Ask the Author: Susan Moore Jordan
Answered Questions (8)
Susan Moore Jordan
For the book which precedes Man With No Yesterdays -- Memories of Jake -- I had done considerable research about the Vietnam War and the difficulty of the years that followed for the people who fought in that war. I had also been fortunate enough to connect with some Vietnam veterans, and I learned that many were reluctant to discuss their experiences; indeed, some preferred to think about them as little as possible.
What if a man had been a respected member of the military as a Green Beret, and a Traumatic Brain Injury left him without that memory, so that rather than trying to forget, he was desperate to remember? That was Jake's burden. I learned through research about brain injuries and memory loss that it is definitely something that can happen -- a person can lose their autobiographical memory without losing their general knowledge and their ability to function in the world. It's unusual, but it's possible. Some brain injuries can affect only certain areas of the brain and the result can be such a condition.
I found a book about a man named Scott Bolzan to whom this actually happened. In "My Life, Deleted," Bolzan's fairly minor injury apparently affected only that part of his brain -- his episodic, or autobiographical, memories. At first his doctors thought his memory would return quickly, but it did not, and he had to find friends and relatives to help him recreate his life from childhood through his adult life: marriage and children. Eventually he recovered a few fleeting memories of his early childhood.
I challenged myself when writing Man With No Yesterdays by writing in the first person, and tried to put myself in Jake's mind as he struggled to discover who he had been, and when it was evident it was unlikely he would recover that person, to find a way to understand who he had become and build a new life for himself. It was helpful to make Jake's odyssey a physical journey as well as an emotional and spiritual one.
I included more research on the Vietnam War and had a consultant who assisted me with a scene about Jake's final mission, the mission which resulted in his injury and memory loss. I took Jake to the Northwest where he met other veterans, some who had not been able to re-assimilate into life past their war experience.
Along the way Jake met many people who helped him, and he began to understand who this new Jake Cameron was and what his life could become. It was fascinating to make this journey with him. Thank you for asking about the book. In many ways, it's my favorite.
What if a man had been a respected member of the military as a Green Beret, and a Traumatic Brain Injury left him without that memory, so that rather than trying to forget, he was desperate to remember? That was Jake's burden. I learned through research about brain injuries and memory loss that it is definitely something that can happen -- a person can lose their autobiographical memory without losing their general knowledge and their ability to function in the world. It's unusual, but it's possible. Some brain injuries can affect only certain areas of the brain and the result can be such a condition.
I found a book about a man named Scott Bolzan to whom this actually happened. In "My Life, Deleted," Bolzan's fairly minor injury apparently affected only that part of his brain -- his episodic, or autobiographical, memories. At first his doctors thought his memory would return quickly, but it did not, and he had to find friends and relatives to help him recreate his life from childhood through his adult life: marriage and children. Eventually he recovered a few fleeting memories of his early childhood.
I challenged myself when writing Man With No Yesterdays by writing in the first person, and tried to put myself in Jake's mind as he struggled to discover who he had been, and when it was evident it was unlikely he would recover that person, to find a way to understand who he had become and build a new life for himself. It was helpful to make Jake's odyssey a physical journey as well as an emotional and spiritual one.
I included more research on the Vietnam War and had a consultant who assisted me with a scene about Jake's final mission, the mission which resulted in his injury and memory loss. I took Jake to the Northwest where he met other veterans, some who had not been able to re-assimilate into life past their war experience.
Along the way Jake met many people who helped him, and he began to understand who this new Jake Cameron was and what his life could become. It was fascinating to make this journey with him. Thank you for asking about the book. In many ways, it's my favorite.
Susan Moore Jordan
Hi Kelly,
Thanks so much for reading my books! Yes, all of them are set in the twentieth century, with Man with No Yesterdays ending in the early 1990s, which is as close to the twenty-first century as I've come over the course of nine novels.
One big reason for using that time period I'm sure is because my first book, How I Grew Up, was the result of a challenge by a friend to write a book. It was 2013, and I faced the first summer in over twenty years with no musical theater production to direct, and I was looking for some way to fill my time. I've always loved to read and had done a little creative writing in the past, mostly short stories, for my own amusement, but the idea of writing an entire book was pretty daunting. But she reminded me of an event from my teenage years and further challenged me to write the book in the first person. That convinced me to try, even though at first I likened the project to climbing Mt. Everest.
I figured it would be a "one and done" thing ... but to my delight, another book idea grew from the first, and another, and another, until I had written three novels that became an unplanned trilogy. Then I wrote a sequel to the third book in the trilogy, and after that recalled a couple of little boys from How I Grew Up who would have been in their late teens just as the Vietnam War was heating up. The Cameron books that you read came from that inspiration.
I think reading some Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie mysteries inspired me to try my hand at cozy mystery. I knew I wanted a female protagonist, so I gave her some attributes I was comfortable with (singer, voice teacher, stage director) and placed her in a city I love, Cincinnati, at a time when I lived in that city, the 1960s. To date Augusta McKee and her homicide detective beau, Malcolm Mitchell, have taken me on three adventures with a fourth well under way.
It's a time period I feel comfortable in and I've learned a lot from setting my books in the last century because of the different genres, and stories that have often required quite a bit of research.
Thanks so much for reading my books! Yes, all of them are set in the twentieth century, with Man with No Yesterdays ending in the early 1990s, which is as close to the twenty-first century as I've come over the course of nine novels.
One big reason for using that time period I'm sure is because my first book, How I Grew Up, was the result of a challenge by a friend to write a book. It was 2013, and I faced the first summer in over twenty years with no musical theater production to direct, and I was looking for some way to fill my time. I've always loved to read and had done a little creative writing in the past, mostly short stories, for my own amusement, but the idea of writing an entire book was pretty daunting. But she reminded me of an event from my teenage years and further challenged me to write the book in the first person. That convinced me to try, even though at first I likened the project to climbing Mt. Everest.
I figured it would be a "one and done" thing ... but to my delight, another book idea grew from the first, and another, and another, until I had written three novels that became an unplanned trilogy. Then I wrote a sequel to the third book in the trilogy, and after that recalled a couple of little boys from How I Grew Up who would have been in their late teens just as the Vietnam War was heating up. The Cameron books that you read came from that inspiration.
I think reading some Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie mysteries inspired me to try my hand at cozy mystery. I knew I wanted a female protagonist, so I gave her some attributes I was comfortable with (singer, voice teacher, stage director) and placed her in a city I love, Cincinnati, at a time when I lived in that city, the 1960s. To date Augusta McKee and her homicide detective beau, Malcolm Mitchell, have taken me on three adventures with a fourth well under way.
It's a time period I feel comfortable in and I've learned a lot from setting my books in the last century because of the different genres, and stories that have often required quite a bit of research.
Susan Moore Jordan
New book by American author Sahar Abdulaziz, coming out June 1: "Tight Rope." Described as a "politico-thriller" and very timely, this book apparently addresses racism head on. I want to re-read "The Lute Player" by Norah Lofts, a book I originally read in the mid-nineteen-sixties. I HAVE to finish Dickens' "Bleak House" which I started months ago! Also want to read Grace Hudson's "The Rogue Thread," second in the series which began with "Ferts." Since I'm writing as well I don't want to commit to more!
Susan Moore Jordan
It actually grew from a chapter in my first book. It was a story of an interrupted romance between two young people. As I was completing HOW I GREW UP I began to wonder what would have happened if those two characters had somehow found their way back to each other. Both were musicians, and he was a musical prodigy with a congenital heart defect. What would their lives have been like? Nine months later, ELI'S HEART.
Susan Moore Jordan
I've spent my entire adult life as a teacher and musical theater director, both of which I've enjoyed immensely. I had just written an article for an e-publication and was looking at a summer without a show to direct. A close friend suggested I write a book. At first it seemed daunting, but her suggestions got me started and I hardly came up for air for four months. The result was my first novel, HOW I GREW UP.
Susan Moore Jordan
Since I just completed a book, I'm working on thinking about what story I need to tell next!
Susan Moore Jordan
I think most authors write because they need to tell their story. It's time consuming, engrossing, exciting, frustrating, aggravating, and eventually enormously satisfying. It's something I have created.
Susan Moore Jordan
Get away from the computer for a while! Maybe a couple of hours, maybe a couple of days. The book is always in my head, and a change of activity or scenery can open me up to the ideas that are there but haven't been unlocked yet. So far this has worked for me!
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