Going Far Together

On finding a writing community. Also, Every Heart a Doorway slaps and a method for baked chicken wings.

Writing is lonely and hard and involves a shocking amount of rejection. Because the act of writing happens, for the most part, between you and a computer, it is easy to feel like you’re in this on your own.

If you’ve attended panels or classes or read blogs from professional writers, you will hear a single piece of advice over and over again: find a community.

Some people talk about finding community in business ways. These are the people who can crit your work, write references, help you promote your book. You need to show residencies and workshops that you’re involved in the writing community! Get beta readers to tell you if your novel sucks!

Those things are all valuable gifts your community can give you, but I’d argue they are the least important things.

Very few people understand what it’s like to be a writer. The process, the challenges, the doubts. Having a group of people you don’t have to explain anything to is relaxing and affirming. For me, going to Viable Paradise and finding a community of people who wrote in the same genre was a revelation. I’d walk through hell and back for the book recommendations alone.

A VP instructor, Max Gladstone, wrote a recent post about the “Orpheus Interval”—the period when you’re writing at a pro-level but haven’t yet broken through.

“Once you find yourself in the Orpheus Interval, workshops have a lot to offer…. They [connect] you with a community of peers who have some of the same goals you do, at a similar skill level—so you feel the challenge and confidence that comes from standing shoulder to shoulder with a group. I think this is in many ways more valuable than the formal instruction. A writer’s workshop gives you a community, and gives you strength. You lock shields and walk forward together.”

My Viable Paradise cohort has been exactly this. We’re within a standard deviation of each other when it comes to the timeline of our careers. Some members of our cohort are leading the way with agents and book deals, giving the rest of pro-tips and pointing out pitfalls.

But the most important part of my VP group, I think, is the multiplicative effect of joy.

Think about all the success you can possibly have in your writing career. You get an agent. You get a book deal. The book sells well! You sell a story. The story wins an award! You win a Hugo! You get another book deal. You become a panelist/lecturer/staff/professor.

Whatever this list is to you, imagine it multiplied by 24! (The size of our VP class.) Rejoice because you now get to celebrate twenty-four times as much awesome shit. How did you get so lucky? Thank your community. Give them a hug.

There will be fallow periods in your writing career—maybe you’re drafting the next novel or deep in revisions. Being able to celebrate and follow along with your friends’ success can really carry you through those times.

There’s a proverb that I think I finally understand: “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.”

P.S. Viable Paradise applications are open until May 15.

Bookshelf Review: Every Heart A Doorway

I’ve been reading a lot of backlist titles lately. So much attention goes to new books, but did you know most of your favorite authors have many years’ worth of books for you to read? Hot tip if you’re in the bookhole.

Recently I read Every Heart A Doorway by the incredible Seanan McGuire. Every Heart A Doorway won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in 2017 and damn did this novella deserve every one.

Every Heart A Doorway is an inverted portal fantasy. We find the group of children in Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children after they’ve returned from traveling in magical portal worlds.

It's an absolutely beautiful read, strange and wonderful. One of the things I haven’t been able to stop thinking about is how McGuire made each character in a huge ensemble cast so distinct. Even a few weeks after putting it down, I can still summon a picture and imagine each of at least ten characters. In part, I think the uniqueness of the worlds they traveled in help achieve this effect, but creating so many wonderful and unique worlds is a feat in itself.

As a horror fan, I was thrilled when the novel took a turn toward dark fantasy/murder mystery which added structure to the whimsical and absurd. Every Heart a Doorway is a fun, dark take on magic schools and I could not stop reading until the end.

Baked Chicken Wings: A Method

When I was around eight or nine, my mom’s boyfriend Keith would abandon whatever boat engine he was taking apart that day to pick me up from dance practice. Afterward we would hit up the Wing Dome for a special restaurant night. I dreamed of one day completing the 7-alarm-challenge, the reward for which was a polaroid of your face taped to the wall.

I think my love of wings began there, in the bar, floating on the easy camaraderie of men watching sports, where everyone was drunk enough not to notice my intense social awkwardness.

Nowadays, it doesn’t matter to me what time of year it is, I will always order and eat wings if I see them on a menu. But I don’t eat out much anymore, and I’ve got a bone to pick with the three restaurants near me that serve hot wings. So, I’ve been looking for a method to make hot wings easily at home.

The issue is that I’m simply not going to bread and fry wings for a meal. That leaves me with the baking method.¹

I won’t go into the several dozen tips and hacks I have tried to get baked wings to crisp.² Trust me, it’s all of them. But I’ve finally found a method. A way! THE WAY to get crispy and delicious wings from the oven at home.

There are 5 things you need to do:

• Salt the wings at least a few hours ahead of time.

• Heat the oven to 475. It is high, but trust me.

• Place the wings skin side down on a large baking sheet. (For the two-bone part of the wing, I’m talking about the thicker side of the skin that is usually a little pebbled. For the drumstick, look for the largest bit of skin and get it flush with the pan.)

• Cook, uninterrupted for 35 minutes. Then check that the skin touching the pan has gotten crispy. If the topside skin (not touching the pan) has browned to your liking, feel free to sauce the wings now. If not, flip the wings and give them another 10 minutes.

• Sauce the wings in a bowl and toss them until evenly coated. Put them back in the oven for 3-4 minutes. If you like really saucy wings, sauce them again before serving.

Why does this work?³ It basically renders out the fat from the skin by keeping it in contact with the pan. As the fat drips from the skin and pools onto the pan, it bastes the chicken skin and crisps it up.

Anyway, eat wings, be happy.

1. I did try cooking the wings sous vide, then crisping the skin in a pan, but it didn’t work because skin got too waterlogged to crisp.

2. Baking powder, multiple temps, pre-rendering the fat, drying the skin in the fridge (does work kind of), using a rack, boiling, butter (works but unnecessary), convection/air frying, baking soda, steaming.

3. This is fun article from serious eats with experiments on wings.