Halloween Week Guest Blog & Giveaway Day 3: Marilyn Brant

UPDATE: The winner of ACCORDING TO JANE is donnas! Congrats! Please email your physical addy to contests(AT)knightagency.net.

Autumn is easily my favorite time of year. I love every sensory bit of it: the vivid colors of our sugar maples, the delectable crunch of the curled-up leaves, the enticing smell (and melt-in-your-mouth taste!) of warm apple-cider-cinnamon donuts…sigh. And I love the fun of the fall holidays, too—especially the pageantry and goofiness of Halloween and the one-two punch of the Thanksgiving feast: great food + endlessly intriguing family dynamics. It’s a season of change, at least here in the Midwest. For me, it’s also been an especially reflective time. A time when emotion catches up with memory.

So, I guess it’s no surprise that, as a writer, I find myself returning again and again to this season in my books. It’s a symbolic time for me on several levels, and thinking about the kinds of activities that happen in the fall always puts me in the mood for a character to start or end her journey. Never was this truer than in my first two novels.

In ACCORDING TO JANE (Kensington trade), which was just released this month, my heroine has the ghost of Jane Austen in her head giving her dating advice. That advice starts in early November and the story ends at the very same time of year—a seasonal bookending, if you will, across nearly two decades. My upcoming women’s fiction book, FRIDAYS AT NINE (October 2010), is a modern fairy tale about three forty-something women and their marriages. It takes place entirely over the course of one single autumn and, as the three main characters delve further into their individual arcs, the season itself moves and twists along, like wayward tree roots beneath their feet with the potential to trip them. That book has a major turning point at Halloween: a revelation of disguises and pretense. And an opening up to family at Thanksgiving. Then, finally, the preparation for changed lives and a new season at the book’s—and autumn’s—end.

There are tremendous opportunities for symbols and motifs in other seasons, too, of course. Despite my personal aversion to ice storms, winter can be cozy, holiday-oriented, chilly on the outside/warm on the inside. Spring is frequently a time of rebirth and renewal. And summer delights us with its long days, sunshine, sand-n-surf, hot nights… Well, along with mosquitoes, high humidity and road repairs. (I live in the American Midwest, remember.) The book I’m working on right now is a summertime story and—as I get ready to switch on the furnace at home and pull out my fuzzy sweaters—I’m having fun imagining the need for sunscreen and flip flops, bug repellant and beach coolers. And I’m looking forward to living with the burning heat of July, at least on my computer screen, even while in the midst of an inevitable Chicago blizzard.

What about you? What’s your favorite season in the region where you live? Do you recall a scene from a book you enjoyed where the season played an important role?

To everyone at TKA and the readers of this blog, I hope you have a Happy Halloween and an awe-inspiring autumn!

Marilyn Brant

www.marilynbrant.com

According to Jane~Golden Heart Winner, Out NOW!

Fridays at Nine~Coming October 2010 from Kensington Books

HALLOWEEN WEEK CONTESTS: Remember, there are TWO ways to win! Each day this week (Oct. 26 thru Oct. 30th) a guest blogger will give away a signed book to one person randomly chosen from the comment section. Today's prize is ACCORDING TO JANE by Marilyn Brant. Check back in this post tomorrow to find out if you are the winner!

Also, at the bottom of each post there is a scavenger hunt question. The answer can be located somewhere on the author's website. Send in all 5 correct answers* to the scavenger hunt questions, and you will be entered in a drawing to win a $50 Visa gift card!!!

SCAVENGER HUNT QUESTION (3 of 5): Marilyn Brant received her M.A. in educational psychology from which university?

*Please note, that the correct answers to the scavenger hunt questions must be sent in at one time. You must collect all 5 answers and send them in one email. Entries for the scavenger hunt will be accepted from Friday, October 30th thru Sunday, November 1st at midnight. The winner will be announed on this blog Monday, November 2nd, 2009. If you have any questions about this contest, please contact contests(AT)knightagency.net.