New York Times bestselling author, Mary Alice Monroe, said she wrote her latest book, Search for Treasure, in honor of her grandchildren.
Monroe said there are two types of authors, one that has always realized they were going to be an author and the ones that figure it out later on in life. She said she was in the first group but didn’t publish her first book until she was 40.
“I have always told stories,” Monroe said. “I am the eldest of 10 children, and back then, we didn’t have the internet. So, we would make up plays, musicals and circuses. We were always making stories up. When I would put my brothers and sisters to bed, I would make up stories.”
When Monroe was in elementary school, her teacher was the one who made her realize she could write stories for a living.
“She put a name to something I didn’t even know you could be,” Monroe said. “So, I knew from about seven that I would be a writer, but I didn’t publish my first novel until I was 40. I had written a few novels, but I didn’t have the courage to send it out for publication.”
Monroe said she stayed away from writing fiction because it would open herself up to the world.
“You reveal a little bit of your underbelly when you write fiction,” Monroe said. “In your characters, you’re finding a little more about yourself. So, it took me until I was about 40 years old to figure out that I had something to say.”
Taking that newfound confidence, Monroe said she made the conscious decision to write books with a theme of conservation. Monroe is an active conservationist and serves on several boards. She lives on the South Carolina coast, which is a source of inspiration for many of her books.
“I wanted to write books that were set against a question or crisis, usually a species that I was concerned about, and I believe that if I felt it, then I was sensing what other people were concerned about too,” Monroe said. “I wrote the Beach House with that intention. It was absolutely a decision to set the books against, in that case, sea turtles, so I could make my readers, who didn’t even know they cared about sea turtles, fall in love with them through the power of story. It is always emotion that captures a readers’ attention, rather than facts. It has been 20 years since I made that decision, and it has really paid off.”
Before Monroe even writes a word of her book, she researches what topic she is going to write about.
“For me, I developed a new way of writing books that started with the Beach House,” Monroe said. “This is what I developed for that book. I started volunteering with the Island Turtle Team and I still am today, 23 years later. I began walking the beach then I got permitted by the state to monitor nests. Over the first two years, I would do hands-on academic studies of the animals and I talked with professionals in the field about the animals to really get to know them. Through all of that, I find out what my story is. I don’t start with a story. I start with a species. I always say that I let the animals tell me what the story is. I create themes based on what I learn about the animal.”
In Search for Treasure, the characters, Jake, Love, and Macon learn that real treasure is about far more than what’s in a pirate’s chest. They discover the treasure of a rich father-son relationship, the support of community, and true friendship. The novel also offers a wealth of environmental lessons valuable to both youth and adults. The friends witness sea level rise, observe the consequences of disturbing alligators, and also experience countless interactions with wildlife: raccoons, egrets, dolphins, a river otter, and even share the miracle of bioluminescence. In Book Two of The Islanders series, Search for Treasure also continues the important rallying call for less screen time and more green time.
“I knew that I wanted to write for this 8–12-year-old grade, because these are the children who still believe that they can change the world,” Monroe said. “They still have that self-belief and confidence. For example, I talk about plastics in the ocean and how terrible it is to an audience of adults, they will say, ‘Well, what can we do?’ When I talk about it to this 8–12-year-old range, they say, ‘Well, let’s go cleanup the ocean.’ I knew that I had a chance with this next generation to excite them about wildlife and get them interested in how fun it is to go outdoors. Not because they are told to go outside and play, but because they want to. We all have an innate curiosity to explore that is in our DNA and I think we are losing that connection to explore as we stay indoors.”
With Search for Treasure, Monroe said it is truly a multi-generational book.
“When you ask an adult what some of their all-time favorite books are, at least one or two fo them will be middle-grade books,” Monroe said. “Mine would be the Secret Garden and Heidi. I love them to this day. The issues in middle-grade books and the story lines are very mature. It’s how we tell the story. I like to think there is a touchstone in the novel about what summer is, the joy of going outdoors and exploring and that innocence will remind of us those days that we treasure. I have had lots of people reach out and tell me that not only did they enjoy the book, but they are reading it to their children. That is so powerful, because there is research in child psychiatry now that parents or grandparents will bond closer with the child through reading. Aren’t we all looking for that bond?”
The Friends of the Albert Carlton Cashier Library will present the first free Author Talks Live for the summer season. Monroe leads off their series on Friday, June 10, at 3 p.m., in Lewis Hall at the Village Green.
Monroe will also be at Hudson Library’s Books and Bites at 12:30 p.m. on the same day.
“I love coming to Highlands and Cashiers for several reasons, one because it is my home state,” Monroe said. “I love the community and I just feel so at home. Who wouldn’t want to come back? I do feel that the mountain community and the mountains themselves are very conducive to self-reflection. It’s a kind of self-isolation, but it is a positive isolation. I wrote this book for my grandchildren. I took them to a remote place in the mountains of Vermont and I set them free. That is why I wrote the Islanders and the Search for Treasure. I want my grandchildren to know what it is like to be in the mountains and be in a place where you can explore.”
For more information about Monroe, or the Search for Treasure, visit maryalicemonroe.com.
- By Christopher Lugo