Shannon’s Comments (group member since May 31, 2013)

Shannon’s comments from the Ask Shannon Huffman Polson group.

Jim,

wow, fantastic! I remember a great forum about this topic by the amazing Eugene Webb where he discussed the wildly changed views on wilderness across the centuries. I will look at the book you recommend as well. But your idea that "the sinister and the pastoral...battle one another (to coalesce) in acts of preservation is fascinating. Certainly the word pastoral would have to be mitigated with something else when one describes wilderness, and I have to wonder if the increase in urbanization allows more appreciation for wild spaces. Would that follow?

Shannon

The thing I'd say about writing-- and marketing-- is that there is no substitute for hard work, yours or someone you pay to do it for you. Since most of us don't have budgets for the latter, it falls on you.

Waverly Fitzgerald and I talked about this and she wrote up a piece you can find at her blog here: http://www.waverlyfitzgerald.com/2013...

But I'd say you need to do the standard marketing work: decide who your audience is (hopefully you did that before writing the book; most book proposals require some kind of a marketing plan) and think of creative ways to reach them.

I've done radio shows, written articles not only about North of Hope (actually, never about North of Hope) but about topics related even tangentially for publications which have readers I think would also be interested in North of Hope (for example: Alaska Magazine most recently and upcoming). I am a blog contributor at Patheos Good Letters, another place with a great readership I think would also enjoy North of Hope for different reasons. I continue to think of and pitch essays or articles about Alaska, wilderness, faith, grief, family. (Before I was a contributor at Good Letters, I submitted a couple of guest blogs to them.)

And then put in the work to do research on book blogs that read your genre. Contact them about your book and see if you can send them a copy to review. Look at doing giveaways to raise awareness. If someone tells you they love your book ask them to review it on Amazon and Goodreads.

I also am a fan of doing readings, even if they on't pay off right away in terms of the time required. Make your readings interesting.

There is no one size fits all solution; varies by book, by budget, by person. Always keep in mind any good marketing is about meeting other people's needs-- not your own.

Sure Andrew: can you help with clarifying the question? Which aspect are you wondering about?

Question from Margot: You write beautifully at the end of your book on the topic of conservation and the importance of preserving and protecting wild lands. How can we city-dwellers encourage in others "a love, respect, admiration and deep regard" for the value of wilderness (as Aldo Leopold called for), especially in folks for whom your story is frightening and/or a reason not to venture into wild territory and experience it for themselves?

This is a terrific question. Frankly, it's one reason I had some reluctance in writing North of Hope. For those not familiar with wild lands, with wilderness, I can understand the idea of predators is a scary thing, especially in light of the circumstances of North of Hope.

I wrote about this a little bit for High Country News after a hiker died last year in Denali to a bear attack (that article is here http://www.hcn.org/wotr/a-grisly-deat...). I think sharing our stories is primary for encouraging a love of wilderness, and sharing that love of wilderness through experience, too. It is amazing to me that the trip I recount in North of Hope led me so directly into wilderness preservation-- particularly Arctic wilderness preservation-- and work with the Alaska Wilderness League. I certainly would not have expected that. But I am hopeful that North of Hope, and other narratives those of us with similar experiences might be able to share, will encourage people to look deeply into this thing they may or may not understand fully. I found the Arctic wilderness to be life-affirming, life-restoring, sacred. In learning more about wilderness and ecosystems, I started to understand that the presence of predators indicated healthy ecosystems.

The other perspective is, as a business school professor said, to look at the base rate. The likelihood of a bear attack is so low. You take proper precautions, and balance your acceptance of risks with what you know to be beauty, but understand that statistically, if you take good care in travel in wilderness, you will be safe. I think of it like a car accident, so much more likely to happen to any of us. And yet we get in cars every single day, even if we know someone who has been involved in a fatal collision. Our minds don't always work rationally without some encouragement. (perhaps not even then)

Thoreau is famous for saying that "in wildness is the preservation fo the world." I believe that. What we fear in predators may well be a fear of ourselves. The most important thing is to educate ourselves through not only reading, but also experience, and then to share that with others.

No easy answer to this I'm afraid. I'm hopeful that the love, respect and appreciation for true wilderness I learned in the Arctic will come through in North of Hope and will be a way of sharing that experience with others, and encouraging us to work to protect these very few places left still undeveloped.

Hi Shannon,
What's the reaction been to your book in Alaska? Have people in your home state read your account with a different eye? And with all memoir that involves family, I'm curious how your family has reacted to your book and how that has affected you. It's a big decision to write about people close to you. How do you navigate that potentially rough territory? Thank you for the excellent read!
Margot

Margot, thank you! I am just getting ready to head to Alaska next week to talk to people about North of Hope (and see good friends and go to a wedding of two amazing people!)

This is a tricky question. I'm nervous about the local reactions a little bit, in part because of the reality that any story has as many realities as it has people involved. This is true of memoir, though I suppose also of any writing involving people or a sense of place. But I've also come to a place of peace with that latter reality; North of Hope is my story, it's my narrative. Everyone in it has their own version, and that's ok, too.

The same goes for family; there is little mention of much family in most of North of Hope for a number of reasons, primary among them that it was not the story I was trying to tell. At the same time, I also know that there will be family members unhappy with my perspective on aspects of our family life from childhood or the difficulties with the traveling companion on the river, and I've also come to accept that it's ok if they take issue with the telling of these stories, either the fact of them or the way in which they are told. Again, we each have our own stories, and the best any of us can do is to tell a story as honestly as we can. I think for a writer, you should not write/paint/express until you're confident you can do so as honestly as possible, until you can remove yourself from these expectations of others in your work (and in your life) as much as possible. I'm not a psychologist, but I think this is also called differentiation. Of course, you also have to be honest about your own failings. Humans are messy creatures and life is a messy endeavor. A good memoir will reflect that. At the end of it all, though, I still think the life thing, all of us messy humans, are pretty beautiful.

I've also read another well known memoirist say that not only does she lose relationships in every book she publishes, the challenges she experiences in reactions have to do sometimes with people being upset about her portrayal of them even if it isn't them actually being portrayed at all; or someone else who might have been nasty who is upset about having been left out. So at the end of the day, you have to tell the story as best you can, as honestly as possible, and trust the integrity of the story, the power of the narrative, to overcome these other issues.

There's a great New Yorker cartoon showing an author signing her memoir at a reading; her parents are at the table saying "If we knew you were going to be a writer, we would have been better parents!" Funny, and a little painful, and for such a difficult question (and issue) maybe the best way to end this response- though feel free to let me know if I'm missing something!

Objectivity is really impossible in memoir, isn't it? And tough in other writing. I've thought of it as finding the right amount of distance, the right amount of connection, trying to find that balance to make the writing good.

Alexandra, another of your questions concerns marketing. That's a tough one. I feel fortunate to have a publisher who has helped with some aspects of marketing, though I will say that the onus is on the author to really push the book. I have a business background, and I enjoy the creative challenges of business, so parts of this have been a lot of fun. All of it is hard.

One of the things the publisher and I both did was to contact book blogs and look for folks to review North of Hope. We have run giveaways a couple of different places. I'm still working on reviews and coverage! The advice I had from another relatively new (though successful fiction) author was to work on writing for outlets with good circulation for bylines. His comment was that more effort should be spent there than on the book blogs; I imagine that where to focus might have to do with what your book is about, genre etc. It is generally hard to get a book covered by review or in any way. If I was starting over I'd have more consciously networked with that in mind a long time ago (this is just networking like any other business or aspect of life).

I've invested a lot of time into learning how to use social media, and I'm still very much a neophyte. Of the various outlets, Twitter has been most interesting as an author. I also think that time with social media makes me a little nuts, but I've considered that a requirement as a new author.

Mostly I'd say, like any other author I know, the most difficult thing is that the marketing is not time you are spending writing, and with two young kids, my time is extremely limited. I'm looking forward to spending more time writing again one day (soon?)! At the same time, it is so gratifying to have the chance to share North of Hope with readers in any way that I'm thrilled to find ways to let new people know about it.

Alexandra, this is a terrific question. I think the assumption about memoir sometimes is that the greatest difficulty is dredging up difficult experiences, etc. For me the difficulty was in shaping the story. Along the way I had to learn that I needed enough distance to write about this experience with some ability to be objective in one sense, but still allow myself the proximity to it to access real experience.

In North of Hope, I'm including a number of pretty disparate themes from one perspective, and I needed to figure out how to best incorporate them all without losing the reader. I ended up choosing a braided narrative to do that, a form I'm particularly fond of (though it has its detractors). I wanted the idea of the Requiem to be present throughout the story-- I think of the book itself as a Requiem--and initially had included it as one chapter, but decided to instead include it throughout the narrative as short excerpts.

In many ways I think that is likely the same regardless of the genre in which a person might be writing. In memoir that challenge is exacerbated by the need to cut and shape events from one's own life, so something that might feel important to you personally might not fit in the context of what ends up as the book.

I'm going to post your follow ups as separate discussions for easy navigation Alexandra!

Alexandra,

wow, all excellent questions, and involved answers! I'll do my best and welcome follow-ups as you find helpful.

North of Hope is something that I knew I needed to write before I took the river trip on the Hulahula. I've always known I wanted to be a writer (and have always written through the various detours my life took along the way) but for this experience in particular, I am starting to understand that I needed to see if it were possible to make something beautiful out of the horror or it all.

Joan Didion says that "we tell stories in order to live." I believe we have the power to choose- and craft- our own narratives, and that those narratives have the power to change our lives. North of Hope is my journey toward crafting that narrative, and finding a world that, despite its horrors, is also beautiful. There were a number of people ho were touched by the terrifying circumstances of this event, and frankly, I came to understand that terror, horror, all of that is part of the human condition, and its so important for us to do the work required to find beauty in those circumstances. I'm hopeful that this work will inspire other to find the same strands of beauty in their own narratives.

Margot, I'm going to start new discussions with your (excellent) questions if that's ok, so it's easy to navigate for anyone interested!

David, I love your question about reaching readers.

Most gratifying were two responses I had this past week, actually, though I should start by saying that I have been immensely gratified by all of the readers I've had a chance to meet virtually or in person.

This week I had an actual letter from someone I've known as an acquaintance, but who clearly spent slow, thoughtful time with North of Hope. There can be very little more gratifying than knowing someone has taken care with the words, thoughts, ideas that took years to put in their proper places.

Another note came from someone who is an older man who said he didn't expect to like North of Hope, but was tremendously moved by it. I don't know if his original expectation was because he thought it might be more focused on women, or self indulgent, but his response was that he thought it was beautifully written and that it would be excellent for anyone who has ever experienced loss (or, presumably, will experience it.)

In part because of the contrast with his original prejudice, I was so pleased it had touched him enough to respond so honestly.

Part of the joy of releasing a book into the world is the honor of sharing it with others (as you know), and learning from their experiences with it, too. I'm so grateful for that unexpected part of the journey.

Alexandra, feel free to add a question here, or start a new discussion, whatever your preference!

Feel free to post questions, thoughts, discussions about memoir writing, and North of Hope!