I was made over. Old friends may notice a difference in appearance between my former self and my current look on social media. This is the reason why. When my debut novel, Ms. Murphy’s Makeover, was accepted for publication I had to submit an author photo. I was advised to seek professional help. Immediately. My generous friends, Nan and Marlena, two talented and stylish writers, offered to take me in hand. I accepted gratefully. I am sadly challenged when it comes to fashion and make-up. This is my husband’s fault, of course. He says likes me without lipstick or mascara or anything at all on my face. Lucky for me. But this has made me complacent, or let’s face it, lazy, about my appearance. My make-up consists of a smear of lipstick I put on in the morning and forget to re-apply. When I get my hair cut I stick to the basic bob, all one length. My stylist always looks a little sad, and asks why I let it go so long between visits. Anyway, on to the project. My friends had their work cut out for them. The first step was eyeglasses. Mine were fairly attractive, I thought, wire framed progressive lenses. I had let the helpful receptionist for my eye doctor choose them. Eight years ago. My vision had not changed. But Nan and Marlena explained that the frames were passé. They went with me to Lens Crafters early one morning and together we examined every possible option available for my prescription. They discussed each pair I tried on at great length, photographed me in each, and drove the sales associate crazy. We were in the store for two hours. At last I ordered the designer tortoise shell frames they’d selected. Designer frames at a designer price. I pulled out my credit card and signed. On to wardrobe. Marlena, who is an artist as well as a writer, told me that the pastel color palette I’d preferred all my life was wrong wrong wrong. Jewel colors, she told me. Pale pinks and blues washed me out. I went shopping with this in mind, and explained my predicament to the helpful saleswomen. They loved the idea of a project, and selected a cashmere sweater in burgundy and a blouse in teal blue. You can see my jewel-toned threads on my facebook author page, Jacqueline Goldstein Author, and on my soon to be published website. Next came hair. My stylist, Cherry, gave me a pile of magazines to go through. Together with her assistant, Laura, we chose a layered style with flipped up ends, guaranteed to take time out of my mornings. And then Cherry gave me the best haircut I’ve ever had, layering my hair to frame my face and even flip up impishly. It was a great success, although I’d never be able to replicate it myself. The make-up person at Cathy’s loved my haircut. When I told her that I was about to be photographed she gently patted layers of stuff on my face, making my nose look smaller and my mouth seem bigger. Suddenly I had eyebrows and eyelashes. False eyelashes. My small blue eyes became bigger and bluer behind my brand new glasses. Finally it was time for my close-up. The photographer, Noelle Marie, chatted me up about my life and my book, posed me this way and that, smiling, serious, pensive, and mischievous. I had a great time. Being with her was like meeting a new friend. The pictures turned out great. But then Noelle re-touched the photos, removing my wrinkles, adding whitener to my teeth and heaven knows what else. I emerged, glamorous, and cover ready. Ironically, Ms. Murphy’s Makeover, is about a teacher who hates the way a cosmetic makeover turns out. She washes her face, and moves on to a more honest life. Unlike my character, I loved the way my makeover, and the photos, turned out. But it takes a village, a lot of time, and deep pockets to look your best. At the end of the photo session I was happy to wash my face, put on my old pastel sweater, and be just me again
A Cover is Born
Nothing in my life can ever compare to the thrill of meeting my newborn daughters for the first time. However, seeing my manuscript become an actual book, with a cover that proclaimed me as its author, came pretty close. Like Anne Bradstreet, who called her book the child of her brain, I feel a tendernessakin to that of motherhood for my novel, Ms. Murphy’s Makeover.
I remember the morning that Jack, an artist for Black Opal Books, sent me some possible cover designs. I had told him I wanted to explore the daffodil image in the book. These golden perennials, a symbol of hope and rebirth, and the subject of a beautiful poem by Wordsworth, seemed a perfect way to convey my story of a woman who blossoms into a new life. Following my suggestions, Jack produced a single open daffodil, pointing heavenward against a sky-blue background. Underneath the title, Ms. Murphy’s Makeover, my name appeared. I was an author! My first name was misspelled, but Jack said that was easily corrected. Once the correction was done, I was over the moon.
My family was not. My husband absolutely hated it. My daughter said the skyward- pointing flower suggested a religious experience, not a women’s journey. But in the end, it was my sister Rosalie who cast the deciding vote. She was scathing in her disapproval. “Jacqueline. That cover tells me nothing, nothing, about your book,” she complained. “It doesn’t make me want to read it at all.”
As always, I listened to my sister. I sent Jack back to his drawing board. “This is a book about sexual awakening, among other things,” I explained. “A collapsing marriage. A difficult work environment. And then, a cosmetic makeover. Perhaps an image of a woman’s hands with red nail polish, removing a ring?
A woman in a plunging neckline, wearing a dress as scarlet as Hester Prynne’s letter, was the next option Jack sent! I was crazed at the sight. This cover proclaimed soft porn, or maybe not so soft porn. My character, Charlotte Murphy, would never wear such a dress.
To my surprise and delight, Jack had read the book, and he agreed with me. In one scene Charlotte wears a black dress, over the objections of her husband.
A black dress silhouetted against a champagne background, Jack suggested, would be sexy, yet classy. Much better, my husband said. Daughter and sister agreed. And so, the cover was born.
Recently, seeing that familiar image in a stranger’s hand almost was a religious experience. A perfect stranger had selected my book in a public library! Rosalie was right. Perhaps, you can judge a book by its cover.
Character-Driven Fiction
Books really are magic. They lead us out of ourselves and into new worlds and mindsets. According to my favorite author, Jane Austen, novels display “the most thorough knowledge of human nature.” I like to read about relationships – how they are formed, maintained, and, at times, destroyed. And so naturally my debut novel, Ms. Murphy’s Makeover, is about a woman whose relationships at home and at work are tested.
Before I was an author, I was a teacher and a mother. I was born in the Bronx, New York, graduated from Fordham University, and taught high school English in New York City for many years. Together my husband and I have raised two daughters and we have been lucky enough to travel all over the world. However, the beautiful borough of the Bronx is the setting for my debut novel, Ms. Murphy’s Makeover. I hope you will read it, and let me know what you think of the characters. I hope you love them as much as I do. They live in my heart, and I can’t let them go. In fact, I am already working on a sequel.
Literary, or Light?
I’m thinking about two articles I’ve read with regard to character and plot. One, from the New York Times on Monday, January 27, 2017, discusses a conversation between Lena Dunham and the actor who plays a sexual predator in Girls. I haven’t seen the show they’re talking about, and rarely watch tv, truth be told. But I was fascinated by the fact that Lena, as the writer, had a conversation with the actor who plays a sexual predator in order to get a bead on the character of that episode.
Dunham says that she could only express her own rage through the character of the predator, whose motivation for sexual predation was anger, not sexual need. I love that the two discussed the psychology of the character, and want to spend more time thinking and talking about the psychology of my characters, Charlotte and Theo. Like an actor, I need to get into character, to try to create, for myself, back story and motivation, for my fictional children.
The second article I am pondering is from the New York Times Book Review of Sunday, February 26, 2017: What Happens Next or Doesn’t) by Marisa Silver. Silver mentions a book, Plotto, published in 1928 by William Wallace Cook, which “purports to be an exhaustive breakdown of what might be every possible plot on earth.” Silver traces the evolution of the novel from a plot driven narrative told around an ancient hearth to the more ruminative modern novel in which a single consciousness carries the narrative. The plot driven books keep the pages turning, for most people. They are the bread and butter of the industry, the romance novels, the mysteries. They are looked down on as not “literary” by many.
My own debut novel is a beach read, I’m told, which is not a bad thing. But I had wanted it to express my values, and I did strive to utilize my own background as a former English teacher. As I continue the saga of Ms. Murphy’s Makeover in my sequel, Charlotte’s Mess, I’m working out the psychological struggles of my characters, Charlotte, Theo, and Valerie, by plumbing the depth of my own issues and those of the people I know well. If you’ve read and liked the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts about my “people.”
Thanks! Jacqueline