Syrie James: 15 Ways to Keep Love Alive
Nocturne opens like a Bizarro World production of Misery—this time, it’s the fan who gets into the accident, and finds herself in the secluded home of the bestselling author—but Syrie James takes the story in a more romantic direction… and a more supernatural one, as well. Because, let’s face it, if a handsome, charming and brilliant writer goes out of his way to make sure there isn’t anybody else around for miles and miles, there’s got to be a pretty compelling reason, right? James’ own love life isn’t anywhere near as tortured as that of her protagonists, though, and in this essay she shares some of the things she’s done to keep it that way.
I love writing about love. My new novel, Nocturne, is a passionate love story about two wounded souls who, for four magical days, find shelter together from a raging storm, both literally and figuratively. They share a profound, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love that is destined to change them both forever. I loved writing about Nicole and Michael; by the time the book was finished, I felt so close to the characters, and had delved so deeply inside their minds and hearts, that I felt as though their life-altering encounter had really happened.
With Valentine’s Day here, I’m reminded that the characters in our books shouldn’t be the only ones experiencing romance and passion in their lives. We all have to make the time to keep our love alive. My own, personal love story began in college. I met Bill when I was 19 years old. We fell in love overnight, became engaged three weeks later, and married eight months after that. I managed to graduate from college early so I could begin a new life with Bill in southern California—a life that was sometimes difficult and complicated but was always nurtured by our mutual love and respect. We literally grew up together, navigating the challenges of building careers and a home while raising a family. Every day of the journey has been a great adventure.
I feel blessed that the adventure is still continuing. “Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be” (Robert Browning) is a perfect way to describe our relationship. My husband and I just celebrated our 35th anniversary. We have two talented, terrific sons who are married to lovely young women. But Bill and I both work very long hours at very different jobs. Is there time in the mad rush of life for love and romance? Are we doing all that we can and should to nurture our marriage? I’ll say this: we really try!
14 February 2011 | guest authors |
Thaisa Frank’s Second Look at First Novels (& One Other)
The Third Reich had a program, called Briefaktion (“Operation Mail”), in which arrivals at concentration camps such as Auschwitz were compelled to write letters and postcards praising conditions and assuring their families that all was well. From this historical truth, Thaisa Frank has imagined a shadow program, called the “Compound of Scribes,” tasked with answering those letters after they’ve been returned as undeliverable—usually because their intended recipients would have already been deported by the time the mail arrived. “Himmler… believed in the supernatural with a vengeance,” Frank writes in her debut novel Heidegger’s Glasses, “and thought the dead would pester psychics for answers if they knew their letters were destroyed—ultimately exposing the Final Solution.” As the Reich begins to collapse under the sustained onslaught of the Allied forces, the letter-writers at the compound are given a new task: Martin Heidegger wrote a letter to his optometrist, but doesn’t know that he’s already been sent to the camps and executed, so they must write a letter that would convince Heidegger, who has been corresponding about philosophy with his friend for years. So, as you can imagine, “voice” is a crucial element of Frank’s writing—which she discussed when I interviewed her back in 1997—and she shares with us some other novels in which voice plays an especially substantial role.
There are a plethora of successful second novels that undoubtedly have been given as gifts this holiday season, including A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell and C by Tom McCarthy. Like Freedom and Great House, these are excellent gifts for readers who like dense, well-written books—and so are Skibell and McCarthy’s first novels.
Although each tells a very different story, both of their first novels are told by first-person narrators with a distinctive voice that creates the character and informs the plot. And both grew visible through serendipity: Skibell’s A Blessing on the Moon became a best seller as a result of recommendations by independent bookstores; McCarthy’s Remainder couldn’t find a publisher in England and was published in France, where it became a cult hit of the Paris underground.
7 January 2011 | guest authors |
Our Endless and Proper Work is my new book with Belt Publishing about starting (and sticking to) a productive writing practice. 
