Mark Sarvas on Writing Novels That Can't Be Ignored

Krisserin panics her way through a grad school application (wrong link, wrong deadline, wrong page numbers), while Kelton enters the querying trenches—19 Google Docs open, three agents contacted, and the immediate certainty that something went wrong. But the real treat this week is their interview with Mark Sarvas, award-winning author of Memento Park and Harry, Revised, Krisserin's longtime teacher and mentor from the UCLA Extension Writers Program.Mark shares the full arc of his writing journey—from burnt-out screenwriter to literary blogger with 50,000 daily readers to novelist who didn't publish until 44. He talks about the "non-recurring phenomenon" of finding his agent Simon Lipskar at Writer's House, why he did eight full drafts of his first novel before sending a single query, and the love-match quality of the right agent relationship. The conversation digs into the changing landscape of publishing, including the rise of ghosting culture that's infected even longtime editor-agent relationships, and why platform obsession is the wrong focus for fiction writers—citing his former student Miranda Heller, whose debut The Paper Palace became a number one New York Times bestseller without any social media presence.Mark gets practical about what writers should invest in (build your library first, always), the hierarchy of residencies from $500-a-week cabins to fully funded month-long stays in France, and the writing retreat he runs on the Monterey Peninsula with his partner Jennifer's literary organization, To the Lighthouse. He explains his workshop philosophy—why the day your work gets critiqued is the least important day, why "I wanted" is a banned phrase in his classroom, and why you should submit your weakest chapter, not your strongest.Plus: Kelton gets feedback from a well-connected friend that splinters her querying path, Mark reveals he's working on a historical novel with multiple POVs (a deliberate challenge after three first-person books), and both hosts celebrate the rare achievement of actually completing their weekly goals.Learn more about Mark Sarvas:Website: marksarvas.comBlue Sky: marksarvas.bsky.socialNewsletter: The Eternal Recurrence2026 Fiction Writing Retreat with Mark Sarvas, To the Lighthouse: https://www.tothelighthouse.net/retreatsBooks by Mark Sarvas:MEMENTO PARK (FSG) HARRY, REVISED (Bloomsbury)@UGMAN (ITNA Press)Write to us: [email protected] us:Instagram: @penpalspodTikTok: @penpalspodYouTube: @PenPalsPodSubStack: penpalspod.substack.comFollow Krisserin and Kelton:TikTok: @krisserin, @keltonwrites Instagram: @keltonkin, @keltonwritesKelton's Substack: ShangrilogsKrisserin's Substack: krisserin.substack.comMusic by Golden Hour Oasis Studios