Questions for Michael White

[IBIS]

ENG, thank you very much too!!!!!

[vivico1]

---

IBIS wrote:
Vivian, thank you very much!

---

no problem. I bet ENG and I gave you the same info LOL.

[Fozzie]

---

MichaelCWhite wrote:
I am fascinated by accents in a work of prose, and how one tries to achieve them, and to define a particular character.

Michael

---

In saying this, you remind me of another author, Joseph O'Connor. He participated in a B&N on line discussion of his book Star of the Sea a couple of years ago. At the time, he was working on his new book, which would take place in the U.S. He was interested in regional accents, dialects, and word choice. Coincidently, at about the same time, PBS did a series on the subject. I love learning new languages, so am also drawn to dialects. I thought the information on this website, which I also shared with Joseph O'Connor at the time, was informative and fun.

http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/map/map.html

[MichaelCWhite]

Laura,

An interesting website. I used to work with someone at Western Carolina University who was studying the slowly dying dialects of the hill people of Appalacha. He was taping stories and voices and could pretty much tell a person from one "holler" from the next.

Great stuff. Thanks.
Michael

[ENG267]

Here's another writing process question:

In the transition from chap. 15 to chap. 16 (pp. 277-278), did you intentionally craft the campsite scene (following the encounter with the blackbirders) to resemble hell, or did the scene evolve as you wrote it into the one that exists now?

Either way, it's reminiscent of Dante's Inferno, and thus crucial for Cain's moral journey, but it would be interesting to know how you decided to take the reader there.

[MichaelCWhite]

Yes, I did want to evoke the sense of hell at the beginning of that scene, as I did later when Cain and Rosetta are entering a road that looks almost cave like. Not only metaphorially is Cain in a hellish state at the beginning of that scene, but he is emotionally and soon to be physically, as well.

Michael

[IBIS]

Michael

FInding your main character's point of view is vital in your novels. Cain was extremely believable because his "voice" had a definitely male sensibility.

I'm in the middle of reading BLIND SIDE in which you write from inside Maggie's head.
There's a definite female sensibility in her "voice", in her point of view.

Your other books alternate between male and female protagonists. Which made me wonder, will your next book have either a male or a female main character?

Can you talk about your next book? Or is that topic under wraps (like Woody Allen's movies)?

IBIS

[MichaelCWhite]

---

IBIS wrote:
Michael

FInding your main character's point of view is vital in your novels. Cain was extremely believable because his "voice" had a definitely male sensibility.

I'm in the middle of reading BLIND SIDE in which you write from inside Maggie's head.
There's a definite female sensibility in her "voice", in her point of view.

Your other books alternate between male and female protagonists. Which made me wonder, will your next book have either a male or a female main character?

Can you talk about your next book? Or is that topic under wraps (like Woody Allen's movies)?

IBIS

---

Ibis,

My first two novels (A Brother's Blood and Blind Side) were from first person point of view of a woman. My next was from that of a male doctor (Dream of Wolves; this last was interesting in that I just read the screenplay they've written for it, and it's funny to see, at least on the page, no clear point of view except for that of the camera). The novel I'm about a third through now (called Beautiful Assassin) is from the point of view (first person) of a woman during WWII. The story is very loosely based on an actual person. She is (both in my novel and real life) a female Russian sniper who had the highest "kill" total of any Soviet soldier up until the time she was wounded in the summer of 1942. She was awarded the equivalent of the Medal of Honor and was as famous in the Soviet Union as Audie Murphy was in America. In fact, she was so world renowned that Eleanor Roosevelt invited to come to the US, and she was the first Soviet person to stay at the White House. She toured America with the First Lady, speaking to large audiences all over the country. I have taken this story and fictionalized it. So, in short, I'm back to another female voice.

Thanks for asking.
Michael

[IBIS]

Michael,
Thank you very much for your generous answer. In fact, you've been one of the most generous authors, in terms of time and insight into your work, on this B&N bookclub site.

I'm looking forward to reading your new title when it's published.

IBIS

[Fozzie]

"Ah," the old man said, his eyes gleaming almost playfully. "An apt name for a slave catcher. Have you had occasion to kill your fellow man, Mr. Cain?" (pg. 355)

Not until I read this did I associate the name Cain with caning slaves. Did you choose this name intentionally, or realize later that it was a fitting name for a slave catcher?

I then wondered about the names of Preacher and Rosetta. Any significance to those names?

[vivico1]

---

Fozzie wrote:
"Ah," the old man said, his eyes gleaming almost playfully. "An apt name for a slave catcher. Have you had occasion to kill your fellow man, Mr. Cain?" (pg. 355)

Not until I read this did I associate the name Cain with caning slaves. Did you choose this name intentionally, or realize later that it was a fitting name for a slave catcher?

I then wondered about the names of Preacher and Rosetta. Any significance to those names?

---

Interesting Laura. Hadn't thought of it that way. I just thought of it as apt because of the first Cain, who said "am I my brother's keeper" and did indeed kill. Had not thought about caning hmm

[Wrighty]

---

vivico1 wrote:

---

Fozzie wrote:
"Ah," the old man said, his eyes gleaming almost playfully. "An apt name for a slave catcher. Have you had occasion to kill your fellow man, Mr. Cain?" (pg. 355)

Not until I read this did I associate the name Cain with caning slaves. Did you choose this name intentionally, or realize later that it was a fitting name for a slave catcher?

I then wondered about the names of Preacher and Rosetta. Any significance to those names?

---

Interesting Laura. Hadn't thought of it that way. I just thought of it as apt because of the first Cain, who said "am I my brother's keeper" and did indeed kill. Had not thought about caning hmm

---

I also thought of it in biblical terms but that is another clever connection. I always enjoy hearing how the author decides what names to use and where they came from.

[vivico1]

Michael,
When you were traveling about to some of the historical places you visited for this novel, did you go to some place called, the Chickamauga Battlefield, or Chickamauga Park in Georgia? I have just done one letter where the young man is writing his mother that they are all gathered at Chickamauga Park, thousands of them getting ready to go off to the Spanish-American war. He says this place is a big wooded area with lots of water but also describes it as a park with monuments to "the great war", the civil war and the regiments are settled around these monuments. I am no civil war expert at all, so may be some very big thing most people know of, but I dont.

Message Edited by vivico1 on 11-14-2007 12:16 PM

Message Edited by vivico1 on 11-14-2007 01:00 PM

[MichaelCWhite]

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't been on to jump in with the discussion questions. Perhaps I ought to say there are lots of things happening right with Soul Catcher both here and in England that have been keeping me busy. I will of course keep all of you posted about any developments--and right now that's all they are. And I just did a discussion of Soul Catcher to a class of American Studies grad students. They were great, asked great questions. But I said to all of them that if you really wanted to get into an in-depth, complicated and refreshing discussion, you ought to jump into the B&N discussion where I have the best readers in the world bringing up things I never even thought of. Several said they couldn't wait to join.

But to the question of Cain's name. No, I didn't think of "caning" a slave, i.e., giving stripes (as they were called) or whipping a slave. But that is certainly interesting. The more obvious reference, as you've all gathered, is Cain as in the brothers in the Genesis, and Cain saying to God, he's not his brother's keeper, which is exactly what Cain needs to be, or become.

Michael

[IBIS]

Michael, this is a just-for-fun question:

There's been a resurgence in the cyclical demand for "western" movies lately.... JESSE JAMES (and the coward....), 3:10 to Yuma, Oil for Blood..... And Hollywood is supplying that demand. That cycle comes up again and again.

And this reminded me of my initial reaction to Cain when I started reading SOUL CATCHER:
Cain as an archetype of the loner with a mysterious past; the haunted look, the scarred face, the battle wound; the only possession that he cares for is his horse; good with horses, and even better, excellent with a gun. There is even shootouts in the novel that reminded me of the movie, Gunfight at the Okay Corral with Wyatt Earp.

He reminded me of the hired guns of the West, like Paladin, in Have Gun, Will Travel.

If movie rights were offered to SOUL CATCHER, what do you think of this new invented genre, the Southern-western movie? And who would you imagine should play Cain? Or Rosetta?

I think Preacher should be played by Ben Foster who played a sociopath in the remake of 3:10 to Yuma.

IBIS

[MichaelCWhite]

Ibis,

An interesting question. I agree that genre movie are cyclical--westerns, sci-fi, monster, gangster, etc. And with Unforgiven a few years ago and now with 3:10 to Yuma, I think we are back in it again. The cowboy/western is the American Odyssey and Iliad, or the English Arthurian stories. Every country has its saga, what helps to define it. And I think that Soul Catcher is, indeed, a southern western, and Cain is very much in the mold of the loner cowboy/gunslinger. As for who should play Cain--I would very much have loved to see a much younger Tommy Lee Jones (30 years ago) play him. Now I would envision someone like Russell Crowe (not again, you might say) or someone who can pull off the physical and the internal complexity of Cain, without looking too pretty-boyish (Brad Pitt). I don't know who would do Rosetta, but she would need to be young and spirited, and fiery.

There has already been some strong interest in the novel from Hollywood--that's all I can say for now. It would be great to see it on film. Right now my third novel, A DREAM OF WOLVES, is going through a fourth screenplay revision and it looks very promising.

Michael

[vivico1]

---

MichaelCWhite wrote:
Ibis,

An interesting question. I agree that genre movie are cyclical--westerns, sci-fi, monster, gangster, etc. And with Unforgiven a few years ago and now with 3:10 to Yuma, I think we are back in it again. The cowboy/western is the American Odyssey and Iliad, or the English Arthurian stories. Every country has its saga, what helps to define it. And I think that Soul Catcher is, indeed, a southern western, and Cain is very much in the mold of the loner cowboy/gunslinger. As for who should play Cain--I would very much have loved to see a much younger Tommy Lee Jones (30 years ago) play him. Now I would envision someone like Russell Crowe (not again, you might say) or someone who can pull off the physical and the internal complexity of Cain, without looking too pretty-boyish (Brad Pitt). I don't know who would do Rosetta, but she would need to be young and spirited, and fiery.

There has already been some strong interest in the novel from Hollywood--that's all I can say for now. It would be great to see it on film. Right now my third novel, A DREAM OF WOLVES, is going through a fourth screenplay revision and it looks very promising.

Michael

---

Hey, I never get enough Russell Crowe , but you know who I pictured as I thought about someone playing Cain? Clive Owen. He is ruggedly handsome, like Crowe but has even more of a face for westerns to me than Russell. As for Rosette, I guess Halle Berry is too mature now huh? lol. Man she is a good actress tho. How about Paula Patton? She played in several movies including De javu with Denzel Washington, or Marsha Thomason, she even has a bit of an overbite like Rosette does. And one other might be Naomi Harris? If these names dont ring a bell with some, here are some links to pics of them, but I couldnt really get the best pics of them. I think we know what Clive and Halle look like hehe , heres the other young black women:

Naomi Harris
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0365140/photogallery-ss-0

Paula Patton
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1745736/photogallery-ss-0

Marsha Thomason
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/hh/0859720/HH/0859720/MarshaThomason.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Tho...

[IBIS]

Vivian, wonderful choices for Rosetta. The blue eyes can come with contact lenses.

Message Edited by IBIS on 11-16-2007 04:37 PM

[vivico1]

---

IBIS wrote:
Vivian, wonderful choices for Rosetta. The blue eyes can come with contact lenses.

Message Edited by IBIS on 11-16-2007 04:37 PM

---

very true,you can have any color eyes with contacts and as far as skin tones, with her father being white, that doesnt really matter, just because one parent is dark and one isnt, doesnt mean you will be lighter. My niece is half Navajo and good grief, you wouldn't know her mother is white at all lol, she's actually darker than her father. So the old myth that a "lighter" complected Black actress has to play a mulatto is bull. What do you think about Clive Owen for Cain?

[MichaelCWhite]

I never thought of Clive Owen as Cain, but I love his work and I think you might have something there. He is rugged and complex, and seems to hold a great deal behind his eyes. Yes, yes.

Michael