The Great Unexpected: Idea? Fear?

It is not easy to answer the question: "Where did you get the idea for this [or any] book?"  A book is not one idea. It is thousands.

But: What was that very first spark? 

Recently–prior to the Sandy Hook tragedy–I attempted to answer that question for an interview about The Great Unexpected:

    Aware that so many children are more fearful now than when I was young, I hoped to create a story in which the unexpected could be something great instead of something to be feared.  Two other notions wrapped themselves around this idea. One was how closely the 'real' merges with the imaginary in the lives of young people. Another notion was the intricate connections between people–some obvious and some not. . .  

   And so evolved this story of two young girls: in whom the real and imaginary merge; who discover intricate connections between people and places; and who learn that the unexpected can be great.

Now, post-Sandy-Hook-tragedy, I am especially mindful of the fear so many of those students and teachers must have felt, and of the fear which the survivors continue to feel.  I wish I could ease it. I hope that 'intricate connections' in their lives will sustain them; I hope that the living and the dead will unite in their minds and hearts; and I hope that one day the survivors will again be able to look forward to the unexpected. 

Vagabonding . . .

I'll be here December 9.

Where will you be?

Mm?

xx

Book Tour

Tour schedule for The Great Unexpected

September 19     Wellesley, MA: school and library

September 20     Dedham, MA:    Blue Bunny Books

September 21     Dedham, MA:    school 

September 30     Downers Grove, IL: Anderson's

October 1           Naperville, IL:    school event

October 2           San Jose, CA:     Hicklebees
                                               + school event

October 3           Petaluma, CA:    Copperfield's
                                                        2 schools

October 4           Irvine, CA:          Whale of a Tale 
                                                         + school event

October 5           Los Angeles:       Children's 
                                                         Book World 
                                                         2 school events

October 12         Nashville, TN:     Parnassus Books 
                                                          school event

October 13         Nashville, TN:     Southern Festival 
                                                 of Books

December 9       Pittsburgh, PA:     Black, White 
                                                           and Read

Connections

I am fascinated by connections

by seeming coincidences

by intricate design

and serendipity

You pass a window and see

two silhouetted figures

You don't know that they grew up in

the house you now live in

You watch a young girl climb a tower

and admire her dexterity

You don't know that she is the daughter

of the woman who will be your boss

In a diner you see four men on stools

You don't know that

one was  your high school math teacher

who advised you to hang out with

a better crowd

You see boats bobbing in a harbor

You don't know that one of them

belongs to the boy (or girl)

you had a crush on in third grade

You stop and photograph a jewel box of a house

You don't know that the owner is

the grandson of a famous painter

and that one day

he will marry your granddaughter

As the narrator of The Great Unexpected asks:

"Did a delicate cobweb link us all, 

silky lines trailing through the air?"

xx

Real or Not Real?

Usually a book begs to be written when several ideas clump together. Yes, I wanted to write a story about how the unexpected could be great (see earlier post), but also I'd been thinking a lot about the importance of story and imagination and the beautiful wildness and freedom of children's imaginations.

I thought about two conversations I'd overheard between my grandchildren and their parents (these are also reprinted in the preface to The Great Unexpected):

Father:  Did you brush your teeth?

Son:  Yes.

Father:  Really?

Son:  Yes.

Father: Tell me the truth.

Son:  What is 'truth'?

-and -

Daughter:  I'm going to be a dolphin.

Mother:  Is that so?

Daughter:  Yes. I will live in the ocean.

Mother:  For real?

Daughter:  What is 'real'?

I loved those conversations. I loved being reminded that 'truth' and 'reality' are learned labels.  When we are young – or when we are writing a story – characters are as vivid as 'real' people. Reality and fantasy, past and present and future all dwell easily together. 

I wanted to explore those blurred regions.  Maybe I dance around the edges of these regions in many of my books (Fishing in the Air and  Replay come first to mind here), but in The Great Unexpected, I took these notions up (or down?) one more level.

(One young reader diving in . . .)

xx

Something Great and Unexpected

In a school a few years ago, when I was introducing The Unfinished Angel, I asked the students to imagine discovering "something unexpected."  I was going to refer to the character in that book who discovers an angel living in a tower.

But as soon as I said the word unexpected, the audience collectively shrank back in their seats. They looked fearful and anxious. That surprised and bothered me.  When had the unexpected become something to be feared?

I thought about this for some time. I wanted to write a story in which the unexpected was something great, something that might alter someone's feelings about the unexpected. Perhaps, then, that person's whole view of the future might also be altered.

That was the central impetus for this newest book, The Great Unexpected:

I've had my own great and unexpected event:  a call one cold, gray February day in 1995 when I was home alone in England, ready to throw a manuscript-in-progress out the window.

The phone rang.  "Walk Two Moons has received the Newbery Medal."

"Cut it out, Tom,"  I said. (I thought it was my brother playing a joke.)

Shortly thereafter, my publisher phoned. I asked her how many of these medals were awarded each year?  "500? 300? 100?"

There was a long pause while she, no doubt, considered my ignorance.  At last, she said, "One, Sharon. One."

I can assure you that this was completely unexpected–and very, very great. . . and it took me a long, long while to believe that it was okay to accept this good fortune.

The Great Unexpected

Some people fear the unexpected

but

sometimes

the unexpected

can be

great.

For some time, I've been wondering if we adults are passing along too many of our own post-911 fears to children, making them too wary of the unexpected, diminishing much of the joy in childhood.

That was one of the seeds for this book . . . 

New Book: The Great Unexpectecd

Sneak peak at the newest:

THE GREAT UNEXPECTED

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To be published September 2012

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(The above is the advance review copy - ARC -

which arrived today.)

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