Novelist Sean Scapellato working on new novel

You may know about Sean Scapellato because he helped you buy your first home. Or you may know him from the pages of various anthologies about the South. Scapellato is a realtor by day and a writer 24/7, currently working on a book with the Choate Agency.

"Preview" was recently able to sit down with Scapellato and find out exactly what it is that keeps him going throughout the difficulties of this crazy profession.

Q: Tell me about your experiences with the Choate Agency.

A: Well, I had placed a novel with Pat Conroy's agent before I found Mickey Choate, my current agent. That book won a national award and was very close to getting a contract, but there were some issues regarding changes to the story, which were not helped when the publisher ultimately passed and my agent retired a few months later.

Mickey Choate took on my new manuscript "Four Summers" two years later. It spent about a year making the rounds in NYC, where I amassed an enviable stack of rejection letters. I received nice words for the writing and my so-called talent, but no one offered a contract. After most of the major houses told me to pound sand, I had Mickey withdraw it. I didn't want every publisher in New York associating my name with a book they'd rejected, so I got back to work (on a new book).

Q: Where did the inspiration for "Four Summers" and your newest project come from?

A: My novel "Four Summers" had two different writers as characters, and because they were somewhat cavalier and sarcastic about their profession, my agent felt such attitudes made the book a tougher sale (maxims about not soiling one's nest come to mind). One person told me only John Irving can pull off plots like that, and that I was no John Irving.

The novel I'm working on now involves a character coming home to Charleston after his mother dies in a car accident. He becomes absorbed in the life of a girl he once worshipped in high school ten years previous and finds himself in a life-changing dilemma when he learns they are parents to a daughter - a secret so buried that even her own husband doesn't know about it. This guy Sam might be my best character creation. He's aimless, damaged, darkly funny, but maybe the sweetest character I've ever created.

Q: What advice would you offer amateur writers in the area?

A: I don't want to dispense advice, so I'll share an observation: people who write for publication often give up. People who write for the journey don't.

Scapellato's stories can be read in "Hungry for Home" and "My South," two anthologies that can be purchased on Amazon.com or at Barnes and Noble. You can also catch Scapellato at the Monthly Fiction Writing Group, a group he co-teaches with Carol Peters at the Charleston County Public Library.