Giving a nod to literature

If there is one thing I enjoy about writing fiction, it is pointing a spotlight at other works of fiction. In several of my twenty published novels, I refer to classic poems, short stories, and novels. I love tying the themes and lessons of other creations to my own.

In The Mine, Joel Smith, a time traveler, thinks often of the butterfly effect in Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder." In Indian Paintbrush and Sea Spray, grieving female protagonists find comfort in the "splendor in the grass" passage of Wordsworth's "Ode to Intimations of Immortality." In Caitlin's Song, four characters discuss "She Walks in Beauty," Lord Byron's ode to his cousin's wife.

In The Fountain, my current work in progress, I do more than pay lip service to highly celebrated works. I explore them at length.

In two chapters of my novel, Cassandra Lee, a teacher in 1906, leads discussions of Pride and Prejudice and The Red Badge of Courage. In another chapter, Annie Carpenter, the youngest of three siblings who discover time travel and the Fountain of Youth, waxes poetic about Jo March, a character in Little Women. Novelist Jack London dazzles Annie and other high school freshmen when he discusses The Call of the Wild, his most famous work.

I also mention Madame Bovary, a novel by Gustave Flaubert, and a smattering of other works. I do so to develop characters and themes in my own novel and to demonstrate the importance of reading, literature, and language in the early twentieth century.

During the turn of the last century, before the advent of the internet, television, and talking motion pictures, literature was one of the few affordable and meaningful entertainment options. Novels, newspapers, and magazines like The Saturday Evening Post were central to the lives of millions. So I made them a part of my story.

In The Fountain, I use the classics mostly to illustrate situations. Miss Lee struggles to motivate the boys in her classes until she switches from books like Pride and Prejudice and Little Women to The Call of the Wild. Paul Carpenter, a Vietnam deserter, suffers through a discussion on shame in The Red Badge of Courage. Annie reveals her ambitions while giving her class report on Jo March.

The Fountain, the first novel in the Second Chance trilogy, is now in the middle editing stage. I plan to release it by September 2.