More Books About Peace, Not War

We are and have been in the midst of war for the past several years, and it appears as though there is no end in sight to the current war in Afghanistan.  Both wars that we have been involved in in recent years were completely unnecessary and unjustifiable, and both have left nothing but ruin and sorrow.

I read fiction book reviews for my job as a Librarian, and in the past several years, I have noticed a preponderance of books that are about war, but none that really seem to embrace an anti-war sentiment.  I feel that such literature has been sorely lacking in recent years, and it is ironic that it is lacking considering that we are currently involved in the longest war in United States history.

My novel does embrace an anti-war sentiment in that it is about peace, and specifically about how to make peace.  I have always felt very passionate about this subject. The plot of the book involves a young woman who attempts to bring peace to her constantly feuding family, and in accomplishing this feat, there are several life lessons that she learns. While the story takes place within the confines of one particular family, the lessons that are learned about peace-making can be applied to all people within all families within all countries.  In addition to the universal applicability of the lessons in this book is my strong conviction that peace begins at home, and really, it begins within the soul of each individual person.

Although I have not seen many other recently published books that embrace this theme, I have heard some good music.  Check out the link below for Grammy winning album from my favorite musician, Neil Young!

http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/

Making People Out Of Words

Although I knew the general plot through my outline, around midway through the writing of my book, my characters started doing things that I had not planned for them. They surprised me by certain decisions and or actions.  This was when I knew that I had created demensional characters that came off the page, that came to life.

For example, I did not know that Cosmo would do a magic trick for Isabella in the final chapter or that Silvia would decide to become an art school teacher, or that Donna would change her mind about the party.  I did not know that Frank would be the first to show up at the party and did not know that Donna would decide, definitely, to leave Frank. When I was ten years old, I wrote a story entitled The Magic Pen.  In the story, the main character had a pen, that when used, would create stories as if by magic.

I actually found myself hanging out with my characters in a way.  I would be walking down the street and imagine that I was in a dialogue with them.  Or I would talk about them to myself like they were real people.  A lot of my thoughts went into working out how they would act or what they would say.  And eventually they became so real and so dimensional that they started doing things on their own!  Kind of creepy, but super cool.

See great article on creating characters in the Guardian article below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/16/how-to-write-fiction-andrew-miller