Blogger: Mary Keeley
Someone mentioned in a recent blog comment that they appreciate the variety of topics we blog about here. That’s our goal. We strive to offer a well-rounded blend of insights on new topics or a fresh slant on a perennial topic surrounding writing and the publishing industry. One of those themes that never changes, though, is quality of the writing because the writing prompts doors to open.
You’ve probably heard that Harper Lee’s second book in over fifty years will be published this summer. I won’t take time to reiterate the details of how the manuscript for Go Set a Watchman was found by her lawyer because it’s off topic. What I want to point to is the endurance of her first book, To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published in 1960 and continues to sell huge numbers of copies: 382,000 mass market paperbacks and 65,000 trade paperbacks in 2014, according to Nielsen BookScan. It’s use in literature and history classes accounts for a chunk of these sales. What is it about the first book that makes it a classic and is catapulting a buzz of anticipation for the second one? Let’s analyze.
Setting. The story takes place in the 1930s in Alabama, the heart of the Bible Belt, where segregation was legal. The book was published in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The author has lots of tension to work with in the setting alone.
Story and Plot. Harper Lee incorporates warmth, humor, and goodness of the main characters with serious issues of rape, racial injustice, hatred, compassion, revenge, and mystery, all of which evoke more conflict and strong emotional response to immerse readers in the story.
Characters. The narrator is six-year-old Scout Finch, out of whose eyes the reader receives a perspective of unbiased innocence. I think this is one of Harper Lee’s most brilliant techniques. The simple clarity of a child packed a wallop of gentle peace and truth in the turbulent action and injustice in the story and setting.
Atticus Finch, Scout’s father was an honorable, moral man, courageous in defending Tom Robinson, a Black man, equally gentle, moral, and good, who is wrongfully accused of raping a white girl. These characters are human, flawed, and fraught with inner conflict, but they choose to do what is right. I’ll stop reading a novel if there isn’t a main character with similar character. I think most readers want to see a really good character endure, if not come out a winner.
Bo Radley adds mystery. He evokes readers’ apprehension perhaps, and then compassion, and finally admiration for his courage at the surprising moment he steps out of his reclusiveness to protect Scout and her brother Jem.
Expression. Perfectly chosen words and descriptions so vivid that readers feel like they’re alongside the characters in the story, experiencing what they experience.
We in the writing world talk about character-driven or story-driven novels. I’m at a loss when it comes to categorizing To Kill a Mockingbird as one or the other. I think it has it all. The book hooks readers, then and now, in a multitude of ways.
The writing of Harper Lee’s first book opened wide the door for the second book. We’ll have to wait until July to find out if Go Set a Watchman has the same elements to make it rise to the level of To Kill a Mockingbird. One can but imagine what the advance was. And along with the buzz are the naysayers, of course. Those who are suspicious about the truth of the manuscript’s discovery after all these years. We’ll eventually find out. The proof will be in the pudding (the writing), as the saying goes.
When it comes down to choosing one among several proposals to take to pub board, assuming other factors are similar, the editor will always take the one with the best writing because the writing prompts doors to open.
Did the analysis give you ideas for further developing your main characters to make readers care deeply about them? How about ideas for using your setting to increase the tension? Are your sentences tight with strong verbs and tangible descriptions? What can you add to the analysis?
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I may have my License to Read revoked for saying this, but I didn’t like TKAM. Wanted to, was supposed to…but didn’t.
For me there was a forced rural regionalism that reminded me of an interminable road trip through a cloying Southern night. A combination of honeysuckle and night soil, hazily bright stars in a clear and moisture-heavy sky, and mosquitoes.
The writing was superb, the characters vivid, and the plot throbbed like a heartbeat in a fever dream.
I willed myself to wake up. Books I love, I’ll read over again. I gave away TKAM.
I know that there are dark corners of the soul that have to be illuminated and scrubbed clean, a process that can be inspired and led by a brilliant writer like Harper Lee.
But it’s not me. I can only write the stories I’m given, and those reflect a yearning for a bright world soaring above the dark roiling hatreds of the heart’s dank cellars.
And I can only write the characters God brings me to have their tales told; people who exist, for me, in a reality somewhere between imagination and Eternal. I’m not their creator, merely the journal-keeper of their materially evanescent hearts.
Harper Lee is Rembrandt; Robert Ruark, Hieronymus Bosch.
Me, I’ll aspire to be a literary Leroy Neiman, and happy in my writing skin.
Andrew, love that about your license to read! I’ll probably have my license to read, write, and be considered a English major for saying I have not read TKAM! I skipped ahead from 9th to 10th grade English, missing out on TKAM, Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the Flies, and Romeo and Juliet. I know I need to read TKAM someday, but there are so many books on my list and so little time.
I don’t know what it is about the people who set the 9th-10th grade reading canon. I think they hate kids for being young.
We had to read Grapes, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, and…wait for it…In Cold Blood.
Kids aren’t stupid; my classmates certainly weren’t, and we realized that this was a plan to teach a socio-political platform as much as anything else.
But kids are still kids, and some of my friends swore they would never read for fun again, after being bound to this list for two years.
Do you think lists have changed today? That was twenty years ago.
Interesting question, Sondra – I suspect that they’ve changed a bit. I’ll have to look that up.
I too wonder about HS reading lists. I made reference to “Ebenezer” and our college intern said, “That’s from a movie.” I was surprised to learn that he’d never read anything by Dickens–didn’t even recognize him as an author. My young man did recall reading Romeo and Juliet. Apparently West Side Story is still shown alongside R&J (some things don’t change).
The canon’s an interesting question, and good for getting into fistfights with English teachers. (And some of those English teachers are pretty strong…the male ones, too.)
For what it’s worth, even though I do not like TKAM, I think it belongs in the canon. it’s a superb telling of a story that illustrates our cultural journey as a nation.
The process will always be politicized; if you want to include a Viet Nam memoir, written by an officer, what do you choose – Philip Caputo’s “A Rumor of War” or James McDonough’s “Platoon Leader”?
Both men lost a good deal of faith in the political system that placed them into the war; Caputo became active in the peace movement after separation from the service, which was, from McDonough’s perspective, a betrayal of the men who were still there.
The canon is the answer to the question, How Do We Want To See Ourselves?
And we should choose wisely, for thus, the future formed.
My son, who graduated from high school in 2005, read both To Kill A Mockingbird and A Christmas Carol in high school and middle school respectively. My daughter, who will graduate from middle school this year, read A Christmas Carol in seventh grade. Our middle school actually celebrates Dickens day where the kids dress in time period clothing, watch the movie, create time period crafts, and eat time period food. I brought in Wassail. Mostly, though, the kids mostly read books of their choosing from a vast list of award winners.
Interesting…I was homeschooled so didn’t go through the exact same high school literature canon, but one of my private tutoring students now is in 9th grade, and she’s been going through To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, and about to start on Romeo and Juliet. I guess some things don’t change much!
Of the books I was supposed to love and didn’t? Grapes of Wrath!
Modern reading lists? Depends on the school. One local middle school required a book which the city was using as a Read Together title. The book used the F word (if I remember correctly – 41 times). The classroom teacher defended the title, saying kids don’t pick up vocabulary from books they read. Really? I thought that was one of the reasons we assigned reading.
I am a former teacher and school librarian, and I can tell you that few things touch us and change us like books. That would lead me to another issue – a blockbuster book now coming out as a movie. I see the potential for that to impact many people – but I will address that on my own blog. (Let’s just say that each good thing that God gives us, the enemy has a cheap imitation, and his goal is always the same – to destroy.)
Me too, Sheila. Grapes of Wrath just depressed me.
I never thought Grapes was Steinbeck’s best work; his journalism during WW2 far outshone his fiction.
And as for not picking up vocabulary from reading…I think I understand where the teacher’s coming from, in feeling that the kids already knew the profanities, but the issue is that seeing them in print legitimizes their use.
Ask yourself this…how many of you have noticed that your husbands feel freer to swear after they’ve seen a movie with heavy use of bad language?
And as for That Book (and movie), it’ll get the treatment in my blog, as well.
Andrew, if they revoke your reading license for not liking it, be of good cheer. They refused to issue me that license because I’ve never read it. Will do so some day, as it’s in my reading pile.
My best friend and I like to give each other “mean gifts” on our birthdays, which are a day apart. For years it would be stuff like a dead plant, or a candle shaped like a brain, or a door rug featuring a bunch of cowboy boots. But recently we started making each other read something totally out of our preferred genre. I made her read Twilight and she made me read Catcher in the Rye. She made me read Where the Red Fern Grows and I made her read Artemis Fowl. Last year we really tried to pick books that the other one might like. I made her read Inkheart and she made me read To Kill A Mockingbird. It was an amazing book. I would have never picked it up on my own. Rape is not a topic I ever read about. But I was so pleased that there was a plot and lovely language and amazing characters. I was enthralled and will be reading the sequel. It is good to step out of your genre here and there. This year I’m going to make her read How to Train Your Dragon! Such a fun book, and she needs to expand her horizons. She will probably make me read something where someone dies (boo!) but I can count on the fact that the writing will be excellent.
Kristen, if I may make a suggestion for a film that is probably “out of genre” for you…see Brad Pitt’s latest, “Fury”.
It is hard to watch; stay with it.
The writing is stellar, and true (and yes, there’s a lot of bad language).
The characters are three-dimensional. You won’t forget them.
The production values are top-botch.
But the payoff, at the climax, is positive and stunning in a way that you would never have imagined seeing in a mainstream film.
I’ll have to consider it. Thanks, Andrew.
Kristen, for “Fury” –
Isaiah 6
What a great tradition, Kristen. Love it! That would be fun with my teens.
Kristen, that makes me smile! Your middle name fits you well. 🙂
I guess I’m in the I really enjoyed TKAM camp. I read it in high school, and i picked it up willingly and read it again afterward. The story, the characters and the plot drew me in. It made me feel, which I like in a story. 🙂
I’ll be curious to read Harper Lee’s second book.
I love how Boo Radley stepped out of his reclusiveness. Reading this in your analysis made me see how much that kind of a character growth helps a story. As I plan out my next WIP, I’m going to see if I can create a character that changes like that.
Great analysis, Mary!
Jeanne, the emotions that drove Boo Radley to come out of his small, safe place of hiding to do something so bold and courageous were almost tangible, weren’t’ they.
Hmmmm, great post, Mary. I think I struggle some in this area. The topics that are covered in TKAM tend to be topics that we’re advised to steer away from in the CBA because readers are wanting emotional pick-me-ups. Although, I realize leniency is applied at varying percentages from genre to genre. I’m a writer who loves to tackle the deeper, darker topics and yet struggle with how to create that tension while avoiding the topic. LOL Unless I shift to thriller (Ted Dekker style), which I also have no interest in doing, the challenge is how to achieve TKAM tension while not offending the sensibilities of the CBA market. I’m not sure I’m explaining my conundrum well. There’s a balance and there’s a difference between being “graphic” verses “alluding” to an issue. But again, that’s a balance as a writer who wants to put my characters in heavier life circumstances, I need to learn the art of.
TKAM is successful in the area of addressing issues, but not offending sensibilities. It works because of the viewpoint. There’s only one viewpoint and that character is not the one to whom the harm is being done. We hear about the wickedness and tragedies, but since it’s not from the victim’s viewpoint we can get a less graphic version. That’s how I think topics like this can be written effectively in the CBA market. Personally, it’s how I prefer to read books.
And the scales fell from my eyes…
THANK YOU for writing that. I had been completely blind to that perspective, and, in my prejudice, completely missed it in Mary’s analysis.
Once again, Mary, thank you for a most helpful list. I’m in the revision stage, and I’m going to print off your list and keep it near my cup of coffee as I work.
I’m a tad ashamed to admit it, but I’ve never read To Kill a Mockingbird. Through all my terrific high school lit classes and then a literature degree in college, I never even heard of it. It only came on my radar after marriage. Go figure. I’m reading it this spring, though, because I’ve begun creating a literature curriculum for my children. And now I just have to read (or reread) all those classics myself…. 🙂
I haven’t read it either, Meghan. I have seen the movie, but it’s been years ago, and I can’t actually remember if I finished it. I don’t remember it all that good. I need to either read or watch the movie again. 🙂
Read the book first, Shelli. 🙂
Okay, Jeanne! 🙂
Though I have always wanted to, it seems I never get to read To Kill a Mockingbird. I truly think it goes back to what Andrew said about forced reading of the classics in school. I’m sure I will get to it one day.
I am a very character-driven reader, so that is how I write. I figure that might be part of the reason I struggle with writing mysteries despite them being one of my favorite genres. One thing I have mixed feelings about, though, is when the setting is so much a part of the story it’s almost a character. Evenings on Dark Island by Rhett DeVane and Larry Rock is like that. I love DeVane’s style, which is why I read the book. It didn’t work for me in this case because it gave me too much narrative that interrupted the action. I loved the book other than that one tiny thing.
“How about ideas for using your setting to increase the tension?”
Ohhhh, awesome question!!
The first setting in my WIP is a real place, and a real time in history, but it was a place so appalling that the descendants of those held there will only speak of it in hushed, reverent tones.
It’s a prison camp in the New Mexican desert.
Firstly, the words “prison camp” immediately conjure up an “us and them” mentality, a visceral amount of fear, and a deep desire to save people.
But, how does a writer make a prison camp appealing? I want my reader to both hate, and love, the setting.
One of the most meaningful ways to do that, is to emply subtle kindnesses, which always say more than grandiose monologues on injustice. In summer, when the water supply is at it’s lowest, the heroine sneaks jars of clean water to the MC’s family mother. In winter, when the winter winds go through the sick and infirm, the heroine gifts the MC’s father with wool socks and mittens.
Because the heroine is not supposed to care about the prisoners, and not supposed to want comfort for anyone but herself, using an opposing force such as kindness incrementaly increases the conflict within herself, and within the story. With mercy and fairness in short supply in a POW camp, her getting caught is dangerous for everyone.
So, non-stop conflict with moments of reprieve built in, so as to not exhaust the reader.
Perhaps it will encourage writers to know that Harper Lee took five years and innumerable assists from a group of NYC editors as she wrote TKaM. Charles Shield’s book Mockingbird is an astonishing story of how the book came to be written.
She had a ton of help.
Which, I suppose, is why I’m even more shocked HarperCollins plans to release an unedited first novel by a woman whose stories were mined to put together TKaM.
$$$$?
I’m thrilled for Harper Lee that the manuscript was found while she’s still living! I cannot imagine it being “lost” or thought destroyed all those years. And if I were Harper Lee, the first thing I would ask my sister on the other side is “Did you know that was there all those years?!” 🙂
For me, the characters were real–true to their time and place. But I agree with what others have said. Seeing it all through the eyes of a child changes the perspective in so many ways. I wonder how the seeing things through the eyes of the child grown up will affect the story. Can wait to find out!
Make that can’t wait to find out! Hit send without proofing!
I’ve been reading this blog for quite awhile, but this is the first time I’ve felt compelled to offer an opinion. For all those who have not read To Kill A Mockingbird, I would suggest you stop whatever your WIP is, run to the nearest bookstore, and purchase a copy. Before you write another word, you should read the novel in its entirety. Twice. With highlights. Harper Lee wrote THE fiction book of the last century. Not only was it a great story, it changed the world. TKAM should be the object of study for any writer who aspires to give the world a literary gift.
What made TKAM a literary classic? Lee’s writing didn’t merely pull you into the story, it pulled you into the character. You become Scout. Something deep inside you begins to identify with her and, consequently, her point of view. I was a child the first time I read the novel and for a summer back in the late sixties I was Scout Finch. When your writing is powerful enough to draw a reader into a character that deeply, you have written something worthy of reverence.
I didn’t read To Kill a Mockingbird until I was out of college–my sister was reading it in junior high school, so I read it too. And I was definitely drawn into the story–certain passages and just the “feel” are still vivid in my memory, no doubt helped by having seen the movie and also an extremely well done stage play version since.
What stood out to me from your list, Mary, was the characters…maybe because they are the most important element of a story to me, though I am realizing more and more how key an excellent plot is as well. But this post made me want to dig deep and strive to make sure my characters in my current WIP are those my readers can really come to love and whole-heartedly root for. Thank you!