Listen:
I met the effervescent Ann Garvin when we were both faculty at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop this year. I admit we didn’t speak much at the dinner table where we were both sitting, but I admired her turquoise bracelets and friendly manner, and decided I wanted to read her new novel, Bummer Camp.
Wow as a former theater kid, boy, did I enjoy it. The characters spoke to me; and I felt the book took me on a wild ride where each page made me anxious for the next.
Curious as to how she executed her craft so well throughout the book, I asked Ann to be a guest on the program and we had such a fun time chatting.
In This Episode
- The background of Bummer Camp [2:26]
- How Ann structured the transformation of each character in her novel [5:27]
- The way she built in conflict and roadblocks for each of her characters [8:34]
- How Ann equates structuring her book to painting a wall [13:09]
- What Ann does when she underwrites to fill in the gaps [17:58]
- Focusing on action and movement in the book [20:47]
- How Ann uses the endings of chapters to “open the door” to the next chapter [22:17]
- Ann’s groundbreaking way of promoting the book [29:17]
Watch on YouTube
About Ann
Ann Garvin, Ph.D. is the USA Today Bestselling author, finalist for the Thomas Wolf Fiction Prize, and freelance contributor at the New York Times. Ann is a nurse, scientist, educator and author of six funny and sad novels. She writes about women who do too much in a world that asks too much from them. She currently teaches creative writing at Drexel University in their low residency MFA program and is the founder of the multiple award-winning Tall Poppy Writers.
Connect with Ann
Ann’s Modern Love essay
He Wanted To Date Younger Women
Buy Bummer Camp on Estelle’s Bookshop
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