Word Café

a master class for readers and writers

VALERIE MARTIN, “Narrative Voices”

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VALERIE MARTIN is the author of nine novels, including Trespass, Mary Reilly, Italian Fever, and Property, three collections of short fiction, and a biography of St. Francis of Assisi, titled Salvation. She has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Kafka Prize (for Mary Reilly) and Britain’s Orange Prize (for Property). The Confessions of Edward Day was a New York Times notable book for 2007. New books include The Ghost of the Mary Celeste (Nan Talese/Random House) and a middle-grade book, Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea, co-written with Valerie’s niece Lisa Martin. Valerie Martin has taught in writing programs at the University of Massachusetts and Sarah Lawrence College, among others. She resides in Dutchess County and is currently Professor of English at Mt. Holyoke College.

“Narrative Voices” 9/11/14 – The Exercises

Nina Shengold and Valerie Martin
Nina Shengold and Valerie Martin
Valerie Martin and Nina Shengold
valerie martin and workshop participant
Valerie Martin in conversation
with workshop participant.
Valerie Martin and workshop participant
valerie martin and nina shengold
Valerie Martin and Nina Shengold
Valerie Martin and Nina Shengold


The second Word Café was a literary treat. Acclaimed novelist Valerie Martin read several selections from her brilliant novel-in-many-voices, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste. She read a passage narrated by a skeptical woman journalist interviewing a celebrated spiritualist who surprises her with details of her mother’s death, and another about the young Arthur Conan Doyle during his stint as a ship’s doctor in Africa.

We talked about how writers make the decision to use first or third person. Valerie observed that first person narration creates the sense of a story told in a spoken voice, and is especially effective when the narrator is trying to justify his or her behavior (“First person is driven by guilt.”) It bonds the reader to the speaker’s version of events and other characters, whether accurate or not.

Third person works well for broader-canvas stories. Nina likened the omniscient third-person narrator to a movie camera, which can provide a long-shot overview, then move close in on one character in the scene, then another, then cut to an entirely different time and place.

After some questions about different narrative strategies, we passed out two writing exercises for people to try in class or at home:

EXERCISES: 500-1000 WORDS

CHARACTER (Valerie Martin):

Consider a friend or family member you know well. Answer the following questions about him/her: What is her ambition? What is her idea of fun? What does she value? Who or what is she conflicted about? What inhibits her? What, in your view, are the strengths and weaknesses of her character? What do you know about her that she probably doesn’t know about herself?

NARRATIVE VOICE (Valerie Martin & Nina Shengold):

Choose any object in this room. Writing in first person, in the voice of its previous owner, explain where it came from and how it got here.

Once again, it was amazing to hear what people wrote and read after just a few minutes of concentrated time. Writing is usually a solitary pursuit, but there must be something special in the collective energy of many writers working in the same space.

Next week’s guest is poet Mark Wunderlich, talking about rhythm and image. Join us!

ABIGAIL THOMAS, “Getting Started”

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ABIGAIL THOMAS, daughter of renowned science writer Lewis Thomas (The Lives of a Cell), is the mother of four children and the grandmother of twelve. Her academic education stopped when, pregnant with her oldest daughter, she was asked to leave Bryn Mawr during her first year. She’s lived most of her life on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and was for a time a book editor and for another time a book agent. Then she started writing for publication. Her memoir, A Three Dog Life, was named one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. She is also author of Safekeeping, Two Pages, and Thinking About Memoir. When Thomas can’t write she paints on glass. She lives in Woodstock, NY with her four dogs.

“Getting Started” 9/4/14 – The Exercises

Nina Shengold and Abigail Thomas
Word Café with Abigail Thomas
and Nina Shengold

Nina Shengold and Abigail Thomas together in conversation

Abigail Thomas by Jana Martin
Abigail Thomas

Abigail Thomas at Word Café

word cafe salon
The writers
filled the house.

The place was packed!

Writers at outdated: an antique café. SRO.


Word Café got off to a spectacular start with Abigail Thomas reading selections from Thinking About Memoir, and a sneak peek at her upcoming book What Comes Next and How To Like It. Here are a few of the insights I gleaned:

— Use a notebook to write down everything and anything. Don’t call it a Journal (or worse yet, “journaling”) and don’t worry about writing well. It’s for you, not for posterity. It’s the equivalent of singing in the shower.

— If you don’t remember something, write two pages about not remembering. One thing can lead to another.

— The places you resist most are where the live coals are. You can say, “Hot dog, I’m onto something.” Or you can take a nap.

Here are three exercises we gave out before the break. (You’ll always have a choice, and whatever you don’t start writing in class, you can try at home. Go ahead!)

  1. Write two pages describing any decade of your life using only three-word sentences. (Abby’s example: “Slept with Israelis. Needn’t have bothered.”)
  2. Write two pages in which the second sentence is “It wasn’t funny.”
  3. You are going someplace and you find a box. What does it look like and what do you do? Two pages.

If you’re sensing a theme here, Abby’s published a book of exercises and writing prompts entitled Two Pages, available from The Golden Notebook Bookstore.
Come back for more!