The first time Bev Prescott caught my attention as a writer
was through her amazing blog http://bevprescott.com/blog.html. Taken with her forthright, thoughtful and
honest worldview, I immediately read and loved her first novel and wait
patiently for each new novel to emerge.
In the meantime, I eagerly anticipate her blog posts and I’ll confess I
stalk her a little on Facebook too. Bev
loves Maine and New England, a place I’ve only dreamed of visiting. I feel like an invited guest to what I like
to call “her corner of the world”. Bev’s
novels, My Soldier Too, Step Into the
Wind and Blowback, are well-crafted, riveting tales that plant the reader
squarely in Bev’s beloved New England. You
smell, hear, feel and touch that world with every page. Bev recently asked me to join her in a
conversation about place and how it factors into our work. How exciting for me to be able to have this
conversation with a woman whose work I so admire! Learn more about Bev Prescott by reading her
fabulous blog or visiting her website. And of course, if you haven’t read her
books, do so!
Our chat is below.
Our respective initials mark our questions and responses to each
other.
BP: One of the things that I love about your
writing is the sense of place that you bring to your stories. For example, in your novels “Infinity’s Song”
and “Caught and Kept,” Whidbey Island in Puget Sound felt like a distinct
character with its own part to play. Did
you intend for it to take on such a prominent role? Or, did your love of the island simply color
the story with its presence?
PG: That
was intentional. I do, indeed, love
Whidbey the Puget Sound. They are the
only places outside of Southern England that my heart feels at peace and I
wanted the reader to feel that. http://bevprescott.com/home.html
For instance, in your “My Soldier Too” Boston was so
vivid. I could see the streets and the
neighborhoods which had defined Isabella’s world as much as the people. I felt as if in “Step Into the Wind” Alex was
shaped not just by circumstance and emotional history, but by the place she
grew up. Maine, the town and the camp
drove part of your story line, but it also wrapped around the reader and
whispered in their ear. So same question
for you. Intentional or just effusive
love?
We are both women who found wild corners of the world but we
came from vastly different places. What was it about Maine that seduced you
away from your Midwestern roots? How is
the culture and life in Maine different or the same? Can you ever see going back?
BP: It was definitely intentional. The setting for those stories was as
deliberate and important as the drafting of the characters. Like your love of Whidbey, mine for New
England runs deep. I know that this “wild
corner of the world” is where I’m meant to be.
I think place also drives the culture of the people who live there. By having place take a prominent role in our
stories, I think we help shape our characters more fully as well.
I ended up in New England by chance. When I joined the military after high school,
I was stationed at a base in upstate New York.
My pals and I used to spend a lot of time hiking in the Adirondacks and
taking the ferry over to Burlington, VT.
I absolutely fell head over heels in love with the Northeast, New
England in particular. It’s almost as if
all the cells in my body aligned with the rhythm of the place. I also met my spouse in Burlington, VT. Our first date was to climb Mt. Washington in
New Hampshire. She’s a New Englander
through and through. As for Maine, it’s
my favorite of all the New England states.
I love the independence of Mainers, the rocky shoreline, the food, the
North Woods, the rugged culture etc. I
could go on and on.
The culture in Maine is very different from where I grew up
in the Midwest. It would be tough to
explain fully in a short blog. I don’t
ever see myself going back to the Midwest.
In fact, I’ve said before that the only reason that I would no longer
live in New England is if New England ceased to exist. This is my home, and I hope that circumstance
will always let that be the case.
I loved your questions and want to know your answers with
respect to Whidbey and the Pacific Northwest.
Do you envision writing any stories in a different setting? If so, how would you go about capturing the
essence of that place like you’ve done so beautifully with the Pacific
Northwest? Also, please tell us more
about your connection to Southern England.
PG: Your
connection to New England and Maine are very similar to mine with the Pacific
Northwest and Whidbey. I grew up in
Southern California with freeways, subdivisions, pavement and shopping malls.
The most “natural” memories I have are of the beach. When I was a student in the U.K. I had
friends in Southern England I visited often.
Between the rugged coastline of the north where I was in school and the
gentle moors of the south, Britain captured my heart immediately. I had never seen so much green. I learned to smell and sense the weather shifts
(something I do still) and see life in all things around me. It’s as if my feet had finally touched
earth. In Caught and Kept Dani tells Kai about arriving to the island and
knowing instantly Whidbey was where she was meant to be. That story is true and it’s mine. Twelve years after leaving England I stepped
off a ferry boat and felt that connection again. It was immediate, unexpected and profound. Being on an island is unique and
special. We joke that we have to be
especially nice because we all, literally, depend on one another. My new adventure to Portland is teaching me
that the Pacific Northwest lifestyle is alive and well off the island too. It is one of nicest cities (in every way)
I’ve ever experienced.
I want to write about London and England but need to let my
recent trips settle inside of me. Bill
Bryson’s, Notes From A Small Island chronicled
his experience in England through a distinctly American lens. I would like to bring a bit of that to a few
of my stories but with more of the feminine voice. The Midwest is also in my background. My dad was a farm boy from Southern Illinois
and I have a few fleeting memories of a couple of summers on my Aunt’s farm. I visited again recently and it touched me
deeply. There is a rural cultural from
which we are becoming disconnected in this country and that is sad. Place is more than setting to me. Like you, it shapes, informs and drives our
characters, as it has the both of us.
Having said all of this, my current work in progress
intentionally has very little sense of a specific place. I wanted and needed
this story to be all about the connections and journeys of this group of
women. It has been extremely challenging
to write from this perspective and root characters in only relationships and
emotion without engaging too much in the external world in which they
live. Can you ever imagine writing a
story that is “internal” and not dependent on place? Do you think characters can become “place” in
lieu of environment? If so, how do you think you would approach or tell that
kind of tale?
BP: That’s
a tough question, and my hat is off to you for trying. I’m not sure I could write a story that is
internal and not dependent on place. I
think of place like the roots of tree.
The roots ground the story and give it context. That said, my next novel will take place in a
dystopian future that has been dramatically altered because of climate
change. So, that place will be something
I’ll have to create from scratch based on the predictions by scientists of how
our planet will change. But, the story
will still be grounded in “place” in that it will be about how things look now
versus in a very different future. I’m
excited for the challenge. I’ve been
reading lots about climate change.
Things like how it occurs naturally, how humans are changing the
equation and scientific predictions for the future. Taking a step back and thinking about my
writing, I suspect “place” will always be a character.
Your next story sounds really interesting. Would you mind giving us a few more
details? I’m a big fan of your writing
and look forward to your next book. I’m
one of those readers who will read everything that you write.
PG: I am
so looking forward to reading your next book and seeing how you create place
out of a dystopian future. How fun to
create completely from imagination (and good research too)! My next book is an ode to the unique world of
women. From menses to childbirth, weight
gain and weight loss, our shapes and sizes, disease and trauma, our bodies are
the vessels that carry us through this life.
No woman I know is untouched by her relationship with her body. With that as my “place”, along with a group
of women I hope everyone will enjoy, I am exploring new love, rekindling love,
and the unique love that female friendships bring to our lives.
