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By: Sherrie Petersen,
on 5/25/2015
It’s almost summer! I live in Michigan, so during the few months when the sky is blue, the grass is green, and clouds are fluffy, I pack away my winter projects and hit the outdoors—preferably with a book in hand. Those days are just around the corner, so I’m stocking up my Kindle now. If […]
Posted on 7/30/2010
“I’d recommend to other writers to see if story elements can be slipped into flashback, and whether the story has better forward momentum as a result.”
Q: Janet, reading Faithful gives you a great look at early Yellowstone Park through Maggie’s eyes. Maggie is both in awe of Yellowstone’s beauty and afraid of its dangers, many of which she has to face head on. Can you talk about the writer’s process of pitting a character against nature? How did you find the balance between adventure and realism, given that Maggie is pretty much a greenhorn and just sixteen?
“I was writing about how I feel about Yellowstone and transferring that to Maggie. The Park has actually changed very little since her time – better roads and hotels, yes, but that raw nature is still there. It’s our own American landscape, unique to this country, and I drew upon the feeling of awe that anyone, whether in 1900 or 2010, would feel upon entering the Park.
“I think for Maggie her conflict with nature rises out of her loss – her mother’s disappearance by, perhaps, drowning in the ocean.
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