Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is excited to have as our guest, Jane Cook author of Dancing Backward in Paradise. In addition to being an author, Jane has won numerous awards for her work as an actress and has worked in the professional theatre for over a decade. After ten years in the theatre she went onto to pursue her passion in art history, film theory and philosophy.
Good day Jane and thanks for participating in our interview.
Norm:
What made you want to become a writer?
Jane:
I grew up loving books. I also had a fourth grade teacher who told me I should become a writer because she thought I wrote a wonderful story about a bear, wish I would have saved it, also wish I would have listened to this perceptive teacher. I am much better suited to being a writer than an actress, or anything else for that matter.
Writing a book was always in the back of my mind; one day I just sat down and started doing it. I was amazed that I saw it through to the end and that writing fiction became a passion for me. I think the English language is beautiful and I love stringing words together to tell a story. I love the focus of writing, and the creation of another world.
Norm:
Has your environment, upbringing or your acting career influenced your writing?
Jane:
I come from a family of readers but I definitely think having been a character actress influenced my work. I was also very good at improvisation and I think this contributed to character development in my writing. I think this is most true when I'm writing in first person but it certainly helps me with characters that are a stretch, not people I would normally understand if they materialized in reality.
Norm:
Could you tell our readers something about Dancing Backward in Paradise?
Jane:
Dancing Backward In Paradise explores the definition of happiness and tries to make sense of the unexpected twists and turns that influence the direction life takes.
When the story begins, Grace Place is nineteen-years-old and lives in the Paradise Trailer Park in Hixon, Tennessee. The year is 1966 and Grace is quite content exploring the back roads, swimming in the cold waters of Tennessee and dancing in the wind with the sugar maples. But when her life is thrown off track by a man named Lenny Bean, Grace becomes entwined in a medley of lies, murder and betrayal. Trying desperately to remain true to herself, while her life begins to crumble, her mother, Maddie Place, steps in and takes over, more determined than ever to change her daughter's destiny.
Norm:
Where did you get your information and ideas for your book?
Jane:
I heard somewhere, from someone, and I'm not sure who, that they knew of someone living in Hixson, Tennessee and there were a lot of trailer parks around. After a conversation or two about Hixson, I thought it would be great to set my book there. I had the title before I had the story. After that, I let the character evolve. I let Grace Place tell her own story.
I was amazed to see her emerge from my subconscious and pretty much lead me down a path of eccentricity, talk my ear off and guide me through a history I too had lived, though not with the exuberance, good luck and ease of Grace. In all honesty, Grace did all the talking and I patched and fixed and structured along the way, taking my cues from her.
Norm:
How did you develop the plot and characters? Did you use any set formula?
Jane:
I wish I knew more about using formulas. I really started out with nothing concrete but place and the characters emerged from that. I didn't have a plot in mind but as I wrote, the characters developed their own conflicts. I took long walks, which I find terrific for thinking through plot ideas and story development. Driving is also good for this. Telling a story in first person also helps because the characters come into their own voice and lead you. They get into your head and don't let go.
Norm:
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
Jane:
I enjoyed being funny. I also enjoyed looking back into the 60s, being nineteen again and thinking boys with side burns were so cool. I think of the 60s as a very special time, we were still naïve and we meant well.
Norm:
How does the way you approach acting differ from than of writing?
Jane:
Acting is really an ensemble process. Mostly, you're reacting. In the writing process, for me, I'm creating language and I'm creating character out of language. In acting we use the writing to step into character, to refine it and develop it but we can't take a mighty eraser and change who the character is. When I am writing I am responsible for the words, along with everything else.
Norm:
What did you want your book to do? Amuse people? Provoke thinking?
Jane:
I certainly wanted my book to amuse people. I also wanted to touch people and bring them into a world and a time in history that I've experienced. I didn't assume that my book would make people laugh or provoke thinking. I think in the end that Dancing Backward in Paradise is entertainment. I also think it's hopeful and I think, just like Granddaddy Ellsworth says, goodness does prevail.
Norm:
As a follow up, is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?
Jane:
That hope is at the end of every sorrow and laughter is the life line we throw each other.
Norm:
Do you agree that to have good drama there must be an emotional charge that usually comes from the individual squaring off against antagonists either out in the world or within himself or herself? If so, please elaborate and how does it fit into you novel?
Jane:
I absolutely agree that without emotional charge a book will lay flat. I like inner conflict most but characters, as well, have to square off against each other to make for interesting story telling. I think my characters are fighting their own demons both external and internal. Loss is a big part of that and it is ultimately what brings my characters together.
I think that Grace does discover that grief is a finer paradise than indifference and love stretches the soul, and the intellect. In Dancing Backward In Paradise the 1960s and the turmoil of a generation, and the abominable cruelties of the time, is conflict in and of itself. To live within that was struggle, to find friendship despite that was a victory.
Norm:
What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing? What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?
Jane:
I think a writer has to know how to tell a good story. I like lyrical writing, writers who use the language well and are descriptive with character and place. I think humour is important, as well as characters people care about, as well as characters that people love to hate. I think the most important tools for a writer is to know how and when to cut and how to structure plot and character development.
Norm:
Do you feel that writers as well as actors something to their audience, if not, why not, if so, why and what would that be?
Jane:
If I understand this question correctly then I would agree that both actors and writers give something to their audience. Mostly I think its connection, a shared humanity, an opportunity to stretch emotionally and spiritually. I always thought the theatre was like church. I think reading a good book is too. It's a communion with the unseen, that emotional place in which the creative process becomes a belief and we find a place to weep, to understand and to peek into the quiet of this connection.
Norm:
Are you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us? (We would love to hear all about them!)
Jane:
I will have two books coming out in 2008. The second book is a sequel to the first. The book begins in 1912 and ends at the present time with the sequel. I like to think of it as historical fiction about three generations of women, how they are defined by their history and their fates.
Norm:
Where can our readers find out more about you?
Jane:
http://www.verajanecook.com
Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.
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