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On The Table Read Magazine Get an Interview Author Nancy Chadwick The Wisdom Of The Willow, “the best entertainment Ebook magazine UK“, author Nancy Chadwick shares what inspired her to write The Wisdom Of The Willow, and her creative writing process.
I interviewed Nancy Chadwick about her life and career, what inspired her to start writing, and the story of her new book, The Wisdom Of The Willow.
I am an author and essayist who writes stories of the natural world. I like to find the simple in a complicated world.
I first wanted to write a book when I was fifteen and I wrote a poem, “To A Tree.” My mother followed up by giving me a pink hard-cover journal. I wrote on lined pages about the natural world and me trying to find my place in it. I believed there was a theme there to what I was writing. And it all started with a tree.
Shortly after I got married, I quit working full-time to write full time. That was twenty-seven years ago! While studying the craft of memoir, I wrote a first draft of my memoir. I had many more steps to take before I could call it a memoir.
Under the Birch Tree took about twenty years to write, from conception to release. After writing my initial draft that took about a year, and another year of rewriting, I put the manuscript in a drawer to sit awhile before pulling it back out to submit for critiquing.
The second book took me about three years from the first draft to release. The book was completed before the pandemic. It took a while to get into my publisher’s queue (She Writes Press) post COVID, so I had to sit tight.
I thought of what the natural world has taught me. While out meandering through any forest or green space and facing life challenges, I came to rely on the peace, the solitude, the mind-clearing effects from being among the flora and fauna. I reasoned that if I was going through life challenges, that other women faced similar situations too. I wanted to write a book with a story that included relatable experiences.
The structure of the book is written with alternating points of view to ensure the reader would experience each character in the best, deepest, possible way. Keeping all the characters straight was a challenge!
A willow tree. The willow tree is my main character as I am inspired by its symbolism of flexibility, adaptability, and endurance. The willow tree is a model for the sisters, as memories were made under the willow, and is a metaphor because of its symbolism.
The common challenges women face in their mid-lives – finding their places in life – is what inspired me to create my Antagonist.
Margaret Dowling, mother to four daughters, becomes inflicted with a terminal illness and she shares this with her youngest daughter, Charlotte, who must keep it secret.
There’s a lot of conflict going on! As each sister faces her individual life challenge, they don’t want to lose the collective sisterhood they share. With the impending death of their mother, who hopes she has instilled wisdom to carry them through, they grapple with her loss.
I fly. I am a declared pantser.
Yes, I did get support from a developmental editor. The book did not require any major editing, but because I tend to overwrite, and The Wisdom of the Willow leans toward literary fiction, it needed tightening.
Read many, many stories. Do you ever finish reading a story and think how you didn’t expect it to end that way? Or you wouldn’t have made the main character so understanding and . . . nice. Focus on what you liked and didn’t like about the story. And then write the one you think should be told differently, using those reasons you cited, to make it your own.
My next book, Mercy Town, is a novel that continues a published short story I wrote a few years ago. It’s about an accidental shooting, an unforgiven killer, ten years later, a divided small town finds mercy.
It was definitely worth the effort!
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3SKxsf0
Kindle: https://amzn.to/46DXjex
Paperback: https://amzn.to/3yzWg2A
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