On Friday, October 30, Lakewood author Megan Giddings hosted a thrilling edition of our Friday Night Salon Series.
Prompt #1
In Lakewood, I had the main character, Lena, write several letters to her best friend, Tanya to talk about the book’s events. I want you to begin a story by having a character write one letter to another character. Think about how you’ll create a voice, a world, and a connection with a reader all through this letter.
Prompt #2
When I wrote Lakewood, one thing that was the most fun for me was writing different experiments that Lena has to take part in. Write your own outlandish research study experiment, try to make it as detailed as possible, and think about what a reader could learn from a character who does this.
Prompt #3
How an object can help you create a character. Choose something that is seemingly small that belongs to the character you created in prompt 1. It could be something like a bag or a T-shirt or even a pen. We’re going to write three paragraphs. Each paragraph should be a different important moment in your character’s life where the object is also present.
Megan Giddings is a visiting assistant professor at Michigan State University, a fiction editor at The Offing and a senior features editor at The Rumpus. Her work has been published recently in The Iowa Review, The Paris Review online, The Southeast Review and Story. In 2018, she won a Barbara Deming Memorial Grant for feminist fiction. Megan’s first novel, Lakewood, was published in March 2020 by Amistad.
Electric Literature called Lakewood “One of 55 Books by Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color to Read in 2020” and Lit Hub and The Millions listed it as one of the “Most Anticipated Books of 2020.” It is also highlighted as an Amazon Book of the Month Pick, Audible Editor’s Pick, Essence’s Pick, Glamour’s Must Read and Ms. Magazine’s Anticipated Feminist Read of 2020.
Our Friday Night Salons are a space for our community to learn from and write with incredible authors, poets, journalists and novelists. This event is free and open to the public because of generous viewers like you who power Girls Write Now’s cutting-edge programs. If you are able to donate, your tax-deductible gift will help make more events like this possible. Thank you!