Giving up on her story was never an option for Diane Byington. She spent seven years reworking her draft, pushing through every obstacle, much like her main character, Faye. The end result was an award-winning novel. Diane’s book, Who She Is, took home first place for Published Historical Fiction in the 2018 Royal Palm Literary Awards. Diane talks revision and research on this week’s RPLA Showcase.
The Winning Entry, Who She Is
Logline: In 1967, Faye wants to run the Boston Marathon, but women aren’t allowed. While training, strange memories surface. She must solve the mystery and keep her eyes on the finish line.
It started out as a simple exercise to write a story about someone who had a goal and reached it. The goal was to run the Boston Marathon. But, of course, that in itself isn’t interesting, so I had to add obstacles. And the obstacles were what led me to the ultimate story. The book became Who She Is. What made this piece special was the historical aspect, where my character encounters sexism, racism, the Vietnam war (it’s set in 1968), and, of course, the Boston Marathon.
Read an excerpt of Who She Is here.
Climbing the Mountain of Revision 
I wrote Faye’s story in about six months, but the rewrites took seven years and twenty complete revisions. I always knew the story I wanted to tell, but the problem was in how to tell it. In my first draft, I thought of it as a “buddy” story, with Faye and Francie’s stories told equally. But there were too many things happening. I had to pick one of them, and I chose Faye to be the protagonist.
Then I wasn’t sure whether to tell it in present tense or past tense, first person or third. I ended up writing the entire book each way, until I decided on first person past tense. I thought there would be the older Faye’s point of view as well as her point of view as a teenager, and I wrote it in alternating points of view. Ultimately, the only time the older Faye shows up is in the epilogue. I also thought I might alternate between the mother’s point of view and Faye’s, but that didn’t work. So, with each idea, I revised, not knowing how else to recognize which way was right.
Needing help, I enrolled in the Stanford Novel Writing certificate program, which took me on an amazing two-year journey. Eventually, I figured out how to tell the story. It turned out to be pretty complicated, but I’m glad I persevered. I’d like to think that I won’t have to try out so many things in the future.
Two Truths and a Lie, Writer’s Edition
Stick with your story if you believe in it, no matter what anyone says.
Ignore the feedback if you don’t believe it is right.
Write what you know.
The lie? You don’t always have to write what you know. I’m not a runner, but I researched and read and talked to people, and I think I captured what I wanted. It’s more important to write about what you’re interested in knowing about and are willing to spend at least a year of your life learning.
Other Works by Diane
This year I published my first novel, Who She Is, and it has received several wonderful awards, among them RPLA! Yay! I also published stories in three anthologies. I signed a contract for my second novel, The Second Time Traveler, which will be published next year. And I’m finishing up the first draft of my third novel, Grounded, right now. It’s been a busy and productive year, to say the least! If I didn’t love what I do so much, I might say I’m tired. Truthfully, I’m a little tired, but mostly I’m psyched that my writing is finally receiving some recognition. I’m moving forward as strongly as I can.
Coming Next from this Author
I’ll tell you a little about my next novel, The Second Time Traveler. My main character, Kaley, happens upon a set of journals written by Nikola Tesla, in which he documents his experiments with time travel. He hid the journals instead of publishing them because he ultimately decided that time travel was too dangerous to share with the world. Kaley decides to use his techniques and go back into her life to rectify a mistake she made when she was twenty. Things don’t go as planned, and therein lies the story!
Connect with Diane
I love to hear from readers, and I would especially love it if people would write reviews of the book. I’m happy to talk with book groups and other groups. Here are ways to contact me:
My website is www.dianebyington.com
My Facebook author page is https://www.facebook.com/dianebyingtonauthor/
You can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dianebyington
And Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/dianebbyington/
More about RPLA
The Royal Palm Literary Awards competition is a service of the Florida Writers Association established to recognize excellence in members’ published and unpublished works while providing objective and constructive written assessments for all entrants. Judges include literary agents, publishers, film producers, current or retired professors, teachers, librarians, editors, bestselling and award-winning authors, and journalists from across the nation. Entries are scored against the criteria set by RPLA using rubrics tailored to each genre. Winners are announced at the annual FWA conference during the RPLA awards banquet. To learn more about RPLA, click here for the guidelines.
