Kyle Kerr

Full Moon

11/16/07 | Books, My Writings | 0 Comments

I have been talking to a friend of mine who is going to school for psychology.  There are a lot of things I didn’t know about how certain people react to abuse, and she’s helping me get a realistic portrayal of young people in the situations I’m putting some of my characters through.  It probably sounds horrible to say this, but it’s really a fascinating subject, something I plan to study more in the future.

Writing’s been going slow.  For those of you who know the plot of the story, I’m beginning the complete rewrite of Pat’s journal, which is a central plot piece.  It needs to be right (which is why I’m talking to my therapist friend).  Because classes are over on December 4th, and new classes (my last semester as an undergrad!) won’t begin until the second week of January, I’m literally going to have a month off, which I’m going to dedicate to writing.  I missed my personal deadline for finishing the novel by October 31st, so I need to pick up the pace.  I know that an agent will wait a little for a novel they requested to read, but I don’t want to keep her waiting much longer.  As I said in a previous post, being asked to send the entire manuscript is an amazing request (something all writers want to hear), and I don’t plan on losing the opportunity.

If you noticed, I said that it’s going to be my last semester “as an undergrad”.  Well, that’s because I’ve decided to apply for grad school.  Yup.  And this time I’m going for creative writing!  I’m going to apply for the Creative Writing MFA from Emerson College here in Boston, which is one of the best schools for creative writing in the country.  There are only 47 spots, and they receive over 250 applications a year, so I’ve got some work ahead of me.  Wish me luck!

READ

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

You know what?  She was damned if she did, and she was damned if she didn’t.  Almost everyone has heard of Alice’s debut novel, the internationally bestselling The Lovely Bones.  It has sold millions of copies worldwide, and is currently being filmed by acclaimed director Peter Jackson for a feature release next year.  So many people loved this book that any book following it would let people down.  If she wrote a book like TLB, everyone would have said that she’s a one-trick-pony.  If she didn’t write a book like TLB, everyone would be all Where’s Susie? Well, she opted for the latter, and her new book has gotten some VERY mixed reviews.  It currently has a 2.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com.  People say it’s too depressing.  Depressing?  Did they even read TLB?  Susie is a 14-year-old girl who gets raped and murdered in the first chapter, then looks down from Heaven as her family and friends fall apart.  That sounds pretty depressing to me.

Personally, I loved it.  It was amazing.  Alice is such a brilliant writer and deserves some more respect.  This book was about a woman in her 50s who is caring for her elderly mother.  The mother is so far gone, that Helen (the main character) ends up suffocating her with a pillow during the first chapter.  The remainder of the novel takes place over the next 24 hours, as Helen tries to figure out what to do and reminisces about the past.  There is a lot of dark humor in the novel, and Helen is deeply moving.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Okay, so I haven’t read this book yet, but I went to an event of his at Harvard and had the opportunity to attend a personal meet-and-greet with the man himself.  This book is about his life’s ambition to build schools in needing countries (such as Pakistan and Afghanistan).  He really is an amazing person, and is so passionate about promoting education abroad.  The subtitle for the book is “One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time”.  His reasoning behind this is that educated people are less likely to participate in acts of violence in the name of peace.  One reason in particular (something that I didn’t know and find quite intriguing, considering their usual view of women) is that men going on missions actually need the blessing of their mothers, who usually approve because they are not educated enough to make the proper decision.  With a proper education (or any education for that matter, considering that they usually don’t have one at all), they would know the true ramifications of their sons’ actions.

Not only is this an amazing man, but he’s apparently written an amazing book.  Out of the 424 customer reviews on Amazon.com, 390 of them were 5 stars.  Now that’s saying something.

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr