Born and raised in Washington, Shelby Van Pelt currently lives with her husband and two kids in the Chicago suburbs where she misses the mountains. Remarkably Bright Creatures is her debut novel, and it became an instant New York Times bestseller.
Shelby was joined in conversation by everyone’s favorite librarian Nancy Pearl for a discussion of her highly popular novel.
Mukilteo is a quaint picturesque town North of Seattle. The views of the Puget Sound on my drive to the venue were worth the price of admission.
There’s something structurally wrong with that sentence as this event, put on by the local library, had no admission. It was a simple quaint affair and the Community Center was packed to the gills. I didn’t mean to make a fish analogy there, so bear with me.
And that’s how she described her writing process. She admitted to writing so much character development without having much of a plot. She spent days writing in the voice of Marcellus, the giant Pacific Octopus. She stated, as you write, the characters will tell their stories.
She also had an ending in mind and she simply had to get there.
One quote she had that I found so spot on is only about 10% of the time when you’re writing is it magical? The rest is quite simply hard work.
And one thing I learned is that I have been in the writers cul-de-sac before. It was my first time hearing that term describing doing some of your best writing, but it doesn’t lead anywhere. I certainly have been there before.
Another term I heard was describing a genre I thought about before, but never gave it a label. She described the genre as Book Club. I’d rather do not like this expression. if you know, you know, but it fits here. There will be questions.
Side Effect of Endorphins
Shelby is an avid runner. She made a lot of comparisons of training for a marathon and taking writing as a serious endeavor. She said with each, after five minutes you enjoy that you’re out there.. Sometimes the hardest part is getting yourself out the door or sitting there writing.
And I tip my hat to Nancy Pearl. She asked excellent questions and kept the discussion flowing. And who doesn’t adore an 80 year-old librarian. My grandmother was a librarian.. I loved that about her.
I would love to hear you opinion as well