The Drive To Write – Transformational Fiction

Al Levenson, Past President of the Berkeley Branch of the California Writer’s Club, asked me a while ago to write why I wrote. I pondered the question for a couple of days and wrote nothing. Then it just all came gushing out:

I write, first and foremost, for myself. I love the rush I feel when the story flows, when I can’t type fast enough to keep up with the thought process, when the characters leave the computer and shadow me at work, in the gym, at home. I love it when I am transported into their world. For a short time I am someone else.

But I also write because I hope to help create change in the world. I strive through my writings to highlight social and political injustice, and to inspire personal activism. My novels all include characters who have transformed themselves, taken on multinational corporations, overcome great personal challenges, and in my next book –  stood up for the homeless and war veterans. At a writing workshop, I think it was at the excellent Santa Barbara’s Writer’s conference, I heard the facilitator try to launch the term – transformational fiction. It never caught on in the writing world, but it spoke to me.

So I want to promote the San Francisco Writing Conference for Change. It is being held on November 13-14, and is organized by Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen , icons of the San Francisco literary community. I recently heard them speak, not for the first time, at the California Writer’s Club. These people have truly learned to fuse a passion with a business that is instilled with values.

Finally, if I’m truly honest, I write to stand out. I want people to see me as a person with something to say, to be enthusiastic about my stories, and for my sons to show their teachers and friends my books and say proudly: “My Dad’s an author.”

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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at www.alonshalev.com

 

What’s in a Name?

A flurry of activity: the Amazon Breakthrough contest success, some public readings and exposure, has led me to an exciting junction. A small publisher is interested in republishing Oilspill dotcom. I am excited. I will benefit from their experience, their “legitimacy,” and open a recognized channel to placing my book in bookstores through their distribution. I am also stoked – happy to receive ‘recognition’.

However, there are two issues that I need to deal with.

1) The Title
They want me to change the title, to find something that gives a clearer picture of what the book is about and also that is easier to remember by association.

I have to admit that after I thought about it, I realized that my loyalty to the title is based upon the myriad of marketing tools that I have invested in: bookmarks, magnets, postcards, my website, magnetic signs on our cars. The title of the novel came to me naturally while I was writing Oilspill dotcom and it stuck.

So I’m reaching out to you. Please make suggestions for a new title. In particular if you have read my novel. If you haven’t, here is my pitch:

Oilspill dotcom is a political courtroom confrontation wherein a multinational corporation tries to silence two young activists, who level the playing field using a new emerging tool: the Internet.

It is a fictional drama that closely parallels the McDonalds libel case, which captivated England through the 1990’s.

The world can be changed, one pixel at a time.

If we choose your suggested title, you will receive an autographed copy of the new (titled) book, and my gratitude.

2) The Cover
I struggled with the cover for Oilspill dotcom. The publisher, Booksurge, had sent me several mock-ups of a cover that I had (passionately) not liked. By the time we settled on the current cover, I was quite attached to it.

But it needs to change. I am looking for a graphic artist to work with. If you know anyone, I would appreciate the referral.

Good Writing,

Alon
http://www.alonshalev.com/