It Never Ends
Hard to believe, but three years after self-publishing my first novel, A FALSE DAWN, I’m still considering how to rewrite it to make it better. I’ve already written the sequel, which should be published soon.
But my first novel haunts me. For years, my main character, Louise, has seemed to need something that I could not put my finger on. Until I read a quote recently from short-story master Flannery O’Connor, who said, “You can’t cut characters off from their society and say much about them as individuals.”
She went on to say, “You can’t say anything meaningful about the mystery of a personality unless you put that personality in a believable and significant social context.” That’s what I’ve been missing all these years. I’ve been trying to dredge Louise’s mind for inner thoughts, when I should have been thinking more about the world she lives in
I’m planning to add new material at the beginning of the novel to illuminate her world in ways that will add meaning and resonance to the opening chapters. At some point, I plan to republish the book.
After all, I’m already 70 years old. Who knows how many more books I’ll read. I want to make A FALSE DAWN and its sequel as good as I can.
About The Author
Jeff Heller
I'm a historical novelist who focuses on Colonial America, particularly the French-Canadians who settled North America in the 1600s and 1700s. My first novel, A FALSE DAWN, features Louise, a young wife and mother who must search for her son and her husband when the English invade their home in French-held Montreal and torch the city.