February 2, 2015 at 1:39 p.m.
Rhinelander resident to sign new novel
Rhinelander resident to sign new novel
He's traveled all over the Midwest, back and forth from interstate to interstate. Over the years, he witnessed a change in the makeup of the rural communities and now he's put pen to paper to tell that story.
"West Fork," McKay's new novel is a story about a schoolteacher and the small town he lives in. It's about love and life. Ultimately though, the story is about a changing Midwest and what life was like decades ago.
"It's a love story," McKay said. "It's set in western Illinois, but it really has to do with how the whole Midwest has changed with farms becoming bigger and bigger, and fewer people living out on the countryside. It starts in 1968. A young man goes to teach at a school in a little crossroads town that just built a brand new school. The story traces his life over 27 years as he teaches there and the changes that take place over that time. It's a love story threaded through this big, major change that occurred throughout the Midwest."
Inspiration for the novel came from one of McKay's drives.
"One year, I got off the interstate highway and I veered over to Highway 78 in Illinois," he said. "I went north on that because I had an aunt and an uncle who had a farm down in that part of western Illinois. In the '60s, they had a big farm. You wouldn't be able to recognize that land today from what it was then. There used to be cows and pigs out in the fields. The fields were fenced. There were barns and houses. Most of that has been torn down and it's just big, flat fields of corn and soy beans."
McKay came across an old abandoned schoolhouse in a small crossroads town of about 100 people. It got him thinking about the people who tried to make their living in that school, only to see it eventually shut down. As he drove on, it wasn't long before he was piecing together the story that would eventually become "West Fork."
"Everyone who writes fiction does it differently and I'm not sure there's a right way," he said. "For me, once I had the idea for the story, I started to think about it. I knew I wanted to have a love story and I came up with the characters pretty quickly. I basically drove the three hours back to Madison from Illinois and I plotted the story as I drove. By the time, I got back to Madison, I essentially had the basic story in mind."
McKay said readers, especially those who have experienced life in small Midwestern towns, will find a lot of familiar scenes in his book.
"They've seen these changes in the small towns," he said. "I think readers are going to find all kinds of things they can identify with. There's a lot of authenticity. The young man is a teacher and sometimes his teaching decisions go well, like picking the right kids to lead the Pledge of Allegiance for the Veterans Day dinner. Another time he takes the kids outside to demonstrate a math problem and that doesn't go so well."
McKay will sign his book from 5 to 8 p.m. during the Taste of Chocolate event Feb. 6 at Book World in downtown Rhinelander.
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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