Don Phelan's Blog: A Little Light Reading
August 7, 2016
What Happens When Your Characters Hijack Your Novel?
I didn't set out to write a novel with a social conscience but apparently I did. I'm good with that.
But how does it happen? How is it that sometimes the characters take over and start writing the book themselves? As a writer, do you ever feel as if they've hijacked your book and you are left to be nothing more than an observer?
I certainly felt that way when I wrote The Beech Tree. Often, I would be typing away and, suddenly, say "No! Stop! That can't happen!" And I'd get all choked up as the scene unfolded.
The characters are, after all, creations from my own mind, right? I have complete control over what they do and say, don't I?
Why is it, then, that their reactions caused me to toss out the outline, completely change what I had planned for an outcome and go in another direction?
I don't know. What do you think?
I decided to write this particular post because of a very nice review I received from a English woman, Robin Haughton. It caused me to think about the creative process and how what you planned isn't always the final product.
Robin won a paperback edition of The Beech Tree in a Goodreads giveaway and was kind enough to share her review on Goodreads:
"A great emotional roller coaster of a book. You will be taken through all the trials and tribulations, laughter and love of the owners of the initials carved in the beech tree. Not content with just that, the author then weaves all these lives into interconnectedness as the story progresses, and then finally when you least expect it, throws some wonderful twists into the mix towards the end. Entertaining reading that will draw you into every characters life, tissues needed for the tears of laughter as much as the sad moments.
Somehow, the author makes the unfairness of life readable, whether it be brutality, bigotry or racism, pointedly and atmospheric without overdoing it.
Nostalgic and emotional reading, short chapters make it ideal for those with a busy lifestyle who want to read for five minutes at a time, or holiday reading where you can just get stuck in and savour the intense feelings."
The Beech Tree
But how does it happen? How is it that sometimes the characters take over and start writing the book themselves? As a writer, do you ever feel as if they've hijacked your book and you are left to be nothing more than an observer?
I certainly felt that way when I wrote The Beech Tree. Often, I would be typing away and, suddenly, say "No! Stop! That can't happen!" And I'd get all choked up as the scene unfolded.
The characters are, after all, creations from my own mind, right? I have complete control over what they do and say, don't I?
Why is it, then, that their reactions caused me to toss out the outline, completely change what I had planned for an outcome and go in another direction?
I don't know. What do you think?
I decided to write this particular post because of a very nice review I received from a English woman, Robin Haughton. It caused me to think about the creative process and how what you planned isn't always the final product.
Robin won a paperback edition of The Beech Tree in a Goodreads giveaway and was kind enough to share her review on Goodreads:
"A great emotional roller coaster of a book. You will be taken through all the trials and tribulations, laughter and love of the owners of the initials carved in the beech tree. Not content with just that, the author then weaves all these lives into interconnectedness as the story progresses, and then finally when you least expect it, throws some wonderful twists into the mix towards the end. Entertaining reading that will draw you into every characters life, tissues needed for the tears of laughter as much as the sad moments.
Somehow, the author makes the unfairness of life readable, whether it be brutality, bigotry or racism, pointedly and atmospheric without overdoing it.
Nostalgic and emotional reading, short chapters make it ideal for those with a busy lifestyle who want to read for five minutes at a time, or holiday reading where you can just get stuck in and savour the intense feelings."
The Beech Tree
August 3, 2016
#1 on BookPromo's MUST READS for August
The Beech Tree was ranked at the top of BookPromo's August list of MUST READS. On Listopia, it is #5 on 2016 MUST READS and #1 on 2016's BEST SUMMER READS.
Read an excerpt at http://bookpromo.net/book-excerpts/be...
Available in all formats -- paperback, Kindle, iBook and more -- on Amazon.com, Smashwords, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and more.
The Beech Tree
Read an excerpt at http://bookpromo.net/book-excerpts/be...
Available in all formats -- paperback, Kindle, iBook and more -- on Amazon.com, Smashwords, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and more.
The Beech Tree
July 21, 2016
No. 1 on BookDaily.com
I am pleased to announce The Beech Tree, was No. 1 on TODAY'S List of BookDaily .com's Featured E-Books for the SECOND month in a row.
It is No.1 on Goodreads Listopia's list "2016's Best Summer Reads" and No. 5 on Goodreads Listopia's "2016 MUST READS!"
https://www.amazon.com/Beech-Tree-Don...
The Beech Tree
It is No.1 on Goodreads Listopia's list "2016's Best Summer Reads" and No. 5 on Goodreads Listopia's "2016 MUST READS!"
https://www.amazon.com/Beech-Tree-Don...
The Beech Tree
July 14, 2016
Beware of Good Reviews. Bad Ones, too.
As an author, the danger of reading reviews of your book is that you might actually believe them.
The good ones are easy to agree with, as you strut about your cramped writing room, punctuating your solitary chest-bump with “Yeah, baby, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” They are even capable of drawing a tear when you discover your work has had some meaningful impact on one of your readers.
The bad ones are simply tough. They can make you feel ten times worse than those good ones make you happy. That’s the risk of sharing your work with others.
Then there are some – oddly, many seem to be by professional critics – which miss the point of the book entirely. Today, I read one which described the outcomes of the characters’ lives in The Beech Tree as “predictable,” as if that was a bad thing.
“Predictable.” Predictable. Yes, upon considerable thought, they are predictable. After all, I didn’t set out to write a mystery, thriller or suspense novel. No twists, turns and switchbacks like an Italian road racing course.
There are no superheroes. No divine intervention. No damsels in distress nor knights in shining armor. There are no characters who rise from nothing to lead armies into battle or sorcerers whose magic saves the day. There are no vampires, or zombies or malformed humanoids living high in the mountains.
It is fiction, not fantasy.
The Beech Tree is a story about real people whose only connection to one another in life was that they had been at the same place – the beech tree – at different times. The characters are everyday people who are faced with challenges just as we all are. Sometimes, they get it right. Other times, they don’t.
Life is predictable. We are born. We live. We die. The path we follow in the meanwhile is what makes the difference.
Life can be hard. It can be heartbreaking. Life can be brutal. It can be unfair. Getting through those heartaches, struggling to find joy and making decisions to stand up against injustice requires courage. For good men and women, though, it is a predictable outcome. And therein lies the triumph in their lives … predictably.
I can live with that description of The Beech Tree. In fact, it’s not bad at all.
The Beech Tree
The good ones are easy to agree with, as you strut about your cramped writing room, punctuating your solitary chest-bump with “Yeah, baby, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” They are even capable of drawing a tear when you discover your work has had some meaningful impact on one of your readers.
The bad ones are simply tough. They can make you feel ten times worse than those good ones make you happy. That’s the risk of sharing your work with others.
Then there are some – oddly, many seem to be by professional critics – which miss the point of the book entirely. Today, I read one which described the outcomes of the characters’ lives in The Beech Tree as “predictable,” as if that was a bad thing.
“Predictable.” Predictable. Yes, upon considerable thought, they are predictable. After all, I didn’t set out to write a mystery, thriller or suspense novel. No twists, turns and switchbacks like an Italian road racing course.
There are no superheroes. No divine intervention. No damsels in distress nor knights in shining armor. There are no characters who rise from nothing to lead armies into battle or sorcerers whose magic saves the day. There are no vampires, or zombies or malformed humanoids living high in the mountains.
It is fiction, not fantasy.
The Beech Tree is a story about real people whose only connection to one another in life was that they had been at the same place – the beech tree – at different times. The characters are everyday people who are faced with challenges just as we all are. Sometimes, they get it right. Other times, they don’t.
Life is predictable. We are born. We live. We die. The path we follow in the meanwhile is what makes the difference.
Life can be hard. It can be heartbreaking. Life can be brutal. It can be unfair. Getting through those heartaches, struggling to find joy and making decisions to stand up against injustice requires courage. For good men and women, though, it is a predictable outcome. And therein lies the triumph in their lives … predictably.
I can live with that description of The Beech Tree. In fact, it’s not bad at all.
The Beech Tree
July 13, 2016
July 9, 2016
If I could give one bit of advice to young people ...
Today, I saw a quote from Mitch Albom's book, Tuesdays with Morrie. The book chronicled his weekly meetings with his beloved college professor, Morrie Schwartz, as the professor progressively declined due to ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease.
The professor said, "Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back."
If people -- of any age -- followed Morrie's advice, there would be less anger, divisiveness, finger-pointing and hatred in today's world.
There would be more joy, more people who believe in their own goodness.
Do what you love. Give from the heart. Focus on what gives you joy, not what others have. Love and protect one another, regardless of the color of their skin, whether they wear blue and carry a badge, or are simply your next-door neighbor you've never met. Reach out. Show them you care. #TuesdayswithMorrie
The professor said, "Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back."
If people -- of any age -- followed Morrie's advice, there would be less anger, divisiveness, finger-pointing and hatred in today's world.
There would be more joy, more people who believe in their own goodness.
Do what you love. Give from the heart. Focus on what gives you joy, not what others have. Love and protect one another, regardless of the color of their skin, whether they wear blue and carry a badge, or are simply your next-door neighbor you've never met. Reach out. Show them you care. #TuesdayswithMorrie
May 21, 2016
Welcome to my blog
Here's a nice review I received on Amazon:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Transports you right smack-dab in the middle of an alternate reality that's filled with emotional power and life."
By Tammy Adams, May 15, 2016
"Your writing is excellent. Your readers want more and more because we can intuitively feel the inner emotions of your characters and we can feel the mood in the air with every scene. You're poetic and captivating. You make your readers hold their own breath and lose track of their own space and time as you transport them right smack-dab in the middle of an alternate reality that's filled with emotional power and life."
http://www.amazon.com/The-Beech-Tree-...
5.0 out of 5 stars "Transports you right smack-dab in the middle of an alternate reality that's filled with emotional power and life."
By Tammy Adams, May 15, 2016
"Your writing is excellent. Your readers want more and more because we can intuitively feel the inner emotions of your characters and we can feel the mood in the air with every scene. You're poetic and captivating. You make your readers hold their own breath and lose track of their own space and time as you transport them right smack-dab in the middle of an alternate reality that's filled with emotional power and life."
http://www.amazon.com/The-Beech-Tree-...
A Little Light Reading
This blog complements my Facebook page "A Little Light Reading." (Visit and "like," please!)
I'll share some reviews I receive on "The Beech Tree" as well my real estate book, "You Gonna' Sell Real Est ...more
I'll share some reviews I receive on "The Beech Tree" as well my real estate book, "You Gonna' Sell Real Est ...more
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