Wisteria is the only thing me and Daddy ever argue about. I say the flower is purple and he says it's blue. I tell him I don't see how anyone can hate a flower that's so beautiful and smells so sweet. Daddy says he don't understand how anyone could love a vine that wraps itself around every limb on a tree like it wants to choke the life out of it.
Can't you just hear the cadence of Ann Fay's voice?
Next I took a look at HATTIE BIG SKY by Kirby Larson.
What I love about HATTIE's flap copy is the last paragraph:
Lovingly stitched together from Kirby Larson's own family history and the sights, sounds, and scents of homesteading life, this young pioneer's story celebrates the true spirit of independence.
I decided to start my flap copy with a quote from my book the same way Joyce did with BLUE. Then I wrote a paragraph that briefly sums up the plot, and then borrowing from HATTIE, I included that my book is also inspired by a family story.
Though I'm sure my editor and copyeditor will revise it, my attempt at flap copy is below:
Sometimes when the
kerosene lamp casts shadows, I think I see Ma’s ghost. If she were still alive,
she’d say, Jessie Pearl, you keep on studying. Not everybody is cut out to be a
farm wife. We’ll find a way to pay for teachers’ college. Leave your Pa to me.
And tonight, Ma would
notice how my hands are trembling. I can almost hear her voice. Jessie,
fourteen is too young to help birth a baby. Why don’t you go and study in the
kitchen? But Ma is just a memory.
It’s 1922, and Jessie has big plans for her future, but
that’s before tuberculosis strikes.
Though she has no talent, for cooking, cleaning, or nursing, Jessie puts
her dreams on hold to help her family. She falls in love for the first time ever, and
suddenly what she wants is not so simple any more.
Inspired by Shannon Hitchcock’s family history, THE BALLAD
OF JESSIE PEARL wraps you like an old quilt in the traditions, tastes, and
dialect of rural North Carolina.
So what do you think? Did I pull off writing flap copy? It's not as easy as it looks!
