Ashley's beautiful (and central) home could not have been a better spot for us to meet with the author of our most recent book, Clint McCown, otherwise known as Dawn's husband. As usual, the food, wine and company was great, and Ashley's dogs were a fun addition!
Our star of the evening however, was our author who was gracious enough to spend the evening with us talking about the book and his literary process. Thank you so much Clint! This novel, with its separate stories of tightly interconnected characters really seemed to catch and hold our attention.
Clint's discussion of his process and how he evolved from being a "gusher" as a writer into one that carefully crafts each sentence as he goes along was really interesting. His work started by just writing and writing, putting down whatever he wanted and creating pages and pages of work a day. He credits a conversation with Reynolds Price for his current approach as he realized that his old method meant he had to throw out a lot of work, and it was a lot of work to figure out which part to toss.
So after hearing Reynolds Price say that on a good day he could do a couple hundred words, Clint changed his approach and began carefully writing against whatever framework he determined for the work at hand. With Haints, his framework was the idea that your past never really leaves you and still is a ghost in your relationships and your life today.
He also said, which surprised me, that he had no idea where the story was going as he was writing - that he just began with the idea he wanted to convey and let the story go where it may. As a result, the character he thought would dominate the book came to be just the beginning and the end of the view of this gothic little town going through a difficult situation.
Instead, he gave each related character its own turn to tell his or her story and in doing so, woke the reader up to their shared history and circumstances. The town and the people themselves were really vibrant and well crafted - it was pretty easy to imagine you had these people somewhere in your own life.
While poignant and more than a little sad, this book was also quite funny. The idea of having the funeral parlor shift over to the hardware store was quite an image. While some who grew up in little towns thought that was completely normal, it did make me laugh to think of the body in the window. (No disrespect meant to the man who died.)
Also funny were some of the situations - the convict who escaped prison while another convict was supposed to be watching him, the burial of the wooden leg and the (short-term) relief it gave Herb's old girlfriend, the doctor's wife, Herb's response to the boy who tells he is supposed to be dead. These funny things just snuck up on me in the story and kept the overall tone from becoming maudlin.
All in all, a very educational and fun evening, thanks again Dawn for organizing and Clint for coming!
Our next meeting is at my house on Dec. 9. It is our second annual book swap, so no reading required for this meeting. The plan is to bring a gift-wrapped book that you think people should read, along with a note explaining why you selected the book. Don't sign your name! We will have a Yankee Swap and the most swapped book will be our reading choice for Jan or Feb, depending on what we decide.
See you all there, let me know what you may be able to bring along!
