Even as a Child: The Psychology of "Little Women"

Last August when I was in Raleigh and my daughters, mother, and I spent a day in Cameron Village, I purchased this book: "Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters" by Anne Boyd Rioux, which I pretty much read before I returned to Joliet.

I first read the book at age eight, an old book with crumbling pages between a hard orange cover that had been my mother's. I fell in love with the story and read more of Alcott's works.

I adored An Old-Fashioned Girl, also my mother's. Eight Cousins, borrowed from the library at St. Bernard's Catholic School in Joliet (which no longer stands), was boring, although I attempted a reading of it several times because I liked the cover and Alcott.

By the time I'd read Little Women, I already knew I wanted to be a writer "when I grew up," so Jo's aspirations and activities felt natural to me, even though she wasn't my favorite character.

The characters. That's the point of this blog.

It was not a book I could discuss with my friends as none of them knew what Little Women was. In fact, I have never had a discussion of this book with anyone, although I'm sure some of the people I now know have most likely read it.

I have also never watched a movie adaption. I tried the one with June Allyson, but it was so boring, I never finished it.

Long before I wrote an entire novel, or took a psychology class with the dynamic Sister Mary George when I attended Providence High School in New Lenox, I instinctively understood the multi-layered elements of building realistic characters.

As a child, I understood even adults were more than the exteriors I saw as a child.

So at family parties, I could have been no more than nine, I would approach the adult women and ask them if they had read Little Women. Nearly all of them had.

And then I would ask them which was their favorite character and why. Most were taken aback; all of them answered.

Their responses gave me insight into who they were as people.

Even as books such as Rioux's gives me insight into how Alcott built a story that endured.

For writers cannot write in a vacuum. Every idea comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is usually experience, even if only a strand of experience is pulled from one's life before twisted into a new purpose.

I'm sure many writers would want Alcott's legacy.

But anyone who knows Alcott's backstory would know that Little Women was, most likely, not the type of story she wanted to last beyond her.

It's not easy being a writer even into perpetuity.

A Review That Makes Today Feel Like Christmas

I signed onto the computer this morning and saw this review of the third installment of Before The Blood: Bryony Marseilles.

No need to editorialize; this humbling review stands on its own.

"Before the Blood: Bryony Marseilles" (BTB) is prequel to Unland's Bryony Trilogy. In the trilogy, Bryony Marseilles is a background character, a lingering spirit caught between two worlds. After reading it, I found myself wanting to know more.

The tone of the Bryony Trilogy is dark and foreboding; there's a sense of muted horror. BTB is different. It's graceful prose shows the author is not merely, "Matriarch of the Macabre," but writes beautifully in other genres.

Of all the memorable characters in Unland's books, Bryony Marseilles is the most innocent and tragic, and this book makes her eventual fate all the more heartbreaking.

Set in the late 19th Century, Bryony is the daughter of a preacher, Galien Marseilles, and a spinster, Adele Belanger. Though well into middle age, both are dangerously naive. They fall in love and Adele conceives Bryony out of wedlock. Galien adores Adele, but his soul is tortured by his "sin of sexuality." Though he and Adele marry, Galien continues to wallow in guilt over his lust, failing to acknowledge the far more deadly sin of pride.

Adele is a frail, sickly woman, a delicate flower not created to withstand ugly reality. She and Galien spend evenings quoting exchanging opinions about philosophy, but possess few survival skills. As her pregnancy advances, Adele seemingly exists on air, refusing to eat enough to sustain even herself, much less her pregnancy.

The Marseilles travel to a Utopian settlement known as Munsonville. In fact, Munsonville very much reminds me of the hippies setting up communes in the 1960s. The concept of equality and universal love appear idyllic. However, the human hierarchy always prevails. Bryony is born into a world of intellectual misfits, society's rejects, enigmas and outlaws. All seemingly practice vegetarianism and spout lofty ideas.

A frail child, Bryony is less interested in philosophy than she is in Lake Munsonville. When Adele succumbs, Bryony is left an emotional orphan who withdraws into a world where her existence matters. She sees herself as the lake - all powerful, mysterious and benevolent. Unland's poetic prose begin Chapter 3, "She was the lake and the lake was she..." The authors musings rival those of the deepest philosophers. Her poetry paints such a poignant picture of Bryony that you want so very badly to rescue the child.

Galien makes a miserable attempt to raise Bryony, but can't resist self-flagellation and martyrdom. As he mourns his wife, Bryony quietly fades away, sensing he blames her for his agony.

The childless Bertha Parks steps in to rescue Bryony. Though she pays lip service to the "high ideals" of Munsonville, she and her husband, Orville, sneak red meat with no absolutely no pangs of conscience. Bertha learns motherhood from scratch. Unlike Adele, she is tough, practical and a quick learner. Good thing, too, because she has her work cut out for her. While Galien wallows in self-pity, Bertha takes care of business.

Those who have read the trilogy and other books in the series will get the first frisson of alarm when Dr. Gothart makes his appearance in Munsonville. It begins with an unusually accomplished "magician" who entertains the town folk on Halloween. Next, Bryony is frightened by an odd white cat in the local cemetery. Finally, the good doctor makes his appearance. He cures Bryony in a logical yet unsettling way.

Whether Dr. Gothart is a hero or villain is left for the reader to decide. Dr. Gothart, in numerous disguises, makes an appearance throughout the series. Undoubtedly wise, he's an enigma, one capable of creeping the hell out of the reader.

Another supporting character who shines is Maybelle Fisher. The Fishers run a farm. Though they're cordial to the odd denizens of Munsonville, you get the impression they think it's so much poppycock. Maybelle is the quintessential Mother Hen - at least superficially. She plump and cluckety. She's skilled in the womanly arts and she's a breeder. But, read closely and you'll see Maybelle for what she is - a benevolent goddess who brings the bright gift of life to the emotionally maimed. Her touch heals.

Owen Munson - the man who bought and named the land - is also worth a mention. He's mysterious. He reminds me of Merlin the Magician, truly wise, magical, uncomplaining, simple and yet complex. Bryony certainly adores him, and so do I.

I can't say enough about Denise Baran-Unland's writing. I've been reading her books for years now and I'm never disappointed. The depth and hidden meaning keep me coming back. Rarely do I read a book twice. Hers, I've read at least twice, and I always find something I missed.

Why Do Books Have to Be Page-Turners?

Some of my most favorite books are slow, almost plodding, reads.

Ruth M. Arthur's A Candle in Her Room comes to mind. So does the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. And Gone with the Wind. And The Three Musketeers. And Jane Eyre. And Dracula.

They're the type of stories that, instead of racing to the end of the book to see what happens, entice you to read even more slowly so as to prolong the experience. The ending, when it does happen, happens too quickly.

It appears those types of "I want to live in this world and never leave" type of stories are out of fashion. 

When did we lose this? Or does no one like a slow immersion anymore?

Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage." Follow him at www.facebook.com/artbymattcoundiff

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: A Madman's Manuscript by Charles Dickens

Friday, February 18, 2011

A Madman's Manuscript by Charles Dickens

This is Chapter 11 of Dickens' The Pickwick Club, and, fictionally, it is exactly that.

A man who, unbeknowst to anyone, becomes convinced he is insane, relates how he goes about the business of life keeping his dark secret.

I found it more gripping than Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart and really liked when the narrator screams: "'Damn you,' said I, starting up, and rushing upon him; 'I killed her. I am a madman. Down with you. Blood, blood! I will have it!' 

You can read A Madman's Manuscript by Charles Dickens online.

Here's one link: https://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/CD-PP-Madman.html

Inventing a Genre

Many of today's books are often described as "crossing genres," meaning they are not neatly categorized into one topic.

Although I often say I write Gothic vampire fiction, as it sort of describes the first book in the BryonySeries and prequel in progress, it's definitely out of place for books two and three and overall misleading when trying to find its audience.

Furthermore, readers of current vampire fiction have a certain fast-paced, paranormal expectation that they won't find in my books.

So I've spent some time researching genres and their descriptions trying to create one of my own. And now I have.

The BryonySeries is supernatural/literary.

Literary because it the books are (overall) slowly paced with a "slow, but steady build) with a emotionally introspective, character-driven plot.

Supernatural because they address the mysteries of life and death. Shadowy vampires, along with some paranormal and faint Celtic themes, lurk in the background with an overriding single theme: blood.

Now for the books:

Bryony: A 70’s teen trades her blood with a Victorian vampire for a trip back into time as his wife.

Visage: After trading her blood with a Victorian vampire, a 70’s teen plunges into a misleading contract, trapping her into another bargain to save a life.

Staked!: A 90's teen boy's delving into magic and immortality exposes identities, motives, and his

salvific mission. 

The prequel, Before the Blood, is a series of five incomplete novels told from four different points of views (John Simons, Kellen Wechsler, Henry Matthews, and Bryony Marseilles) that tell a complete story.

The first four novels provide background to the shaping of their characters and the motivations that drive their decisions, with everyone coming together in novel number five for the main events, a structure that's somewhat similar to a 1970's disaster film.

This better definition of genre, I feel, will help me find the audience. And I don't believe it will be a large audience.

But that's okay.

The Marketing Challenge...

...especially for an author (me) who has chosen the hard way to publish (as if other ways are easy).

I have self-published (without backing of a traditional press) a literary-ish (difficult to market even for a traditional press) gothic-ish (a dead genre) trilogy.

So how do I connect readers to the reading? What has worked? What has not worked? What won't I do?

Won'ts/Not worked:

1) Blow up my social media feed with exhortations to buy my book or follow me because I'm an expert in "this" or because my writing is so "that." Social media is meant to be social, not MEdia. There's plenty of that online already. It turns me off. I'm sure it turns others oof, too.

2) Keep doing the same thing over and over and over if it's not working. Example: craft fairs (unless I ever auxiliary craft items to sell, in which case craft fairs would be a marketing opportunity for me). One member of WriteOn Joliet says she does well at craft fairs. I have not.

3) Author events that aren't part of a larger event. Example #1: Coming into the venue where I am the only draw. I'm sorry stunning enough for people to take a chance (I hear objections from loved ones, but it's true). Example #2: I did well at Indie Author Day at the Plainfield Public Library. Organizers planned conservatively (a small room with about fifty chairs set up for the author panel). The day consisted of a one-hour author panel and then one hour to browse the authors.

4) Paying an exorbitant price for table space. I almost never make the money back. Exception: My mother paid almost $300 a few years back to be part of a three-day craft fair at a local mall. We did well the first two days and almost made our money back.

5) Spend so much time marketing that I lose sight of writing.

What's worked:

Consistently? Nothing.

Moderately: Again, being part of a larger event.

Ironically: random online purchases (go figure), especially overseas. This last doesn't surprise me, as that had been my hunch when I began the series.

And yet: I have a small tribe of extremely devoted fans (i.e. not my family and friends) that LOVE this series and exhort me to push the marketing.

The challenge:

Finding ways, and then encouraging, other authors to find their ways, to connect their books to the right readers. I have a hunch some of it might be genre specific, but that's okay.

I'll keep you posted of my progress (or lack thereof...)