Fayette Fox

Published May 31, 2013 | By Laura

Fayette Fox

Fayette Fox’s debut novel, The Deception Artist is about childhood, make believe, truth and lies. It was published by Myriad Editions in Spring 2013. Fayette stopped by for a chat about her new book, her approach to editing and who’d she’d like around for dinner…

Can you tell us about your debut novel, The Deception Artist?

“The Deception Artist” is literary fiction, set during the recession of the late-80s. The protagonist is eight-year-old Ivy who has a vivid imagination and lies so people will like her. When the story begins, Ivy’s brother is sick in the hospital and their dad loses his job. Ivy’s best friend hates her and she’s afraid her parents might divorce. Ivy copes the best she can, through make-believe and lies, before abandoning her fantasies to try and uncover the truth.

What’s your typical writing day like?

I like to bang out new content in the morning and edit in the afternoon or evening. Writing is hard work and the internet is a tempting distraction for me. So, I try to be strict with myself, noting my start time in a spreadsheet and focusing for as long as I can. Three hours seems to be my natural daily limit for fiction writing. Whether I’m squeezing in writing sessions after work or can devote an entire day to writing, I seem to max-out at around three hours. This means I make my best progress when I keep chipping away at a project, rather than trying for marathon writing sessions.

Do you plan or do you wing it with an idea?

A little bit of both. Often I start with an image or very simple prompt. These are like trailheads; I assume there’s a path, but I usually don’t know where it leads. After I’ve continued along a narrative trail, I begin to see more clearly what kind of story it is. Then I’m able to plot more deliberately and create structure.

How do you approach editing?

As bravely and boldly as possible. I come from a short story background where every image, every word, needs to serve the story. I try to approach novel editing in the same way. Cutting scenes or entire chapters I love is hard, but if they don’t propel the story forward then they need to be removed. Rather than killing these sections completely, I like to save them in a “deleted scenes” folder. That said, I’ve never reintroduced a cut scene. Once they’re gone I realize they weren’t needed.

Is there a character from fiction you’d like to meet?

Anne, from “Anne of Green Gables”. I love her feistiness and sense of drama. When I watched the TV series as kid, I badly wanted to be her. To be fair, I think at least part of the appeal was her clothes.

Best/worst thing about being a writer?

Best thing: Getting to create characters, stories and entire worlds which feel real and allowing those stories to have an emotional impact on readers you’ve never met. That feels like magic to me.

Worst thing: The mental pain of having to actually sit myself down to write and the agony of coming up with plot. Awful.

Which author has had the most impact on you?

I love Margaret Atwood. I greatly admire her creativity and dry wit and have tremendous respect for her strong female protagonists. I’m often happiest when I’m reading one of her novels.

TV/Music guilty pleasures?

I know it’s funny because TV plays a big role in my novel, but I actually don’t watch TV these days and haven’t owned one for about five years. I do spend more time than I’d like on the internets though… As for music, I love Coldplay, Belle & Sebastian, Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, Kaiser Chiefs, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, MGMT, The Shins, Zero 7, The Cat Empire, Fatboy Slim, etc. It gives me a lot of pleasure, but I don’t feel guilty about it.

Who are your ideal dinner guests?

Friendly, good conversationalists who are enthusiastic eaters and offer to help with the dishes.

Can you tell us about the moment you got your book deal?

The news came in the midst of an emotionally challenging year. I was in the sun-soaked living room of my old apartment in Washington, DC. I remember reading the email from editor Vicky Blunden and squealing. Stunned, skin tingling, I kept rereading the message. Could I have misunderstood in my excitement? But there was no mistake. Myriad Editions wanted to publish my novel! I could hardly believe it.

Five tips for new writers?

1) Make time for your writing – There will always be friends to see, laundry to do or one last email to respond to. I started making far more progress once I learned to prioritize my writing and say no to other distractions, social and otherwise. It’s hard, but if I’ve set aside Tuesday evening to write and a friend wants to meet up for drinks, I’ll respect my writing time and hang out another night.

2) Goal setting and accountability – Commit to writing a minimum number of hours per week and stick to it. Even just an hour a week is better than nothing. I like to log my hours and word count in Excel to track my progress.

3) Become a hungry reader – Make time for reading fiction and pay careful attention to the authors’ literary devices. What do you find appealing or dislike about the characters, story or language? Why?

4) Figure it out as you go along – It’s okay not to know where your story is going when you start. It’s perfectly legitimate to have no idea what should come next even when you’re knee deep in your project. Some fiction writers like to plot everything out before they begin, but many don’t work this way. Do what feels right for you.

5) Speak up – Read your work out loud and any clunky passages, purple prose or awkward dialogue will jump off the page and bite you. Edit ruthlessly, smoothing out anything that’s difficult to read. Read out loud again. Edit. Repeat.

Fayette’s website.