Jennifer E. Smith is the author for this Thursday's Author Tales. Jennifer's debut novel The Comeback Season was released March of this year. You can see my review for The Comeback season here. Her upcoming novel You Are Here will be released May of 2009! Don't forget to leave a comment for an entry into the Monthly Contest.
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Two years ago, when I first sat down to write a novel about a couple of Cubs fans, I decided to set it in 2008. I knew it was a bit of a gamble, since the book would be out before the season even started, and I had no way of knowing how the Cubs would do. But it seemed only fitting. After all, the last time the Cubs won the World Series was back in 1908, and what better way to honor the 100th anniversary of their heartbreaking losing streak? What better way to call for its end?
At the time, the Cubs were dead last in their division, and it was looking like their chances of changing course anytime soon were pretty slim. But even so, my editor was surprised to hear that I didn’t plan on saying whether or not the Cubs win at the end of the book.
“But it’s called The Comeback Season,” she said. “Shouldn’t there be a comeback?”
I could see her point, of course. Predicting a win would have been a bold move, a hopeful statement about the team I love. It would have been like betting on a comeback, like wishing for a happy ending.
But I simply wasn’t that brave.
Writing about the Cubs is a dangerous endeavor. You have to walk a line between caution and hope, worry and optimism. Too hesitant, and the next loss might be your fault for not believing enough. Too confident, and all of a sudden you’re the newest scapegoat in a long, long line. Tempting fate isn’t something Cubs fans take lightly. So how could I possibly forecast a World Series win – fictional or not – for a team plagued by such terrible luck?
Perhaps it’s the same when trying to predict the future of any story. Though if my book had been about the Yankees, I’m not sure I’d have had such a tough time capping it off with a rousing victory scene.
But then, I’m not a Yankees fan.
I’m a Cubs fan.
And as it turned out, I was right to be cautious. After spending most of this season at the top of the standings, the Cubs made it to the playoffs only to promptly lose all three games in a row. Perhaps it was the only way the story could have ended after an entire century of futility. Or perhaps it was just bad luck, another addition to the gut-wrenching chain of losses and curses and collapses that have left even the most hopeful among us feeling like we must be at the wrong end of a bad joke.
But the fact is that baseball seasons, like stories, often end in disappointment. And so maybe the trick is just in realizing that comebacks can come in all different forms. In the book, Ryan’s comeback has little to do with baseball or winning, and even less to do with the World Series. But in many ways, it still is about the Cubs, about what they’ve taught her, the way they’ve shaped her, the times they’ve carried her through, losses and all.
This year, my heart rose and fell with the Cubs, and though I understand that not every story has a happy ending, I’d like to think that maybe ours just happens on Page 101, rather than Page 100…which is reason enough for me to keep turning the pages, to keep hoping, to keep coming back.
Because there’s always next year, right?
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Thanks Jennifer for the post! And as a fellow Cubs fan I feel your pain! For more information on Jennifer or The Comeback Season, visit the following link:
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thecomebackseason