Dear Reader,
I'm pleased to welcome Guest Author Frances Mayes to the book club today. Frances is the author of the classic Under the Tuscan Sun, which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a movie starring Diane Lane.
Frances' other international bestsellers include Bella Tuscany, Every Day in Tuscany, A Year in the World, and three illustrated books: In Tuscany, Bringing Tuscany Home, and The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Mayes is also the author of two novels, Swan and Women in Sunlight, six books of poetry, and The Discovery of Poetry. Her most recent books are See You in the Piazza and Always Italy. Her writing has been translated into more than fifty languages.
Her brand new release is A Great Marriage... When a perfect wedding is called off just days before the big event, it sends two people--and their families--reeling.
Welcome to the book club, Frances...
When I walk into a library or bookstore, my first reaction is always a little shiver--all those books. The colossal effort! All that flailing in the dark recesses of the imagination or just the recesses of research. Whatever the subject, writing a book (whether good, bad, or indifferent), is a momentous accomplishment. My new novel, A Great Marriage, is about to join those others on the packed shelves. The feeling is like one I had in childhood when I pushed off onto the lake a little paper boat with a lighted birthday candle.
I love my characters, loved naming them and giving them their personalities and passions. Now that the last line is written, they are launched. I'm left to wonder how they've moved on, what they're thinking, and even if some of them are still alive. Since the book is set in 1995, much has happened in their lives by 2024. This sounds fanciful, but it connects to the involvement novelists develop with the people they've spun from their imaginations. Writing a novel, you're creating a world of your making, but you quickly realize that your characters won't just respond to the strings your fingers are pulling; they have--once you've given them the spark of life--their own plans.
This is my third novel. Having written memoir, travel narratives, poetry, and cookbooks, I've learned how different the writing is in each genre. (Probably for my career, I would have been better off if I had stuck to one mode.) For me, the variety has been an enormous learning curve. Memoir tries to recreate a time of life. I've got the story. I work on structure, finding the voice, word choice, sentences I hope are immortal, and deciding what to leave out and still tell the truth. Travel narratives are fun. I get to travel and read about the places I'm going. Delve into history, literature, music, art, cuisine--all great fun. I try to see the place from the inside out not the outside in. I must be careful with facts and with possible omissions. Poetry is the language art and is the best writing teacher of all because you learn imagery and pacing and compression and rhythm. I was fortunate to write, study, and teach it for many years. Cookbooks? The concept and the gathering of recipes feels creative but the tedium of the quarter teaspoon and the size of the pot and the thousand details, well, I'll just say two is enough. The reward is holding the book and seeing all your favorite recipes going out as a gift to a cook wanting something delicious.
Of the genres, I cannot pick a favorite. But as my novel escapes into the world, I can only say, Go little boat. Now, I can line up my pens and legal pads and wait for that moment when the next project announces itself.
-- Frances Mays
https://francesmayesbooks.com/#books
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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