Greetings, readers of Bookpleasures.com! We are delighted to present an exclusive interview with the exceptionally gifted and acclaimed author Céline Keating.

Céline is an award-winning writer based in Bristol, Rhode Island. She has authored two novels, including Layla (2011) and the acclaimed Play for Me (2015). Her short fiction has been published in various literary magazines such as Appearances, Echoes, and Prairie Schooner.

She has received multiple awards for her writing, including the first-place 2014 Hackney Award for Short Fiction.

She is also an avid classical guitar student and contributes to Minor7th.com as a music journalist.

Her articles have appeared in magazines like Acoustic Guitar and Poets & Writers.

She is the co-editor of On Montauk, A Literary Celebration.

Céline holds a Masters in Creative Writing from City College, CUNY and is affiliated with the environmental organization Concerned Citizens of Montauk.

She has recently authored The Stark Beauty of Last Thing

Céline: The environmental themes in The Stark Beauty of Last Things come out of my personal experience.

I grew up on Long Island, New York, in a time of rapid development, and witnessed the open space I loved – the fields and small woodlands – disappear before my eyes.

I felt that loss keenly, of the wild areas where I’d gone berry-picking, the woods where I would play imaginary games.

Many years later, my husband and I purchased an apartment at the very tip of the island on the coast, the hamlet of Montauk, which was at the time a sleepy fishing village.

Over the years I became alarmed at changes I saw, from coastal erosion to rapid development, so I joined a local environmental group to help in the work of trying to preserve and protect that special place.

Much of the peninsula is now preserved and the waters are still clean. 

Yet even so, the area, like so many others, is facing rising seas and other consequences of climate change that continue to pose a serious threat.  

Norm: The protagonist, Clancy, has a strong desire to reconnect with his Big Brother from foster care. How does this individual journey overlap with the wider dispute regarding undeveloped land in Montauk?

Céline: This will be a somewhat philosophical answer to a great question. I see Clancy, an orphan, as representing those who are, in essence, orphaned from the land and who feel a sense of disconnection and malaise.

So he’s emblematic of those in our world who are divorced from nature and the deep meaning it holds for all humans.

At this point in history, with populations concentrated in cities or dense suburbs, so many are cut off from a connection to the land, to growing things, to the birds, animals, and insects that are an essential part of our world and yet often overlooked.

Clancy’s desire to reconnect with his Big Brother, Otto, relates directly to his search for belonging.

Then, when Otto leaves Clancy the task of choosing the right solution for the undeveloped parcel of land, Clancy finds a solution through connecting with nature. And doing so, he also finds a home.

Norm: The novel is described as being told in multiple voices. Could you discuss your decision to use this narrative approach and how it enhances the storytelling experience?

Céline: I very much wanted to capture a range of people and perspectives in representing Montauk, and also the many facets of this fascinating town and its many subcultures, among them fishing, surfing, and the arts, and with people at very different places on the socio economic spectrum living close together.

I considered filtering the story through Clancy’s point of view, as he is an outsider. Being curious and willing to learn, he has many conversations with people who share their experiences and ideas with him directly. 

But as I was working on the novel the characters became so distinct in my mind that I wanted to give the reader their thoughts and inner lives directly.

As a writer, I find it enjoyable to imagine worlds that are different than my own and I hope that this approach, of going deep into several characters, makes the story more enjoyable for readers as well. In general I also think that multiple points of view can best capture a multifaceted world, which is something I was hoping to achieve with this novel.

Norm: The land itself is portrayed as a character in the book. How did you approach giving this inanimate object a distinct personality and role within the story?

Céline: In general I rely on a fair amount of description, but primarily I used two specific strategies. One was to have standalone sections told in an omniscient voice, almost the “voice of the land,” primarily focused on the changing seasons. 

There are also two chapters that are told in a kind of “round-robin” style, The Fire and The Storm. Second, I use the device of Otto’s notebooks, in which he describes the flora and fauna, weather, and history of the area.

 I think these choices bring the focus to the land itself and how it functions as being of equal importance to the characters as they are to each other.

Norm: Each character in the novel seems to have their own stake in the vote's outcome regarding the undeveloped land. How do these different perspectives and motivations drive the plot forward?

Céline: The characters have competing visions for the use of the last large parcel of undeveloped land, and it’s up to Clancy to cast the deciding vote. 

So the characters are all eager to convince him that what they want is its best possible use of the land. For some it’s about money –extract the most value from its ownership. 

To others it represents nourishment for the soul, or it connects to happy memories from childhood, or it represents a place where affordable housing can be built to benefit the workers of the town. 

Clancy has to make a decision within a certain time frame, and that time frame, as well as the pressures from all sides, give momentum to the story and drive it forward. 

Norm: Your ending is described as deft, surprising, and offering unexpected hope. What made you choose this ending, and how do you think it resonates with the overarching themes of the novel?

Céline: In truth I wrote the entire novel not knowing how it would end. I felt a tug of war between despair and hope throughout, and I found myself writing toward a dark ending, given some of the realities of climate change. 

And yet I personally cannot live without hope, and hope drives us to act, to do what we can in the face of obstacles. Without giving anything away in terms of the plot, I would say that the ending is truthful in including both despair and hope, but I give the edge to hope.

Norm: Beyond the specific storyline of The Stark Beauty of Last Things, what are some recurring themes or subjects that you find yourself drawn to in your writing?

Céline: I’m always drawn to the theme of creativity. In my first novel my young protagonist finds her voice as a photographer, and my second novel revolves around the world of music. 

In The Stark Beauty of Last Things one of the point of view characters is a landscape painter, while my main point of view character, Clancy, makes structures out of wooden match sticks. 

Themes that are less conscious, but seem to crop up in all my work, are parent-child relationships and also the theme of loss in general. That one seems to be hardwired.

Norm: Can you discuss your writing process? How do you approach character development and crafting interesting narratives that touch on larger societal issues?

Céline: I have found that, although I often know the theme I want to explore in a novel, nothing comes together until I “find” the voice of one or more characters. 

My method is to begin writing in a journal, just vague discursive notes about what I am going for, sometimes as little as just a mood or a place. I keep a steady practice of this until finally a character arrives. 

Then, from the character, a story begins to emerge. In other words, my approach is quite haphazard and it can be quite frustrating in the period before this “something” comes. Often it will take many months, or longer, before I have that “aha” moment.   

Norm: As we end this interview, are there any particular authors or books that have influenced your writing style or approach to storytelling?

Céline:  Barbara Kingsolver was a very early influence on me. I love how her novels, especially from early in her career, are so accessible with such compelling characters yet deal so powerfully with larger societal issues. 

For the sheer beauty and economy of her style I love the novels of Alice McDermott. As for writing style and language, I’m drawn to lyrical writing and novels with a strong sense of place. 

Writers of the past who have influenced me include Virginia Woolf, Proust, Willa Cather, Henry James and Edith Wharton. 

Contemporary novels that made especially strong impressions on me include The Hours by Michael Cunningham, the novels of Julia Glass, and most recently, Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark.

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

You Can Find Out More About Céline On Her Website