I honestly hadn’t known what to expect when I emailed William Morrow about Moonlight on Butternut Lake, as I was taking a leap of faith in contacting them. I mentioned this on my review of the novel, how I went outside my comfort zone a bit and queried the publisher directly about a book for review – how that serendipitous act on my part led to an opportunity to interview Ms McNear is a true blessing in believing in what your doing as a book blogger.
I sensed I was going to become a follower of McNear’s writerly career as soon as I finished reading Up at Butternut Lake because it had all the pieces of what I personally *love!* finding inside a contemporary novel: realistic story-lines with fully realised characters residing inside the breadth of where the novel takes the reader. I love finding myself living through the pages, following in step and by heartbeat with the main characters, and becoming absorbed into the interior of a small towne is aces for me because it’s one of my cosy comforts as a reader! I delight in the ambiance and in the aspect of community which can sometimes become muddled and lost in today’s world.
As soon as I settled into Butternut Summer my worries about the transitions in a McNear novel fell away, because I was hugged so close to the moment of the last novel, my feet barely left Butternut Lake! I felt as comfortable in the sequel as I had the first installment and it was within that reading I realised a hidden truth of my own: I didn’t want this to be a ‘trilogy’ as it was limiting the arc which McNear had fused to the novels so inherent that it resonated as an expanding series, not a mere trifold slice of what it could be. However, as dearly as readers cast wishes into the void, I was the gobsmacked reader who rejoiced in having learnt this truly did become a bonefide series!
Finding out about Moonlight was only one half of the joy: there was a novella and it was released into print! A fact that might not surprise everyone, but for me, it was a celebration! A lot of writers are composing novellas to carry forward serial fiction or at the last trilogies – little added snippets of the series we love in shorter formats, except to say, they are rarely released into print copies! A few times I’ve been happily surprised, and this is one of those moments!
As I struggled to resolve the gap in time between when I received the novel (Moonlight) and was able to compose my review, I received a second blessing – the opportunity to converse with Ms McNear! Dear hearts, you’ll enjoy the conversation that came out of my questions, as I wanted to contain them to a few particular enquiries rather than expand them outward. It was such a pleasure to ask a few pertinent questions on behalf of the series whilst getting to know the author’s writing style, too!
Book Synopsis: No.3 of the Butternut Lake Series
Mila Jones, a young woman fleeing a dark past, has accepted a job on Butternut Lake taking care of Reid Ford, who is recovering from a car accident that nearly killed him. This is Mila’s chance for a fresh start. But Reid, brooding and embittered, does everything he can to make her quit. Mila refuses to give up.
Against all odds, Mila slowly draws Reid out. Soon they form a tentative, yet increasingly deeper, bond with each other, as well as becoming part of the day-to-day fabric of Butternut Lake itself. But the world has a way of intruding, even in such a serene place…and when Mila’s violent ex-husband becomes determined to find her, she and Reid are forced to face down the past.
Perfect for lovers of Susan Wiggs, Debbie Maccomber, and Kristin Hannah, Moonlight on Butternut Lake is a novel of courage, romance, and resilience that is to be savored and shared.
Currently the Butternut Lake series includes three novels and a novella, what are your long-term plans for the series past the original trilogy? Will this be a series that remains open-ended where characters will come and go but the towne will remain true to itself and the community you’ve created? The reason I am asking is because Butternut Lake has become a beloved small towne I enjoy re-visiting with each new installment. May I ask what is the title of the fourth book in 2016 and the fifth book in 2017 or can you share a bit about what the focus will be in those novels?
McNear responds: Harper Collins was so happy with the success of the Butternut Lake trilogy that they gave me a contract for two more books! Both of these books will be set on Butternut Lake, and although there will be new characters who are not present in the original trilogy, the ethos of the town of Butternut will remain the same. I haven’t yet decided on the title for the fourth book. But it is the story of two very different sisters who spend a summer together on Butternut Lake for the first time in thirteen years. One sister must come to terms with a dark secret from her past and the other sister must overcome the loss of a loved one. And, of course, there is a little romance thrown in! This book is due out in Spring 2016.
I was positively overjoyed about hearing the trilogy is expanding into a series of five novels (thus far!) with a Christmas novella, as I blogged about my happy delight in this discovery on my review of ‘Moonlight on Butternut Lake’. I have heard of authors being pitched to continue a series after it gains traction with readers, however, this was one of those instances where I wasn’t able to keep up with industry news threads and for me it was one of those bookish joys that come along quite unexpectedly. I love the way in which the sisters each have to overcome something and their relationship is naturally complicated due to their sisterly bond. Alas, I think the titles are one of the hardest things to attach to a story! I shall remain curious!
Love how you etched what you call “emotional realism” (from your interview with World of Ink Network) into the Butternut Lake series because you anchoured the stories with a realistic contemporary edge where you can alight inside Butternut Lake and warm up to your characters. You have found a way to knit an emotional heart into the undertone of your stories – how did you pull the stories together originally? What was the inspiration behind creating this beautiful small towne fiction series?
McNear responds: The fictional town of Butternut is based on a lifetime of summers spent at my grandfather’s lake cabin in the northern Midwest. The lake is pristine, the cabin is home for three weeks each summer, and the nearby small town has everything you could possibly want, including a great café, a wonderful bookstore, and a beautiful natural history museum for children. I knew that I wanted to write a story, or a series, based on this community. So when I came up with the idea for the first book, Up at Butternut Lake, about a young widow whose husband has died in Afghanistan and her five- year-old son, I knew that it should be set in in this small-town lakefront community. Once I have the character and setting, the book must be governed by what I call “emotional realism.” A character can do all kinds of things, as long as it is in keeping with that characters emotional integrity.
And, this explanation is exactly why I love Butternut Lake; except to say, I hadn’t realised I refer to this series by the serial name rather than the towne’s name of Butternut! I must’ve started giving this endearing name back when I first read the original two stories – the mind is a curious thing, and for me, I suppose it’s associating it with the lake rather than the towne or I’m confusing the two together! I definitely love how you’ve set a standard for realistic fiction with an emotional undercurrent thread of insight into your narrative. This is definitely a series where Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and Realistic Fiction lovers will find a niche of joy to reside. The duality of your stories and the rendering of real-life set inside Butternut Lake is what compels me to return!
Listening to audiobooks is a new habit of mine, and in part, I put my own bent on it, as I love to read the book whilst I am ‘listening’ to the book at the same time. It happened once when I found an audio excerpt for “The Ghost Bride” whilst composing my review and I noticed for the first time I could honestly find myself listening and reading in tandem whilst curating pure joy for the experience. I feel a bit more grounded in the story by having a narrator and my own mind’s eye creating the images from what is on the pages. What is your favourite experience with audiobooks and the stories they translate through spoken narrative?
McNear responds: I love listening to audio books and alternate between reading and listening. Audio books are very well produced these days and listening to the better ones can be a wonderful experience. I particularly like listening to non-fiction in audible books. Not long ago I listened to Bill Bryson read his book “One Summer: American, 1927.” His reading of the book is just right–a blend of wry humor and insight into historical events. The best audio readers can emphasize nuance and inflection that might otherwise be missed in the silent reading of a text. But I never tried reading and listening to a book at the same time! I might try that!
I haven’t yet transitioned to where I can ‘listen’ to an audiobook without reading the novel directly as I go along with the narrator’s voice. I think in part because of how I originally came into reading it was through listening to my Mum’s voice narrate the stories for children. She would read the stories aloud and I would follow along with the book in my hands. I do notice too, being a dyslexic reader carrying this habit forward as an adult makes up a bit of difference in a few of the gaps I have in my own readings without the audio. Little things you notice about yourself and never knew could be fixed with an audio version. It’s the nuance and inflection I appreciate but also the understanding of words that trick me on the printed page – I’m sure dyslexics reading this will know what I mean!
I definitely agree with you about the style of audiobooks – most are like audio plays due to their ensemble casts and the ones where one narrator takes on the stage to represent each character by way of changing their mannerisms of speech per voice they need to articulate is a true gem of a find too! As I move forward with my blog, I want to start to implement reading both novels and non-fiction by print and audio combined. I hope you’ll take up the suggestion & find the same happiness in reading in this new way as much as I have!
I had to smile when I found out your from the Mid-West/Chicago as my own family has roots there as well, and has found rather curiously, no matter where you travel you’re bound to find MidWesterners! Although you have been living in bigger cities, it feels as though you’ve captured the heart of small towne life and the community of people who genuinely care about each other; did you pull from real-life composites for your characters or did you try to create a place where you would personally feel comfortable living in Butternut Lake?
As a hint of a suggestion towards what inspired this question, is this quote from my review of ‘Up at Butternut Lake‘:
The full scope of the story settles in on this beautiful small towne at the waterline of the upper part of Minnesota where the lake meets the sky and where people are as down home friendly as their Southern counterparts. A towne where you can disappear into the folds of shadow but still have people caring about your welfare, checking in on you a bit, but allowing you the full benefit of ‘being removed’ if that is your intention. Butternut is one of those places that you feel you could put down roots if the cat mouse pace of a large city has expired past the joy of being caught up in the current of modern life. A place where time eludes to a softer expanse of the hours, where the clock isn’t a reminder of what you have left to do but the possibilities of where you can take your day.
McNear responds: Having spent most of my life in cities, I’ve always been fascinated by small town life. Some of my favorite books are about small town life and the ways in which each individual is part of the fabric of the community in a way that does not happen in a big city. My characters are drawn from many different areas: real life, pure imagination, and some are composites of characters I’ve come across over the years. But all of them must have an emotional core that rings true. In each of the three books in the trilogy, the characters all have very contemporary problems and dilemmas to overcome, but they must also contend with age-old, timeless, themes like love and family.
It’s how you stitch the stories together through love, family, and strife that sets them apart from others in the Contemporary Fiction and Women’s Fiction categories. Your stories have a realistic edging to them, on a vein I enjoy from seeing come out of the pen of Brenda S. Anderson. I spoke a bit about why small towne fiction resonates with me on my review for Moonlight and happily I am finding we are of an accord in our appreciations! Your characters are relatable as much as they are characters you want to see through the obstacles life has set in front of them. It’s an uplift to see how they work through everything and how the community of Butternut Lake is tethered as a community at large in the background.
When I reviewed Up At Butternut Lake, I mentioned this on my review: The thematics which are strongly represented in Up at Butternut Lake are an evolving exploration of Change (questions of destiny, permanence, and stability – of not only the mind, heart, and spirit but the physical locale of where your life will be lived); where each character who takes a central focus is at a turning point in their lives. Where they can choose to move forward and let go of the past that is weighing them down, or they can continue as they are without moving forward at all. — it was such a strong presence of the story, it transported me straight into the heart of where the novel was intending to take us. When you approached the story, how did you interweave the layers which gave it such a strong rooting of Butternut Lake and of the key characters who we felt empathic towards?
McNear responds: Jorie, It’s so rewarding when someone really understand what you are trying to do! Yes, my main characters are all, for one reason or another, at a kind of turning point in their lives. They have become bound by events from the past, and being in Butternut becomes a catalyst of sorts. Largely, I am interested in that moment in time when we come to terms with things long left unattended, or when we realize that a pattern from the past is no longer useful, or when we break through what has been holding us back.
That is why all of the Butternut books take place over a relatively short period of time (mostly within three or four months). I really do believe that people can and do change. And, because it is Butternut, change is often sparked by the redemptive power of love. When I wrote Up at Butternut Lake, I took Allie and her friends Caroline and Jax and interwove their stories. I was interested in how and why we change, and how we can influence our friends and the people we care about. In a way, all three characters interrelate and compel each other to move forward.
You’re quite welcome! Equally it’s a delight to find an author who is as curious about that slot of time as much as I am as a reader! I think it depends upon where a reader is finding themselves in their own life’s journey if they will fully attach themselves to understand what your doing with Butternut Lake – to root out the heart of the series vs appreciating the stories on the surface. I loved the deeper meanings and the keen insight you have in bringing out a part of life that is not always touched on in other stories.
Picking up Butternut Summer I felt a seamless transition between the two stories, almost as if there wasn’t an absence of time between them. I find this incredible, because it’s not something I always find true in serial fiction but when I find authors who get it right, I champion their work as it aides readers to feel rooted to their stories. You find interesting ways to entertaining us with new characters, and I wanted to ask, is it difficult knowing when to introduce which character or characters per story? Especially as in book four your tackling the complexities of sisters and their complex bond?
McNear responds: For each book, I create a number of main characters and several peripheral characters. Usually I create between two and four main characters and alternate between their points of view. The main characters are the emotional heart of the story and usually they grow and develop over the course of the book. Then I create several peripheral characters, and they both populate the town of Butternut and create texture and nuance to the story. These peripheral characters have to be both believable in a contemporary sense but also fit into the world of Butternut. Often these characters interact with the main characters in a way that provides an avenue for the main characters to express themselves. Because I love dialogue and love writing it, these peripheral characters are often someone for the main characters to talk to. The difficult part is determining the degree to which they will be prevalent in the story. It can be a delicate balancing act.
I sensed it was a delicate choice between what to share, what to give, and what to allow to occupy the reader’s mind as they read the stories. Picking and choosing what stays and what leaves is never easy, but you’ve mastered the balance with this series – so much so, by the time the novella arrives via my library’s ILL services, I want to re-read through the series and insert the novella before re-reading Moonlight. In this way, I want to see what I pick up as I read the series straight through rather than separated by a year shy of two months. I like larger casts both for primary characters and supporting characters – they both curate the tapestry as you say and anchour us to the towne itself.
You wrote such a compelling observational view on contemporary life in the Butternut Lake series, I could tell you appreciate people watching in real life. You found ways to knit into the stories little remnants of life as it evolves, and I was curious have other readers approached you and let you know their thoughts on what you’ve left behind for them to find? I wrote quite a bit on my two reviews, but one of my favourite quotes was at the end of my review for Butternut Summer where I shared: Butternut Lake is the place where the troubles your facing can be erased by the consideration and compassion of the community members who care enough about you to help you overcome what ill of woe beseeches you. It is the type of place where you can relax a bit easier and know that your going to be looked after and can find a way towards having a renewal of wellness re-instated inside your life. Butternut Lake is not only a series for contemporary life but a series that instills an uplifting view of modern life where even the little ruts in the road can be turnt into a measure of grace.
It’s almost as though you gave us a respite from our lives and allowed us to tuck in someplace where we could step into the lives of characters who feel as real as our own community members. What do you enjoy the most about your visits with Butternut Lake when you set in mind your next story in the series?
McNear responds: I want Butternut to feel real, but I also want it to be a place where people watch out for each other. I think an emphasis on finding common ground with our family, neighbors, and community has suffered from the attrition of modern life. In the effort to get ahead, be successful, and carve a place in a very fast paced and competitive world, people often scuttle the basic qualities of politeness, kindness and thoughtfulness. I wanted Butternut to be a place where these two worlds could come together.
You definitely tackled this in ‘Moonlight on Butternut Lake’ as Reid by far is one of the more abrasive characters I’ve greeted outside of Classical Literature! I did not want to augment my impression of him with a Classical fellow but there were pieces of his personality that rifled my ire a bit because he was purposely working against himself and against the kind gestures of those around him. He’s was infuriating and yet he was imploring because what he went through demanded more sympathy than the tolerance he had for others. I do appreciate seeing a glimpse into your writing process and understanding how Butternut comes together for you as you create the next stories in line. Bless you for giving me this conversation and the insight it’s generated.
Author Biography:
MARY MCNEAR, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Butternut Lake series, writes her novels in a local donut shop where she sips Diet Pepsi, observes the hubbub of neighborhood life, and tries to resist the constant temptation of freshly made donuts. Mary bases her novels on a lifetime of summers spent in a small town on a lake in the northern Midwest. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, two teenage children, and a high-strung, minuscule white dog named Macaroon.
Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads
Ms McNear uses Facebook exclusively in comparison to Twitter; although I do send her tweets as I’m reading her novels on the oft chance she decides to use Twitter in the future.
Converse via: #ButternutLakeSeries, #ButternutLake, and #MoonlightOnButternutLake
My heart was full of gratitude to both William Morrow for allowing me the grace in receiving the third Butternut Lake novel to review and to JKS Communications who gave me the opportunity to host a short interview with a newly beloved author whose series is both riveting to read and enjoyable to devour with each new installment she writes. It was wonderful to discover her Blog Talk Radio interview via World of Ink Nework which inspired a question of my own. I encourage you to listen to the podcast before alighting elsewhere in the blogosphere as you’ll get to know a bit more about Ms McNear and Butternut Lake in the process! It’s quite a lovely conversation between two writers!
This Author Q&A is courtesy of:
Be sure to visit my ruminations on behalf of ‘Moonlight on Butternut Lake’!
Previously I shared my ruminations on behalf of Up at Butternut Lake + Butternut Summer, books one and two of the Butternut Lake series. I will happily be sharing my thoughts on behalf of the novella Butternut Lake: The Night Before Christmas this Winter whilst awaiting the fourth and fifth installments due out in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
See what I am hosting next by stopping by my Bookish Events page!
Kindly leave your comments and thoughts on this interview in the threads below!
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Moonlight on Butternut Lake”, book synopsis, author photograph of Mary McNear and the host badge were all provided by JKS Communications and used with permission. Conversations with the Bookish Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Comment Box banner created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
Tweets about this Interview:
.@JKSlitpublicity Reader’s convo w/ #Contemporary #author she <3s #reading! (the #ButternutLakeSeries!) @marymcnear http://t.co/jWBnrDUfcn — Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) August 26, 2015
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