It's the Last Day of August!
Can you tell I make up these headlines when I'm looking at the calendar
I am the law, and the law is not mocked.
Dear Readers,
The other week I saw the touring production of Les Miserables in Los Angeles at the Pantages. (Side note: it was the best-behaved Pantages audience I’ve ever sat in. The worst? A tie between Beautiful when my friend and I had to keep begging the woman behind us to stop singing, and Cats when the woman in front of us played on her phone, mainly texting people, the entire show. Grizabella did not work that hard to get up to the Heaviside Layer for you to make brunch plans during, Tiffani.) Like many people in my approximate generation, Les Mis was one of those very influential shows when I was growing up, and I am happy to report that it is still a great afternoon of theatre, just everything you want it to be.
I didn’t want to miss going, even though it feels like there’s never any danger of going too long without getting another opportunity to see Les Mis. It was my dad’s favorite show, and I do feel some sense of responsibility to see it because he can’t. (To be clear, my father was also a water sign and would NEVER have said something like “don’t make a fuss after I’m gone” — he would absolutely want me to go to his favorite musical specifically in his memory.) My dad specifically loved Javert, and I do regret that I never asked him more, specifically, about this. Did he just like Javert’s songs? I can’t believe he was just like, I love unreasonable cops! But the truth is I am also drawn to Javert. I love how unreasonable he is! I hold grudges for way too long. One of my nemeses has recently become very nice to me and, look, I’m not gonna jump off a French bridge (spoiler alert I suppose) about it but I do feel weird about it. I get that that’s not exactly an honest reading of Les Mis (Valjean spared Javert’s life; Javert felt weird about it), but it’s too bad I can’t ask Dad more about Javert.
That said, I don’t always know why I love the characters I do. I don’t always want to talk about it! The other week I did a book festival where the audience did not seem to enjoy me. The first question was to name a favorite character not from a book. The first character I thought of was Elizabeth Jennings.
Someone immediately countered that they would never choose Elizabeth because they were Team Philip. Excuse me, to be Team Philip is to choose Elizabeth. (ALSO THIS WAS ABOUT MY FAVORITE CHARACTER, WHY ARE YOU WEIGHING IN AT ALL MA’AM)
Because everyone seemed so annoyed that I’d said this, my little brain wheels spun to find a more likeable answer so I said I loved Grey’s Anatomy and I loved Cristina Yang.
Someone literally booed. Literally the only way this is acceptable is if they were actually saying “Booooooo (Owen Hunt)!”
Probably these people just did not like me, but it did make me feel not great, Bob, that I mentioned two messy and un-traditionally-feminine-whatever-that-means female characters and no one was buying what I was selling.
Finally, because I am nothing if not desperate to make an audience fall in love with me, I tried to think of a character I loved who would make the audience rally behind me at long last! I shared that I deeply related to Seymour Krelborn because I also wore glasses and tripped over things and did dumb things to impress attractive people.
Readers, I am sure you are not surprised to hear that no one liked this either.
The only lesson I took from this is something I already knew: when people are actively like “I don’t appreciate your whole thing”, the only solution my little brain wheels can churn out is “give them much more of my whole thing and maybe they will appreciate that?”
It has never worked. But you know who would be fine with not being liked while being their deepest and truest self? That’s right! Javert! AND MY DAD. So I’m just gonna let my brain wheels keep churning (and we're rollin' (rollin'), rollin', yeah (rollin')).
Below, I’m happy to share advice and words of wisdom from a very smart writer who is also someone I love teaching with, Aminah Mae Safi.
xoxoAmy
Consumption
Reading
Everyone knows I am a huge R. Eric Thomas fangirl (if you don’t, now you do), but even so, I am so delighted/impressed/moved by his latest essay collection, Congratulations, the Best Is Over! It is giving me, as the kids once said, all the feels.
Subscribing
I really love the Notable Sandwiches section of The Sword & the Sandwich Substack, and if you like sandwiches, you probably will too. (I’m sorry this graphic is so janky, but not so sorry that I did anything about it.)
Listening
I’m probably the twenty-seventh people to recommend The Retrievals but I was really impressed with its nuanced look at the treatment of female pain as well at what it means to prescribe punishment after wrongdoing.
Cooking
It’s no secret I’m obsessed with Caroline Chambers’ What to Cook when You Don’t Feel Like Cooking newsletter. I may have actually gasped when I saw Turkey Meatballs with Corn Butter Rice in my inbox. Look, you’re either a the phrase “corn butter rice” makes me gasp person, or you’re not.
Get Your Ask On
Today I am excited to welcome award-winning author of Travelers Along the Way and Tell Me How You Really Feel, Aminah Mae Safi!
I'm worried all the cool ideas and tropes have already been done! Should I quit my manuscript?
AMS: [ed. note: Yes, Aminah and I have identical initials. This is (no joke) actually how we became friends.] As the ancient scribes, the Barenaked Ladies once said: "It's all been done before."
I know that sounds tongue in cheek. But also: it's true.
Everything has been done at least once, if not more than that. Sure, there are different spins on this. Say a talk-y World War II bio: now with Cillian Murphey's Big Blue Eyes! Or, a themed toy movie: now with an understanding of human mortality and the complexities of fourth wave feminism! Whew!
But ultimately, humans are storytelling creatures. It's how we learn and make sense of the world. We've been telling stories for tens of thousands of years. It really has all been done before.
But! Take heart! In two notable ways—
The first is that humans don't tire of the same old stories. They give us comfort. Those story patterns and structures, after all, are what help us make meaning out of this absolutely bonkers thing we call life and the world. Most of us don't want *entirely* novel experiences in a novel (pardon the pun, but I am an author after all).
And the second is that you're what makes your story unique. The way you see the world. The way you put together those older story patterns. The way you've moved through the world and make sense of this bonkers thing called life: that's all new. That's what has never been seen before.
The more you dig into the way *you* see the world and the way *you* want to tell your version of the same old story, the more you'll what produce that beautiful combination of both novelty and familiarity.
I mean, there's a reason why we still read and make and watch and love romantic comedies. We know the ending. But the journey, *this journey*, of these two people who need to fall madly in love or else? Well, that's what we haven't seen or heard or read before.
One of my favorite paintings is a self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi. Self-portraiture was invented in her era (wild! Right!) but not by her. It was the fact that she didn't invent self-portraiture and used traditional allegories in her self-portrait that made (and still makes) the piece so beautifully radical. She used the form and injected her own perspective.
So rather than quitting your manuscript, instead: ask yourself why you wanted to tell a story with the ideas and the tropes you're using. Really articulate this why for yourself. Write it down. I know, I'm sorry. I'm giving you homework. As an ADHDer, I don't do this lightly.
Write out your take on the familiar trope or idea. Write out what you want to do differently. Write out what you love and actually want to keep the same. The more you drill down into this, the more you'll know what you're doing and why you're doing so.
Originality is a myth (see: The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths by Rosalind Krauss if you're an art theory nerd like me).
But perspective? That's wholly yours <3
If you have any questions about writing, publishing, revising, genres, querying, being on submission, etc., reply to this email and ask! Your question may be featured in an upcoming newsletter!
At Her Service is out in only six months!
(And it’s on NetGalley now!)
I was so excited to share this beautiful art created by the incredible Simini Blocker of Sadie and Max of At Her Service! Yes, promo stuff is coming, including the most exciting preorder swag I’ve ever had. Stay tuned, like, soon! Soon-ish.
A sweetly sexy, thoroughly modern new novel about single life, social media, career goals, and making the bold move to grab your own happiness—and write your own love story.
Max Van Doren has a wish list, and a great career and a girlfriend are at the top. But despite being pretty good at her job as an assistant to one of Hollywood’s fastest rising talent agents, she has no idea how to move up the ladder. And when it comes to her love life, she’s stuck in perpetual lust for an adorably perfect bartender named Sadie. Her goals are clear—and Max has everything but the self-confidence to go for them. Even her mother seems to assume she’ll be crawling home to her childhood bedroom at some point . . .
When Max’s roommate, Chelsey—an irritatingly gorgeous and self-assured influencer in plus-size and queer spaces—offers to sponsor her for a new self-actualization app, Max gives in. If she can’t run her own life, maybe an algorithm guiding her choices will help? Suddenly Max is scoring big everywhere, and her dreams are achingly close to coming true. But when one of Chelsey’s posts reveals Sadie’s part in the app’s campaign, Max is poised for heartbreak on all fronts. Tired of the sponcon life with its fake friends and endless selfies, Max realizes that to have true influence, she’ll have to find the courage to make her own, totally authentic way in the world.
“Amy Spalding's writing will make you swoon, laugh, and fall in love with how outrageous Hollywood can be. I was rooting for Max and Sadie's achingly sweet romance, and found it hard to let go of them once I finished. At Her Service will stay with you in the best way possible!” —Erin La Rosa, author of For Butter or Worse and Plot Twist
I can’t promise I won’t talk a lot about musical theatre!!!