorite authors and why do you like them?
JBI: Jane Austen is my favorite. I reread Pride and Prejudice every year. The story is tight and delivers in terms of tension and surprise. And, of course, it has a happy ending, which I do admit to liking now and then!
Toni Morrison’s Beloved is really an amazing novel. I love John Irving, too. A Widow for A Year is fabulous, as is The World According to Garp. I did my master's thesis on his work, and talk about a good plotter.
LG: Where can people find copies of The Instant Everything Is Perfect? What are you working on now?
My novel came out February 2006, and will be just about everywhere, but easiest, of course, is Amazon.com and BN.com--also, my web site www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com, has links to sites where the novel can be bought. I have two
other novels coming out in 2006: When You Believe and Reason to Believe, both from Kensington Publishing.
LG: Thanks for sharing your story with WriterAdvice. The Instant When Everything Is Perfect is a great read. It encourages readers to face their own chaos, clean house, trust the future, and have some fun in the process.
Pick up a copy of The Instant When Everything Is Perfect or order it from the web page above. It’s a strong, well-written story that will open your heart.
—B. Lynn Goodwin, WriterAdvice
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