I named this posting after the wonderful Simon and Garfunkel song. My novel begins and ends in silence. This is a literary technique, sometimes referred to as Bookends or Framing Device, that I have always admired and wanted to use in my novel. The first sentence “Silvia Greco knew that the silence would not last” foreshadows the ending scene in which “a great silence overtook them all, and their voices melted in the air.”
By using the particular sense of hearing, I was able to differentiate peace from of war by the vast difference in their sounds. Silvia knows the sounds of fighting: The smashing, crashing, slamming and screaming sounds that are associated with disharmony. The bigger the fight, the louder the sounds: Gunshots, bombs, missiles, planes flying into skyscrapers. These are the loud, abrasive sounds of war. Peace has another sound, and Silvia and her family heard this sound in the final scene of my novel. “It was the kind of silence that was bigger than any sounds that could be heard. The kind of silence that Silvia has heard in the Cape May sunset. It was the sound of togetherness. It was the sound of six becoming one. The sound that rises above it all. The sound of peace.”
This post is from my blog series, “Tips for Writing Fiction.” Be sure to check out my Greco Family Trilogy books, which include Olive Branches Don’t Grow on Trees, Discovery of an Eagle, and The Bird that Sang in Color. These books are available from all major online book sellers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.
