Posted by Mark on June 7th, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013, I’ll be reading my short short fictional riff on the classic “The Quick Brown Fox.” Join the fun at the inauguration of Tina Hoggatt’s Story Chairs Project at Jack Straw Studios, in the U District, a collection of audio recordings of short, short stories read by their authors and delivered through speakers mounted in the wings of two classic overstuffed chairs. The event will also feature music by Lucien LaMotte. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, 7 pm, refreshments provided.
Meanwhile, here’s where you can find all the recordings.
Posted by Mark on May 9th, 2013
Sono appena tornato da Trieste e mi sento impaziente di tornare all’ lavoro di rivedere mio manoscritto, pero prima di tutto vorrei ringraziare tutti che mi hanno aiutato a realizzare le indagini di storia di Trieste e della mia famiglia: Elisabetta de Dominis e Uberto Fortuna Drossi; Nereo Castelli e Roberto Vicic; Edda Vidiz; Prof. Cristina Benussi; Tullia Ragusin, Sabina Passamonti e Renzo Ferluga; Pietro Spirito; Giorgio Grisilla all’ Museo Ferroviario Trieste-Campo Marzio; Elena Polacco e Barbara Trevisan; Luca Escoffier e Laura Bilucaglia; l’Istituto Regionale per la Storia del Movimento di Liberazione nel Friuli Venezia Giulia; Guido Montanari, archivista della Intesa Sanpaolo; mio amico d’infanzia e fratello Guido Valenzin e sua famiglia; e, piu di tutti, mio papa, Paul Nassutti.
Mark e famiglia, Miramare, 1959
Nella foto, me a due anni con, da sinistra, mia Nonna Ada, mia mamma, mio papa, e mio Nonno Berto, 1959, a Miramare.
A presto!
Posted by Mark on April 12th, 2013
I’d imagined it, I’d stood on the street and looked up at the multi-story apartment building that replaced it, I’d found pictures of similar buildings, but this is it: Where my great-grandmother Maria Cescutti Nassutti died in Trieste on October 23, 1944, victim of an Allied aerial bombing attack, a bomb that overshot the intended target of shipyards, oil refinery and steel mill just down the hill, the dust of destruction still clogging the air. Her home was in the upper center of the photo, just to the right of the two-story building and a mirror image of it.
Corner of Via dei Giuliani and Via dell’Industria, Trieste, October 23, 1944. My thanks to Nereo Castelli for finding it in Collezione Steffe
Posted by Mark on April 11th, 2013
My son Michael’s 30th birthday happens this month. I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to think of him and his family and wish him well. I firmly believe it will contribute to the healing that WILL happen. I am optimistic. Any day now, I could hear his voice on the phone saying, “Hi Dad, it’s Michael.” My father’s favorite proverb is “pazienza e’ la madre de tutte le virtu.” Patience is the mother of all virtues.
Posted by Mark on April 10th, 2013
Yesterday I met a man who might be a relative, or just a guy with the same last name. A rough stone archway called to me, so I walked through it and into the courtyard of a farmhouse compound in Travesio, the birthplace in northeastern Italy of my great-grandfather, Giovanni Nassutti. A man in his 60s with spattered mud up to his knees came through another entrance and with his gray-green eyes inquired as to my purpose. I introduced myself and met Lino Nassutti. No apparent relation, but a generous soul who, once he understood my mission, rifled his files and closets for stories and pictures of his family. We’re probably connected 10 generations back, but it was enough to open a dialogue and learn. That’s him in the middle, the little guy in the white shirt and lederhosen, in 1950.
Lino Nassutti and family, Travesio, Italy, 1950
Posted by Mark on April 9th, 2013
Research goes well, a combination of archival research, book acquisition and networking with writers, photographers, academics and museum curators. While digging through my father’s stash of photos, I came across this one, of my grandfather Umberto in his 60s. There are many more, I just think this one captures what I know of the man and what I’ve filled in with the novel.
Umberto Nassutti
Posted by Mark on March 22nd, 2013
Since diving into the revision stage, I took a detour into Donald Maass’s book, “Writing the Breakout Novel.” Now I have 7 hand-written pages of notes and a long list of things to polish up or change. I did a plot analysis (using my trust Excel spreadsheet, of course) and found gaps and, maybe, a plot line or two that can be cut. I also did a cast list, in order of appearance and in which chapters they appear. There are more than 100, not including “extras”! But I found probably 10 that I can eliminate or combine in order to streamline.
Trieste’s Piazza Unita from the Sea
I’m also challenging the timeframe I’ve used. I’ve framed the story within the known, “true” timeline of the family. But that stretches over 62 years. There are several periods of 3-5 years when nothing happens. Maybe it would make sense to condense everything into, say, 1936 to 1945, with a couple of flashbacks as needed. Or — super radical idea — frame the story in the first six days of the Yugoslav occupation, in May 1945, when the dramatic, physical action takes place, and use those look-backs to provide the needed back stories. I’ll be mulling this over.
And I have to keep reeling back the journalist in me that wants to report every historical detail. Readers can fill things in based on a simple sketch, and apparently they like it that way.
So, lots more work to do, but I love it.
Next stop, Trieste, March 27.
Posted by Mark on February 26th, 2013
I came back to the manuscript of “Amedeo” yesterday, and am about half-way through a complete read-through. As I go I’m making notes about narrative distance, point of view and sequencing. I’m not looking for them, but when I see typos or easy line edits, I mark them.
I’m also on the hunt for excessive exposition, which in a novel means telling, not showing. A certain amount of description and historical context makes a historical novel work, bringing the reader into an unfamiliar time and place. A former journalist like me has a hard time holding back, especially when I find the history so fascinating. Finding that right balance — just enough to enrich the story, not so much that eyes glaze over — and maintaining that balance over 300+ pages — that’s a big part of the editing challenge.
And of course I’m looking for research questions, mostly having to do with location and period details. What was the name of Via Gabriele D’Annunzio while Trieste was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? What sort of music might we have heard walking through Borgo San Giacomo in the 1920s? What was it actually like to drive successive generations of trolleys in, say, 1913, 1925, and 1943?
I head for Trieste April 1 and will be there for the month.
Posted by Mark on February 1st, 2013
Last week I received the electronic transfer of my second project completion grant, this one from USA Projects. USA Projects provides crowd-funding support for emerging artists. The funds will help me complete another research trip to Trieste to obtain historical facts and details to firm up the historical foundation of Amedeo, my historical novel, and add the richness that makes historical novels so much fun. Many thanks to USA Projects and to all my contributors.
Posted by Mark on February 1st, 2013
Last week, I finished a complete first draft. By that I mean it’s a complete, end-to-end narrative with no placeholders. It’s the story I want to tell, all written out.
Manuscript of Amedeo, January 2013
But it’s not “finished.” It’s a house, with foundation, walls, doors, windows and a roof. But it has no siding, no flooring, no paint, no trim, no interior finishes, no fixtures. Well, okay, some of that. I feel very good about the last third of the book (I think of it as Act III). I’ve worked on Act III a lot and have passed it around, to very favorable reviews. I then had to build out Acts I and II to support Act III. I’m pretty sure it all holds together, but I know I’ve got lots of polishing to do. Consistency in voice, point of view and narrative distance. Tying off lines of sub-plot. Making sure all characters show up with a consistent level of detail. Background details — visually, what’s in the background of the shot? Best possible opening pages, best possible last line. And so forth.
Next: Let it sit a couple of weeks, so I can come back to it fresh, with my “editor” hat on. My role model, below. See all those pencils? They’re SHARP.
Lou Grant
