1. How do family-life fiction authors hook and hold

readers?•“You want to drop your reader into the action while it’s happening so she gets a real-time

experience.”

By starting off the book with dialogue this can drive the reader right into the mind of the character (How to Hook Your Readers).

-By opening a book with events from your real life with a little embellishment your readers can be more involved with the events.

• “You may even embellish the events or the emotions to make those moments more involving for your spouse” ( How to Hook Your Readers).

•“Picoult has a remarkable ability to make us share her characters' feelings” (PEOPLE magazine).

- This quote from PEOPLE magazine talks about how she keeps them reader more. This quote shows the author’s ability to obtain the feelings of her characters and dive that much deeper

into her books.

2. How do family-life fiction writers persuade their readers?

• "As in her previous novels, Picoult creates compelling, three-dimensional characters who tell a story in alternating voices about what it might mean to be a good parent and a good person, to be true to ourselves and those we love. Picoult weaves together plot and characterization in a landscape that is fleshed out in rich, journalistic detail, so that readers will come away with intriguing questions rather than pat answers" (“Jodi Picoult | Vanishing Acts”).

- Jodi Picoult writes to please her readers and leaves them coming back for more, with their interesting questions.

• “. . . But that doesn’t make the story “true.” I think that real life makes for terrible plot but it makes for wonderful setting. So I try to let the places and experiences that have affected me so profoundly populate and color the world I am writing about as kind of a tribute to them, rather than drive the story itself” ("Real Life in Fiction”).

• - This quote is almost a direct lead to the thesis statement that I made because it is talking about how this author uses her outside experiences to make the novel that much more enthralling.

3. What is the relationship between family-life fiction and

truth? • “In many regards, fiction is able to approach "truth" more closely than "non-fiction". If it's done right,

fiction can be more real, more compelling, more frightening and emotionally charged than the tepid "reality" that comprises the bulk of our reader's lives” (Realistic Fiction must be more real).

• From this excerpt I can conclude that with realistic fiction can relate to people’s lives better than a book about one person in detail. From experiences of a reader and the author a realistic fiction book opens up for more discussion and generally touches closer to the heart of both people.

• “That’s a good question. I think a big part of it is that I didn’t remember every detail enough to write an autobiography. Many of the characters in the book are based on real people, but I had to make up a lot of information about them. I also did not want to write about my family, since I knew it would really upset my mom. I tried to fictionalize the family as much as possible. My real life wasn’t as instantly revelatory as in the book, and there also wasn’t as much romance. But a lot of the really weird stuff, particularly the satanic business, actually did happen. It was a lot of fun to intersperse truth with fiction. But now it’s hard for me to remember which real details I included in the book and which ones I made up” ("Winter Blog Blast Tour: Julie Halpern”).

• -This bit of information from Julie Halpern is a direct answer to my thesis statement because she was telling her interviewer that she did use some of her real life scenarios to include in her novel, while changing up the information to make it more relative and interesting.

“The day he finished the book, I found him crying on the couch. He shoved me away and went up to his room and told me that he really couldn’t speak to me for a while, he was THAT angry at me. (You’ll just have to read it yourself to see what upset him… !) Eventually, he wrote a book report on it - on the author line, he wrote: JODI PICOULT (MOM)” ("About Jodi Picoult”).

4. What truths are best communicated through the family-life genre?

• “I wanted to write about a kid who looks like she has it all together, as opposed to the character in SPEAK who is obviously falling apart. I think we admire these "successful" kids — we envy them, wish our lives were that orderly. The truth is that under the surface, they are in pain, too. I also wanted to write about a girl who loves science and math because I thought that would be an interesting and unusual perspective. As soon as I started studying chemistry, I started hearing Kate. The writing was a peeling back of layers until she was ready to tell me where it hurt” (Interview with Laurie Halse Anderson “).

• “ . . . good realistic fiction novels do not dictate specific moral and ethical beliefs. Rather, they challenge readers to learn the importance of moral and ethical behavior by drawing their own conclusions after they consider the events and facts from their personal perspectives using their own moral and ethical judgments ("Characteristics of Good Realistic Fiction”). (Page 21)

• - This bit of information implies that not everyone interprets the same thing from each novel of this genre that they read but take their personal beliefs to depict images from the novel. There is truth behind this genre because as a specific type of realistic fiction, both the author and readers can relate to subject matter in the book. If this was not possible then there would be no truth between the lines of the books.

5. How do the authors of family-life fiction find a balance between fiction and real-life situations in

order to spice up their writing?• “Finding ideas is not difficult. Finding energy and time is the real challenge. I see ideas everywhere

— all I have to do is to watch kids in the grocery store or teenagers in the mall. I struggle to find the right combination of family time, writing time, and time spent traveling and speaking. But the work is so incredibly rewarding. There is just nothing like those moments when you know you've gotten a scene down, or you've finally honed a paragraph to the point where it sings. That motivates me” (Interview with Laurie Halse Anderson “).

• - Laurie Halse Anderson tells her interviewer that she gets ideas from people in the world. By doing this she has a balance of ideas from outer sources, while tapping into her depths of imagination as well.

• “ Learning to write convincing dialogue is such an important aspect of writing, and obviously such a challenging one that aspiring authors take courses and classes, and practice the "how-tos" of mastering the art.  In a sense it seems almost as though you've redefined fiction, or created a new genre, based on the way you use and incorporate dialogue into your novels.  On the other hand, aren't you doing exactly what writers are taught to do (?) - listen to the conversations people around you are having.  Hear, really hear what actual conversation sounds like.  Then write it.” : question from RoseEtta Stone with Jodi Picoult

• “I think all writers are students of humanity.  We watch and we listen and we file it away for future use (this also makes us very bad friends and relatives).  When I write, I rarely feel like I'm "creating."  I feel like I'm watching a movie - my characters are playing right on the computer screen in front of me.  And they're so real that naturally, when they speak, they sound like two ordinary folks having a chat” ( "Interview with Jodi Picoult.“).

• - By utilizing ideas from the real word authors like Jodi can create a novel with both outside and creative ideals.

6. What steps does a family-life fiction author take from start to finish of a

book?• Jodi Picoult, for example, found it beneficial to do extensive research in order to get a better background on the

subjects she was using in her books.• - This quote comes from Jodi Picoult herself . . . From an interview from March 5, 2010. • Q: “You have been known to do extensive research about the topics in your books. What was the research

process like for this novel?”

• -”In addition to meeting with attorneys to get the legal information accurate, I met with six teens with Asperger's, and their parents --- face to face. Even though some of the kids were very awkward in a direct setting, I needed to experience that to understand how the rest of the world would feel coming in contact with Jacob” ("Bookreporter.com - Author Profile: Jodi Picoult“).

• Q: “In a previous interview, you referred to your novels taking part in a long line of “moral and ethical fiction.” When you first began writing, did you have the intention of using your work as a springboard for conversation about moral and ethical issues? Or did that come later on?” JP: I think I started gravitating toward that sort of niche as I kept writing. I have always written about subjects that engage me --- questions I can’t answer myself. They apparently tend to be big moral and ethical issues! But I never lose sight of the fact that before I was a writer, I was a teacher. I still am. My classroom’s just gotten a little bigger. ("Bookreporter.com - Author Profile: Jodi Picoult”).

- - Jodi changed things as she kept on writing, which is one of her “steps” in writing. Like with this paper not everything is set in stone; changes are constantly made to make better.

7. What is the essential question that all authors ask themselves before they

begin to write their novels? -Many others begin somewhere, so why not ask themselves a question? From my research I found

that authors such as Jodi Picoult asks them self certain questions to drive their imagination even further

• “Usually, a what-if question: what if a boy left standing after a botched suicide pact was accused of murder? What if a little girl developed an imaginary friend who turned out to be God? What if an attorney didn't think that the legal system was quite good enough for her own child? I start by mulling a question and before I know it, a whole drama is unfolding in my head” ("Jodi Picoult | FAQs”).

• - “What is my purpose in life? Often we ask ourselves this sort of question. Who am I? Why am I here? What do I give back? In many ways our answers to these questions shape our identities. These are the type of questions that Jodi Picoult poses in her recent novel” My Sister's Keeper ("MY SISTER'S KEEPER by JODI PICOULT”).

• - Jodi poses theses types of questions in her novel.

8. How much of family-life fiction is based on the authors real life, and their fictional

choices?• “. . . But that doesn’t make the story “true.” I think that real life makes for terrible plot but it makes for wonderful

setting. So I try to let the places and experiences that have affected me so profoundly populate and color the world I am writing about as kind of a tribute to them, rather than drive the story itself” ("Real Life in Fiction”).

• - This quote from Pam Jenoff, author of “Almost Home” is almost a direct lead to my thesis statement because she says that she takes experiences from her real life and places them in her books as a tribute to the people. My thesis statement was about how authors of the family-life genre uses their experiences in their life to put them into their books.

• “I have a cousin who’s autistic. Several times, my aunt found herself in a public place trying to control one of his meltdowns --- and people who didn’t understand why she was restraining him contacted authorities and made allegations of abuse. As he got older, and moved into a group home, his frustrations became more intense because of his size --- he’d break in windows with his fist, for example --- and several times the police were called. It got me thinking that the legal system works really well, if you communicate a certain way. But if you don’t, it all goes to Hell in a handbasket really quickly. A lot of the hallmark behaviors of autism --- flat affect, stimming, not looking someone in the eye --- could very easily be misinterpreted as signs of guilt” ("Bookreporter.com - Author Profile: Jodi Picoult“).

• - Jodi Picoult tells her interviewer that she got her ideas for one of her books, House Rules, she tells them that she got the idea for her character to have autism because of her cousin. By looking at her cousin’s struggle she got some ideas, while shifting the names and specific details, which comes from her imagination.

• Question: “What led you to OI as the topic for this book? Did the idea of a wrongful birth suit come first or second? Talk about the research required for writing this novel.”

• Jodi Picoult: “The seed for HANDLE WITH CARE began with an article I read about wrongful birth --- a mother in New York who had recently won a multi-million dollar settlement suing her OB/GYN after her son was born with severe chromosomal abnormalities. It was clear from the article that she loved this child dearly --- but that in order to give him a better lifestyle, she needed to tell the world she would have aborted the fetus, if given the chance.” ("Bookreporter.com - Author Profile: Jodi Picoult”).