Courtyards at Southpoint
Book Club Talks Writing with Granger, Rank
The Courtyards at Southpoint Book Club celebrated the contributions of two neighborhood authors, Noelle Granger and Tom Rank, Oct. 20 in the clubhouse.
Many club members recently read their latest books — Daniel Boone and Me, by Noelle, and Paradox of a Crime, by Tom.
Both authors noted they started writing fiction after they retired. Previously, Noelle taught anatomy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Tom worked in the biotechnology and food industry 30 years.
​
“I wrote scientific books, articles and papers for 40 years. Science writing is very formulaic,” Noelle said. “So, when I retired, I started writing novels, which allowed me to be creative.”
Noelle Granger, top left, and Tom Rank, below left, discuss their work with neighbors.
​​​Daniel Boone and Me is her seventh published book. Her writing has spanned several genres, from romance, to historical fiction, mysteries, young-adult fiction and even a memoir intended for her family.
Insomnia propelled Tom into writing. “As many of you know, after I retired, Anne and I bought a sailboat and went to the Great Lakes,” he said. “Since I don’t sleep at night, I had to have something to do, so I started writing.”
Paradox of a Crime is Tom’s first novel, but he’s finished a second and is about halfway through writing a third.
Both authors said they write for the sheer enjoyment of it — to entertain themselves and perhaps others.
“I literally wrote this just for fun,” Tom said, patting the cover of his novel. He explained the enjoyment involves figuring out the twists and turns of his plots, and he writes where his characters and their stories take him.
Noelle agreed with that philosophy. “I don’t plan ahead; I just sit down and write,” she noted. She added she writes with different audiences in mind, depending on the book and its genre. “This is one I wanted kids to read,” she said of her latest, which tells the story of siblings taken in by famed pioneer Daniel Boone and his family and particularly describes the lives of pioneer women in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Noelle and Tom also agreed the most onerous aspect of being an author is marketing their books.
“The biggest issue is marketing, and there are some options you can pay people to do,” he reported. “And it can cost you a lot of money,” she added.
Noelle has been influenced by the abundance of historical novels she has read. And Tom said people he knows influence him and show up in his novels, quipping, “When you live on a boat, you meet a lot of interesting people.”
They also agreed they get attached to the characters who live in their heads for months on end.
Noelle acknowledged she cried when she wrote about the death of one of her characters. And Tom said he felt a bit depressed when his first book ended and he no longer would be involved with his main character until he realized, “Well, I can put him in another book.”