I think at the core “Again and Again” explores the baffling complexities of life and death. Wittman: Well, it’s about people, how they respond to threat, how they cope, how they cooperate, comfort or confound each other. SunLit: If you could pick just one thing – a theme, lesson, emotion or realization - that readers would take from this book, what would that be? Until four-year-old Colin appeared, snatching his nurse’s stethoscope away and laughing like a little fiend. Read more.īut for a long time I just couldn’t figure out what the adventures were. SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. I knew the women were going to have risky, boundary-breaking adventures, because once the Angel of Death has brushed you with his wing, why shouldn’t you take risks you normally wouldn’t? Wittman: I wrote and rewrote “Again and Again” several times over three or so years to find the plot. SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book? The draft is finished and ordered and at this point it feels as if you’d known all along where you were going. But then you’re not on the cliff any more but in the sea, thrashing and sputtering, blinded by foam, seaweed and heaving water. You know the shape and intention of your book and think you understand the characters. At first you’re standing on a cliff like Tennyson’s eagle and all the patterns are clear to you: the waves rearing, cresting, and falling, the ripples running toward shore. ![]() This poem provided a metaphor for novel writing that I’ve found useful, especially when you start floundering partway through. SunLit: Are there lessons you take away from each experience of writing a book? And if so, what did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter? You can’t create a feverish soul like Chloe without having her surprise you. Yes, there were many unexpected developments during the writing process. There were political and social issues I explored as well, particularly our cruelly broken health care system. My surgeon let me watch a mastectomy and the oncologist allowed me to accompany him on some of his rounds. Wittman: Being a journalist is very helpful when you’re gathering information for fiction. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? And once you did begin to write, did the work take you in any unexpected directions? SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. Scared, angry, lonely and bewildered, she goes out with a friend to get drunk. Wittman: Twenty-three-year-old Chloe, a cancer patient, has received a Portacath, a device placed under the skin to allow her nurse to administer chemotherapy without repeated injections. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it? The result is “Again and Again,” which explores death, celebrates life, and may have an occasional mildly humorous passage. ![]() I can be satiric, ironic, caustic, but I don’t seem to have a funny bone anywhere. I resolved to write a comic novel in which a group of patients embarked on a wild caper because, hell, what did they have to lose? There was a problem, though. ![]() After cancer treatment, Juliet Wittman imagined a comic novel CloseĮach week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author.
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