Few of us grow up with a certainty that we will accomplish great things and be fondly remembered by history. That's probably why a common fantasy shared by many is that one day we will discover a talent we didn't realize we had and that the subsequent changes in our lives would be uniquely challenging.
This happens to be the story of Bonnie Marson's life — and her remarkable new novel, "Sleeping With Schubert."
An artist living in Tucson, Marson actually grew up in Long Island, N.Y., and took her degree in speech from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Afterward, she studied fine arts at Douglass College in New Jersey.
She has spent the past 20 years in Tucson, painting, drawing and working with stained glass and mosaics, and has sold her work in galleries and to collectors around the country.
Then, in 1994, she wrote a short story titled "The Sphinx," which won honorable mention in the Society of Southwestern Authors writing contest. She was so excited that she quickly began a second story but suffered a block after writing only seven pages. So she stored the tiny manuscript in a drawer and let it languish for seven years.
"One day," Marson said by phone from her Tucson home, "a friend told me I should simply write until it was finished. So I fell into a pattern. I thought about characters while I drove around town. I thought about it when I made art. Then, in the evening, I would write one page. If you do that for a year, you get a book. I just sort of let it happen."
In the process, of course, she read a lot about 18th century Austrian composer Franz Schubert, who piqued her interest because of his "Unfinished Symphony" — unfinished because it has two movements instead of four. But Schubert actually wrote the "Unfinished Symphony" six years before he died. So maybe he didn't think it was "unfinished."
Marson wondered about all the things in life that remain unfinished. "Now I'm thinking, what is so great about finishing? 'Unfinished' is what gets you up in the morning."
She also discovered that Schubert died of venereal disease at the age of 31, but that he was prolific, composing nine symphonies and hundreds of songs, called leider.
Marson listened to Schubert's music while she wrote and acquired a welcome new understanding of classical music. She suggests turning it up loud to get its full effect.
"Once assembled in my mind, the characters took on a life of their own," she said. "I'd heard writers say that before, but I didn't get it. I would write a page and say to my husband, 'You're not gonna believe what Cassie did today!' I let the days unfold. I did know in advance about the big event in the middle — and how the book would end. Still, when I finished it, I cried. I was so sad to see these characters go."
Even though she has switched from art to writing, she still considers herself an artist. "It is just as creative to write as it is to paint. I see a parallel between visual art and writing now. I can tell quickly if a painting works — whether it is dark, bold, subtle or comes into balance, or it doesn't. When you get to the end of 300-something pages, and it works, the elements also come together."
Marson has received positive reactions so far from serious musicians, which helped her get a Sony classical CD of Schubert's music to accompany the book. She is glad that her protagonist, Liza, received a musical gift — even if it comes with the composer himself "inhabiting" her body. "Her life changes, and she finds it is good to be passionate about something out of the ordinary.
"The classical music world is conservative in a lot of ways. What you know is very important. Musical people attending concerts may notice a missed note in the third measure. To some that would be disgusting, but for others, the talent of someone like Liza is amazing and exciting. People love it when someone is fallible."
Writing the book has caused Marson to ruminate a great deal about the character of genius. "Why did Picasso never draw like a child? Why did Mozart start playing at the age of 4? Is there a gene for that? It's fun to think about that. Are geniuses bigger spirits than the rest of us? Are they absorbing so much more?"
She also thinks about all "the fabulous manuscripts that may be lying around in desk drawers, of inventions still on the drawing board, of people not taking their ideas seriously enough. I wonder who has a beautiful voice or some other fabulous talent that we'll never see because they don't try to share it. You can listen to a higher calling and change your life."
Ironically, Marson — who sent her work out to the literary world, got six agents interested in it, sold it to Random House in one week, then soon afterward cut a movie deal with Paramount Pictures (maybe Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock will play Liza?) — is undergoing some of the life changes experienced by her main character. "Only without the genius!
"When I think back on it, I still get goose bumps."
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com