Marytza Rubio is a writer from Santa Ana, CA. She was a 2008 PEN Emerging Voices Fellow and the 2010 Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholar in Fiction. Marytza live s in Los Angeles and can be visited at www.marytzakrubio.com.

In your own words, what is the Mark Program?
The Mark is a focused and structured program that specializes in manuscript finishing and publication for Emerging Voices alumni with complete/nearly complete drafts. We meet for workshop, discuss fellow participants' work with the instructor, and do writing exercises that encourage us to think about our characters or story in different ways. The majority of the program so far has been dedicated to revising and rewriting the work. I feel like I arrived with a novel that was a band performance in a seedy bar and going through the Mark Program has been like recording in a professional studio.

Give is a short synopsis of your current project.
I’m working on an untitled novel about a Tarot card reader, Renata Reyes, whose journey into adulthood mirrors the Journey of the Fool, the protagonist in the story of Tarot. She is gifted, but is handicapped by her hypersensitivity and she is unable to function in society. Renata has a lot of cats. It is told in multiple points of view and takes place in my hometown. Santa Ana is the perfect setting for this story because Mexican traditions and folklore are imbued in the city yet still evolve with each generation. Renata apprentices at a botanica with a rockabilly tattooed psychic. In Santa Ana, Day of the Dead is a citywide event. Growing up there, I used to read Tarot during recess for my Catholic school girlfriends. These modern subcultures and ancient traditions coexist in the city; it naturally invites the mystical.

How did you know that this was the right time for you to apply to the Mark Program?
Last year I accumulated lots of rejections. I put the novel aside and went to Bread Loaf. That blew open my mind on how limited and glossy my story was as it stood. It wasn’t doing justice to the characters, the rich tradition of Tarot, or any of the faiths/healing systems I invoked, including Candomble and Ayurveda. When I came back from Vermont, I knew that if I was going to move forward with the project, I needed help. When they announced the Mark Program in September, it felt like fate.

You are mid-way through the program. What has been your biggest challenge in the Mark so far?
I had a mini freak-out about a month ago when I almost turned my book into a murder mystery and my main character into a total weirdo. I’ve deleted four characters from the original draft, heightened the importance of a minor character and then restructured the entire story to accommodate the changes and new scenes. Somewhere in that shuffle, I lost my point and distrusted the main character. That was tough. That identity crisis has since been resolved but I was spinning all over the place until my instructor, Diana Wagman, helped me get back on track.

There are three crucial elements to the Mark: the Project Defense, Mid-Project Review and the Final Review. Can you tell us what your experience was like going through the Project Defense?
I was given a list of questions to prep for the Defense about the genesis of the project, the writers who influence me, my weaknesses and strengths – similar to a standard job interview but as if I was applying for a job of Author. I don’t usually analyze why I write the things I write or seek out the books I read, I just do it, and that reflected the casualness and more instinctual tone of the book in its previous incarnation – a tone that wasn’t right for the material. I figured out that Renata’s journey was the Fool’s Journey and was only able to have that realization because of the in-depth thought process triggered by the Defense questions. The actual Defense in the PEN office was intimidating because you are set up firing squad style with a group of intelligent writers asking questions about your characters’ motivations, the action, the plotting and pacing...The conversations at the Defense didn’t follow my rehearsed answers, but it was a better dialogue. I drove home feeling lucky that if the Project Defense could inspire all those positive changes, the Mark Program itself would be an invaluable writing education. And it has been.

What does this program offer to the EV alumni that a regular workshop doesn’t?
The small class size and focused instructor attention is a luxury that you won’t find in a regular workshop. Because the entire manuscript has been read, the chapters are critiqued not only as individual pieces but their placement in the larger story is also considered. The limited number of participants gives us the benefit of personalizing and tailoring our critiques to be most beneficial based on what we are each trying to accomplish creatively. We’re all EV’s so our writing skills are solid. That frees us up to take utilize our strengths in regards to story and tone. For example, Avi has an instinct for recognizing when to stay in a moment because the reader needs more information to stay engaged, and when to get out of that moment before it starts to drag. Eduardo has this ability to create sensory details, like claustrophobia and sound, without ever mentioning anything in the room that is crowded or noisy. It’s a subliminal thing and weird how it works, but it does.

Can you leave us with one writing tip you have learned from the program?
In the middle of my freak-out, when I almost turned Renata into a vengeful cemetery-dwelling Tarot reader who dreamt of dead people, I asked Diana for help. She shared her insight about how it is natural to get to the point where you are bored with your work or reach a point of saturation and self-doubt. She then asked a simple question: “Why is this story essential reading?” Answering that brought back the energy and commitment I had when I started writing the novel five years ago. I wrote it as a remedy for loneliness, to show a different path toward happiness. Remembering that at one point I needed that remedy keeps me going.