Is This Good? Maybe. But, Who Cares? It’s The Novel: Live!

On Monday morning next week, Jennie Shortridge, author of When She Flew, will sit down before a computer on the Richard Hugo House’s Cabaret stage – and she will begin to type.

Six days later, Shortridge, along with thirty-five other authors working in two-hour shifts, will have completed one novel. What the novel will look like – its story, characters and success – are anyone’s guess at this point. This is The Novel: Live!

Initially conceived as a way to take part in Arts Crush’s literary arts week, Shortridge and Garth Stein (author of The Art of Dancing in the Rain), both members of the Seattle7Writers collective, suggested the collaborative marathon writing event as a way to promote literature in Seattle.

At this Sunday’s TNL launch party, held at Elliott Bay Book Company, audiences will submit suggestions for the story, though the main storyline has already been determined by TNL board members, and Book Lust author Nancy Pearl will auction off [the right to choose] character names. Other than that, contributing writers will be allowed to go in any direction they please.

“Will it be the best novel ever? Doubtful,” said Susan Wiggs, author of The Chicago Fire Trilogy, and the thirty-sixth and final writer on the project, “Will it be a chance to collaborate with some of the best writers in the business? Absolutely.”

While a collaborative novel is nothing new, TNL assembled an impressive roster to take part, including bestsellers Elizabeth George, Carol Cassella and Erik Larson, plus non-novelists like poet Ed Skoog and comic artist David Lasky, and local literary luminaries Stacey Levine and Karen Finneyfrock. The full list represents some of the most skilled writers working in the Northwest today.

Read more after the jump. 

Starting at 10am beginning Monday and running through Saturday, each writer will compose their segment of the work in front of an audience in less than two hours, and for evening writers, their composing will be in front of happy hour crowd held in support of TNL. It’s not exactly a writer’s retreat or a quiet study.

Shortridge, one of the organizers, confesses that there are ear plugs, a privacy screen and even pinch writers, or ghost writers available just in case participants hit insurmountable blocks.

So far, most of the writers seem unfazed by the idea of a viewing audience.

Wiggs, comfortable in public, said watching writing would be like watching moss grow, so it would be more of a problem for the audience than for her, while Ed Skoog was far more philosophical about writing onstage:

“Perhaps the only role the writer has left is to be seen writing,” author of Mister Skylight and the tenth writer in line said, “It is a certain kind of literary ministry.”

Slam poet champ and the seventeenth writer Finneyfrock said her strategy is to free write and avoid reading too much of the novel already written, admitting that she is a bit nervous about writing in front of others.

“It’s important for me to block out the question, ‘Is this good?’” she said.

When the writing process is complete, the novel will be made available for purchase in e-reader format (proceeds benefit Northwest literacy organizations). The writers don’t appear too hung up on perfecting the end result. Most are focused on community building and promoting local writing.

Throughout the week, writers participating in the project will be on hand during happy hours to discuss writing more generally, and a handful will be reading at various bookstores in Seattle from their own work during the week.

“It's an expression of community in the Northwest writing world,” said Shortridge of TNL, who hopes the novel, despite its rushed form, will still be entertaining and innovative.

Skoog, once again, made the grandest statement about the project: “It reduces the individual writer's importance in order to raise the importance of community and joy.”

Adding: “Maybe.”

By the end of next week, I doubt he’ll be proved wrong. 

Proceeds from The Novel: Live!, including happy hour tips, help benefit 826 Seattle and Writers in the Schools through Seattle7Writers. 

Check out thenovellive.org for happy hour schedule, special authors readings and the writers’ schedule during the series. 

UPDATE: This article originally stated that the launch party was at Elliott Bay on Saturday, it is in fact on Sunday. Additionally, the novel will be edited before publication, not left unedited as previously described.