Whose Pulitzer Prize Is It? To Kill A Mockingbird.

Five years ago, on the 50^th anniversary of the publication of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, Louisa Thomas asked the same question I’m going to ask today—Who really wrote ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’?

 I can’t help wondering about Harper Lee’s agent and publisher’s involvement during the almost three years  before ‘Mockingbird’ appeared on bookshelves in 1960. According to her editor at J.B. Lippincott (Tay Hohoff), Nelle Harper Lee’s manuscript was by no means fit for publication. Hohoff described it, “more a series of antidotes than a fully conceived novel and by no means fit for publication.” (The Invisible Hand Behind Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Jonathan Mahler of The New York Times).

Tay Hohoff saw hope for the world when a white lawyer would go full out to represent a Black man. Before all the Civil Rights Leaders of the 50s and 60s there was Atticus Finch showing us ‘freedom for all’. But this idea doesn’t seem to be Harper Lee’s.

When I was new to writing, I submitted a rough draft of my first novel to Gardenia Press, in Wisconsin. The small mid-west press was a far cry from the big publishing houses in NYC but I’d searched for a couple of years for somebody to accept or at least appreciate my writing. I believe Harper Lee did the same. I worked with my editor, Elizabeth Collins, for over a year changing the story from first person to third and learning about point of view and voice, scene breaks and strong verbs. The story slowly improved until Elizabeth suggested I enter it the company’s First Novel Writing Contest 2001 where I won an honorable mention. Gardenia still didn’t think the novel was ready for publication so Elizabeth and I spent another year battling it out. In 2003, Gardenia Press published ‘Child of My Heart’. As much help as I received from Elizabeth Collins, ‘Child’ remained entirely mine. Elizabeth took a heartfelt story and made me write it in proper English.

When I think of Tay Hohoff I’m astonished. Harper Lee brought a subpar novel to Hohoff, a genius editor, and after years of revisions ‘Go Set A Watchman’ evolved into ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’—a best seller, an acclaimed novel, and the winner of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. But who really deserved the Prize?

Tay Hohoff assisted Lee in turning, “a distressing narrative filled with characters spouting hate speech” (MichikoKakutani, chief book critic of The New York Times) into one of the most popular and beloved books of all time. Which brings me to this: The 72-year-old Atticus Finch in ‘Watchman’ is not the wise and heroic young lawyer of ‘Mockingbird’ and this older Atticus was a man both Tay Hohoff and Harper Lee refused to show the world. Tay Hohoff died in 1974 at the age of 75. Nelle Harper Lee suffered a stroke in 2007 and is by many accounts completely deaf and blind. Lee is 89 years old and resides in an assisted living facility in Alabama. So who in the world allowed ‘Watchman’ to be published? Tonja Carter, Lee’s estate trustee, lawyer, and friend? And why didn’t Lee or Carter change the character’s names since ‘Watchman’ and ‘Mockingbird’ are supposed to be two completely different stories? I am personally heartsick at the change in Atticus Finch as he aged. It’s an abomination of the character of a beloved American icon.

I guess we’ll see in the coming weeks if ‘Watchman’ flies or bombs. If it bombs then I say the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction should be re-awarded to Tay Hohoff. 

Atticus Finch, Dixie Land, and The Confederate Flag

Who in the world doesn’t agree that Harper Lee’s, Atticus Finch, in her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, is the most endearing fictional image of racial heroism?

I believe that Lee’s editors were correct in encouraging her to hold back a later story of Atticus and Scout to focus on the 1936 account of the life and times of Maycomb, Alabama.

If you haven’t heard by now, last week The New York Times as well as the BBC panned, ‘Go Set A Watchman’, by Lee stating that this older Atticus is a racist who says things to Scout like, “Do you want Negroes by the carload in our schools and churches and theatres? Do you want them in our world?”

The theme of ‘Mockingbird’ is empathy for those like Boo and Tom Robinson, while the theme in ‘Watchman’ is empathy for bigots like the 72-year-old Atticus.

It’s ironic that the release of ‘Watchman’ took place in the same week as the removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s Capitol after a 54-year run. For most, this is a good thing. On Sunday people in Ocala, Florida rallied in support to put the Confederate flag back up at the McPherson Government Complex with the Southern Pride Ride—a parade to support Southern heritage. “The flag has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people,” said David Stone, 38, who organized the event. “It doesn’t symbolize hate unless you think it’s hate—and that’s your problem, not mine.”

In the week before the ‘ride’ two small protests were held in Ocala in opposition to the Confederate flag—for those who see it as a symbol of racial hatred. The protests and rallies are spreading and this is a very good thing for the shooter in Savannah. This is just the beginning of what he wanted to happen—not the peaceful ride for pride but the bitter disputes between races.

When I walk on my new treadmill, I try to sing or recite something to lose track of time. When I started walking this morning, I found myself pondering the young Atticus Finch and the rebel flag and I broke out singing one of my favorite Girl Scout songs from my childhood, ‘Dixie’ by Daniel Decatur Emmett of Mount Vernon, Ohio. 

Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton,

Old times there are not forgotten,

Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land.

In Dixie Land, where I was born in,

Early on a frosty mornin’,

Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land.

I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray, Hooray!

In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand,

To live and die in Dixie.

Away, away, away down south in Dixie.

Away, away, away down south in Dixie.

This is a benign song about a dearly loved place. Back when I was ten, I imagined that while the Southerners sang ‘Dixie’ they waved the rebel flag in pride and not in hate. Southerners are proud of their heritage and proud of their part in the Civil War. They’re proud of their Armies and especially their Generals and forts and the battles so bravely fought. Even Southern Black soldiers fought for the Confederacy. Southerners fought for their land, their cotton fields, their farms, for their red clay, and for their muddy rivers. The Confederate flag is honored and cherished as a remembrance of a proud society that reeked of the blood of their ancestors. But today, we see that the fight was really about keeping the Blacks down and not so much about anything else. The flag that means land and family and Southern pride for some, means white supremacy and segregation to others.

So when I sing Dixie, I sing about the pride in my roots. I sing about The South that I love so much and like someone at the rally said, “we’re not looking back, but to the future.” The Confederate flag is a military flag and I hope it will find a proud place to wave. I hope we can put our violent past and the 72-year-old Atticus Finch behind us and look to the future through the eyes of Martin Luther King, Jr. when he said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Don’t let the white shooter in Savannah win. He massacred nine innocent Black people, ‘to start a racial war,’ and that’s what’s happening—with the older Atticus Finch on the front lines.

I won’t say any more than this: I won’t be reading ‘Watchman’.

Corralling the Wayward Character

Corralling the Wayward Character—or what to do when a character writes his own story?

Many writers say that their books write themselves. Sometimes that happens to me and as long as I agree with what my characters do, well, that just makes my job easier. But what do you do when a character will not keep on the path you’ve created for him?

There are many conflicting views on the subject. Here are two of them:

Toni Morrison Dispenses Writing Wisdom in 1993 Paris Review: As for keeping control of her characters, Morrison says, “They have nothing on their minds but themselves and aren’t interested in anything but themselves. So you can’t let them write your book for you.

In Steven King’s On Writing he states, “I have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it’s something I never expected. For a suspense novelist, this is a great thing. I am, after all, not just the novel’s creator but it’s first reader. And if I’m not able to guess with any accuracy how the dammed thing is going to turn out, even with my inside knowledge of coming events, I can be pretty sure of keeping the reader in a stage of page-turning anxiety.

Maybe it’s best to compromise between these views, but how? I have been contemplating this since 2013 and have come to a conclusion. As long as the character pleasantly surprises me and moves the story forward along the lines I have in mind then I’ll let them keep surprising me and keep developing the story. But when a character tries to make the story about him/herself instead of about the protagonist’s conflict then I need to delete the wayward activity by nipping it in the bud.

In my upcoming novel, ALL THE VOICES IN MY HEAD, Parker Allen wrote the first part of the story well then began to wander down a whole different path. I didn’t realize what was happening until I didn’t want to write anymore. I thought I had writer’s block, but it wasn’t that at all. I didn’t like the story and I hated Parker for ruining my protagonist’s life. I’d written 57,000 words and 22,500 of them were Parker’s wayward life.

Recently, with my husband’s advice, I realized that I had to either dump the entire story or kill off Parker. I couldn’t do either. So I cut out all of Parker’s bad behavior, and unwanted wanderings, fried his brain, and forced him into an irreversible coma. 

It hurt me to cut that many words. It’s always difficult for a writer to cut chunks out of a beloved manuscript, but then that’s what good writing is about. So now that I’m back on track I expect ALL THE VOICES IN MY HEAD to be released later this year.

All the Voices in My Head blurb: 

Gloria Webber’s college sweetheart and fiancé mysteriously disappears from her life in 1987. The next year she recklessly enters into a stormy marriage with Parker Allen, a would be rock star. Years later, with Parker in a protracted coma caused by drugs and alcohol, Gloria has an opportunity to turn her life around. However, she would have to divorce Parker and forsake her wedding vows to do so.

A few cover ideas. What do you think?

Visit my All lthe Voices in My Head story board on Pintrest 

Why Do Writers Write?

To tell a story? To tell a story for profit? To tell a story to garner fame? To write a story to win a prize? Or maybe writers write because they have to, because they have a passion so deep that it won’t let them do anything else.

Last month I was inspired to write a memoir for a contest titled HARD TIMES (sponsored by NC Writers’ Network). This hard times story of mine had been buried within me for years. It isn’t a pleasant story and it doesn’t have that happy conclusion I make sure all my novels possess. I didn’t write it or enter it into the contest to win. I wrote a story that has plagued my life since 1991. I wrote the story because I had to. Because it wasn’t just my story; it was my husband’s as well. We had suffered in silence long enough.

This husband of mine, Bud Rudesill, is a scientist…a geologist to be specific. But in his heart of hearts, he’s an artist. He’s an artist because he has to be one. If he can’t create something he will die.

From a young age Bud valued the work of his Great-grand Uncle Jack and was inspired to follow in his footsteps. Jack Wilkinson Smith is arguably the father of plein air impressionism and one of California’s most important painters.

Bud’s done just about everything: ceramics, sculpture, bronze casting, silver and goldsmithing for jewelry, carpentry, watercolor and oil painting and teaching it all at a variety of colleges and art schools. While working on his Master’s Degree he taught undergrad art students THE ART OF POTTERY and his master’s thesis is NATIVE MATERIALS FOR ART CERAMICS. He also taught at Arcosanti (Paolo Soleri’s architectural experiment), The University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Central Wyoming Community College, The Art School in Carrboro, NC, and The Penland School for Arts and Crafts in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. (For a short bio of Bud click here.)

The year after my first novel was published, Bud accompanied me to Gardenia Press’ annual writers conference. He thought he might offer his services as a book cover artist but was inspired to write instead. When we returned home he began writing a novel. He worked diligently for a couple of weeks before he completed the first draft of a 135,000 word novel of pure gibberish titled IF GOD IS ON OUR SIDE. Since then he’s honed his writing skills and written at least twenty novels, novells, and short stories, most of which are published on Amazon/Kindle. Just like his jack-of-all-trades art, his writing genres include historical fiction of the American West, mainstream fiction involving love stories, espionage, the one percent, and time travel.

Because Bud Rudesill is my hero and because today is his birthday, I’m dedicating this blog post to him and his lifelong passion to create beautiful things.

           

Writing: A Very Expensive Hobby

Very is one of my VERY favorite words yet I’ve been told, too many times to count, by teachers and professors that it’s a lazy word. John Keating stated that a man is not very tired, he’s exhausted and that a woman is not very sad, she’s morose. I can’t deny that he is correct.

Mark Twain said, “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” I found this quote on a webpage in South Africa: Writer’s Write. This particular blog titled, “45 waysto avoid using the word very” goes on to quote Florence King: Very is the most useless word in the English language and can always come out. More than useless, it is treacherous because it invariably weakens what it is intended to strengthen.  The blog goes on to list 45 examples that bewilder me.

My writing is to inspire, to make the reader feel the pain in the world, and to realize how many, many people overcome the hardships they’ve been delivered.

In what I consider to be my best work, TRANSMUTARE, I found the word ‘very’ twenty-four times. But let’s go back a few years. When I finished the novel, I felt it was worth a hefty edit. So a writing professor edited it for about a thousand dollars and told me it was as good as anything out there and I shouldn’t have a problem getting it picked up by a publishing company. What inspiration! I set out to look for an agent or publisher and after two years of rejection letters I decided it might need another look so I sent it to a prestigious agency in Iowa who corrected a few grammatical errors and made a few suggestions about the story line—another hefty edit and another hefty thousand dollars. After this second re-write I once again sent it out to over 100 agents and publishers and finally one agent accepted it. A year went by and nothing…not even a nibble. By this time I really wanted to get the story out there so I paid almost three thousand dollars for yet another comprehensive edit and a line edit. What I’m getting to is this: not one of these “professional” people noticed, mentioned, or suggested I correct all the ‘verys’. Not one!

There’s a scene in the movie MEET JOE BLACK when Death’s (Joe Black’s) spirit leaves an acquaintance of Susan’s, he says, “You told me you liked me.” She responds slowly, “No. I told you I liked you very much.” That scene would not have left goosebumps and tears had Susan answered, “Yes. I did.”

To be honest and not stubborn I replaced almost all of the ‘verys’ in TRANSMUTARE with VERY strong verbs. And the novel is better for it. But this doesn’t work all the time for me, at least. The words ‘very’, ‘extremely’, ‘really’, and ‘quite’ are adjectives that modify verbs in a strong manner. Here’s an article with a little food for thought from “English Language & Usage.

And I thank you VERY much for reading my somewhat sporadic blog and sticking by me.  I appreciate all of you!

Miami Memories: Sea Creatures

Sea Creatures by Susanna Daniel is a story about Georgia and Graham Quillian’s and Charlie Hick’s tumultuous relationships in the summer of 1992, mostly in Miami—my hometown. Maybe I love this story because I’ve been away from Miami since 1977 with only two visits in 2002 and 2007 to show my husband where I grew up. In Sea Creatures, Susanna Daniel’s colorful descriptions of Miami made me feel at home; I could smell the sultry air and feel the sweat dribble from the crown of my head soaking my neck and back.

I never had a child but if I did I’m sure I would’ve behaved like Georgia did with her son, Frankie—overprotective, over-supportive, afraid to let him out of her sight except that eerie night on the eve of Hurricane Andrew. I would have taken my eyes off him exactly like Georgia did… at the worst possible time and for the worst possible reason.

Let me start at the beginning. The focus of Sea Creatures is a disintegrating marriage and the adversities faced by the protagonist, Georgia Quillian.

What once began as a promising life together slowly begins to unravel when Georgia's husband, Graham's rare sleeping disorder (parasomnia) scuttles his chances for receiving tenure at Northwestern where he is a professor. Parasomnia causes Graham to sleepwalk--occasionally into the outside world. All of this is more than unsettling but Georgia does not realize that he might not only be a threat to himself but to her and Frankie, their three-year-old son who stopped speaking at eighteen months. 

At the same time that Graham's tenure is denied Georgia's consulting business goes belly up. However, an old associate soon offers Graham a job at the Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Georgia's hometown of Miami. 

Georgia takes a part-time job for a recluse, Charlie Hick's, who lives in a stilt house on Biscayne Bay. The Arrival of Georgia and Frankie brings a bit of healing to the three of them as Georgia and Graham's relationship begins to disintegrate. 

My favorite line from the book came as Georgia and Graham fought to keep their relationship intact while on a kayak trip to The Dry Tortugas. They’d been speaking about how their relationship had changed since the birth of their son:

The stakes,” I said. “They’re higher now.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” I said.

He didn’t answer. He loved me too much to say what I believed he was thinking: We used to have a different kind of marriage, and I liked that one better.”

What I didn't like about the book was too many minor characters who influenced Georgia all through her life. I really didn't want to know about all of then nor did I think the story needed to include so many. It felt as if Georgia was telling her (oft times boring) life story.

The over use of the cliche "and every so often" took me out of the story as did the monotonous use of he said/she said. When only two people are talking we can usually recognize who's speaking without being told constantly. A few "beats" or mannerisms thrown into the dialogue would have kept the story tighter.

In spite of what I believe to be grammatical faux pas I actually absolutely enjoyed this book mostly because it's not an ordinary story with a predictable ending. The main characters felt like friends and the descriptions of Miami, both above and below the ocean were spot on to this Miami Native. (Actually I was born in Toledo but Miami became my home just before my third birthday.)

Here's a photo of my husband, Bud, and me in Miami in 2002 celebrating the contract to publish my first novel (Child of My Heart) with Gardenia Press Publishing Company.

Disclamor: A portion of this post was supplied by a professional book reviewer, Gail Cook, from Amazon dot com.

Never Let The Magic Fade

Stephan J Myers is a best-selling children’s book author with the simple vision of creating books for children that bring the magic of illustration and rhyme to life. His ability to combine the two has won him a following of children and adults all over the world. Although Myers is a best-selling author, he gives most of his books away. Check out his website for purchase information. 

I was first drawn to Myers by his very haunting tale of Christmas, THE PRAYER. We became friends on Facebook and I’ve followed his creation of a trilogy of fairytales: The Book of Dreams which includes THE COLOUR RED, THE COLOUR BLUE, and THE COLOUR GOLD.

In THE PRAYER a homeless boy is invited by a ghost to view the opulence of Christmas. This is not the re-telling of Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL—far from it! The story left me with a much deeper and unforgettably haunting impression that I have so much and give or care so little for those in need. The illustrations beautifully convey the warmth and happiness this little boy so desperately covets. THE PRAYER is a children’s book beautifully written for adults as well.

  

THE COLOUR RED is a fascinating tale of a little girl (Loss de Plott) who loves to draw. When she draws a man with a red hat, he comes alive and presents her with a book of blank pages and encourages her to fill the pages with her dreams. “For when red you draw, in a book of dreams, a simple drawing is not what it seems.”

In THE COLOUR BLUE Loss meets a blue-eyed witch, a skeleton, and a boy made of straw. When she does not immediately draw in her magical book of dreams with the blue pen that was offered her, strange things begin to happen. Through all the magic, the lesson to be learned is that promises must be kept. "It was then Loss knew there were words unspoken: that promises made must never be broken."

In THE COLOUR GOLD Loss and her teddy bear “Ted” discover that books and words inside them are more precious than gold. This is my favorite book of the trilogy because as a reader and writer I know that books take us to unknown and magical places.

Stephen's books are available on Amazon as well as his website. 

Thank you, Stephen, for sharing your light and never letting the magic fade.