Category: Saturnalia

Saturnalia is about many things, but one of its core questions is about how women navigate their ambition in a world that doesn’t want them to achieve.  For Lit Hub, I considered my own relationship with ambition,  and seven more novels about women’s dark struggles with ambition, identity, and success.

As a writer and reader, I find joy in destruction as well as triumph. If you’re a woman, you can’t win without breaking the rules.

Read more on Lit Hub.

Today, Uncharted Magazine, one of my favorite genre publishes, released the first in my craft capsule essay series, “Writing Saturnalia.” I learned so much about plot, pace, and world-building by writing this book, and as a teacher, I’ve spent the last seven years thinking deeply about how we shape narrative. I’m excited to share this project, my first formal reflections on craft.

The first entry, “A Story Launch Thrives on an Easy Target,” explores how to use focused beginnings and clear stakes without diminishing ambitious story inquiries.

Saturnalia is about a lot of things: climate anxiety, social class, friendship and secrets, gender and power, the American city—as well as alchemy, secret societies, monsters, and pagan carnivals. All of the issues that matter to me, to us, and all of the trappings that make for a fun and atmospheric tale. My main character, Nina, grapples with society in decline, trauma, and the eternal puzzle of who she can trust.

But when the story begins, her problems and goals are simple.

Read more at Uncharted Magazine.