An author's writing — and waiting — game
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"She submitted it to publishers, but received no offers. Nonetheless, she kept writing."
I spoke with Stephanie Feldman over coffee at Elcy's Café in the train station in Glenside in May. She was in the midst of an anxious waiting period, expecting her first novel, The Angel of Losses, to be published in July. Well, actually, it's really her third novel. But the first two, like many early fiction attempts, are hidden away in a desk drawer somewhere, or maybe on a hard drive, and it's unlikely they will ever see the light of day.
Feldman's first novel was a college thesis she created under the supervision of Mary Gordon while Feldman was a Barnard undergraduate. She submitted it to publishers, but received no offers. Nonetheless, she kept writing.
She spent three years writing The Angel of Losses. Then she found an agent and had a publishing deal within five months. Five months is pretty quick, until you consider that it took 10 years of attempts to get to that five months.
As for that first, unpublished book, Feldman says: "I was so young. I really thought it would be published, but I'm happy now. After so many years of working on my own and growing up a bit I'm more sure of myself artistically than when I was young."
Writing this latest book was a process she doesn't think she could have managed as a younger writer. "I knew I would have to tap into my own history. I knew I had to write more and become better before I could take on that story."
The story she tells in The Angel of Losses is about two sisters struggling with family history and their own relationship, and it weaves in Jewish folklore and theology. Feldman worked closely with her editor, Libby Edelson of Ecco/HarperCollins. "Everyone says editors don't edit anymore, but she did." Edelson has since left Ecco and publishing altogether. "I guess after working with me, there wasn't anything more she wanted to do!" Feldman jokes.
As for the final work, "it ended up being a very different book than I thought it would be at the beginning, but that's how it always happens, I think."
Feldman has received good reviews so far, and the book was selected by Barnes & Noble as part of its Discover Great New Writers program for the fall. She's doing a lot of area readings; you can catch her tonight, Sept. 10, at 6 p.m. at the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore or Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. at Chester County Book Company.
The author is happy to be debuting in Philadelphia, where she returned a year ago with her husband and their young daughter, and to be among family and friends. "It's good to be launching this book here, where I started writing as a girl," she says.
