Seven Ways to Disappear: The Book within the Book, was born out of an idea I had for a novel that I worked on when I was in a writing group in Los Angeles. The novel is about what happens after the events of September 11, 2001, when four disconnected friends in Los Angeles are overcome with feelings of hopelessness and despair. They want to choose a way to disappear literally, metaphysically, and symbolically. But as they are about to discover, disappearing --- like living --- takes courage. Within the novel, there is a book of the same name that the characters read and talk about, hence the tagline of the book you’ve read (or plan to read) “The Book within the Book.”
Living in Hollywood, I spent a lot of time on Melrose Avenue walking up and down going in and out of shops. Occasionally, I had money to buy things, but mostly it was a place to hang out.
On the far end of Melrose Avenue was Urban Outfitters where clothes, shoes, accessories, home goods and books were sold. The books were always interesting coffee table books, novelty books, and conversation starters. Books titles like, “How to Plan the Perfect Cocktail Party,” or “Things to Know to Survive 100 days in the Woods.” If I’m not mistaken, I may have purchased the book, “F in Exams: The Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers,” at Urban Outfitters, which is a hilarious book that shows the funniest responses to questions on exams. Seven Ways to Disappear: The Book within the Book, I envisioned would be the sort of book that the characters in the novel would find at a store like Urban Outfitters while browsing other attention grabbing titles. The idea was that someone would see a book titled Seven Ways to Disappear, pick it up, flip through it, and wonder what it was about.
When I tell people about the novel, Seven Ways to Disappear, often I’m asked where I got the idea. The genesis of the idea comes from several different places:
1. September 11, 2001 – I was living in North Hollywood, California when 9/11 happened. I remember waking up to get ready for work and turning on the television, as I always did, to see and hear news reports of what happened. It would have been early in the morning, so the information we were receiving was still being processed and analyzed. I also remember feeling numb, helpless, and confused, wondering if this was the beginning of something horrible for the United States
Later that week some friends and I decided to go out to a club in Hollywood, as we normally did, despite what had happened to our country. We just wanted to have a sense of normalcy after days of digesting the awful events of 9/11. The vibe inside the club was somber and low energy as we made our way to the bar. I soon found myself standing next to a guy who looked like he had just lost someone or something. We struck up a conversation that stuck with me. We talked a lot about 9/11, of course. I remember this guy telling me that because of 9/11 he was starting to re-evaluate his entire life. Although he didn’t know anyone that lived in New York or anyone directly impacted by 9/11, per se, he deeply thought about his life and what it all meant. He questioned the relationship he had with his mom and how he wanted to make it better. He questioned his life and everything about it. All of this made me wonder – if we had stronger relationships and connections with one another, would something like 9/11, if it didn’t directly impact us, have such a strong impact on who we are and how we see our lives?
I don’t mean to suggest that 9/11 wasn’t horrific in and of itself. Or that it was something to take lightly. It was that the conversation with that stranger resonated with me and made me think about my life and relationships as well. So, when it came time to develop a story with characters, this interaction was top of mind for me.
2. A writing class – After graduating from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in English, I had a lot of time on my hands since I no longer had to go to school and sit through lectures, or study for exams, or write papers. I really didn’t know what to do with so much extra time on my hands. So, for me, a Capricorn, who was raised by a father who didn’t like one to waste time wasting time, I decided I would spend my free time writing a novel. My inspiration was the great Toni Morrison, authors like Richard Wright and James Baldwin. I wanted to write a great novel about the Black American experience in the south. Although the draft of that novel is pretty awful, I proved to myself that I had the discipline to sit down, day after day, and write.
In 1999 I moved to Los Angeles to embark on a life not in Las Vegas, to pursue things like acting, modeling and overall creativity as a means of making a living. Although I wanted to write fiction, I didn’t have much experience in it. Most of the writing I did was papers for my Psychology classes, or compositions and essays for my English classes. Although I was a decent writer, fiction writing is its own thing, which I knew I needed help with. I think it was in 2002, shortly after the events of September 11th, that I decided to take a writing class at Santa Monica College.
In the writing class, our instructor encouraged us to form a writing group that would meet on a regular basis to help us keep up the momentum, hold each other accountable, and have something that would keep us writing. . Soon, I found myself in a writing group with about six women. We decided we would take our instructor’s advice and meet every week, which we did more or less for nearly three years. We called ourselves the Wish Box Writers. It was in this class that the idea of Seven Ways to Disappear was born.
3. A writing Group – The Wish Box Writers met nearly every week for three years. We mostly met on the second level of a coffee shoppe, in Venice Beach, called, The Cow's End.
We also would meet at someone’s house or somewhere special for someone’s birthday or for the anniversary of our group forming. I remember one time, we rented a limo and driver to take us to a restaurant in Malibu to hang out and celebrate our friendship, our work, and our commitment to supporting each other’s journey as a writer. It was during this time of meeting weekly that I fleshed out Seven Ways to Disappear, and eventually I came upon the idea of Seven Ways to Disappear: The Book within the Book, to use as a plot device to keep the story going.
For the next blog post, I’ll share a little more insight about The Book Within the Book and how it fits into the larger story, how it impacts the characters, and why I always thought it was worth publishing on its own.