My Offer to the Book Club Circuit

I would love to see more book clubs put my mystery Lies Agreed Upon on their 2014 agendas, and I can be available in person for Southern California group discussions--and perhaps even meetings in other areas--if given enough notice. I admit I am still perfecting my book club presentation. I have developed suggested discussion questions, of course, but the book groups I have attended want to know more; they are interested in the creative process. I have found myself talking about plotting and character development, background research, editing and rewriting, word choice and writing style, time management and writer's block. But I sensed I was omitting a key ingredient of creative writing. I realized after a recent book group meeting that I needed to do better at sharing the "magic" as well as the mechanics of writing. By that I mean those serendipitous events--a random memory, a TV news story, a phone conversation, a chance encounter in a shopping mall--that inspire an "aha" moment and a new plot twist or a new character or even a whole new story. There were plenty of those as I wrote my novel. I assume that my mind, focused on an imaginary world, tended to strain and re-purpose real-world input to fit the fiction. But it felt much more exciting than that. It was as if the universe purposely delivered insight, illuminating truth with a beam of light from on high or from deep inside, but definitely from somewhere beyond conscious control. As Harry Potter's creator J.K. Rowling has said, “There's nothing better when something comes and hits you and you think 'YES'!” For me, fiction writing relies as much on that occasional epiphany as it does on steady wordsmithing--and I promise to share more of those "YES" moments if invited to speak with your book group. Download suggested discussion questions at http://authorkatherinesharma.com/discussion-questions-1.html