The Goodbyes
by Helen Gillespie
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GENRE: Women’s Fiction
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BOOK BLURB:
Struggling with becoming an adult in a small mid-western town, Dianne must confront family secrets, deception, and discovery during her last year of college. As she cares for her ailing mother, her world begins to unravel and she is challenged to navigate through lies, friendships, love...and murder.
Meeting the wrong person makes it possible for her to recognize the right ones and to find the strength she needs to survive. Realizing that she is responsible for her own destiny, she learns that to say hello to a new life, she must first say goodbye.
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EXCERPT ONE:
All living creatures hold secrets for basic survival. Humans keep secrets to preserve their image, hide their misjudgments, or protect those they care about. Only in the safest conditions, absolute trust or vulnerability, can humans feel safe divulging their secrets, laying bare their hidden selves.
Katrina England and her husband did not keep secrets from Dianne or indulge in the usual childhood fantasies of princesses or fairy godmothers with her daughter. Even Santa Claus was introduced from a historical perspective rather than as a magical elf. The Englands were doting parents who disciplined their daughter when necessary and answered her questions honestly, only withholding information that surpassed Dianne’s maturity. Yet, despite this philosophy, Katrina did hold a few secrets, one very close.
As Dianne approached adulthood, Katrina began to share these secrets. By then, Dianne’s father had died, leaving the two women to navigate life together as a family with no other relatives living close by. Katrina often grappled with the lifelong weight of a childhood secret and her secret of late, a terminal cancer diagnosis. Both became weightier as her cancer took hold. When Dianne began dating the MegaMart store manager, Katrina’s concern of her daughter’s future turned to worry.
Dianne, nearing graduation while dealing with her mother’s illness, found herself facing unexpected challenges. When Michael D. Glossen entered her life, her challenges became problems. Oddly, she met “Michael D” when a cream rinse emergency arose.
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GUEST POST:
Five Ways to Engage Readers – It’s All About the Characters
1.) Develop a variety of characters, but not too many, and not too similar.
2.) Dialogue needs to fit the characters' personalities and roles/careers.
3.) All humans hold secrets; therefore, our characters should hold secrets that they gradually reveal.
4.) Humans are a product of their experiences. My characters reflect this.
5.) Each character’s dialogue, personality, and actions need to contribute to the storyline.
I was close to the sin of too many characters. In total, 20 individuals had roles that involved more than a third-person mention. At any given time, two characters carried the story, with the others playing a supporting role, much like a chorus line. To help the reader not feel as though they’re attending a large family reunion for the first time, I tried to keep the characters mentioned in scenes related to their roles, such as school, a restaurant, and the church.
Dianne was always center stage. During the story, her mother, then Ken, then Mel, partnered with Dianne to tell the story through their experiences. JR and Betty were next in prominence, with Texaco John making regular appearances. As was his personality, John only appeared when needed and remained somewhat of a mystery.
Hidden inside each character was a unique personality, career, and set of traits. Smooth and easy exchange of unique dialogue further identified the individuals. Each character was believable, complete with accents, assets, talents, and quirks. They all lived with me for a long time, and I wanted to do them justice on my pages so others could see them as clearly as I had for 20 years.
The main character, Dianne, was raised privileged with two parents who cared, yet were not perfect. Still, Dianne cared for society as a whole and individuals less fortunate than herself. Mel, a little “rough around the edges,” wasn’t so lucky, yet she was with JR and Betty stepping in to parent her. Mel’s limited social exchange with other children while growing up formed her into her adult persona. Other characters who shared the spotlight at intervals in the book also were clearly part of their experience and environment.
The storyline was simple. Two young ladies meet. Each desire more from life than what seemed to be their prescribed destiny. Similar to what happens with many lives, the future we plan is not what ends up happening because unplanned events have taken place.
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AUTHOR BIO:
Throughout grammar school and college, Helen Gillespie loved developing story sketches or full stories but kept them hidden within herself. That creative spark proved valuable in unexpected places, first on assignment as a musician in the US Army, and after leaving the Army, when she earned a degree in elementary education. After reentering the Army in 1981, she put pen to paper, or rather, “fingers to an Olivetti.” She officially learned the art of journalism to serve the Army, but it quickly became a personal passion. Interviewing fellow soldiers, exploring their jobs and personalities, and publishing useful information for the military community formed the basis of her skill and enjoyment. Those years of thought, training, education, and experience laid the foundation for crafting her first novel, The Goodbyes.
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