Monday, March 14, 2011

What Will the Reader Remember?

All---

So I set out today to write another post about books you might be surprised to learn influenced my writing -- even bigger surprises like Bridge to Terabithia and Rifles for Watie.  Only, as  I started to come up with the list, I ran into a roadblock:

Books that made huge impacts on me and my writing, but which I can barely remember well enough to identity.

For instance:

I wanted to tell you about Terror in Yellowknife.  I think I might have between twelve when I read it, but I'm not sure.  We got it at the used bookstore in Wabash, Indiana.  It was a western.  A mass-market paperback.  In fact, the edition I had was a double book, paired with some other western with a happier, Down the Long Hills type of feel.  The book I remember, though, Terror in Yellowknife, was the first thing I ever read that was a true suspense novel.  A crazed Indian, seeking revenge held the town under siege.  I remember the picture on the cover of the angry Indian in the shadows, holding a knife.  I remember being vaguely offended by what even then I took as some uncomfortable playing to stereotypes.  But mostly I remember this book at the feeling it gave me of needing to read the rest of the story ever time I sit down to write my own suspense fiction.  

But apparently I do not remember the title.  Because Terror in Yellowknife does not seem to exist.  Neither does Blood in Yellowknife.  Or Siege, Savage, or Renegade  of Yellowknife.  Odds are, it's not even Yellowknife at this rate.  I've looked through a couple lists of old double-print westerns, but nothing sounds right. 

Then two there was a book I read when I was ten.  Some kind of fantasy novel.  Talking animals, adventure, and warfare.  What I mostly remember is that there was a character called Bern.  He was one of the bears.  And he got killed.  And the book essentially celebrated his death as a villain. I couldn't handle it.  It traumatized me.  I literally had a break-down about it.  I felt that bear had deserved a chance at redemption and it killed me inside that he didn't have that chance.  I mean, I was crying and hurting inside just about as bad as I ever have my entire life.  It still gets me when I remember it.  And I guarantee that reading experience is one of the main why every single thing I write grapples in some way with the idea of redemption.  Every.  Single.  Thing.  It's there.  I promise you.  Usually I'm quite aware of it.  Sometimes it doesn't hit me until after.  But it's in everything.

And yet, despite that strong experience -- or perhaps because of it -- I can recall nothing else about the book.  I think it was part of a series.  But I don't have a guess about title or author, or about any other characters, or even about the overall plot.

Now, I think I may have finally found this one tonight.  I think it might be Niel Hancock's Wilderness of Four series.  I remember that we had Dragonwinter, and a couple of the covers in that series look familiar, and apparently book one at least features bears.  I found a reference to Bern the red Bear on a fan's comments on the fourth book in the series.  So I think that's probably it.

But nothing about the series really rings a bell.  I don't think I finished it once Bern was killed, because I hated it so much, but I had read a good chunk. 

And then there was a book I read a little later in life.  I think fourteen or fifteen.  It was a fantasy novel, also part of a series.  I think the author was British.  Maybe Michael something?  Honestly, I didn't even finish the novel, let alone the series.  I couldn't get into the writing style at the time.  Probably that's why I don't remember the particulars.  But I do strongly remember the world the author created.  Everything was built around light, and lights, and candles.  It was part of the setting, part of the plot, and part of the symbolism.  It was rich and it felt unique.  It crosses my mind often, and has greatly influenced how I think about a book as an integrated whole, not a collection of pieces.

But that's all I remember.

And so, rather than give you a list of books that have influenced me, I give you those three puzzles, and the following reminder: No matter what you write, you have no control over what the reader is going to remember, and you cannot predict what impact it will have on another human being.

It's humbling and sobering to think about.  It's also confounding.  And exhilarating.  

.Nevets.


8 comments:

  1. Great post! I know what you mean about not remembering certain stories and certain books by name. For the list I've been putting together about books that have either influenced me, or that I've just loved, there is an entire two year time gap. What did I read then? I know I didn't stop reading. Was I just re-reading. It's weird. Really weird.

    Then there are snatches of stories, like this one about a boy with a spider for a friend, who it turns out is the only "normal" human in a family of monsters and they consider him a freak. Have no idea what that story was called, but I remember it with vivid details about the spider and the boy.

    I agree with your conclusion about having no control over what the reader is going to remember or feel as an impact. Humbling, and exhilerating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm... some of those sound familiar, but damned if I can put the finger on the memory.

    I've read too many books to remember them all, although, if I get a cover and some character names, I can retell a plot verbatim.

    I just can't pull one out of thin air. Weird, but true.

    The one book that does keep popping up in my mind is Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche. The eponymous character just really spoke to me.

    :-)

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  3. Good post, Nevets. I loved the bit about the lights and candles; it underlines the fact that it's not only a book that a reader remembers, but also the mental image it conjurs up for that particular reader; an image that is unique to him. You describe it as though you were describing a film, and yet it was your own input (or perhaps interpretation) as much as that of the writer that you are recalling.

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  4. so true--but it's cool that you did remember things like the setting. I'm sure the writer took time on those details...

    have to confess LOLing at you on the name thing. I do that... :D <3

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  5. Interesting post!

    I remember things like that, too. Although if I see a cover/author name/synopsis things will usually click and I'll have a sudden recall.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have so many books I'd love to find from my childhood, and I can't remember the titles, and it's SO FRUSTRATING. The ones I do remember I've been finding on eBay and buying used (because I have this thing about the book covers looking exactly as they did when I was a kid). Good luck remembering! I feel you.

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  7. The crazy thing about this is that normally I have a really sharp memory, so it drives me insane when I run into things like this I can't remember. lol

    @Tryean - I have a couple gaps like that, too! Weird, isn't it?

    @Misha - I've heard great things about that book. I need to make it a priority to read.

    @Frances - Oh, I love that angle on it. You're so right. My memories of these books is definitely about my experience of the books more than necessarily about the literal books themselves. That's interesting to think about.

    @LTM - hahah Yeah, after my initial frustation I was LOLing at myself, too.

    @G'Eagle - I get the sudden recall once I start reading. Pretty much as soon as I start, I suddenly remember just about the the entire book. That actually can be very annoying.

    @Jennifer - I'm with you on the covers!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nevets, this post rings true for me. When I was a kid I read some book about Eskimos eating whale blubber, and I remember how vivid that experience was and how much I enjoyed learning about it. In all the years afterwards, I've never been able to figure out what that book is, even though I can remember where I was sitting when I read it.

    ReplyDelete

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