Five Questions: Edgewater author E.R. Beecher

Edgewater resident and Edgeville Buzz reader Ron Beecher recently published a book titled Casco, which takes place largely on the coast of southern Maine has several themes.  In the prologue there is a brutal murder, a hate crime which casts the shadow of expectation over the rest of the story; after that violence is over the story settles down to a rather charming coming of age story, but which becomes edgier as the years pass.  The story jumps back and forth from the 1950s to the late 1990s, giving adult perspective on the events that took place 30 years earlier.  In a way it is a murder mystery, though after police investigation the people involved just wanted to forget that it happened, but they couldn’t, murder changes everything.  A quick read at 179 pages, Casco will run you $2.99 on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as in iBook, Kindle and Nook.
We asked Ron “Five Questions” as part of our short interview series.
Edgeville Buzz:  How long have you lived in Edgewater?
Beecher:  I’ve lived in Edgewater for about 7 years and Andersonville before that since the year 2000, when I moved into the city from the Northern Suburbs, my son and his wife found the apartment for me – they wanted me to move to the city.  It has been good for me.
EVB:  What do you love about the neighborhood?
Beecher:  I love the diversity.  And, there is so much going on in Edgewater and Andersonville.  Tons of great restaurants; interesting shops that we visit nearly every weekend to see what is new; I love seeing familiar faces, it’s a lot like living in a small town, in a way it feels cozy.
EVB:  What was your motivation for writing “Casco?”
Beecher:  Honestly, the seed in my mind was the building, the Grandmother’s house.  The location is based on a place on the New Jersey Coast that I knew as a teenager and later as an adult.  It is a great venue. It’s perched on the top of a high hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and you can even see New York City from there.  The view is one of the best I’ve seen anywhere.
It’s interesting how a story grows.  I started thinking about this place as I drove back and forth, every couple weeks, between Chicago and the east coast.  I would spend my time in the car thinking about how a story about this house would develop.  Early on I decided that making the story a murder mystery would make it interesting, but that would mean killing one of the characters.  So, I had to create a sacrificial lamb so-to-speak.  And in order to make his death mean something I had to develop him as an individual, a person, someone who would be missed and leave a hole in the lives of other characters, one character’s life anyway.  Knowing his fate made me sad, as I made him real.  The reader will feel this too.
Then about 3 years ago I sat down to write in my spare time.  At one point I was too busy to write and took off about 3 months.  Toward the end of those 3 months I felt I needed to get back to the story.  I felt distinctly that I had left my characters in the lurch and they wanted me to come back and finish their story, they were impatient.  For me writing is pleasurable, natural.

EVB:  Who is your favorite author or book and why?
Beecher:  Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.  I like his simple, clear style.  He tells a good story in a direct manner, I tried to imitate that style.  It makes for easy, clear reading, providing vivid mental pictures.  I have read Crossing to Safety 6 or 7 times and always find something new – nuances to the plot, the personal relationships, further understanding of the characters, that sort of thing.
EVB:  Do you have future plans to write another, or have you written other books in the past?
Beecher:  Oh yes.  I have the sequel to Casco in mind, also a thriller, and the libretto for an opera based on a story in the Old Testament.  These should keep me busy for a while.  Also, I’d like to see Casco made into a movie.  I’d like to write the screenplay.  I’m working on some short stories too.