Ask the Author: Jeff Fearnside
Answered Questions (4)
Jeff Fearnside
I believe the best answer to this question can be given in four words:
Believe in yourself.
Work.
Believe in yourself.
Work.
Jeff Fearnside
There’s really only one good way that I know of, and that’s simply to push through it by writing. Simple? Yes. Easy? No, not by any means. And I have no special tricks or magical incantations to offer that will make it easier. Somehow, someway, each writer must find it within himself or herself to open that laptop or pick up that pen, or even—for those old-school throwbacks—slide that blank piece of paper into the typewriter and summon the trust that if they begin working, the words they need will eventually flow again.
Jeff Fearnside
Terrific question! The answer that most strongly comes to mind is from a book I first read in graduate school, which was also my first introduction to this author. Her influence on me may not be overtly evident, but I admire her strong plotlines, good use of humor, and highly believable characters. My favorite fictional couple is Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley in EMMA by Jane Austen.
What I like most about them is the growth we see in them over the course of the novel. Many dynamic characters in literature, especially lovers, often exhibit change in a downward arc. I’m all for a good dramatic tragedy, but that isn’t all there is to life! In EMMA, we have two characters who work through their own issues of stubbornness and a self-satisfied sense that they each are solely in the right. While it may appear that Miss Woodhouse has the most to learn, I can’t help feeling that Mr. Knightley’s name is used somewhat tongue-in-cheek. After all, he has to come down off his high horse, so to speak, to finally see that Emma is no longer a child in need of guidance but rather a woman capable of running her own household.
It’s refreshing to see how Austen breaks away from the well-worn “love at first sight” storyline to build a romance slowly, incrementally between Miss Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley so that we as readers understand what’s happening to them even before they do. It would never work if only one of them moved toward the other. They each take their own small, stumbling steps to meet in the middle and discover that their friendship has grown, through both trials and a building of mutual respect born directly out of those trials, into love. Sure, it’s the kind of happy ending that a serious literary writer would have a hard time pulling off today, in our much more cynical times, but I personally feel the story remains as realistic now as ever. Technically, its pacing is perfect, and even with a conclusion foregone fairly early in the novel, the twists and turns of plot never fail to surprise. Austen makes us care for these characters, and that’s exactly what made me fall in love with books in the first place.
What I like most about them is the growth we see in them over the course of the novel. Many dynamic characters in literature, especially lovers, often exhibit change in a downward arc. I’m all for a good dramatic tragedy, but that isn’t all there is to life! In EMMA, we have two characters who work through their own issues of stubbornness and a self-satisfied sense that they each are solely in the right. While it may appear that Miss Woodhouse has the most to learn, I can’t help feeling that Mr. Knightley’s name is used somewhat tongue-in-cheek. After all, he has to come down off his high horse, so to speak, to finally see that Emma is no longer a child in need of guidance but rather a woman capable of running her own household.
It’s refreshing to see how Austen breaks away from the well-worn “love at first sight” storyline to build a romance slowly, incrementally between Miss Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley so that we as readers understand what’s happening to them even before they do. It would never work if only one of them moved toward the other. They each take their own small, stumbling steps to meet in the middle and discover that their friendship has grown, through both trials and a building of mutual respect born directly out of those trials, into love. Sure, it’s the kind of happy ending that a serious literary writer would have a hard time pulling off today, in our much more cynical times, but I personally feel the story remains as realistic now as ever. Technically, its pacing is perfect, and even with a conclusion foregone fairly early in the novel, the twists and turns of plot never fail to surprise. Austen makes us care for these characters, and that’s exactly what made me fall in love with books in the first place.
Jeff Fearnside
Mary, it's wonderful to hear from you! Val and I think of you every time we make that wonderful beet salad we first ate in San Francisco with you--it's one of our favorites. We are well, and my new book is off to a good start. I just had a reading in Eugene with some fantastic writers, and I have several more readings lined up. How about you? I'm sure you have something interesting in the works!
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