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Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 33
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Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 33

Publication:
Herald and Reviewi
Location:
Decatur, Illinois
Issue Date:
Page:
33
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

Decatur, Illinois, Sunday, March 23, 1986 PageC3 3 IB By STEVE METSCH Herald Review Lifestyle Writer Starting in the book-writing business can be grueling. Richard Peck, a Decatur native and onetime teacher now working on his 17th novel, remembers how tough his start was. "I was alone in a room with a white sheet of paper staring at me," recalls Richard, who quit teaching high school English in New York in 1971 to take up full-time writing. "I was used to students in class all day. When I taught, I would have given almost anything for solitude and then one day, there's all of the solitude I can use." i I EXPLORING THE intricacies and mys tery of writing during an interview at the Decatur home of his mother, Virginia, he adds, "I learned it is so much harder to write a novel than to teach a novel.

The hardest part is keeping the overall shape in mind when I write a detail in a book. That detail has to flow along with the overall shape." So far, those shapes have flowed along, Richard's "Father Figure" became a television movie starring Hal Linden and Timothy Hutton. "Are You in the House Alone?" and "The Ghost Belonged to Me" also became TV movies. Richard recently visited his hometown as a guest of the Decatur Public Library and Friends of the Library. HE LIVES IN an apartment building on East 72nd Street in mid-Manhattan.

He doesn't own a car but used to drive a Mercedes-Benz. He lunches with the likes of John Updike, author of "Rabbit Run" and "Couples." A conservative dresser Richard steps out in pricey Bally shoes. Although most of his novels have been targeted at a teen-age audience, Richard also has written for adults York Time," "AmandaMiranda" and "This Family of His goal is to recognize his readers' not his own needs. "You first need to look for the readers. They don't care what you care about.

You have to write stories that interest them," Richard says. "I didn't write a line of fiction until I was 37 years old. A lot of young writers think they must tell their life story. authors. "When I was writing 'This Family of, I had to write about Virginia City, and the San Francisco earthquake.

had never been to either city, so I'd get good information and try to fake it. I sat down and couldn't write a word. So I flew off to Reno where I rented a car and drove to Vir-' ginia City. I learned a lot." HIS BOOK "Secrets of the Shopping Mall" was based on his scrutiny of stores in New Jersey. When Richard spoke at Decatur's Dennis; School he once was a pupil there a.

child insisted the book had been written about Hickory Point Mall in Forsyth. His re-, search had paid off. One way or another, they try to. That's one way to get rejected by publishers." HE ADVISES aspiring writers to familiarize themselves with publishers and the types of books they accept. "You also need to read as much as you can, and you have to learn the technology.

You have to be able to type. Young writers think they can get others to do work for them. You can't." He does not employ a typist. Instead, his novels go directly from his head, through his fingertips, to the keyboard of the Royal typewriter he has owned since college and onto the paper. "I rewrite each page seven times.

I still make corrections on my final draft." Doing their own legwork is important for Author tune in Richard Peck to people young his characters "I am a ventriloquist," Richard Peck says. "I throw my voice out into the void and eventually the characters begin to speak for themselves. There always seems to be a frightening period of time when when we threw a party, the first thing we did was make sure our parents would be home. Now you check to make sure they won't be there." In writing, need to question teens." One way is to make sure his characters earn what they get. "You can't give the young a happy ending they did not earn.

They want a happy ending, and I think it isn't right to give them that at least without their earning it first. They have TV and romance novels for easy happy endings." Watching television "is what you do with your life when you don't want to live it," he says. GENERALLY, HE shuns TV and movies, but there are exceptions. "Molly Ringwald. Now she's a real teen-ager, a perfect heroine.

You can see she's thinking and is not a little, fluffy airhead. She doesn't baffle us with her beauty and looks like a real Most movies about teen-agers portray them as slobs and fools, but teens have high I throw my voice out and nothing happens. So I persist until the characters begin to establish their own personalities. This is a very scary period that I never get used to. "Take Blossom Culp, the main character in my ghost series.

I served as her ventriloquist until she established her own identity and came to sit on my knee." Richard Peck may be the nation's oldest teen-ager. The 51-year-old author makes his living writing books, most of them for teens or young adults. His latest, "Remembering the Good Times," a book about teen suicide, has been recommended for young people by the American Library Association. Richard says he works hard to keep track of teens so his books will be realistic. A bachelor and childless himself, he often talks with teenagers and people who see them every day teachers, librarians.

"TEENS, THEY'RE mysterious today. There's such tight peer group pressure. I have to find out where they are, and often they are ready to talk about their lives. "I look at young people today and what they're going through," he says with a shake of his head. "They face things I never did suburban living, problems with loads of free time on their hands, peer pressure.

When I was in high school, a Ys Bio Name: Richard Peck Occupation: Author Age: 51 Birthplace: Decatur Now, Blossom gets her own fan mail. Education: DePauw University; Southern Illinois filiS A retirement Richard Peck doesn't plan to abandon his typewriter soon. "We (writers) don't retire. We may stop being published, but we don't retire." University; Exeter University and Jesus College, both in England; Washington University; Decatur High School (Class of 1952); Dennis School. Residences: New York City and Connecticut Book excerpt live Earnings: comfortably." Vf'J 4.

Greatest accomplishment: "A letter from a young person who says, 'I'm the boy or girl in the That means more than making money. That's making contact. It makes you feel as though you are in the right field and makes up for the moments you don't feel that way." with their bull's-eye windowpanes, the renovated clapboard inns, the Cape Cod saltboxes, and Mr. Wert-heimer's brown-shingled bungalow with the fussy little rock garden in front. You had to live here for a century or two in order to belong, but I thought of how we city people outnumbered the locals now: from the Lawvers at one end of the social scale to the Pastorinis somewhat below the middle and right down to the Shulls at the bottom.

Our name for the natives was townies, From "Are you in the house alone?" by Richard Peck. 1976, Viking Press. Reprinted with permission. "A hard frost over the weekend killed Indian summer and turned the sugar maples along Meeting Street into a gold riot. I contemplated rushing winter by putting on my down jacket and my Frye boots, just to limber them up.

But settled for digging down to the bottom of the cedar chest for my favorite red English wool scarf. Then I walked out into the postcard-pretty Monday morning, turning the scarf around my neck. "The white spire of the Episcopal church pointed to a dark blue sky. The commuters were gunning along to catch the eight ten to Grand Central. I ambled past the rows of artfully restored houses, breathing in the expensive suburban air past the pale brick center-hall Georgians other writers Getting to know other writers boosts confidence.

"It helps me now because I need to talk with other writers about being lonely," author Richard Peck says. "It's hard to face up to the solitude." Biggest disappointment: never think about failure." Full EASTER BASKET IDEAS BUNNIES BONNETS ii Landmark Studios Spring Special is Live bunnies, balloons, spring flowers, baskets, bonnets March 17 thru April 4 I 963-2504 local number I'i with this coupon 24 exposures for the price of 12 i New puzzles and action books for toddler thru preschool. Hours: 10-5 I Sun. 12-5 A'Parent Heir IB BABY FIBMTIRE. ACCESSORIES, TOYS MATERNITY APPAREL FAIRYIEW PLAZA DECATUR 423-7430 AIR A LA MODE is fulfilled care.

Our trained, professional staff care for your loved ones as individuals, who are residents of our recently remodeled facility. Programs designed for special needs and required programs are well received in our warm and friendly atmosphere. At Decatur Manor, under our new ownership, we are committed to earn your trust everyday. Out private pay room rates for individual per day for for private room, plus nursing. Stop in soon to visit our home away from home for respite or long-term care.

Ballroom Dance Classes A Course In Ballroom Dancing NEW BEGINNING CLASS STARTS Tuesday, April 8 (Time: 7 pm to 9 pm "FORUM" 224 W. CERRO GORDO COURSE IS 8 WEEKS $30 PERSON MAY TRY 4 LESSONS FOR $15 PERSON The new PHMMMM 136 Dinner I ana Decatur Manor Decatur 428-7767 WALTZ CHA-CHA FOXTROT RUMBA SWING POLKA Jut -X JT POPCORN SHQP 11 1954 COUNTRY 2-STEP More Advanced Classes Sunday thru Thursday Instructor: DOROTHY FOSTER (A qualified teacher for over 26 years) CALL 423-8907 To Enroll Soon! Or Come A Little Early! Couples, Please Partial perm, Special $25 to $35 20 off all retail mousse, gels, and glazes CHARGE IT. PHONE 000-0000 (jive- someone special delirious j)opecrn, bunny Jrom Dels. Jhesc adoraSk (mntij are attula6le in Jtink yellon), blwt and u) kite atH.OO and2.00. If your layers seem too flat, or your spiked hair has lost its dimension, treat yourself to our partial perm.

And add body or curl where you need it the most. The number of permanent wave curls and type of perm used determine price. Perm include shampoo, style and cut. 20 off all regular prices of retail mousse, gels and glazes. Nexxut products always Sal prices effective through Saturday, March 29th.

Call or stop in today. Salon Hours Weekdays: 8 am-9 pm Sunday Noon-5 pm No Appointment Necessary f. 1986. J. Penney Company, Inc.

PD enney 14-Z Merchant Decatur Jllmois 4-29l0031 Hickory Point Mall DANCING: The Complete Exercise! Easy, Fun and Inexpensive!.

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