Lee Martin
Well, last week I read this great novel by Lee Martin. The Bright Forever was intriquing and the way that Martin set up his characters and the story line was something to really respect as an aspiring writer. Well anyway I had heard that he was coming to do a reading at the local university for this particular book. I was so excited!
The reading was great, he has a very down to earth type attitude. He read several pages, and chapters from the Bright Forever and then answered some questions posed by the audience. Again, this book is one of those that once you get into it you don't want to put it down. I enjoy going to public readings of those authors that you have read and enjoyed, I feel that it puts the author in more of a light that you can relate to and get a better feeling of them on a personal level. Speaking of that, I don't know if anyone else feels the same way or not but hearing more about the author of the most recent book that they have just read makes the novel a little better? I had some information on his past and just hearing his voice and more about his actual life made the book more interesting in general. Of course people asked him about his writing process and why he did this or that in the novel, when you hear the answers to those questions you feel more on the same type of level as this esteemed writer. Overall I would suggest this book to those reading and to even check out other books that Lee Martin has written or see him if he comes to a town near you.
3 comments:
I agree that it helps you get a better feeling when you are able to actually meet or hear the writer of a book before you. You can kind of evaluate what they have put of themselves into the book and get a better idea of where they come from. I think that we also tend to see things in a different light and that parts of the story that we had read before meeting them might have a little more significance or understanding when you get to speak to the person, get a behind the seens peek at their idea.
I also agree. I had the opportunity to hear Gregory Maguire speak a few months back and felt it really added to my interpretation of his work. His whole speech was like a story itself, and was so entertaining. He also gave some good advice on writing, which I always enjoy. It's interesting to hear published authors talk about what motivates/inspires them. I find that certain authors just have a different air about them, a chemistry with an audience that's hard to describe, but incredibly powerful.
-Drea
I would agree that sometimes it does help to meet the author of a novel to get a better understanding of where the story came from exactly. Getting a peek into the mind of the author is always and interesting thing to do. However, I also believe that once a story is writing that it becomes a living, breathing thing of its own, separate from the author. The story is (or should be)the real force, not the author. The author is just a tool that the story utilizes in order to come out onto the page and be seen. I think that often times we want to put the story and author too close together. Doing this could run the risk of taking some of the life of the story away.
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