Book Club Reading List
Read the Book? Now, Book the Author for Your Next Book Club Meeting!
Author Interview – Nancy Klann-Moren
February 5th, 2013 |
What inspired you to write this book?
The idea of inequality and how it comes to be has always puzzled me, so the foundation for The Clock Of Life was more emotional than cerebral. This narrative began as a short story, and one morning while at a writer’s conference, I read an excerpt. When I finished, the workshop instructor asked what I was doing for the next couple years, because, “What you wrote isn’t a short story, it’s a novel.” After a good deal of foot-dragging, I took up the challenge.
What topics in your book or background do you think book clubs would find interesting?
Prejudice, hate, hope, and forgiveness are weaved throughout this novel. Aside from my protagonist’s struggle to live-up to the ideals of a father he’s never known, and living with an emotionally fragile Vietnam vet, he must watch his mother cope with grief. The subjects of the Civil Rights Movement and the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War (pro or con) definitely generate thought provoking conversations. The message: Learn from the past and stand up for what you believe in.
Tell us about your career outside of writing and how it influences your writing.
During my career in Advertising and Marketing I did a great deal of traveling. While unable to come up with any specifics that correlate my career with my stories, nothing in a writers experience is wasted. Every encounter has the potential of becoming the seed for a scene―or more. My next novel is based on my friend and I finding a diary in an antique store.
Describe your style of writing.
In The Clock Of Life, the story flows from the characters, in easy, direct dialog. The rural, southern setting dictates a simple narrative, done with descriptive imagery that allows the reader to color in their own details. This novel was written to be a work of literary fiction. Since its publication, due to the age of the protagonist and the subject matter, an interest is growing among YA readers as well as the adult audience.
Which authors inspire you?
Pat Conroy, T.C. Boyle, Ray Bradbury, Flannery O’Connor, Susan Cisneros, Barbara Kingsolver
