Using Foils in Stories

I first learned about foils when studying "Jane Eyre" in highschool. Foils are two or more characters that show opposite characteristics in similar situations. In "Jane Eyre," Mr. Rochester and St. John are foils. They are different men but both play Jane's romantic interests. St. John's personality makes Jane realize she cannot live without love and so she returns to Mr. Rochester.

I personally love using foils. They show character growth and help the main character solidify what he/she feels, thus giving them an extra reason to go after what they want.

In "Daniel's Garden," Catherine and Mary are foils for Daniel. Both women play similar romantic interests for him, but they are completely different. In the beginning of the story, Daniel is 'ready' to marry Catherine. But after discovering she only cares about him because of his potential to be a law partner, his feelings for her wane. By the end of the story, he falls in love with Mary - not because she wants him to be anybody different, but because she accepts him for who he is: a soldier.

I'm currently working on some scenes in the beginning of "The Heart of a Lie." I have two male romantic interests for Esther - one is a playboy farmhand and the other is a playboy rich businessman's son. Both are charming, both are suave, both have confidence and ease. There is nothing underneath the farmhand's playboy charm that indicates a deeper character or a willingness to mature and accept responsibility. Whereas, the playboy businessman's son is putting on a facade of charm to hide the fact that he lacks confidence in himself to assume the role he's meant to play. When Esther convinces him he has everything he needs, then he is able to fully accept responsibility and become the great man of the city he's meant to be.

I also have two mother figures, two father figures and two sisters. Each pair acts as a foil for Esther, presenting different challenges for her as well as different blessings. In many ways this novel has been more difficult to write than "Daniel's Garden" because the character development of each person has to be real.

In "Daniel's Garden," I relied pretty heavily on 'stock' characters - the religious soldier, the bookish soldier and the courageous soldier. I fleshed them out as much as I could, but they were ultimately there to serve their purposes.

Whereas, in "The Heart of a Lie," the lines between protagonist and antagonist are blurred and the characters are more like real people. It's been a challenge!

Writing this story has given me GREAT respect for Jane Austen. Nothing 'happens' in her stories - there are no voyages or quests, no war, nothing huge or upheaving. Her scenes are constructed around conversations and dances. And she was a genius at making ordinary everyday living compelling and page-turning. That's hard to do!

So, using foils help give more oomph beneath the surface of my characters' motivations. They generate more conflict and more depth, transforming conversations and dances and dinner parties into page-turning scenes. When it comes to character development in "The Heart of a Lie," I need all the help I can get! :)

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"Daniel's Garden" Book Signing!

I have a book signing scheduled for "Daniel's Garden." It's at Well Read Books - on Saturday, August 6th at 11:30 a.m.

Please come and mark your calendars! I'll have music and readings, too. Spread the word - I'd love to have you there!


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Directions from Maine and the north:
Take 295 South to I-95 South into Massachusetts. Take exit 59 towards I-495 South towards Worcester, MA. Take the RT-125 exit 51 toward Plaistow NH/Haverhill. Take the RT-125 N exit 51B toward Plaistow, NH. Turn slightly right onto Main St/Rt 125. Turn right onto Plaistow Rd/Rt-125, crossing into New Hampshire. Well Read Books, address 37 Plaistow Rd is on the right.

Directions from Massachusetts and the south:
Take I-95 North towards Boston. Merge onto I-495 North via exit 6B toward Worcester, MA. Merge onto RT-125 N/Main St via exit 51B toward Plaistow, NH. Turn right onto Plaistow Rd/RT-125, crossing into New Hampshire. Well Read Books, address 37 Plaistow Rd is on the right.

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Resurrecting Old Stories

Sometimes, all it takes to breathe new life into an old idea is to make it interesting to me. As I write more and more (and the writing flows more and more), it becomes apparent that I simply can't work on something that doesn't at least have some sort of emotional tug on my heart. If I don't care, then I don't write and the work languishes - sometimes for years.

This spring I have been writing like a banshee! I have written 50 pages in "The Heart of a Lie" since April 1st. The rough draft is galloping along at breakneck speed, considering it took me years to write the same amount in "Daniel's Garden." It's not fair to compare the two, since I was just learning about the 19th century, but still ... ! I'm extraordinarily pleased with my progress and have about 70% of the rough draft done.

So, as I come to the close of this new story, I'm perusing my works-in-progress to see what the next novel will be. And an older story I've had brewing in the works for a number of years has surfaced and called out my name: "Fields of Lavender."

It's an 1899 Edwardian tale about a 14-year-old snobby rich girl from Gilded Age New York City whose mouthiness is not to be borne by her family or their uppity circle, so she's packed up and sent to live on a farm in Maine, where she quickly gets her comeuppance and more. Think "Anne of Green Gables" with an even more sour Mary Lennox from "The Secret Garden."

I myself worked on a farm for several summers, so I used many of my own experiences for my heroine, Edy. Well, I created this story idea many years ago, when I was still in highschool. Now, at last I seem to have gotten the linchpin I needed to make this story soar. I was so excited about this new story twist I spent several hours this week drafting notes and fleshing out characters and the plot. I'm uber-pleased and am looking forward to adding scenes later this year.

Another older story of mine, "The Magic Pen," is the first full-length chapter book I ever wrote at the age of ten. I still have it, though it is sadly not something I could publish today. It's not reflective of my current style. But I have fished it out and am reworking it to make it more my style - adding a darker setting, more fleshed-out characters, a scarier villain, more symbolism, better theme integration, and setting it squarely in the 1880's instead of the modern era.

I have never thrown anything away that I've written creatively. (Old college papers and math tests don't count!). I keep it. I reread it from time to time. These old stories are like steadfast friends who have seen me through countless changes. The good ones have the potential to be encased in covers and sitting on a shelf next to "Daniel's Garden" or "The Heart of a Lie." But they may not have a deep emotional pull in their current form.

So, I rework them. I figure out how to care about them as much as I care about my grown-up stories. It's okay to update a story that I came up with when I was a child or a young teen. It's not okay to let them languish forever, unpublished in any form. Not every story idea I've had as been a good one.

But if solid bones are there, I'm more than willing to breathe life into them once more.

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"Daniel's Garden" in a 4th Bookstore!

I just received a fantastic email from a friend who is helping me market "Daniel's Garden" - it's now available for sale at Mr. Paperback in Augusta! I'll swing up there soon to sign the copies, but this is exciting news! That means that FOUR stores in Maine now carry my debut self-published novel. It's pretty awesome. :)

Have you checked out my Facebook author page yet? Become a fan and receive constant updates on books, the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, 19th century research, and more. Can't wait to meet you!

~ Meg

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Thoughts About Authors and Endings

So, yesterday I read an interesting and thought-provoking article about Elizabeth Gilbert on the Atlantic Monthly website, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Something about it has struck me as odd - odd enough that I wanted to share my thoughts.

Gilbert is the author of "Eat, Pray, Love," which I haven't read. As a wannabe-famous author myself, her success is certainly the golden parachute to shoot for - millions of copies sold, a movie starring Julia Roberts, and name recognition. Sounds like everything I want! She even has the enviable position of being an author that inspires her readers. Readers come away from her books feeling more fulfilled, more ready to take charge of their own lives, more aware of the beauty inherent in their lives. Again, I haven't read it but so many thousands wax poetic about this book.

So, imagine my surprise when this article states that she's 'walking away' from it all. She's saying goodbye to the very thing that has launched her career with meteoric success. She'd rather work in her garden. The article author opens the article by saying "Some successful artists know when to put it on a shelf."

Well, I frankly have to disagree. I guess I'm one of those other not-successful artists who will NEVER put any of my works on a shelf, so to speak! I'd give anything to inspire readers, to boast a million-copy bestseller, to share my work with packed rooms and eager listeners. No, Elizabeth Gilbert - I could never be like you. I could never want to say goodbye to "Daniel's Garden," "The Heart of a Lie," or any other of the dozens of novels in the works.

How could I? I care too much. It's a downfall, maybe, since it makes me so frustratingly uber-sensitive to criticism and putting myself out there. But it's also a blessing in disguise, for I just can't stop caring. And it is precisely my caring-so-much that would keep me from doing what Gilbert has done.

I love "Daniel's Garden" SO MUCH I would never want to stop talking about it, never want to stop exploring its motifs and characters, never stop chatting about how others have perceived it.

I think you take your success for granted, Ms. Gilbert. You have forgotten how joyous sharing your work can be. Instead of being a 'successful artist putting her work on a shelf,' to me you come across as someone who misunderstands her role as an author. Your mission is to share. Your mission is to inspire. Your mission is to touch others - and you're doing that!

I am an idealist, so this is perhaps too unrealistic for a successful author with dozens of speaking engagements and millions of fans who want to pick her brain at every turn. I'm also a textbook introvert, so puttering in the garden as opposed to facing a huge crowd of people does sound appealing.

But I also never want to stop sharing my work. It IS me, it IS what I have to offer this crazy nation so in need of more conversations about its history. It IS what I have to share with fellow readers who are interested in Daniel's or Esther's or any other main character's tale as much as I am.

So, Elizabeth Gilbert, an article like this about me would never be written. My books may have an ending, but my personal story of authorship never does. There is no "The End" in Meg's tale.

There are only more conversations!

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Mary IS a Great Name, Isn't It?

Throughout the writing of "Daniel's Garden," I had a few ... experiences. Coincidences, more like it. Often, it felt as if I were merely dictating Daniel's story. But that couldn't be! He wasn't a real person. His friends are fictional, too! And so is Mary Daley, the Irish nurse he falls in love with.

So, imagine my surprise when, while perusing Borders' new fiction section, I come across something a little eerie. Maybe even downright creepy. It's a brand new novel from Robin Oliveira, called "My Name is Mary Sutter." I HAD to buy it, so I did.

It's about a Civil War nurse named Mary. Not only that, but she works at a Union Hospital in Washington, D. C. Which, for those of you who have read my story, is the same hospital I chose! Hmmm ....

So WAS there a nurse named Mary working at a Union Hospital in Washington, D. C. during the Civil War? Who knows! Probably, since Mary is a common name.

I can't wait to dig into Robin's novel. It will seem eerily familiar ... yet new ... yet not ... all at the same time. Since we both chose a main female nurse character named Mary, I think it's safe to say great ideas come to those writers who are passionate about their subjects.

Sometimes even the same great idea!

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