Ask Jess Walter discussion

How do you keep such a complicated plot with so many disparate characters together? You manage to tie up all the loose ends among all of these people which many authors fail to do. How do you get the structure of the plot? do you outline it first or does it develop as you write?
brilliant.
loved it.
my book group is reading it at my suggestion.

Our local library book group is reading 'Beautiful Ruins' this month! This was planned several months ago so hearing your answers to questions here will be an unexpected addition to our meeting two weeks from now.

Hiya, Jess! This is LeAnne from the New Orleans book club who built a French Quarter scavenger hunt out of Beautiful Ruins last fall. The strip clubs on Bourbon Street are still talking about us dressed in costume & searching for Darryl. Thanks again for calling in!

I just finished reading "We Live in Water" a couple days ago, and oddly enough, it made Beautiful Ruins pop back into my head. You manage to condense feelings and some deep history into a boatload of characters with only a handful of pages per person. One of the things I loved about the novel was the hurling of insults between Pasquale & his buddy and the old fart with the gun in his garden. They seemed so real to me.

So. How do you pull that off? And when will you write a story about a young, newlywed wife dressing up as a sailor to board a naval ship to spend a few hours with her dashing husband? That was my favorite story of all!

Wishing you a weekend full of convenience store food and plenty of donuts! -LeAnne, from the Mandeville Hot Mamas Book Club

I just saw him in person. As entertaining and articulate as the book.

Chris wrote: "I just saw him in person. As entertaining and articulate as the book."
Chris, logic leads me to conclude that you were at the same event I was. And I agree--he's got the writer's circuit down.

Seana wrote: "Chris wrote: "I just saw him in person. As entertaining and articulate as the book."
Chris, logic leads me to conclude that you were at the same event I was. And I agree--he's got the writer's cir..."

Are you a writer, Seana? Do you like Jess W as much as I do? I want to be able to do what he does -- all those different voices in one book! (I was the one who asked about that.)

Chris, I'm only about a hundred plus pages in to Beautiful Ruins, but I have really liked his earlier works. I think that apart from his very original concepts, what I like is his ability to empathize all the way in. Having recently read a crime novel of his called Land of the Blind, I was struck by the way he got into kid's relations, the impact of bullying, all of that. Far cry from Italy, but it doesn't really matter...

Seana wrote: "Chris, I'm only about a hundred plus pages in to Beautiful Ruins, but I have really liked his earlier works. I think that apart from his very original concepts, what I like is his ability to empath..."

I've only read BEAUTIFUL RUINS, on the recommendation of Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air. I opened it and thought, Oh, My God, this is such beautiful writing, and couldn't stop.

Have you read THE FINANCIAL LIVES OF POETS? I thought I'd give that a try, but if you liked another of his earlier books better, I'll try what you recommend.

btw, I'll be at the Porter Memorial Library tomorrow (April 27) reading from my own novel, FLESH OF ENLIGHTENMENT, at 2 pm. If you by chance aren't doing anything and can come, maybe we can meet in person!

Hi Chris, Sorry I couldn't get out to Soquel today, but I hope your event went well.

I haven't read The Financial Lives of Poets, but I have read Citizen Vince, The Zero and the earlier Land of the Blind and enjoyed them all very much. It helps if you happen to like crime fiction but isn't really necessary. My friend just got done reading Over Tumbled Graves, which you should probably read before Land of the Blind as it has one of the same characters. She really liked it too.

Thanks for your recommendations. No, I'm not much into crime fiction, but then again, a good enough writer can make you like whatever style he writes in.

Yes, my event went well. The whole experience was educational -- deciding what to read (one wants to have some continuity but not give away too much of the plot), practicing the reading so that it comes out with a bit of flair, etc. I wished we'd had time for questions after, as it would have been educational as well to see what was on people's minds after listening to the excerpts.

Glad it went well. As you can see from Walter's presentation, practice does do a lot for flair. Hope you get some more chances to polish it all up.