What We Learned at the Book Festival, Part 2

We’re still thinking over all the wonderful things seen and heard at the Texas Book Festival (held at the state capitol) this past weekend. Here’s part two of our wrap-up.

Report (from American Short Fiction & TBF present Possessed: Protagonists with Magnificent Obsessions)
Debut novelists Jamie Ford, Amanda C. Gable, Victor Lodato, and John Pipkin gathered to talk about their characters’ obsessions— as well their own obsessions as writers. John Pipkin mentioned that while writing Woodsburner, he kept a series of spreadsheets to keep track of historical research and the different stories of his characters. (Woodsburner, which concerns Henry David Thoreau and the fire he accidentally ignited that consumed 300 acres, is meticulously researched, and contains fascinating historical detail.)

“It’s always gratifying to find out that someone else also uses your techniques, has your habits, and has gone out and been successful in spite of them. When Victor Lodato [author of the novel Mathilda Savitch] said he felt like structure could be an organic method in writing—that it was for him—then also admitted to constantly going back to the beginning of his novel to rewrite it many, many times, I breathed a sigh of relief. —Sarah Wambold, ASF Editorial Assistant

ASF’s parent nonprofit, Badgerdog, had a booth in the book festival’s exhibitor tents. The tents featured local and national publishers, including UT Press, Trinity University Press, Texas A&M University Press Consortium, and Penguin.