Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts. #106 Forays Into The Surreal Juxtaposition of Fiction and Fact in a Novel Featuring Ruth Bonapace
Ruth Bonapace's surrealistic comic novel The Bulgarian Training Manual is an Elle Magazine 2024 top summer read. Publisher's Weekly called it a "whimsical delight." Her work has appeared in The Southampton Review, The Saturday Evening Post, Hippocampus, The New York Times and elsewhere. A former women's magazine editor and sports writer, Ruth has an MFA from Stony Brook University.
In this episode:
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The concept of The Bulgarian Training Manual, and how it morphed from a short story to a full length book
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Putting local angle, sites, personalities and pop culture into a novel
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Imbuing research into a fictional story
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Advice from a popular novelist that gave Ruth the freedom to write without worry
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Incorporating magic, fairy tales, myth and archetypes into story
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Ambiguity and shape shifting as a throughline and plot device
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Focusing on characters' organic transformations
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Working speculative elements and whimsy into a story
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The historical genesis of the fad diet from the book
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The power of going down rabbit holes while writing
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How Ruth found her publisher, Clash Books
Other episodes referred to:
Episode #89 Level Up Your Novel By Mastering Visual Imagery and Research Featuring Amanda Churchill
https://estelleserasmus.com/89-level-up-your-novel-by-mastering-visual-imagery-and-research/
Episode #95 The Catalysts and Craft for Charting and Plotting Novels Featuring Ann Hood
Episode #35 Flying High with Storyteller Ann Hood
https://estelleserasmus.com/35-flying-high-with-storyteller-ann-hood/
Connect with Ruth
Website: https://www.ruthbonapace.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruthbonapace/
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