In today's post, regular contributor Denise Neary talks to author Justin Kramon whose debut novel came out this past summer. He has had a great time connecting with reading groups and wants to meet you!
If your book club hasn’t had the opportunity to meet with an author, have I got news for you! Justin Kramon, the author of FINNY (Random House 2010) WANTS to connect with as many book clubs as he can.
For the hows and whys, read on.
For the when, get moving! There is no date expiration on this wonderful offer, but is too good to pass up. If you're interested (and why wouldn’t you be?) contact the author directly though his website at http://www.justinkramon.com.
Here is Publishers Weekly’s take on Finny and its author:
“In his impressive debut, Kramon takes on a number of familiar coming-of-age plots--smalltown fish-out-of-water adolescence, frustrated first love, boarding school friendships, big city escapes--and pulls it all off with flair and humor. A 14-year-old misfit in her Maryland hometown, Finny Short is sent to boarding school by her conservative parents soon after acting on a crush on mysterious boy-next-door Earl. At posh Thorndon, she finds an unlikely best friend in Judith, a beautiful heiress who thinks nothing of catching a ride in Peter Jennings's car; together, Earl and Judith prove unexpectedly influential throughout Finny's teenage years, as well as her passage through college. Kramon is at his best sending up Finny's innocence by means of an endearing, Dickensian coterie of side characters like androgynous dorm matron Poplan and Earl's father, a narcoleptic pianist who falls asleep in the middle of performances. Combining snappy dialogue, frank attention to sex, and convincingly detailed characters--eccentric and sympathetic, but not sentimental--Kramon is clearly a find.”
And here is my interview with Justin:
RGG: Where will you physically travel?
Justin: I'm happy to travel anywhere within driving distance (90 miles or so) from D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York. But I often travel further, when I can schedule meetings with a number of clubs in a short period, or when I can make some book club visits in conjunction with other travel plans I have. Recently, for example, I've scheduled meetings with book clubs in California, Virginia, Boston, and near Pittsburgh. So it never hurts for a club to get in touch, and I'll always do my best to work out some kind of visit or call-in or Skype or even email exchange. I also frequently visit clubs at bookstores, which has been a great way to combine a typical book-signing with a book club visit.
RGG: Will you Skype?
Justin: Yes, I'm happy to visit clubs by Skype. I've been doing that a lot recently, and it seems to work out well. It's a great way for me to get in touch with clubs who are outside of the area I'm able to travel to.
RGG: Will you talk about writing generally (or only with groups who have read FINNY?)
Justin: There are two types of meetings I typically do. One is the usual book club meeting, where everyone has read the book and I come in to participate in a discussion about it, and then answer any questions people have. The second type of meeting is a seminar I've developed for writers trying to start publishing their fiction. In the seminar, I offer practical and concrete tips drawn from my own experiences -- things that helped me on the way to getting my book published. I'll share resources such as lists of magazines where I submit short stories, or even the query letter I sent to my current agent. Anything I think might be helpful for other writers who are in the situation I was in. This seminar has been popular with writing groups, and also with bookstores, who have found it a great way to get people into the store for a book event, since it provides some useful content for writers. Recently, I've done the event at Books and Books in Miami, at WORD in Brooklyn, and at Gibson's in NH.
RGG: Ideal times, and/or times to avoid?
Justin: I'm happy to schedule meetings any time that's convenient for clubs. I like to try to fit into a club's normal schedule as much as possible, because it makes it easier for everyone to attend.
RGG: I have a sense of what clubs get out of meeting authors---what do you get out of meeting readers? Why is this important to you?
Justin: It's hugely helpful for a writer to hear what readers are thinking. I've learned a lot about my book from my readers -- what's funny to people, what's moving, and what's annoying. I'm hoping it'll make me a better writer, to know how my work affects people. Also, separately, it's just nice to share the book with people. So much of writing is done in isolation. I joke sometimes that it's like being in a mental institution -- staying in the same room all day, talking to imaginary people. So it's nice when those imaginary people begin to enter the imaginations of other real people. It makes the project feel more substantial, which is a gratifying thing for a writer. A book club is an ideal way for a writer to share a book with readers.
RGG: Best thing that ever happened at a book club?
Justin: That's difficult. I've had a lot of great experiences. One thing that was wonderful was when I showed up to a book club meeting in Baltimore that was being led by my high school English teacher. That was a real treat. He's a teacher I loved, and it was so much fun to be "in the classroom" with him again, except now he was talking about my book.
RGG: Worst thing?
Justin: I haven't had any awful experiences. Once in a while, there's someone who really wants to argue about something, or prove that something was wrong that I said or wrote. But those tensions tend to get diffused, as everyone talks and shares their opinions. Once people realize that I'm not challenging them, and that I honestly enjoy hearing their opinions, I think they're happy to talk with me. And I think it's always interesting to hear why someone wrote the book he/she did, and what he/she was thinking.
The only experience I had that was difficult was one time when a reader was very insistent about finding out if something that had happened in my book had actually happened to me. There was just a limit to the amount of detail I felt comfortable sharing, especially because I didn't know anyone in the club. It ended up working out fine -- I think writers get used to answering those kinds of questions -- but I had the feeling that the person might have been a little disappointed at not getting all of the information.
I should say, though, that I share a lot about my life and my writing with clubs. I think that can be interesting for readers, to know what went into a book.
RGG: What are you working on now?
Justin: I'm working on a new novel about food. The story is about two men who meet when they're young, and because of difficult experiences in their home lives, they develop a mutual obsession with food and cooking. They go separate ways, but many years later, they meet again in New York, and are forced back into each other's lives. One is a chef, and the other has taken his passion in a totally different direction. And there's a mystery about what happened to the parents of one of the men. The book will hopefully be full of the same humor and quirkiness that people have enjoyed in FINNY.
-- Denise Neary, Regular Contributor
