LUCY BURDETTE: I adore Barbara O’Neal’s books and gobble them up as soon as they’re released. Her newest, MEMORIES OF THE LOST, is out next week and I’m delighted to host her today. I think you’ll find her blog about the process of writing fascinating. Welcome Barbara!
BARBARA O’NEAL: I am in that strange between place that career novelists know well. I spent the past year writing a new book, which I turned in to my editors a few weeks ago. They’ll have it for a month or so, and I’ll get it back for revisions and fine tuning. After the hard push on the book (that last month is always so very deeply enmeshed in BookLand!) I’m taking July off to spend with my family, visit my mother, hang out with my granddaughters, but in the back of my mind, I’m communing with the next book. At this point, it’s only vaguely a book, a wispy bit of storyline, a situation and characters. It was getting solid enough that I opened a Scrivener file for it the other day, but I can’t look at it too closely, or it will evaporate.
Finally, my new book, Memories of the Lost is arriving in the world, all shiny and polished like a perfect apple. It is a highly romantic and mysterious book full of secrets, set in both New York City and England. I loved writing about Tillie the artist, and Liam the all-too-famous meditation teacher, about the loft where Tillie lives and paints. I also loved Clare, a Devon woman of middle age who has secrets and traumas of her own, and the farm where she lives with her husband and their collection of animals, a blind dog and a hare who can’t hop and the cats who run through everything in this book.
The thing is, Memories is fully finished. I worked on it for more than a year, many drafts, and many edits to bring it into a place it could give a reader the experience it gave me in my head. It takes a lot of hours and work to get a book to that point, and it’s exhilarating to get it there. Such an accomplishment! (Whether the world loves the book is beside the point, honestly. An artist of any kind can only do the best work she is capable of producing at any given time.)
The book I just turned in, titled only with the characters’ names, Mariah and Veronica, is in a different state. It takes a tremendous amount of emotional and mental energy to get 100,000 words of a book onto the page, and getting to the end in a relatively readable, whole state is an astonishing thing every single time. I love the book madly when I turn it in the first time; I’ve done it! Written a whole book!
Of course, it’s quite raw yet, full of plot holes and dropped timelines and inconsistencies and probably different names for secondary characters (editor: “is he Joe or Jim?”). There are always overworked words, different ones for every book; I am known to fall in love with some glittery description and then drop it in over and over. There are the plethora of justs and maybes and shrugs (so many shrugs, so many one-shouldered shrugs, so many raised eyebrows and sideways smiles!). I will wince upon reading all of these things in revision, but most of us just can’t see all of them in a rough draft. It’s all forest in rough draft; revision brings in the individual trees.
And the new book, the misty idea, is just that. I always think I know what it is about when I start, and I’m always wrong. The girls in the basement lure me in with something that sounds like fun—two women, different ages, thrown together on a long journey!—and ends up being about something else entirely. I can see a luxury stateroom, an exotic destination, a—wait, is he—?
I just have to follow it, and see what happens.
The day after I turned in Mariah and Veronica, I was sitting in my office/studio, feeling the sense of satisfaction that I’d managed to get it done before my guests arrived. The little girl part of me who said writing books would be the best job ever said quietly, “And I was right, don’t you think?”
She was.
Summer is an in-between time for many of us. What books are you reading to keep yourself company?
ABOUT THE BOOK: An unsuspecting artist uncovers her late mother’s secrets and unravels her own hidden past in a beguiling novel by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.
Months after her mother passes away, artist Tillie Morrisey sees a painting in a gallery that leaves her inexplicably lightheaded and unsteady. When a handsome stranger comes to her aid, their connection is so immediate it seems fated, though Liam is only visiting for a few days.
Working on her own art has always been a refuge, but after discovering a document among her mother’s belongings that suggests Tillie’s life has been a lie, she begins to suffer from a series of fugue states, with memories surfacing that she isn’t even sure are her own. As her confusion and grief mount, and prompted by a lead on the painting that started it all, Tillie heads to a seaside village in England. There, she hopes to discover the source of her uncanny inspirations, sort out her feelings about Liam, and unravel truths that her mother kept hidden for decades.
The fluidity of memory, empowering strength of character, beauty of nature, and love of family braid together in this artful tapestry of a novel.
You can find Barbara on Substack and Facebook.
It never fails to amaze me when I read about what it takes to get a book from concept to print. Of course, I've always realized that it couldn't possibly be an easy process, but the nuances of it just astound me.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Barbara, on your new book . . . Tillie's mysteries sound quite captivating; I'm looking forward to meeting her and reading her story.
What am I reading this summer? Lots of picture books with the grandbabies [who will be with us for another week or so] . . . also John Grisham's "Camino Ghosts" . . . Morgan Richter's "The Divide" . . . James Caine's "The Couple at the Lake House" . . . .
Thanks, Joan. I’ve been intrigued by the Grisham title.
DeleteGrisham's Camino Island books are wonderful. This one has a very compelling history as it's premise. Unputdownable!
Delete"Camino Ghosts" is an amazing book . . . definitely unputdownable . . . .
DeleteBARBARA: Congratulations on your latest book! I marvel at how an author is always either writing, editing, promoting or thinking about a new book.
ReplyDeleteI have not been reading much during the past 3 months due to int'l travel & prolonged vision problems. And being retired, my summer reading schedule is not greater than the rest of the year.
A few Netgalley ARCs that are on my immediate TBR include:
A COLD, COLD WORLD by Elena Hartwell Taylor, A POISONOUS PALATE by Lucy Burdette, FRENCH QUARTER FRIGHT NIGHT by Ellen Byron, WHAT TIME THE SEXTON'S SPADE DOTH RUST by Alan Bradley, GATHERING MIST by Margaret Mizushima, THE REAPING by Jess Lourey, GHOSTS OF WAIKIKI by Jennifer Morita (debut) and DOMINOES, DANZON AND DEATH by Raquel V Reyes.
You describe our process so beautifully, Barbara. I agree, being a writer is the best job I've ever had. Glad you get to take some time with family this summer!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edith! It’s been sweet.
DeleteCongratulations on your new book! You had me at “Tillie heads to a seaside village in England.”
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adored Memories of the Lost! I do love all of her books; each one is better than the last. But this book is better than any of them.
ReplyDeleteI am reading a ton of things but my favorite has been HOW TO READ A BOOK by Monica Wood. I just finished MURDER AT THE RUSTY ANCHOR by Maddie Day and it was great, as I had expected. Both books had gray parrots as minor characters, which interested me greatly.
Maddie and I thank you, Judi!
DeleteI just finished Murder at the Rusty Anchor, too. At this point, I consider Edith's characters to be old friends!
DeleteYou bet, Judy,! Me too.
DeleteEdith, you are very welcome!
DeleteLove you guys!
DeleteEven without the introduction to this book (and your wonderful description of writing), that cover would make me grab Memories of the Lost! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteCurrently reading nonfiction--The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger--incredible, enthralling, highly recommend! Next up, maybe The Biggest Ideas in the Universe by Sean Carroll, also nonfiction. Waiting on some new mysteries on hold at the library.
Thanks, Flora. So glad you like the cover. Intrigued by The Light Eaters.
DeleteYes, I'm very intrigued by The Light Eaters, too.
DeleteThe tagline is: How the unseen world of plant intelligence offers a new understanding of life on earth. I have been intrigued by plant research for a long time, but this book! Wow!
DeleteBarbara, congrats on the book. That misty time is so great because the book co0uld be anything.
ReplyDeleteCurrently reading THE LAST KING OF AMERICA, a biography of King George III. It's a tome, so I'll most definitely be sprinkling in "lighter" books along the way.
I loved reading about your writing process and appreciate knowing I'm not alone in having characters shrug and raise their eyebrows excessively in my drafts! The book sounds wonderful. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently reading A Gentleman in Moscow since I feel like everyone I know has read it already. I'm enjoying the lavish language and descriptions so far.
Oh, the shrugging! I haven’t read Gentleman yet, either. So many people love it.
DeleteIt takes patience to get into A Gentleman, but as Kate says, the language is so beautiful. And the story is worth it.— Pat S
DeleteA Gentleman in Moscow is one of my favorite books. I think it is because the protagonist constantly succeeded in taking life's lemons and making lemonade.
DeleteBarbara, congratulations! And thanks for the great description of the stages of writing! I’m currently reading The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves, so good.
ReplyDeleteHi, Barbara! As a big fan, I'm really happy to know you have a new book. The first book of yours I read, if I remember correctly, was when you blogged with The Lipstick Chronicles, years ago. Could that be right?
ReplyDeleteCurrently listening to Sue Halpern's Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, and reading The Circus Train by Amita Parikh. Both very good, both about adolescent and very different girls. Different from one another, time period, circumstance, and from everyone around them. Totally serendipitous that I'm reading these now, too.
Absolutely possible you found my books through Lipstick Chronicles. Loved that blog!
DeleteOh, standing ovation! Fabulous! Wonderful! It’s as if you could see inside my head, too, we think just the same way, and it is so inspiring to see your articulate thoughts on this delicate subject— how do we get an idea? Why? What makes it be a book? And yes, very very seriously, is it Jim or Joe? I just burst out laughing. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to your books, Barbara. And thrilled that you are taking us back to Devon
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your latest book.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading THE NIGHT WOODS by Paula Munier. Next up will be SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PIZZA by Mindy Quigley, and BOOKED FOR MURDER by PJ Nelson.
Thanks!
DeleteI just read GIRL, GODDESS, QUEEN by Bea Fitzgerald on someone's recommendation. It is a wonderful twist of the Persephone/Hades myth. I also just finished a library book, The Ministry of Time. It is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking. I think the lesson there is stay the heck away from government projects.
ReplyDeleteI just read Ministry of Time and really love it, too.
DeleteBarbara, I can't tell you how much I loved this post! You captured the states of writing so perfectly that I wish I'd written it myself. I've just preordered Memories of the Lost--what a great title, and gorgeous cover. And you had me at "Devon seaside village."
ReplyDeleteI've just finished reading the ARC of Paula Munier's new Mercy Carr, The Night Woods--so good!!! Then listened to The Shadow of Death, the first Sister Agatha mystery from Jane Willan (I did a panel with her at Crime Bake and her books have been on my list) which I enjoyed. And now, THE BLACKBIRD ORACLE by Deborah Harkness, the 5th All Souls book just out yesterday. I've been waiting for this book for a long time!!!!
I have to catch up on the Mercy Carr books, Debs. I just reserved one at the library.
DeleteCongratulations on your new book, Barbara. The subject is intriguing and the cover is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI just finished Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day's latest cozy, Murder at the Rusty Anchor. It's like catching up with friends!
I read Camino Ghosts by John Grisham. Excellent. The first two chapters are grueling but it is a wonderful story!!
THE PARADISE PROBLEM by Christina Lauren is hilarious, sexy, romantic, sigh.
Also read three hysterical rom-coms by Claire Kingsley. If you like rom-coms, she's a sure bet.
I am listening to Dianne Feeman's Countess of Harleigh mysteries in order (self-indulgence on my part!) What a story-teller!
Also listening to JOE COUNTRY by Mick Heron and just finished listening to the first RIVERS OF LONDON by Ben Aaronovitch.
Thanks for the rom-com tips, Judy!
DeleteThe pleasure is all mine. (Tee-hee.) See you tonight on the Reds channel.
DeleteThis was such a wonderful post, and all best wishes for the new book. I wish I had more time to respond, because I've been doing a lot of reading. In another month things should be back to normal. To all of you who sent support re my husband's surgery, many thanks. It is so appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI hope all goes well with the surgery! Take care of yourself!!
DeleteFrom Diana: Welcome to JRW, Barbara! Your novel had me at England. I look forward to reading your new novel.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good mystery. Many wonderful suggestions from JRW and readers!
My TBR is overflowing. Still reading the 100 years of Lenni and Margot and still reading TOMORROW, TOMORROW AND TOMORROW.
Which books keep me company? My comfort books. I look forward to reading the new Alexander McCall Smith novel THE CONDITIONS OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE (Isabel Dalhousie series), which is going to be published soon. They are what I call happy books.
Barbara, MEMORIES OF THE LOST sounds absolutely beguiling, and that cover is *chef's kiss.*
ReplyDeleteI like to say the writer starts with the platonic ideal of the story, winds up with a messy, stitched-together facsimile thereof, and a good editor helps you get it as close to the beautiful idea you had in your head as possible! And thank you for asking the summer reading question - I've been in a slump lately, and I'm getting loads of excellent ideas from the comments!
Thank you, Barbara, for describing so brilliantly a variation of the process I go through when I move from seeing a finished book to finishing a rough draft to getting a wisp of an idea. It helps me to step back from the messiness of the whole business and say to myself, Yes, you're managing to do this, aren't you? And most of the time, it's fun and rewarding. As for summer reading, I'm making my way through all of Ann Cleeves's Vera Stanhope books, which I never saw on TV, so it's really the first time and I'm finding them excellent. I also just finished Ann Napolitano's HELLO, BEAUTIFUL, which I thought was well-written and moving.
ReplyDelete