Yesterday,
I posted my review of Tell by Frances
Itani, the 2016 SDG Reads selection. In
the evening’s presentation, the author made comments that touched on some of my
observations in the review.
For
instance, Itani mentioned that she loves doing research. For Deafening,
she did six years of research. She even
learned American Sign Language! For Tell, its follow-up, she did an
additional two years of research including actually visiting World War I battle
sites. She stated that all of her
characters are completely fictional because she needs an empty head which she
can fill, but she insists on absolute historical accuracy when depicting a real
place. Her comments about her research
tied in with a statement in my review of Tell
that some episodes seemed “just to emphasize Itani’s research of the time
period.”
My comment
that “At times the plot seems more like a series of disjointed anecdotes” fits
in with Itani’s comment that she writes thematically. She said she does not map out a plot; in
fact, she claims not to know exactly what “plot” means.
In my
review, I also discussed the symbol of the snow wall: “the snow wall near the rink to keep skaters
from venturing unto risky, uncertain ice symbolizes the townspeople’s silence;
when Kenan and Am attack that wall, community members become upset.” Itani obviously uses symbols deliberately;
she spoke of the symbolism of the clock tower.
Am spends a great deal of time there; surrounded by four clock faces, he
is trapped in time.
Itani
revealed that she is now working on the third book of what has accidentally
become a trilogy begun with Deafening
and followed by Tell. The third book is tentatively titled That’s My Baby and tells Hanora’s story beginning
in March 1939, approximately 2 decades after the ending of Tell. The theme will be
about belonging but the book will also focus on the adoption process and
dementia. The book may be released in
2017. Itani also mentioned that there is
a possibility that Deafening and Tell may be made into a mini television series.
My
disappointment with last night’s presentation was that Itani gave little
insight into her writing process. She
emphasized writing thematically and not paying any attention to plot. She also said that she works very hard at
trying to have readers experience what characters are feeling. She said that the best writing advice she
ever received was from W. O. Mitchell who told her to “go where it grabs you
the most.” The element of writing novels
that she finds most difficult is voice; she spoke of her problems trying to
find a voice for Bin Okuma, the Japanese-Canadian male protagonist in Requiem.
On the other hand, Georgie’s voice in Remembering the Bones came very easily. But, no, she didn’t reveal whether Georgie
lives or dies at the end of the book.
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