Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Cross Estate

Today, Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, William Thomas Kinsella, author of A Cross Estate.

Good day Bill and thanks for participating in our interview.

 Norm:

On the back cover of A Cross Estate you mention that you worked in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 and lived with the consequences of the event in an immediate way. Could you elaborate on this statement?

Bill:

There were people that I rode the train with everyday who I saw for the last time that morning. Additionally, after the actual event, those of us in Lower Manhattan went through the strange aftermath of the event not fully understanding what had happened. We were feeling a bit like we were in a war. In a way, it seemed to me like the end of the world. When we returned, the days and weeks after in Lower Manhattan made us suspicious and worried and the air was awful.

Norm:

A Cross Estate would seem to have a broader mission than simply entertaining or storytelling. Can you talk more about that mission and what you hope readers will take away after reading the book?

Bill:

Yes, Norm. I wanted to write something that would stand for those lost as if to say, don't forget me--I am the man you knew on the train that perished that day.

I also wanted to tie my story to what I felt when I saw the cross standing at Ground Zero. Even if you are not Christian, the idea that someone or a group cut the cross said something to me.

It reminded me of a poem by Frost called Tuft of Flowers where someone comes upon flowers spared by the early morning cutter. Frost says “men work together I told him from the heart whether they work together or apart.” That is a bit how I felt seeing the cross. The cross for me also suggested that there must be something greater than death.

Norm:

Was A Cross Estate improvisational or did you have a set plan?

Bill: 

My plan was to use the Stations of the Cross, the Cross as a motif, and to re-imagine those stations in terms of my 9/11 story.

Anyone who reads it closely will see a lot of references to the Passion. I first wrote a great deal of Book II and then added a lot of Book I to give some history of Jack--so the reader would know him and feel when he perished.

I think maybe the book starts slowly--but that is Jack. I also wanted to give some background conflict to set the story up. I added the Veronica chapters so she became more rounded plus there were women whose husbands died and who gave birth to children after 9/11. Veronica and the child echo that reality. I tried to use what John Hollander when he talks about poetry calls the echo. Ideas we can all relate to and stories we already know to add a texture and in this case spiritual resonance to my book.

Norm:

The theme of parental career guidance comes up in A Cross Estate. Where do we draw the line between acceptable guidance and forceful influencing?

Bill:

I think parents have to listen to their children and really get to know their children as individuals. Parents often have wisdom but sometimes wisdom can function as a kind of straight jacket if it crosses over into vicarious living or living a certain way to satisfy image or ignoring a spiritual aspect to life that doesn't require so much. There are certain basic guidelines we can give our children and we should and after that I think we must trust them to be good and productive in their own way.

Norm:

Can you tell us how you found representation for your book? Did you pitch it to an agent, or query publishers who would most likely publish this type of book? Any rejections? Did you self-publish?

Bill:

I never secured representation and the publisher I ended up with was not as involved in the text and as I would have hoped.

Rejection is a part of writing and I have had rejection and still do. I am looking now for an International publisher and agent since, thus far, my reviews have been good. I do think, as I am sure most authors do, that my book is worthwhile and I believe it is essential sometimes, in order to get the full value of a read, to read the whole thing. The reader earns the value of the book that way and if the story is any good, maybe the reader ends up feeling things.

Norm:

How much real-life do you put into A Cross Estate? Is there much “you” in there?

Bill:

There is some of me in Jack. I am not typical as far as what I want. I think I need very little to be happy and what that is, you can't buy. I love nature, I love art and I love life.

To that extent I am in the book. Some of my personal background and experiences come out in Claremont Hills, in Montana, and in Taylor Island (Martha's Vineyard)-inspired by a painting by Watteau "The Embarkation to Cythere" I think it is.

Norm:

How did you create Jack in your book? Was it difficult to create this character?

Bill:

Jack is a Christ figure and he is to a great degree patterned after my son. I imagined losing my own son and Jack came out. Jack is also me.

Norm:

What obstacles did you have in trying to tell your story?

Bill: 

It is hard to avoid what some might call melodrama. I didn't want melodrama and didn't want cliché.

It is hard to escape that completely. I want "real" feelings. I wanted the reader to "feel" the pain of the loss and in that way have the idea never just vanish. I am not that experienced and this is my first novel.

The elements of craft are many and if my book doesn't get to all of those, it is a function of being a writer who is still learning. But Eudora Welty said a big part of a good book is the "feeling" it generates. I think the feeling generated in my story is real. Of course working full time and trying to write is not easy. It is sometimes hard to focus with family and life all around demanding your attention.

Norm:

What's the most difficult thing for you about being a writer?

Bill:

I want to be a master craftsman but that takes time. Ideas are ample--shaping those into something worthwhile takes time and a lot of re writing and a good editor and sometimes I am impatient.

Norm:

What do you think of the new Internet market for writers?

Bill:

I welcome any market and am happy for any and all.

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered and what is next for William Thomas Kinsella?

Bill:

No, Norm. You have asked good questions. I am working on a book about growing up on the grounds of a Veterans Hospital where my father worked and I spent the first ten years of my life.  

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

To read Norm's Review of A Cross Estate Click Here

Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Cross Estate