ELLIOT HAYES · NOVELIST · BOSTON
Three novels, a story collection and a new book, “The Lantern Year,” out this spring.
The Lantern YearNovelsShort storiesEssaysReadingsWorkshops
SELECTED WORK
ON WRITING
Some books have to be written three times before they tell you what they are. This one was written four.
CASE STUDIES
01FFiction Quarterly (fictional)
NovelHarbor House Books (fictional)
The Lantern Year
Two sisters, one lighthouse town, the winter everything changed.
Novel340 pages4 years
4Drafts
340Pages
12Tour cities
A quiet book that roars by the last page.
02TThe Reading Desk (fictional)
StoriesHarbor House Books (fictional)
Salt Roads — Stories
Eleven stories set along one coastal highway.
Collection3 years
11Stories
2Awards (fictional)
5Printings
Every story feels like a whole life.
03WWorkshop student
TeachingCommunity workshops
Finishing the Book
A twelve-week workshop that got twenty writers to “The End.”
Workshop12 weeks
20Writers
14Finished drafts
3Book deals
I finished my novel. I didn’t think I could.
00
Days
00
Hours
00
Minutes
00
Seconds
How a book gets made
Four years in four steps — roughly.
Scroll200 pages
Notebook
Scraps, scenes and a lot of walking.
90k words
First draft
Fast and messy, on purpose.
3 drafts
Rewrites
Three more drafts and a new narrator.
1 book
The book
Edits, proofs and a cover.
01/04
RECOGNITION
2024
Fiction Prize
New England Book Awards (fictional)Salt Roads — Stories.
2023
Best Books of the Year
The Reading Desk (fictional)Salt Roads.
2022
Writer in residence
Pine Hollow Residency (fictional)Six weeks in the woods.
2021
First novel published
Harbor House Books (fictional)The Long Quiet.
KIND WORDS
A quiet book that roars by the last page. Hayes writes small towns like nobody else.
Fiction QuarterlyFictional review
Our best-attended reading of the year. People stayed an hour after.
BooksellerIndependent shop, Vermont
I finished my novel. I genuinely didn’t think I could.
Workshop studentFinishing the Book
Example reviews for a fictional business.
READINGS
- April 19:00–20:30 — Launch reading — The Lantern Year · Beacon Street Books, Boston (fictional)
- April 14:00–15:00 — Coastal Book Festival (fictional) · Main tent
- May 18:30–20:00 — Workshop: Writing Dialogue · Public library, Cambridge
INVITATIONS
Bookshops, festivals, schools and book clubs — I’d love to hear from you.
✦Motion Effects is onMenu, headings and images animate on the live page (not in the editor).
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