Palouse Writing Project - 3. Themes from the Background

A principal decision that I face is how much to draw from the true story as represented in the newspaper articles, summarized in an earlier posting, that describe a boy’s turmoil and how much to draw solely from my imagination.

There are many fascinating aspects about the newspaper articles, but this is not the story of the boy in the articles; it’s the story of Micah Kingman (tentative name) who will be a fictional and different person in the story Palouse. I stress the word fictional, though, because Palouse will definitely not be the story of this cello prodigy from a small town in Eastern Oregon. But there are a number of intriguing themes to explore based upon the newspaper story. That is, the story may share some of the incidents of the newspaper articles, but will come entirely from my imagination.

These are the similarities that I plan to carry forward into Palouse:

• The protagonist will be of mixed race and will be adopted by a large, religious family from a rural area—in Washington rather than Oregon.
• Micah will be a child prodigy in an instrument that I’ve not yet decided on—maybe a trumpet, maybe a violin. He will be a self starter.
• Micah’s mother, tentatively named Betty, will be a piano teacher and a strong-willed person who recognizes Micah’s talent and who has a difficult time with Micah’s turning away from the cello and acting more like the teenager that he is.
• The story, Palouse, will track the success and downfall of Micah.
• Micah will be sent on a wilderness trek and/or a school for troubled kids.

This list exhausts, I hope, the major similarities. From these I plan to take off some larger themes for exploration:

• The enormous pressures derived from the expectations to be great
• The impact of (deserved) early fame on other aspects of growing up. Bill Bradley’s great book on his NBA career, Life on the Run, explores the theme of immaturity in the context of too-easy success among professional basketball players.
• Growing tensions at puberty among family, career, self
• The impact of the absence of a “normal” childhood
• The impact of a week of complete freedom without family around
• The breakdown and rebellion of Micah in the context of alcohol, drugs and sexuality.
• A religious camp to cure the anger and immaturity problem and at the school a boy whose anger is not identified as a problem of sexuality.
• Micah’s redemption and self realization, which are not at all in the true story.
• The disappointment that parents must face when their child does not meet up to their wishes for him or her and the acceptance (or not) of the inability to continue to direct the life of their child.
• The growth of Micah and his love for (tentative name) David, another musician who is gay and whose life and Micah’s have intertwined during encounters over the years.
• David’s love for Micah and his willingness to help rebuild Micah and the growth and development of his talent, with the hope that Micah will reciprocate David’s love.
• The reconciliation of Micah with his mother as forced by David once David and Micah have become lovers.

In the next posting, I’ll provide the plot summary that I’m tentatively looking at, while recognizing that the story may change as it is written.