"[T]here was waitressing and photography school, an MFA, decent success as a short-story writer, and a downright solid career as a radio producer, which allowed her to rub elbows with the likes of Rushdie. (She currently hosts an occasional live variety show, Stage Sessions, which can be heard on MPR.) For her, the end of the chapter didn't read, "Sell novel, flip to page 86. Live life in obscure penury, flip to page 119."
That's a brief look at novelist Heather McElhatton's crazy resume before she finished her choose-your-own adventure book for adults, Pretty Little Mistakes.
Her book lets readers explore some fictional and semi-autobiographical paths that a life can take, a very addictive formula for a novel. She's our special guest this week, and today she tells how a radio career helped (and hurt) her writing career. Read the rest of the City Pages profile here.
Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson's mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.
Jason Boog:
You've spent a lot of time working on some of the world's best radio programs. How is writing for radio different than writing on the page? How do you conceive and pitch stories to radio producers? Any advice for writers looking to break into radio writing?
Heather McElhatton:
I think writing for radio might have really damaged my "literary abilities." Continue reading...
At least at first.
Every piece of fiction I wrote sounded like a news bulletin. No description, no "taffy-pulling." Radio writing did not lend itself well to fiction writing. I can only imagine the reverse is true as well.
In radio writing you have to convey so much in such a short amount of time, I think it's a better profession for poets and short story writers.
Even then, it's such a marvelous and difficult thing, radio writing, it really isn't something you can "do on the side" and be good at.
I think it might be better to go the Faulkner route and work at a slaughterhouse. It's gotta be better money!
Click here to read the whole Heather McElhatton interview.
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» The Publishing Spot Library: Interactive Novelist Heather McElhatton from ThePublishingSpot
What if books had more than one ending? How could you create enough characters to sustain that kind of plot? If you are looking for ways to make an interactive book--online or on paper--you can learn a lot from novelist... [Read More]
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