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Although A Dream Across Time is fiction, St. Lucia is a real place with a wonderful story of its own. We are also psychotherapists with an intimate knowledge of psychological processes and motivations. The columns in this section provide insight into the settings, culture and characters in our works. We want to share this material and our perceptions with other authors but believe that many of our readers will find these columns of interest as well.
If you would like to see what we have been up to and to see some of what we are dealing with as we move to self publish, go to our blog at http ://letmedigress.blogspot.com. We want it to be interactive so join in. The columns from this section will also appear in the blog.
At the end of the latest column, you'll find clicks for past columns.
Column 2
Psychological insights into Jamie Elliott
In the beginning we had a general story outline but needed a lead character who had characteristics we could admire. We wanted a woman who was gutsy, independent, committed, loving, creative, intelligent, and dedicated. Totally unacceptable was a woman who was a victim, weak willed, indecisive, and a poor communicator. How often have all of us suffered through books where, if the characters talked to each other, the story would have been over in ten pages? The woman who became Jamie had to be a modern woman with real strengths.
Our setting and the story seemed to work better if she was married but, as a person living in the real world, Jamie needed to have a less than stellar marriage. When we sent early drafts out we found a surprising number of people who thought Jamie should have immediately dumped her husband, Paul. As psychotherapists and experts on stepfamilies, we wondered if these people who were so quick to bail out had ever made a go of a marriage. One of the objects of marriage is to try to grow together and it can be uneven. Jamie is not a quitter and marriages need to be given a chance. Maybe a new start for the marriage WAS indicated.
Did she make an error with Paul in marrying him? Perhaps. We can go to pop psychology and speculate about how marriage to him was "just what she needed". That it was "perfect", etc. Baloney.
Human beings are programmed to get married and have children. As much as we may love the characters on Sex and the City, we do not aspire to their lives. We aspire to what they aspire to. It's a fundamental goal to want marriage and family.
We can speculate about how Jamie might have been neurotically playing out deficiencies or pathology in her family of origin. Dredge up the collected works of Sigmund Freud and get out the fluffy duster. Now, let's see. On second thought, forget it. Maybe that would be pointless. Not just because Jamie is a fictional character but also because people make honest efforts which sometimes don't work out. Maybe Jamie married too soon after her father's death and maybe Paul looked like a good bet. He might have grown up. Grown with her. We get married with high hopes and for half of us it ends in divorce. Move on.
Now we really get to the heart of the issue. What did Jamie do? Her husband had turned out to be a philanderer who was working hard on a case of alcoholism. When that was fully dawning on her, Jamie had a choice to make. She could go back to the States and "safety" or stay in an alien culture and take the "risk". She made a rational decision. In the States Jamie had only "safety" and a familiar environment. On St. Lucia she had found a beautiful island, lovely people, a job she might not have found in the States, and she had such a good friend in Barbara.
She also had to decide about a relationship. Her husband had turned out to be a "rat". Should she take a chance on another relationship, another man? Should she dream and go after the dream? As you can see in the story, life was hitting Jamie hard. Jamie was determined not to turn tail and leave. She picked herself up, dusted herself off and started all over again as the song says.
We understand that sooner or later death will come knocking at our door. But what about when life is at the door? Do we pretend not to be at home?
How did Jamie come to this position of being so willing to confront life as it came? Life came to the door, she answered and she was dealt a hand full of dreams. A hand she took willingly, with commitment. Did her mother do a really good job of instilling confidence in her daughter? Let's hear it for her mother! But then did Paul's alcoholic mother sow the seeds of his problems? Is she responsible, in the end, for how his life turned out? Oops! Was that "let's blame it on Mom"? Parents get a lot of undue blame AND undue credit. We'd like to take credit for the accomplishments of our children but before we get too puffed up with their achievements or too guilty about their failures, it requires a close look at the record. Some really rotten kids come from great families and some great kids come from rotten families. Parents have an influence but kids have choices. And this is who Jamie is. She has beauty, brains and talent. Squandering all those gifts is one option. She chose to make the most of them as she faced loss and adversity. For Jamie, the book shows some possible answers to the questions, " Where will you be if you dream? Who will you be if you dream?"
What will be true for you if you dream?
Past Columns
Column 1 - St. Lucia
Column 2 - Jamie Elliott
Column 3 - Andre Demontagne
Column 4 - Paul and Danielle
Column 5 - Marcus Deroche
Column 6 - Bertille Deroche
Column 7 - What It's Like Living in the Tropics, Part 1
Column 8 - What It's Like Living in the Tropics, Part 2
Column 9 - Taylor, Clarisse and Barbara
Column 10 - How Does Our Writing Partnership Work?
Column 11 - Goal, Motivation, Conflict and Creativity
Column 12 - Family Life is a Saga
Column 13 - Toward A Circle of Dreams; I don't believe in ghosts.
Column 14 - A Book Walked in the Door
Column 15 - Every Woman Knows This Story
Column 16 - The Bridge
Column 17 - Why the Mystical Element in A Dream Across Time?
Column 18 - Gaia and myth in the Demontagne Saga
Column 19 - Carl Jung, Mythology and the Demontagne Saga
Column 20 - Carl Jung's Concepts in the Demontagne Saga
Column 21 - Martinique
Column 22 – Janine-Yvette Demontange (Yvie)
Column 23 – Anne-Clarisse Demontagne (Lissa)
Column 24 - Philippe Diamant Demontagne (Philippe)
Copyright© 1987-2006 Annie Rogers LLC dba Bivens and Jensen Publishing. All rights reserved |
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