"Little Pieces" Grow
Into A Published Novel

The Madonnas of Leningrad
by Debra Dean
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"I wrote it in little pieces and pieced them together," described Debra Dean, author of The Madonnas of Leningrad. This compelling story was published in March by William Morrow / HarperCollins and was selected as both a Borders Original Voice and the #1 Booksense Pick for April.

While writing the novel, Dean, who wrote primarily during her summers off from teaching, would spend one summer writing about life in Leningrad in 1941 and the next summer writing about characters living in modern times.

Dean's story was inspired by the experiences of her grandmother, who struggled with Alzheimer's, and a public television series Dean saw on the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. During World War II one of the museum's curators gave tours of empty picture frames, the treasured artwork having been moved for safekeeping. The curator described the paintings so well that visitors could picture them in their minds.

Writing toward this compelling image, Dean crafted a novel, after originally believing she only had fodder for a short story or two.

A former method actor, she drew upon the practice of developing biographies for the characters she would portray on the stage to help her develop characters that were fully drawn in her novel.

"It is a logical progression if you think about it. I've spent most of my adult life pretending to be other people," observed Dean.

After acting for ten years, she decided to pursue her interest in writing and enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at University of Oregon. She had previously earned a bachelor's degree (double major) in both English and Drama.

"One of the best things I was given was time where writing was what I was supposed to be doing," said Dean.

Dean had signed up to have her novel workshopped and found out that it had sold "as is" before she attended the workshop. Once there, classmates offered "significant" suggestions on how the novel should be changed.

"If I had been in a different place," said Dean, "I would have rewritten the novel and not to a good end."

She wrote on her own without the help of a writers group, but relied on the feedback of her husband, Clifford Paul Fetters, also a writer.

"My husband is very good at looking at what a writer is trying to do and giving sensitive, non-soul crushing, simple advice," said Dean.

After three summers, she completed the novel. Dean already had an agent, Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc., who signed her on the strength of a short story collection. When Rusoff heard about the novel, she held the short story collection as incentive for Dean to complete the novel.

Madonnas was sent to several editors including Claire Wachtel at William Morrow, who wanted the book as it was and worked with Dean on issues like promotion and cover art.

The book stands as a powerful testament to the ability of art to help people transcend suffering. Dean posits that fiction doesn't work well as a "purveyor of dogma" but offers a reflection of what the writer truly believes.

She urges writers to "write for the joy of it, make it as good as you can make it, and don't worry about selling it."

"A teacher of mine once said 'Don't worry about being different. Being good is different enough,'" said Dean.

Ellen Birkett Morris is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in national print and online publications including The New York Times. She also writes for a number of literary, regional, trade, and business publications, and she has contributed to six published nonfiction books in the trade press. Ellen is a regular contributor to Authorlink, assigned to interview various New York Times bestselling authors and first-time novelists.