"Crafting a Great Story" panel

Now that the fabulous 2010 Get Lit! Festival is over, the team at Get Lit! thought we'd take some time to reflect on a few of the amazing events held this year.

One of the first events of the festival this faithful intern attended was the "Crafting a Great Story" panel, which featured Janet Fitch, Kevin Canty, Lore Segal and Lisa Norris, and was moderated by Laura Read, instructor at SFCC.

The four panelists each read a sample of their work and then opened things up for questions to the audience at large. Many community members were in attendance as well as SFCC, EWU and other college students, and the questions ranged from "Where do you get your ideas for novels?" to specific questions about plot, character and getting published.

Both Kevin Canty and Janet Fitch agreed that the process of writing a piece can stretch over a very long time period. Canty informed the audience that he is currently working on four novels (!?!) at the same time, and informed everyone that he didn't publish his first story until age 40. Fitch expressed a similar journey, describing how she decided to be a writer at age 21 "before she'd written anything," she joked, and from that point it took her ten years to get her first story published.

The panelists also agreed that much of their best work had come out of pieces they'd originally envisioned being much shorter. Fitch's novels Paint it Black and White Oleander, she told the audience, both grew out of short stories, and Lore Segal explained how sometimes you have to let the piece determine its own length.

Each author expressed a different way of approaching their work, but they all agreed on the importance of having someone you can trust to read your work and provide honest feedback. Fitch and Canty both cautioned against using a family member, while Norris countered that she has successfully relied on her spouse to be her first reader throughout her career.

Throughout, all the panelists were friendly, kind, funny and open. They joked with each other and with the audience, but answered each question earnestly and thoroughly. During a break halfway through as well as after the panel, each author was approached by audience members who had another question or just wanted to shake hands. One SFCC student took a self-portrait of himself and Lore Segal using his IPhone while a local writer chatted with Lisa Norris. A few students eagerly held out books for Janet Fitch to sign while Kevin Canty thanked a student for their praise of the short story he'd just read.

Overall the panel was a resounding success! The auditorium was full of eager listeners, the audience asked well-meaning questions and hearing each author read a snippet of their work before beginning the discussion was so interesting. I left the panel feeling inspired by each writer's commitment to their work and relieved that these confident, successful authors had struggled as young writers. Gives the rest of us a little hope!