Watching writer Patricia McCormick speak last night at Kaneko, I felt as though I saw myself in a mirror. We have walked such similar paths to writing our latest books.
McCormick and I both received journalism degrees, worked as journalists, and then earned MFA's in creative writing.
Consider the way we applied that dual learning, we both wrote books about people no one knew: she wrote about Arn Chorn-Pond and I about Teresa Martin.
In both cases, the worlds our subjects occupied made them significant. Her book, NEVER FALL DOWN, is based on the true story of an 11-year-old boy who survived the Khmer Rouge. My book, MAIL-ORDER KID, is based on the life of an orphan-train rider, a child given away.
We both, like journalists, interviewed our subjects at length. Then, like creative writers, we spun their stories.
The primary difference between the way we wrote our works is that McCormick took her story into novel form, but I didn't. Her NEVER FALL DOWN recreates the voice of the 11-year-old boy as he struggles to stay alive. She did a magnificent job. His words are so clear and exact they become poetic.
I chose to present Teresa's story as her biography, but oddly enough, I did consider writing her story in first person, as McCormick has done. In my case, Teresa's voice eluded me, so I wrote a biography rather than a novel.
If you get a chance to pick up NEVER FALL DOWN, on sale May 2012, do read it. It's a chilling story beautifully written.
from: a JoLt of CoFFeY
An Intermittent Newsletter
by Marilyn June Coffey
"BitterSweet Rebel"
some BitterSweet books
written by Marilyn June Coffey
MAIL-ORDER KID: An Orphan Train Rider's Story www.mail-orderkid.net
MARCELLA: A NOVEL To be reprinted Fall 2012.
GREAT PLAINS PATCHWORK: A Memoir
MARCELLA and GREAT PLAINS PATCHWORK are out of print
but can sometimes be bought from Amazon or other on-line book dealers.
A CRETAN CYCLE: Fragments unearthed from Knossos is a rare book.
To buy it, search eBay or other on-line book dealers.
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