Jackie Morse Kessler had an idea for a book. One day over lunch, she told her agent. When she was rich and famous, when she could do whatever she wanted she wanted to write this book, she said.
The agent was perplexed. If she wanted to write it so badly, why didn’t she just do it?
Kessler hedged. A former bulimic, she wanted to write a book about an anorexic girl. But she figured there wouldn’t be much of an audience.
Eating disorders aren’t sexy, she said. `No one would want to read about that.`
Still, her agent’s endorsement emboldened her. She was in the middle of another project, but she quickly switched gears.
`It just all came flowing out in four weeks,` Kessler said.
The result was `Hunger,` published in October. Kessler, a Delmar resident, will read from and talk about the book at the Bethlehem Public Library on Sunday, Feb. 27, at 2:30 p.m.
Kessler wanted to write the book to help spark conversation about eating disorders. She still struggles with body issues herself, and she cringes that even cover models are digitally enhanced in this day and age.
`It just eats me up when I see people getting all wrapped up in what it is to be beautiful, what it is to be sexy,` she said.
But Kessler didn’t want to take a textbook approach to the topic. Growing up, she loved comic books ` so much so that for a long time, she thought she was going to make her living as a comic book artist. She’s also fascinated by the battle of good vs. evil and the mystique of magic.
Mixing a little of all that together, Kessler crafted a story about a girl who is visited by Death. Given a set of scales, she is told she is now one of the four riders of the Apocalypse: Famine.
Steeped in fantasy, the book also sticks to Kessler’s mission of talking about eating disorders.
`It takes a very hard-hitting look at eating disorders,` she said.
Kessler hadn’t really planned to write a whole series of books based on the riders of the Apocalypse, but when she finished `Hunger,` her agent asked what the next one would be. And so `Rage` was born. Set for release in April, this book tells the story of another teen girl who is visited by Death. A self-injurer, or cutter, she is tapped to become another rider of the Apocalypse: War.
Unlike `Hunger,` Kessler couldn’t draw on personal experience for `Rage.` She did a lot of reading and research into cutters, and then she settled on a main character.
But she needed something else before the words would flow: a first sentence.
`I need to have something I could kick it off with,` she said.
Inspiration struck, oddly enough, when she put her cat to sleep. `The day Melissa Miller killed her cat, she met the Angel of Death,` Kessler wrote.
The books are united by more than the riders of the Apocalypse theme. Kessler said the theme is `how we choose to destroy ourselves` ` a theme that’s played out in real life, not just her novels. Wanting to do something to contribute to the healing, Kessler is donating a portion of the proceeds from each book to charity. Contributions from the sale of `Hunger` go to the National Eating Disorders Association, and proceeds from `Rage` will benefit `To Write Love on Her Arms,` which aims to help people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.
Kessler already has ideas for the remaining two stories in the series. She’s working on `Loss,` which is about a bullied teenage boy who becomes the new Pestilence, and will follow that with `Breath,` focusing on the character of Death.
`That one has me rubbing my hands with glee,` said Kessler, who gets a kick out of the Death character.
Despite all that writing, Kessler does have a day job. She is the copy chief for a business management journal, a role in which she’s a stickler for grammar, consistency and style.
`I’m convinced being a copy chief has helped my creative writing,` she said. `It’s forced me to examine each word.`
When writing the horsemen trilogy, Kessler was as careful about the words she didn’t use as the ones she did. At 40, she feels she can still relate to teenage main characters ` `I think I stopped maturing at 16` ` but she realizes she no longer talks like one.
`I stayed away from slang, because I want to avoid sounding like a 40-year-old trying to sound like a 16-year-old,` she said.
She’s eager to meet fans both young and old ` Kessler has also written some adult novels ` at the library. She said she and other authors thrive on validation, but she also tries to take something from people who criticize her work.
`Positive or negative feedback is genuinely rewarding,` she said.
Kessler’s talk is free.“