Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

[msportmore]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Ms Thompson,

Welcome to the board and thanks for taking time out of your very bust schedule to come online and answer some of our questions.

How much research do you usually put into the book writing process?

Have you ever started a book but just never finished it? If so, do you think you will one day go back to complete that particular book?

How do you get ideas for your books? Do you usually start with a general direction that you want a story to go? Or do you start with one simple sentence? Or just a word?

Does your current mood affect your style of writing?

Thanks in advance [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

popping in to wish a warm welcome to Margaret on behalf of the bookclub (yes, i know i'm late with it, but it is no less heartfelt).

i'm going to do one more task in what has turned out to be a fiendishly busy day, then come back to ask Margaret some questions about Jamaican mother-daughter relationships.

[MCT]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Originally posted by loops:
[qb] Greetings Ms. Cezair-Thompson,

I really don't have a questions....but want you to know I thoroughly enjoyed your book. You set the stage so well, I felt I was traveling in Jean's shoes. I recommend your book to people all the time.

You've got me all excited thinking about a sequel...nevermind another book set in Jamaica. Heck, just reading these questions prompt me to read True History again....unfortunately, I sent mine to a friend.

Looking forward to your next masterpiece! And thanks for visiting with us on Jamaicans.com! [/qb]

MCT- Thank you.

[mountaingal]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Okay, I'm back. Ms. Cezair Thompson hasn't reached yet...that's okay.

My question to her is about mother daughter relationships. Monica represents many a Jamaican mother - responsible, strict, somehow, it seems, distrustful of affection because it may lead to weakness in children.

Margaret - would you agree with the above interpretation? From a North American point of view, that kind of motherhood seems on the dysfunctional side - would you agree with that view?

[MCT]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Originally posted by Portmore.:
[qb] Ms Thompson,

Welcome to the board and thanks for taking time out of your very bust schedule to come online and answer some of our questions.

How much research do you usually put into the book writing process?

MCT - Only as much as I enjoy doing and usually more than I actually need to. I love the research part of writing. I've always loved history, and may I take a moment to thank and praise my wonderful high school teachers at St. Andrew's HIgh School in Kingston, Jamaica.

Have you ever started a book but just never finished it?

MCT - no. But I have notes for things I haven't got around to yet.

If so, do you think you will one day go back to complete that particular book?

How do you get ideas for your books?

MCT I don't know. I seem to suck them right out of the air. From listening to people, from memories, from reading newspapers, thinking about the world. The important part is getting down to the writing.

Do you usually start with a general direction that you want a story to go? Or do you start with one simple sentence? Or just a word?

MCT- I usually have a general sense of the direction I'm going in. But more important, I start with characters. For instance in the case of a short story of mine, "Boat Man," that was published several years ago in a journal called "Callaloo": I had a very clear vision of a strong, large man with dreads who was a builder and mender of fishing boats, a man who was powerful in build but very meek in his heart. And then I just started writing the story.

Does your current mood affect your style of writing?

MCT - NOt really. While I'm writing I'm in the writng mood. When I'm experiencing something sad or painful, I'm not writing, I'm experiencing that particular thing...then later when I've got a bit of distance I might try to write about it.
Thanks in advance [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [/qb]

[SistahD]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

...just so you all know, Margaret was having technical difficulties on line... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] will be back tomorrow.


I myself had difficulties of another nature before I got booted off line! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[MCT]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Originally posted by mountaingal:
[qb] Okay, I'm back. Ms. Cezair Thompson hasn't reached yet...that's okay.

My question to her is about mother daughter relationships. Monica represents many a Jamaican mother - responsible, strict, somehow, it seems, distrustful of affection because it may lead to weakness in children.

Margaret - would you agree with the above interpretation? From a North American point of view, that kind of motherhood seems on the dysfunctional side - would you agree with that view? [/qb]

MCT - I agree with everything you've said, and yes, you could call it "dysfunctional." But that's a social-science category, and I think you'll agree that there's a lot more to people than can be easily categorized. I think writing fiction is about trying to reveal more than one dimension of a person. While Monica is certainly hard on her daughters (and on herself) can you sort of understand her? And -- is there anything about her you like or admire? I'd be interested in hearing back from you on that. It wouldn't be interesting to write only about perfectly nice people -- if there's such a thing. And I doubt it would be interesting to read either.

[evanovitch]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

whew...couldn't on the site for awhile...

following up on what MG asked re the portrayal of the mother...

we send our kids to boarding schools all in the interest of a better education and this is during their formative years...this can be seen as one of the legacies of our colonial past along with the leaving of others with helpers to mother them , again during those formative years...again a trait of the upper classes of our former colonial masters...could the distant demeanour of the mother be seen as an indictment ( a harsh word perhaps) of our colonial past, a measure of which plays , the past, that is, that plays such an integral part of ur book, albeit in a different way....

[MCT]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Originally posted by evanovitch:
[qb] whew...couldn't on the site for awhile...

MCT - yes! I had trouble with the site too.

following up on what MG asked re the portrayal of the mother...

we send our kids to boarding schools all in the interest of a better education and this is during their formative years...this can be seen as one of the legacies of our colonial past along with the leaving of others with helpers to mother them , again during those formative years...again a trait of the upper classes of our former colonial masters...could the distant demeanour of the mother be seen as an indictment ( a harsh word perhaps) of our colonial past, a measure of which plays , the past, that is, that plays such an integral part of ur book, albeit in a different way.... [/qb]

MCT - This is an interesting subject. Yes, I think the manner in which Jamaican (and WestIndian as a whole) parents "discipline" their children has much to do with the colonial past. Slavery too. While I admire the good behaviour of Jamaican children, I think there could have been less fear and more affection, less suppression and more openness. Hopefully things have chnaged with the youger generation of parents. Still, we do love our children and want the best for them. Maybe that element of fear is a legacy of slavery: parents afraid that if their children misbehaved they would be severely punished by the masters, so the parents did the punishing. Then there's the whole tradition of mothers having to leave their children with someone else while they, the mothers, find work (something I'm dealing with even more in this new book I'm writing). I'm very inmterested in all this and tried to convey both the sadness and a certain admiration I have for those "strict" mothers.

[evanovitch]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

the journey across the island to catch that plane captures so much of the essence of what was going on on the island at that time, and coincidentally, what is going on still today...the elements of the security forces, their behaviour towards the 'average' citizen and the reaction to the couple, who could be sized up as topanalls , to use a colloquial phrase....a breakdown across the board of those who r integral to maintaining a certain amount of structure in our society...was this intent at the back of ur mind...

AND
ur book begs for such critical study in the same way we were taught in literature class to approach our reading and study of alllll those books chosen for our exam studies....have u been approached by schools/educators in jamaica, re the use of the book in their curriculum and woudl not this be a great addition to the list of such books

[SistahD]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

...Just a little reminder to take good care of Ms. Thompson this afternoon when she returns...

[mountaingal]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Originally posted by Margaret Cezaire-Thompson:
[qb]

Originally posted by mountaingal:
[qb] Okay, I'm back. Ms. Cezair Thompson hasn't reached yet...that's okay.

My question to her is about mother daughter relationships. Monica represents many a Jamaican mother - responsible, strict, somehow, it seems, distrustful of affection because it may lead to weakness in children.

Margaret - would you agree with the above interpretation? From a North American point of view, that kind of motherhood seems on the dysfunctional side - would you agree with that view? [/qb]

MCT - I agree with everything you've said, and yes, you could call it "dysfunctional." But that's a social-science category, and I think you'll agree that there's a lot more to people than can be easily categorized. I think writing fiction is about trying to reveal more than one dimension of a person. While Monica is certainly hard on her daughters (and on herself) can you sort of understand her? And -- is there anything about her you like or admire? I'd be interested in hearing back from you on that. It wouldn't be interesting to write only about perfectly nice people -- if there's such a thing. And I doubt it would be interesting to read either. [/qb]

This is hard to answer. I admire Monica as a cultural icon, a person who resonates a certain kind of Jamaicanness in not only her approach to motherhood, but to life in general and to adversity. But I don't know that I would want her to be my mother. I still get teared-up thinking about how Lana went to Monica's house after driving Jean home, and with such bravado, thinking that her mother MUST accept her this time, and being devastated when she didn't. That was a powerful passage.

[mountaingal]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Originally posted by Margaret Cezaire-Thompson:
[qb]

Originally posted by evanovitch:
[qb] whew...couldn't on the site for awhile...

MCT - yes! I had trouble with the site too.

following up on what MG asked re the portrayal of the mother...

we send our kids to boarding schools all in the interest of a better education and this is during their formative years...this can be seen as one of the legacies of our colonial past along with the leaving of others with helpers to mother them , again during those formative years...again a trait of the upper classes of our former colonial masters...could the distant demeanour of the mother be seen as an indictment ( a harsh word perhaps) of our colonial past, a measure of which plays , the past, that is, that plays such an integral part of ur book, albeit in a different way.... [/qb]

MCT - This is an interesting subject. Yes, I think the manner in which Jamaican (and WestIndian as a whole) parents "discipline" their children has much to do with the colonial past. Slavery too. While I admire the good behaviour of Jamaican children, I think there could have been less fear and more affection, less suppression and more openness. Hopefully things have chnaged with the youger generation of parents. Still, we do love our children and want the best for them. Maybe that element of fear is a legacy of slavery: parents afraid that if their children misbehaved they would be severely punished by the masters, so the parents did the punishing. Then there's the whole tradition of mothers having to leave their children with someone else while they, the mothers, find work (something I'm dealing with even more in this new book I'm writing). I'm very inmterested in all this and tried to convey both the sadness and a certain admiration I have for those "strict" mothers. [/qb]

^5 for that perspective, MCT. I've long tended to think the same thing - that our child-rearing practices are a vestige of slavery and that we would do well to recognize that and move into more positive directions in moulding our young people. Yes, spoil a few more of them so that they believe the world is theirs to conquer, rather than cow them so they know their place - usually somewhere subordinate...!

[mountaingal]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

A new question for Margaret:

Did you find yourself more endeared or estranged from your family and friends as a result of the way you depicted the Manley years in Jamaica?

I wasn't in Jamaica for most of the seventies (left in 1972), but I've spoken to many who lived through those years. And you either thought they were the best of times or you thought they were the worst of times, and that view usually had to do with what class/colour you were.

[mountaingal]

Re: Feature Guest: Margaret Cezair-Thompson, May 2004

Another question - one that is really fass: How did you get your French name Cezair?