First pages are impossible… so we’re hearing from authors about how they got they right.
In this episode, Marisa Crane discusses the first pages of their debut novel, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself. We talk about how the novel grew out of a great first line, how Marisa accomplished world building while also avoiding unnecessary explanations, and how they followed their obsessions to keep the story going.
Crane's 1st pages can be found here (click “read sample” tab beneath cover photo).
Help local bookstores and our authors by buying this book on Bookshop.
Click here for the video version of this interview.
The above link will be available for 48 hours. Missed it? The podcast version is always available, both here and on your favorite podcast platform.
Marisa Crane’s stories and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Passages North, Joyland, The Offing, No Tokens, The Florida Review, TriQuarterly, Lit Hub, Catapult, F(r)iction, and elsewhere. An attendee of the Tin House Workshop and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and an American Short Fiction Merit Fellow, they currently live in San Diego with their wife and child. I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is their first novel. It was a New York Times Editor’s Choice.
Passages: Marisa Crane on I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself