One of Us
Page 32
One of Us is told from Danny and Scarlet’s perspectives. Why did you choose to structure One of Us in that way? Was it difficult to change points of view while you were writing?
From the beginning this was Danny’s story, but Scarlet appeared in my mind as such a powerful, compelling character that I felt she needed her own voice. It was definitely difficult switching back and forth from their perspectives. I have to write chronologically since my novels unfold as I go along so I’d write as Danny and arrive at a point where I felt it was time to find out what’s going on with Scarlet and then have to become Scarlet. I was always glad at first to switch from one to the other, though. After writing as Danny with all his emotional baggage, it was a relief to turn to Scarlet who was an unencumbered narcissist. Then after writing as a monster, it was a relief to get back into the head of a good guy.
Danny’s profession, as a forensic psychologist, helps drive the action of One of Us and helps the reader understand both his motivations and that of other characters throughout the story. How did you research both the job and the various types of mental illness some of the characters suffer from?
Novelists are amateur psychologists. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out what makes people tick, why they do the things they do, what factors in their lives form their personalities, and then applying the answers to the creation of our fictional characters. I often find myself talking to my characters like a shrink: “How does that make you feel? Do you think that was a healthy decision? Let’s talk about your father.” I’ve always been interested in the subject of psychology so I’ve gathered information about it throughout my life and in the process have also learned about various mental illnesses. I’m not ever going to have a character pop into my head that has a profession I know nothing about since he’s originating in my thoughts. It made sense to me that eventually I’d write about a psychologist.
The Denver Post has praised your writing, calling you the “master of [your] craft” and complimenting the “authenticity of character” that is a mark of your writing, and, indeed, your portrayal of life in the coal-mining town of Lost Creek is incredibly authentic. How did you create the world of Lost Creek? Are any of the characters drawn from your own childhood in the coal-mining region of western Pennsylvania?
I don’t base my characters on specific people but obviously they’ve been influenced by people I’ve known throughout my life just as the towns I’ve created in my novels have sprung from the towns I’ve lived in. As a writer, everyone I’ve ever met and every experience I’ve ever had provides material for my work. Authenticity is very important to me. I strive to make my characters as real to my readers as their own neighbors and the places where they reside as vivid as their own back yards yet remain true to the area I write about. Even if you’ve never been to a Pennsylvania coal town, after reading one of my novels I want you to not only think you know what it’s like to live there but feel that you have lived there, if only briefly and if only in your mind.
What would you like your readers to take away from One of Us ?
When I finish reading a great novel, my faith in and connection to humanity is revived. I feel that I’ve experienced the immenseness of our world and everything we value and abhor, everything we question and know for sure, while absorbed in the highly intimate world of the individual. This is what I hope my readers take away from One of Us and all of my novels. Despite our flaws and limitations, I want them to feel hopeful and restored in a way that ironically can’t be put into words.
What are you working on next?
I’m working on my next novel. I’d like to tell you what it’s about but I’m not sure yet.
about the author
Photograph by John Mark Rafacz
Tawni O’Dell is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels, including Back Roads, which was an Oprah’s Book Club pick and a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection. She is also a contributor to several anthologies, including Becoming Myself: Reflections on Growing Up Female. Her works have been published in more than forty countries.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Tawni-ODell
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Also by Tawni O’Dell
Back Roads
Coal Run
Sister Mine
Fragile Beasts
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Gallery Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Tawni O’Dell
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books hardcover edition August 2014
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Designed by Davina Mock-Maniscalco
Jacket design © Black Kat Design, LLC
Jacket photograph © Darin Stoyanov/Arcangel
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-4767-5587-8
ISBN 978-1-4767-5594-6 (ebook)
contents
Dedication
A Memory
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Acknowledgments
Readers Group Guide
Introduction
Topics And Questions for Discussion
Enhance Your Book Club
A Conversation with Tawin O’Dell
About the Author
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