Laura Harrington's Blog, page 9

Copy editing

Copy editing with Monty

I've just returned the copy edited MS of Alice Bliss to Viking/Penguin.  As this is my first experience with copy editing, it has been a little overwhelming at times.  I found myself wondering if I could possibly retain one more detail.  My editor, her assistant, and the copy editor have all been fantastic. Alice Bliss has been blessed with a great team.

Here's what my kitchen table looked like for a week.  With some help from my cat, Monty.

Writing in cafes

Writing in cafes

I used to do a lot of my writing in cafes – long hand. Yes, I love the whole old-fashioned process of pen and paper.  Notebooks, favorite pens, writing anywhere: at the beach, the doctor's office, pulled over on the side of the road because a character is talking to me and I just have to get something down on paper right now.  I love the immediacy, the simplicity,  the physical act of writing and the way it connects my body to my mind and vice versa.  This was easier when I was writing plays and could write a ten minute/ ten page scene in 90 minutes or so.  Novels are so much more dense, so many more words per page, that I finally broke down and started to compose at the computer.  I still do all revising longhand and can only really experience a manuscript when it's on paper.

But I am always on the lookout for great places to write.  Here's one in New York City that looks like a sideways library — melding several favorite things: books, coffee, tea, writing, people watching.

The Inspiration for Alice Bliss

Composer Jenny Giering

I'm often asked where I got the idea for the novel Alice Bliss.

Alice Bliss grew out of a one-act, one-woman musical, ALICE UNWRAPPED, that I wrote with the composer Jenny Giering.

Jennifer Damiano in Alice Unwrapped

The musical was commissioned by Paulette Haupt and Premieres, Inc and premiered in an evening of one-act, one-woman musicals called "Inner Voices: Solo Musicals," at The Zipper Factory, Off-Broadway in NYC. Jennifer Damiano was our Alice.  She was 16 years old when we met, and had already been on Broadway in "Spring Awakening."  She took her SATs while we were in rehearsal and turned 17 the night before we opened.

An extraordinary performer, Jennifer went on to play Natalie on Broadway in "Next to Normal" for two years.  She is currently in rehearsals for the upcoming Broadway premiere of "Spider Man Return of the Dark," directed by Julie Taymor.

Jennifer Damiano

ALICE UNWRAPPED went on to several productions in Minneapolis, first as a reading in a series called "Rough Cuts," with Nautilus Music Theatre, then at "The Spirit in the House Festival," and finally at "The Minneapolis Fringe Festival," directed by Ben Krywosz and starring Jill Anna Posniak.

In "Alice Unwrapped," Alice lives with her family in an apartment in NYC.  Her Dad, who is serving in Iraq, is MIA, her mom is losing it and has retreated to the bedroom, Alice is desperately trying to hold the family together, and her genius kid sister Ellie is demanding normal.

Jill Anna Posniak in Alice Unwrapped

Alice has researched the body armor that her father is probably wearing and has devised her own version of armor with duct tape, army boots, a hunting vest, a bike helmet and ingenuity.  As you can imagine, this is not going over very well in high school.  But Alice's need to hang on to her dad and shelter inside this "armor" is stronger than anything else.  Until Ellie says, if you don't take that ridiculous suit off, I'm not coming home ever again.

So the musical centers on the moment that Ellie makes that demand of Alice and Alice finds the courage to begin to unravel the armor that has been protecting her from the loss of her father.

The musical — with only 35 minutes of playing time — could only give us a snapshot of the family and then capture one key moment in Alice's life.

I quickly realized that there was a very rich story still to be told and that Alice Bliss was a character I wanted to spend more time with.