Public joins in ’12-hour novel’ to benefit Dana-Farber Marathon team

This piece was published in Boston's local newspaper The Brookline TAB on March 5, 2019. For one of my classes, Reporting in Depth, I served as a staff writer for a full semester. You can find the originally published story here.

Normally behind the scenes and anonymous, Brookline-based ghostwriter Michael Levin took center stage on Sunday, March 3, at Brookline Booksmith in attempt to write an 150-page novel in 12 hours. Anyone who donated to the Dana-Farber Boston Marathon team could approach Levin to contribute plot twists and other suggestions as he sat at a large desk on the main floor of the store.

This is Levin’s eighth round of charity work for Dana-Farber and the Boston Marathon. He said he wanted to “find something that was really unique and different and fun” for this fundraiser.

“I just figured, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to sit in a bookstore?’” he said. ” It’s almost writing as performance art.”

Levin had his laptop attached to a large monitor and many Booksmith customers were curious. But only those who donated to his cause could contribute to the story.

“The donors are in control,” he said. “There’s an improvisational comedy component because I’m running with that suggestion, and I have got to find a way to make it work because people will be watching.”

On that Sunday morning Levin had only one initial plan, the first 10 words: “A man walked into a bookstore, sat down, and started to write.” This was its own type of marathon, he said.

“It’s the day of the race, and it’s like ‘Oh my god, we’re running.’”

Within 15 minutes, Levin was four pages into the story without any donations or direction.

His words appeared on the large screen.

“Your basic Brookline book lover is still sleeping, in church, at the gym, in the coffee shop, but not at a bookstore,” wrote Levin as the words projected on the monitor.

Eventually, it turned into the story of a blind date at the bookstore. He started to get his footing.

“It really does have the same feeling of a marathon,” he said. “At first, it’s just you and the other runners for six to eight miles.

“You just have to run to get to the people.”

Public input

By 10:30 a.m., the people arrive. Levin gets his first donation from Scott Navarrett of Brookline.

At this point, the story’s main protagonist has purchased a book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg to use as an accessory to seem interesting and progressive on a first date. But Levin has yet to give names to any of the main characters. Navarrett names the male character after himself and the female character after his girlfriend, Yvonne.

As Brookline Booksmith continues to steadily fill with Sunday passerbys, another donor asks Levin about the genre of story and mentions a darker turn: adding a bookstore murder scene. Levin likes what he hears.

“You can’t really go 11 pages in and not have anybody dead yet,” he said.

By 11 a.m., another customer gives Levin another detail to the story. There also must be a speaking event in the basement of Brookline Booksmith as this first date and murder occur.

The contributor, Carolyn Procknal, an officer in the Division of Philanthropy at Dana-Farber, said she has not done a lot of creative writing before.

“To be honest, I am not the most creative person,” she said. “But, I really respect it, which is why I think this fundraiser is really really awesome.”

Alex Schaffner, one of the event directors at Brookline Booksmith said she hoped “people to feel like they are a part of creative process and make them feel more connected to their community.”

“What I would hope is that people feel engaged both with a little bit of the writing process, which not a lot of people get to do in their everyday life, and with these community capstones,” she said.

Anyone who participates in any type of marathon goes through a lot. By 2 p.m., Levin had spent a few hours dealing with technical difficulties of displaying his work live, which was one of the most important ways for him to engage with his audience. The day started to take a turn, but Levin kept writing.

At this point in the story, Scott, the male protagonist, was murdered while he was having sex with Yvonne in the back of Brookline Booksmith. The police arrived and Yvonne left the blind date in shock.

The end

With about $180 raised, 5.5 hours of work, and 24 pages in, Levin decided to call it a day. He said he was disappointed he didn’t make it for the full 12 hours, but he had had enough.

In the end, Levin said he hoped the event was inspirational for Booksmith customers who might be dreaming of writing their own book and beneficial for Dana-Farber and the marathon team.

“Sometimes it just takes seeing someone else do it to give yourself permission to follow your own creative dream,” he said. “I want to see them take away the idea that writing is doable that they absolutely should go sit down and have as much fun as I have.”

Margo Ghertner is a Boston University journalism student writing as part of a collaboration between the Brookline TAB and BU News Service.