Ask the Author: Cary Flanagan
Answered Questions (8)
Cary Flanagan
My most favorite setting would be the 19th-century village and surrounding towns and lakes just below the White Mountains of New Hampshire where my novel, "After the Storm," is set. It was a simpler and less stressful time in many ways, although also much more arduous and demanding with none of the conveniences of the 21-century that we all take for granted.
If I could live in that time and place, I would enjoy living on a small farm raising chickens and small livestock for eggs and meat. I would have an enormous vegetable garden to keep us fed all year round, canning and storing what we would need for the winter. I would have a cow and goats for milk and at least one horse and a wagon to help me get around. I would have at least one, and preferably several Border Collies to help keep the animals organized (and, of course, as devoted companions). I would trade eggs and produce for the things I needed at the General Store that I could not grow or raise myself. For example, apples from a nearby orchard, maple syrup or cider, potatoes, and hay for the animals. I would also barter for fabric and thread. I would sell or trade any quilts I made that were not needed by the family.
I would likely have a treadle sewing machine set up where the light was best in my farmhouse and would make quilts and clothing for the children whenever I had the time. I would be married and have several children. The oldest would help take care of the younger ones as well as help doing chores. I would teach the girls to sew and to quilt when they were old enough (starting around age five or six). The boys would help with the heavier chores such as splitting enough wood to keep us warm doing the cold winters and to keep the big cast iron kitchen stove going all year for cooking.
I would meet every month with a close circle of my quilting friends. We would help each other do the decorative quilting stitches on each other's quilts, every month a different quilt. It would be an all-day affair, with each quilter bringing food, fabric scraps and design ideas to share. And we would socialize and give each other friendship and support.
I would be busy from early morning to evening, occupied doing the things that needed to be done but which also gave me pleasure, knowing I was taking care of my family.
If I could live in that time and place, I would enjoy living on a small farm raising chickens and small livestock for eggs and meat. I would have an enormous vegetable garden to keep us fed all year round, canning and storing what we would need for the winter. I would have a cow and goats for milk and at least one horse and a wagon to help me get around. I would have at least one, and preferably several Border Collies to help keep the animals organized (and, of course, as devoted companions). I would trade eggs and produce for the things I needed at the General Store that I could not grow or raise myself. For example, apples from a nearby orchard, maple syrup or cider, potatoes, and hay for the animals. I would also barter for fabric and thread. I would sell or trade any quilts I made that were not needed by the family.
I would likely have a treadle sewing machine set up where the light was best in my farmhouse and would make quilts and clothing for the children whenever I had the time. I would be married and have several children. The oldest would help take care of the younger ones as well as help doing chores. I would teach the girls to sew and to quilt when they were old enough (starting around age five or six). The boys would help with the heavier chores such as splitting enough wood to keep us warm doing the cold winters and to keep the big cast iron kitchen stove going all year for cooking.
I would meet every month with a close circle of my quilting friends. We would help each other do the decorative quilting stitches on each other's quilts, every month a different quilt. It would be an all-day affair, with each quilter bringing food, fabric scraps and design ideas to share. And we would socialize and give each other friendship and support.
I would be busy from early morning to evening, occupied doing the things that needed to be done but which also gave me pleasure, knowing I was taking care of my family.
Cary Flanagan
My family's summer place on a lake in New Hampshire became the setting for my novel After the Storm. I transposed that setting to a different century and based the novel on a short story I wrote about twenty years earlier. That story kept poking at me demanding to be developed and expanded and eventually wrote back from the short story to get to the beginning and forward to get to the end. I also used pieces of my own family history and did research on the local community for the time period (1840's to early 1900's). It was great fun!
Cary Flanagan
Ideas come to me from lots of different places: from my family and its history, from personal experiences, from friends, from books I have read. Story ideas are everywhere. If something interests you, check it out!
Cary Flanagan
I am writing a sequel to After the Storm which follows several members of the next generation of Hannah Applegate Benson Stone's family. I am letting it rest while I work on summer projects such as gardening. I have been thinking about it a lot and plan to get back to writing soon.
Cary Flanagan
Persevere and be patient with the process. Lots of writers say to write every day and make it a habit. You get better at it by practice. I don't do that. I have too many other interests and projects going on. But when I am ready to write, I immerse myself in it (don't cook or clean house!) until I feel I am done with that particular piece. Each individual has to develop a process that works best for him or herself. There is no right or wrong way to be a writer. I have read (or listened to) many wonderful books that do not follow literary conventions.
The other piece of important advice is to read widely and often.
The other piece of important advice is to read widely and often.
Cary Flanagan
I have always been a "daydreamer" and a thinker. I have lots of story ideas floating around in my brain, not always consciously. When something pokes at me and won't leave me alone then I know it is time to write it all down. That is the fun part when the ideas come pouring out onto the blank page in my computer. That is how my first novel After the Storm was written. Not all at once, but in long spurts where the words sometimes came faster than I could write them down!
Cary Flanagan
I walk away for a day or a week or longer. I immerse myself in other creative pursuits such as quilting, designing or gardening and let my brain ruminate on my story "behind the scenes". A new idea or spark of enthusiasm will eventually pop up and I can go back to writing. Sometimes this process takes longer than I would wish, but I have come to trust that it WILL happen.
Cary Flanagan
The Lost Quilter and The Quilter's Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini;
The Last Escape by Peggy Mann and Ruth Kluger;
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Last Escape by Peggy Mann and Ruth Kluger;
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
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