Notes on the Novel Wooden Spoons

The Story
Writing
Characters
Publishing
The Setting

The basic idea for the story came to me over twenty years ago. About a year later in 1984, I made my first attempt at writing a novel. In Wooden Spoons, which I just completed in the spring of 2006, the only part of the original idea that remains is the ending. Over the years I made at least five serious attempts to write the complete story, but they all ended in dissatisfaction and frustration. Whatever notes or chapters I had accumulated were thrown away. After the last major effort, seven years ago, I decided that I should give up the idea of writing a novel and stick to what I do best.
In early spring of 2004, the urge came again while I was seated at my workbench. I am self-employed as a woodcarver and working alone, I have considerable time to think. The old story drifted back and at first I tried to force it out of my mind, reasoning that if I had any hope of success, It would be with a fresh idea. But then the thought came to me to make the main character's age fifty, since I was approaching fifty, rather than twenty-eight, which was my age at the time of the first writing attempt. That proved to be the key and the story began to come.

Writing

I wrote sporadically throughout that spring, but by summer I was in a good routine and wrote almost daily. By late fall, I had a rough outline of a story that I was pleased with, although the manuscript had large gaps in places and far too much bulk in others. I worked on Wooden Spoons for another year and then let my wife read it. At this point, Jean was the only person who knew that I was writing a book. After the previous false starts, I decided to not mention the project to the public until the manuscript was completed. Jean's review was very enthusiastic. In fact she said that Wooden Spoons was the first book she had read in some time, that she had trouble putting down. Imagine the encouragement!
I worked on the manuscript everyday throughout the winter and by early 2006 was ready to present it to the public. When I came out of the closet, an assortment of friends and family members asked to read Wooden Spoons. I gave them copies of the manuscript and asked these volunteers to be as specific or as general as they wished in their reviews. In nearly every case the reponse was as favorable as my wife's. I edited and proof-read into the summer and finally sent the manuscript to be published in August.

Characters

All my characters were modeled after someone I have known. In most cases, they were modified to a greater or lesser extent as they settled into their role in the story. As I became more familiar with the characters, modifying or writing additional scenes became easier because I knew how these people would respond to a given situation. Some character rolls changed dramatically from the first to the last writing and some characters were eventually removed altogether. The daughter of the main character was created early in the writing, eliminated for several months and then brought back only to be cut out again. Finally during the last year of writing Jeannie Whaley was written back into the story to stay.

John and Nora Campbell Two of my borrowed characters, John and Nora Campbell, my great-uncle and great-aunt, fit their part so well that they were depicted just as I remember them. I even used their real names. Uncle John owned a brick house in Uniontown, Pennsylvania and it was this house I had in mind when describing where Tom and Annie Reilly lived. Nora Campbell, who was actually John's sister in real life, my grandparents, Abigail and James Whaley and their family, which included my mother, lived in the house as well. We visited the house often as I was growing up so I am fortunate to have spent time with my great-uncle and great-aunt.

Tom Reilly The original idea for the character Tom Reilly came from my memory of meeting an elderly man on Pine Knob, a mountain near my hometown. He was knowledgeable of the area and led my father and brother and I to a rock outcrop, which afforded a scenic view and also showed us the location of a small stone spring house. Tom's jovial personality was reminiscent of a man I worked with at my father's coal business, named Tom Drew. I was just out of high school and Tom was in his mid fifties and over the short time we worked together, we became good friends.
The character, Tom Reilly, was also a tribute of sorts to Scott Nearing whose life and writings had a profound influence on me when I was in my twenties. Scott is probably best known for Living The Good Life a book he wrote with his wife, Helen. It documents their twenty-five year experience of homesteading in rural Vermont in the mid twentieth century. Their homestead was named Forest Farm and they produced maple syrup as part of their livelihood. My physical description of Tom Reilly was created with Scott Nearing in mind, and Tom shared Scott's attitude toward money and work. Also, the Reilly homestead was named Mountain Farm and Tom, like the Nearings, made maple syrup as part of his livelihood.

Donald Nicklow Donald Nicklow was a combination of people I have known. Fortunately I've lost touch with most of them now. Initially, Maurice Nicklow, Donald's father, was to be the principle antagonist. His son Donald was written in later when I wanted more of a physical threat against Daniel Whaley. My thinking was that Donald would act against Daniel at his father's bidding or simply out of loyalty to his father. As the character Donald developed and became more villainous, he took over the spot for the main antagonist and Maurice became almost nice by comparison. For the same reason, the sheriff, Harry Pinto, who was originally written in to be a crony of Maurice and an aid in his scheme, eventually became neutral and in the end, a good guy.

Publishing

          When I decided to publish my novel, I explored the various options thoroughly, from traditional to self publishing and everything in between. It was apparent that to get my work noticed by a traditional publisher or a literary agent would be a daunting task, especially with no writing credentials. With self publishing, I was certain to get published, so long as I was willing to pay for it. However books that are not published through the traditional channels typically have a poor success rate in terms of sales and circulation. Also, self published books, particularly fiction, are stigmatized as being of inferior quality because they have not passed the test of the traditional publishing route.
          In the end, I decided to self publish. I didn't write Wooden Spoons to make money or to become famous. I wrote it because I have wanted to write a novel for over twenty years, and have had an idea for a story prodding at me. Also, even if I could get it published in the traditional way, I did not want to sell the rights or have the story changed in any way. I also wanted have a say in the cover design. In other words, after all these years of waiting for my book, I wanted complete control. As far as the quality, I took that part very seriously. I rewrote the book at least ten times, had it reviewed by people of various ages, backgrounds and politics, had it copy-edited and then reviewed it myself several more times. I'm happy with it, and I'm critical.
          As far as the circulation problem, it 's true that as an author, I would like my ideas to reach the widest audience possible. There is no way I could approach the advertising and circulation potential of a major publisher. However, I do have my own art gallery in a popular town near the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. My gallery, Hardwood Gallery, hosts thousands of visitors from all around the the country and the world. Also, after seven years in this location, I have many clients and friends. The gallery has an extensive mailing list, Email list and an established web site. The novel is now affiliated with all of this. I read somewhere along the way that if a story is good, people will talk about it and eventually it will spread around. I have my own marketing plan to get things started and hopefully, Wooden Spoons will take off by it's own merit.

The Setting

Madison I lived in Madison, Wisconsin from 1977 until 1983, during which time I received my masters degree in nutritional science, then worked for two years as a research specialist, then started work on my Ph.D., and finally quit school and began carving wooden spoons for a living. Although I have not been back since 1983, I have fond memories of the city and especially my last year there. I did my graduate work under a professor of biochemistry and nutrition whose laboratory and office were located in the biochemistry building on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.

Lick Hollow I grew up in a small town in southwestern Pennsylvania named Hopwood. It is located to the west and at the foot of the Allegheny Mountains. About a mile to the east, within the boundary of the Forbes State Forest is a small park and picnic area named Lick Hollow. I went there for the first time when I was about five years old and it has been one of my favorite forest spots ever since. My mother still lives in Hopwood and whenever I visit her, I always return to Lick Hollow.

The photograph on the right was taken from the rock outcrop on Pine Knob. I zoomed in somewhat so that the features of the town are more obvious. Main Street is actually PA Route 40, running east to west, and I grew up in an old stone building on the left side

View of Hopwood from rock overlook on Pine Knob

of the street located just past the long red building. I imagined the Lick Hollow Mercantile property to be located on the edge of the wooded area in the bottom right of the photograph. Route 40 continues to the west toward Uniontown, which is actually only about three miles away.

Entrance to Lick Hollow on PA Route 40

Eastward, it climbs Chestnut Ridge and about two miles up the mountain, passes a scenic overlook known as Point Lookout the name of which I borrowed for the rock outcrop in the story.

I chose 'Lick Hollow' for the name of the town partly because I like the sound of it but also because I wanted to be at liberty to create the setting. The town in the story is actually a combination of several small towns that I have lived in. The library, Folk Museum, and to a small extent, the character for the librarian, were taken from my experience in a little town in northeastern Pennsylvania, Montrose, where I lived for two years.

Hemlock Knob The mountain that is most obvious from my home town, Hopwood, is actually named Pine Knob and it is located within the Forbes State Forest. I have passed many hours over the decades, exploring it. I used 'Hemlock Knob' for the same reasons I used 'Lick Hollow' but also because I once owned and for fifteen years lived in a 200 year old log house constructed of hemlock logs.
The Fuller-Baker Log House, named for the two families that inhabited it throughout most of its history, is located in Grantsville Maryland. It was this building I described in the story, although my log house was hardly situated in the idyllic setting of Mountain Farm.

The Fuller Baker Log House in Grantsville Maryland

Stone structure covering spring on Pine Knob

Evidence that there was once a settlement on Pine Knob gave me the idea for Mountain Farm. The outline of a building foundation is evident with an indentation for the cellar and remnants of stone retaining walls. There is similar evidence that two smaller buildings were located nearby.

On my first visit to Pine Knob with my father and brother, about 1961, we met an elderly man who showed us the path to the rock outcrop and also led us to the location of a spring. With some difficulty, I recently located the spring again and took the picture at left. It is within an elaborate stone; structure that is built into the hillside. It has a stone arch roof, stone lined walls, and stone steps leading down about four feet to the water. To my dismay, I found that the large lintel stone had fallen in and the opening was nearly full of leaves and debris.

I've never known the history of these artifacts but I am very curious now. If anyone who reads this, knows any facts about these ruins, I would appreciate the information and will pass it along.

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