The Road to Reunion

Bill Warrington's Last Chance
by James king
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In James King’s first published novel, Bill Warrington’s Last Chance, Bill doesn’t know how much time he has left, but he does know what he wants to do with it. Before his mental capacity fades out more than it fades in, he concocts a plan to force his grown children to meet together with him as a family. All three are more or less estranged from each other as well as their dad. When 15-year-old granddaughter, April, runs away from home, Bill takes her on a cross-country trip and sends his children clues which require them to work together to find him. As his condition worsens, April has to grow up fast on the long road toward California.

AUTHORLINK: Where did you get the idea for this story?

KING: The main character, Bill Warrington, is based on a neighbor of mine who passed away a number of years ago. He was a gruff but likeable guy, too proud to ask for help even as the house he built with his own hands fell into shocking disrepair. He didn’t suffer from dementia, but he had such a quirky personality that I couldn’t resist using it in a short story (unpublished), which eventually turned into the novel.

AUTHORLINK: How did you anticipate handling an unreliable narrator who isn’t always aware of what is going on?

KING: Writing from inside the head of a character suffering from dementia was one of the more interesting and rewarding challenges of writing the book. I needed to make Bill’s confusion clear without confusing the reader about the ‘where, when, and who’ of Bill’s increasingly jumbled thoughts. I just sort of crawled inside his head and reported what I saw. Those scenes are among my favorite.

AUTHORLINK: Did you outline or otherwise plan out the events of the story?

KING: I wrote a three-page synopsis of the story before I began writing the first draft. Having the basic plot and main characters in mind helped me get started. I then outlined each chapter as I went along, mainly to keep track of where the characters have been and where they might be going. But I didn’t stick too rigorously to that outline. The most fun I had in writing the novel was when the story went in a completely different direction than planned.

AUTHORLINK: Did you get writers’ block at any time?

KING: Not really. There were times when I hit a point in the story and wasn’t sure where to go next. When that happened—then, as now—I scribbled in my writer’s journal for awhile and ‘talked’ the situation through with myself. Something about writing by hand vs. keyboard seems to help. I think that for most writers today, though, there’s a bigger obstacle to productivity than writer’s block: social networking. Writing is a lonely profession. It’s too tempting and too easy to put off tackling that next scene or page by getting online to see what others are up to.

AUTHORLINK: This is your first published novel. What did you go through in your writing life to get to this point?

KING: Rejection. Lots and lots of rejection. And then… more rejection. In fact, I wrote three complete novels, all of which I couldn’t sell, before Bill Warrington’s Last Chance.

AUTHORLINK: What surprised you or impressed you the most about the publishing process?

KING: I’m fortunate to have Viking as my publisher and have been blown away by the professionalism and deep commitment to books and authors of everyone I’ve met there. And I can’t say enough about my editor, Liz Van Hoose. She’s brilliant.

AUTHORLINK: What were your lowest and highest moments in becoming published?

KING: The highest moment came when I learned that my novel would be published. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. I haven’t had a “low” moment yet.

AUTHORLINK: What is your deepest fear about being a novelist?

KING: Currently, my deepest fear is dying as a one-book novelist. With any luck, in a year or so my biggest fear will be dying as a two-book novelist.

AUTHORLINK: What is your advice to writers trying to break into publishing?

KING: First, take financial care of yourself and your family. I’m not a big believer in the starving artist routine. Second, write every day—before work, after work… whenever. No excuses. Third, keep writing. Never give up. Ever.

AUTHORLINK: What are you working on now?

KING: Another novel, this one focused on a man who discovers a secret so painful that he leaves his wife and daughter and tries to create a new life for himself in another city. Turns out to be more difficult than he’d anticipated.

James King has been a freelance writer for 20 years. He wrote his first novel soon after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1977. Most of his current novel was written during a two-year course pursuing a Master’s Degree in Writing at Manhattanville College.

Diane Slocum has been a newspaper reporter and editor and authored an historical book. As a freelance writer, she contributes regularly to magazines and newspapers. She writes features on authors and a column for writers and readers in Lifestyle magazine. She is assigned to write interviews of first-time novelists and bestselling authors for Authorlink.