The Character of Penny
In The Father She Went to Find, how did the character of Penny come to you? Did you research any savants? Do you know anyone who experienced this traumatic opening?
Penny feels somewhat obsessed with her own rarity. She often thinks about how special she is in her mind and tells near strangers how special and smart she is. This feels surprising. What does Carter think of this trait? Is it from a life focused on her “gifts”? Is it part of her naivete?
Sebastian says to Penny, “you recall everything but know nothing” (242). He continues, “I think you are smart but not wise. And there is a vast difference between the two” (243). This feels like a completely valid insight. Carter, what was your draw in writing this sort of character?
The tendency to cut off relationships – whatever Penny passes through, she seems to feel will be the last time. Is she unable to form relationships? Is her view of the world too binary in good/evil? Don’t want to reveal the existence of Aunt Gloria & grandma & grandpa, but this is repeated throughout the narrative.
In The Father She Went to Find, Penny constantly wonders if this person or that is “good.” When Fia hides in Penny’s hotel room, she asks Penny if she’s “good.” Fia also describes the men she stole from in Nicaragua as “bad” and describes Arthur as a “good man.” (What does it mean to be “good”? Even if we are good, do we each have the potential to be a dragon?) Penny also tries to categorize herself as good.
The Role of the Mother
Sarah was struck by the mothers in In The Father She Went to Find, possibly as she is a relatively new mother herself. They appear to be a gradient of poor parenting & objects for rejection. How did Carter come to write all of the mothers in this light? Why are all the mothers separated from their children?
Don’t wish to reveal too much about Fia’s leaving her own children, or Penny’s killing her husband, or the unknown causes of the tension between Travis and his mother.
Penny tells Travis that Fia is “helping us because she’s a mother, and that’s what mothers do.” What is Penny basing this assessment on (help wise and mother wise)?
Absent Fathers
The crux of In The Father She Went to Find, is Penny’s journey to try to find her father. He’s definitely not a part of her life. Fia’s children have no mention of a father. Travis, while presumably having a father and being in an intact family, we only ever hear the mother’s perspective. Travis’ father is silent. What drew Carter to present these silent, absent fathers? There is of course Anthony’s father, who is present, but an active criminal who is then killed, becoming absent.
Penny romanticizes her relationship with her father and seems to loathe her mother. Yet her father is the one who isn’t there. Is this very absence the reason she can imagine such a great father for herself? Is that why he’s the preferred parent in light of her mother’s antagonism?
Chaos vs. Meaning
Penny seems to have a sense that the world is not orderly, that things are chaos; and yet she seems to perpetually search for meaning, almost in spite of herself. Often overlaying concepts like good and bad onto people. If the world is chaos what does good even mean?
What is Carter’s take on Chaos vs meaning? And why is this a struggle for Penny?
Fia says, “I think all this is happening for a reason. Why we met. Why we’re here together.” Penny says she thinks life is random, pure chaos. Earlier in The Father She Went to Find, Penny thinks that the universe is waiting to see her next move. By chance, they run into the Snakeskin Boys at a gas station. By chance, Penny is the one who pays (Fia had been paying for everything). Penny thinks to herself, “Coincidences happen all the time.”
“My entire time in the wild has been a test. How will a girl like me outsmart predators? And can I continue doing it?”
Places
Naturally all the Denver locations resonated (City Park, Westlake Village). Especially familiar with the Brown Palace. Done tea a number of times in the lobby area. Booked a room there after our wedding, before leaving the next morning on our honeymoon flight. Penny’s take was a lot different than mine! She felt bogged down by a sense of sadness and a history of bad things. Has Carter stayed there? Is that how he felt?
Are all the other places similar? Is this a real diner in Minnesota? A real hotel?
About Writing
The Father She Went to Find is written in first-person present tense. It was originally written in third-person past. It includes very short chapters.
Writing Process: Carter doesn’t outline his books. He figures out what his books are about as he writes. How did the novel evolve over the course of writing? What does your writing process look like?
Carter doesn’t seem to write series. Some authors have mentioned their publisher requests series. Has Carter gotten this request? How does he feel about the series vs the stand alone?
How does he title his books? Why thrillers? How do you see thrillers as different from mysteries?
The pace of writing – Do you have to start a new book before finishing an old one? Is your mind continuously flooded by possible stories?
What authors, modern or classical, influence him?
Memory
Without giving too much away, Penny in The Father She Went to Find remembers everything from after her accident. Can we say at some point she has to revise her memory in a radical way? That her memory was flawed? That she cast her entire life based on a flawed memory?
This feels like a blessing and curse. Would I like to remember every instant of abuse? Would a perfect memory interfere with resilience? To be able to have a level of forgetfulness can help in overcoming trauma.
Early on, Dr. Cheong puts her hand on Penny’s shoulder, then recalls that Penny doesn’t like to be touched. Dr. Cheong seems like a terrible therapist. Dr. Brock, in turn, up and leaves with little warning. He also seems like a problematic therapist. Dr. Brock says he had been sharing some of her accomplishments with the agency (is this a violation of ethics?).
The hero’s journey and the art of character naming – Penny’s hero’s journey is punctuated with inflection points (decisions that shift direction; there’s no turning back). The journey itself begins at the mall. Why the mall?
The aunt’s letter and the aunt’s lack of direct involvement. And those fake annual birthday cards. None of this seems healthy or productive. “I convinced myself you were fine.”
What exactly is happiness? Does happiness come only after struggle?
Why do snakeskin boots take so long to try to execute Fia? Why does Penny take so long to warn Fia of what’s coming?
Let’s talk about Penny’s solo flight from the comedy club in The Father She Went to Find. Why is it important that she separate from Travis for a while? What does she learn while on her own? What does she come to learn as she eventually trusts in Travis and Fia and reveals what happened with Officer Bain?
Why does the cop follow Penny? She saw him at the club, yes, but so did Travis. And she’s obviously on the run.
Why does Travis have a gun in his car?
At the Star*Lite Inn, Penny has a “chance at rebirth. In this broken-down motel, I can be anyone in the world.”
Penny sees Nancy Drew as a “woman in power. A woman in control. A woman in charge of the direction of her life.” “Here I am, failing all the lessons I learned from Nancy Drew.” Let’s talk Nancy Drew …
Travis tells Penny, “I’d kill to have what you have [her abilities].” Would you?
“So much applause, and I’ve never heard that before. Not ever for me.” Or for most of us. Is applause (acclaim) something Penny is seeking? Is it something that others might be seeking if they wished for Penny’s many talents?
On the flight, she draws herself. “I rarely do this because I don’t care for the essence I find in my own image. It’s like looking in a mirror and feeling good about yourself, then seeing a photo and finding a wholly unsatisfying version of you in it. Which was the real you? The one the world sees?” [which one does the world see?]
At the end of The Father She Went to Find, Penny is able to let go. She exists in the “glorious, ephemeral now.” “I consider that, perhaps, this is all meant to be. That I was meant to experience the extremes of life, of human behavior, just so I can finally see there is no logic in the world. … In the end, there is no order of things. Nothing makes sense. What a relief.”
“On first consideration, I’d say Penny’s journey is about the irony of being so fully capable and incapable at the same time, book smarts versus street smarts, and the fierce, driving need to understand our individual histories.
“But on further examination, I realize this story is ultimately about happiness. The questioning of its existence, the endless search for it, and for those lucky enough to seize upon it, the ephemerality of its nature. Perhaps above all, it’s about finding happiness during tragedy.”
Can one experience heightened joy in the absence of abject despair?
The Father She Went to Find: Reading Group Questions
The main character is a savant who can remember everything. How does this ability affect her? If you had the ability to remember everything, how do you think you’d feel, and why? [for one thing, you’d never lose an argument …]
Penny and her father “talk” in her head. What are those conversations like, and how do they change throughout the narrative? Why do you think Penny feels the need to have those conversations?
Penny is a savant, someone with the ability to remember many details, see numbers as colors, etc. What inspired you to write a main character with these abilities?
Carter’s Podcast – Making It Up
How did Carter Wilson get started doing a podcast? Why this title? What is his format? How does he manage the remote situation? Bad wi-fi connection or sound? What kinds of questions does he like to ask his authors? How does he choose authors?
