Guest blogger: Nicole Alexander

The power of love

‘Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.’

And so Rhett Butler, fed up with the chase, said good-bye to Scarlett in Gone With The Wind. Millions of readers of this classic tale of the south were shocked at Scarlett’s foolishness at losing the dashing Rhett, after all this was a love story to end all love stories. Or was it? Gone With The Wind is actually about Scarlett’s love for the land and her beloved property Tara; everything else in her life was secondary.

The use of romantic elements to drive plot by creating interest and conflict is one of the great joys of writing and reading. Human nature is such that all of us are either in or out of love, falling in love, aspiring to it, losing it or sagely waving good-bye to it. And love, as an intangible quality has the ability to conjure from characters all the flaws, preconceptions, assumptions and joy that a writer can wish to manifest. In short: love sells.

With my first novel released in April this year (The Bark Cutters) and an eight-year creative process behind me, discussing the storyline in detail last year with my publisher and editor was a cathartic experience. I live in the outback. This in itself is isolating; however add the solitary pursuit of writer and you sometimes find yourself questioning if you are doubly blessed. So discussing my characters with a tribe of like-minded people was both wonderful and enlightening.

‘Each of your main characters has their own love story’, I was told. I’d never thought of it that way. When planning The Bark Cutters I was more concerned with ensuring I had rounded, interesting characters. I wanted them to have wants and needs. They had to be engaging to and for themselves. Yet love—the loss, the chance, the illusion of it—eventually became pivotal to who and what the characters ultimately became on the page. Ultimately, the many faces of love drives the interweaving narrative of The Bark Cutters yet the novel is about the emotional attachment that generational graziers feel towards the land.

Of course Shakespeare knew the power of love. In many of his works love lies at the apex of his enduring plays. Love in all its many guises gives rise to hatred, revenge and murder; it can be familial, obsessive, loyal and forbidden serving as the pretext for shocking betrayals (Atonement) while capturing our proud humanity (A Farewell to Arms). Where would we be without the power of love?

The Bark Cutters is a gripping Australian family saga that centres around a family property. Past and present interweave in a story that traces the Gordon family from the arrival of Scottish immigrant Hamish Gordon in the 1850’s to the life of his great granddaughter, Sarah.

Nicole is the bestselling author of The Bark Cutters (Bantam 2010). The sequel, Boxer’s Plain, will be released April 2011.

www.nicolealexander.com.au

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