The Ones We Choose

by Julie Clark

  9. Paige does not mean to tell Aaron he is Miles’s father, but blurts it out in her frustration that he won’t get tested for Huntington’s. Do her rights as a mother trump his rights as the actual owner of his genes? What emotional consequences does her revelation have? How are they compounded by Aaron’s death?

  10. How do you feel about Paige’s decision not to share her secret with Jackie? When Jackie does find out, does Paige’s explanation seem reasonable? Does her letter to Jackie do a better job of explaining all of her motives? Do you understand why Jackie cannot forgive her?

  11. Although Liam decides to give Paige a second chance, it’s hard earned. Liam says, “It’s not that I don’t want to believe you; it’s that I can’t. Not yet.” Is this a satisfying response? Is it true to their characters?

  12. When Paige visits her father’s deathbed, she sees her mother and feels guilty that she hasn’t been a more supportive daughter. According to Rose, Paige used to be the bravest person she knew. What changed for Paige after she became a mother herself? Do you think motherhood makes you more brave or less?

  13. The chapters are preceded by short informational pieces about genetics. The final two pages are about epigenetic inheritance, and they note that even if we don’t get to hear family stories, our ancestors are genetically “carried forward, a quiet memory of people long since forgotten.” Why is it so impor- tant that Paige and Miles understand both their fathers’ genetics and their stories?

  Enhance Your Book Club

  1. Has anyone in your group used the websites 23andme.com or ancestry.com? If so, have members share what they gained from the experience. If not, consider using one after reading this book. Ancestry.com offers but does not require DNA testing; 23andme.com is based entirely on genetic information. Does Paige’s story affect your preference for using one or the other?

  2. Although Jackie does not forgive Paige, she gives her the beautiful gift of a photo album of Aaron’s childhood. As the child of a sperm donor, Miles will have this very unique connection to his genetic father. Does it make you feel any differently about the photo albums you might currently have of your family? Create a photo album of your own dedicated to connecting the generations and share it with the group.

  3. Paige uses A Night of Asian Fusion to reconnect with Liam. This worked well for the characters, so why not try it with your club? Find a cooking class in your area and sign up with members of your group. If a class on Asian food does not appeal to you, try one on creating desserts or another specialty, such as Indian cooking or pizza making.

  A Conversation with Julie Clark

  This is your debut novel! Was the writing and publishing process what you expected? If not, how was it different? Is there anything you wish you had known before you started?

  I am one of those fortunate writers who have had a wonderful debut experience . . . all the way from my agent to my editor to the entire team at Gallery Books. No one knows what to expect, and you sometimes hear horror stories. I’m so fortunate to have such a solid team behind me and The Ones We Choose. I think the one thing I wish I’d known beforehand is that it takes a long time. When I started pursuing publication seriously, I really needed money to help pay for my boys’ preschool tuition. They will be twelve and nine at the time of publication, so the joke’s on me.

  You are a fifth grade teacher. Are there any skills you developed as a teacher that helped you write The Ones We Choose? What made you decide to become an author?

  Too many to count! There is nothing more instructive than taking apart a middle grade novel with my students and studying plot, character, and theme . . . and then going home and applying those lessons to my own work. Even though I write adult fiction, the framework remains the same and can sometimes be easier to see in a middle grade novel that is shorter, with fewer subplots and POVs. Another advantage is my front row seat to kids who are just a little bit older than Miles is in The Ones We Choose. I admit to listening in on their conversations and paying attention to the rhythm of their words. The back-and-forth of a conversation between ten-year-olds is different than it is between adults. Writing dialogue between children is hard. You have to get it just right in order for it to be believable.

  I’ve always wanted to be an author. Ever since my early twenties, when I worked at Berkeley and could take creative writing classes at a steep discount, I knew writing was something I would someday do. But then life got in the way, and I set it aside for a little while (actually, twenty-five years). In 2012 I lost one of my best friends to breast cancer, and I realized that if I wanted to pursue my dream of being a published author, I couldn’t wait. It took me three years and two manuscripts to get here, and I’m very excited about what’s next. I’m lucky in that I get to do two jobs I love—write and teach children. Every day!

  You have two young sons. Did they serve as inspiration for Paige and Miles’s relationship? Did any of the scenes in The Ones We Choose happen in real life with your boys?

  I parent my boys very much the way Paige parents Miles. I’d say people who know us will hear my voice very clearly when Paige and Miles are together on the page, though Paige and Miles’s relationship is uniquely theirs. Like Miles, my boys are obsessed with robots and LEGO building and Star Wars. In the scene at the pizza place, where Miles and Nick are arguing about Star Wars, I originally had them arguing about a book their teacher read in class. My editor wanted me to change it to something about Star Wars, so I asked my oldest, “What might two kids debate about Star Wars?” thinking he would give me something really great. But he never got back to me about it, so I ended up having to Google it.

  Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process? How do you map out a book? Did you know how Paige and Miles’s story was going to end when you began writing, or did it come to you as you wrote?

  Every book is different. This is the sad news, but it’s also the exciting news because the process is always fresh and thrilling (and frustrating). The first book I ever wrote, I just sat down and wrote it. I didn’t map anything out, just let it take me where it wanted to go. Obviously it was awful. With The Ones We Choose, I was a bit more thoughtful about plotting out the general character arcs. But it still went through some insane permutations . . . including one version that had Paige tracking the donor down and orchestrating a meeting before she chose him. I also knew how it would end from a very early stage. I knew I wanted this to be a story about female friendship, and I knew Jackie would gift Paige a photo album at the end, all the while still not fully forgiving her.

  With my next book, I’ve got an entire wall of note cards outlining the chapters and twists and reveals. But to be honest, I’m not sure how useful that will be, as I’m already starting to move in a different direction. I think the one thing that’s consistent every time is that I have to give myself space to think. To try things out, throw them away, and come at a story from twenty different directions before I figure out what it’s supposed to be. I don’t know if I’ll ever be someone who has a tight outline that she writes from religiously. But I’ll keep trying!

  You describe your characters so vividly. How did they come to you? How did you name them? Are they based on real people?

  My characters are the result of many years of living with them every day. Making them talk to one another, fight with one another, joke around with one another. They’re not based on real people . . . but I try to study people I enjoy being around and pinpoint what it is about them that makes them so likable. And then I try to put some of those qualities into my characters. But characters evolve over time, just like friendships do. In the book I’m working on right now, I’m struggling to figure out my two main characters: how to get them to go where I want them to go, learn what I want them to learn. I don’t know them as well as I know Paige, Rose, and Jackie. By the time my editor and I were doing our final revisions on The Ones We Choose, it was almost effortless to put them into new scenes. I’m finding it a lot harder now, with new people I don’t kn
ow as well. But the only way to get past that is to keep writing them.

  I’m terrible at naming characters. Really awful. My writing partners often annotate my drafts with the comment “This is an awful name. You need to change this.” In early drafts of The Ones We Choose, Paige’s name was Gerda, and Aaron’s name was Bryon. I sometimes still use these names by accident.

  One of my favorite things about the book is the interstitial chapters on genetics and the Donor Sibling Registry. How did you become interested in genetics? What kind of research did you conduct while writing? What was the biggest takeaway from what you learned?

  In an early draft of The Ones We Choose, Paige was the manager of a dog rescue, and she had a funny assistant named Bruno. None of it was working. I needed something that would drive Paige’s motivation. After talking with a close friend and editor about it, we landed on genetics. Paige’s reliance on science and facts was a critical part of figuring out who she was, and ultimately dictated the direction of the entire book. The genetic subplot unlocked everything. Which was alarming because I teach fifth grade and don’t know anything about genetics. So I put out a call on one of the many Facebook groups I’m in, asking if anyone knew a geneticist who might be willing to answer some questions. My friend Mary Beth wrote and said, “My husband, James, is a geneticist! He’d love to talk to you!” And from there, Dr. James West became my sounding board for all things genetics. He was so generous with his time, and we even spoke on the phone a few times as I was hammering out the oxytocin inhibitor gene. I absolutely love the interstitial chapters. Making sure I got the science right, making sure Paige was believable as a geneticist, was very important to me. I hope I’ve done Dr. West justice.

  My genetics research confirmed for me something I already suspected—that our life experiences impact our cells, and can change our DNA. What I found most exciting was the newest research about epigenetic inheritance and how we can pass our experiences on to others. In 2015 I was diagnosed with cancer, even though I had no family history and no genetic markers. What caused my cells to mutate? Was it a perfect storm of circumstance and biology? Some studies are beginning to find a correlation between stress and certain types of cancer. There’s so much we don’t understand, but incredible discoveries are happening every day. It’s an exciting time to be alive.

  Is there anything you’ve found particularly rewarding about writing and publishing The Ones We Choose? If so, what?

  Without a doubt, all the people I’ve met. Writers are some of the most generous people in the world. They are always willing to offer help or advice. Publishing, in general, is filled with truly wonderful people.

  What is your favorite way to procrastinate? What’s your best trick for overcoming a creative block?

  I’m not much of a procrastinator when it comes to my writing. But when I’m stuck, I step out of the manuscript and journal things out longhand. I don’t try to write the book . . . I just try to write about the book. What’s stumping me about a character? What’s bothering me about a certain line or chapter? I give myself permission to stop trying to fix it in the manuscript, and give myself the space to really talk it through with myself. I sometimes do this with my writing partners, but I tend to forget things, so having a written record—even if it’s just a conversation I’m having with myself on paper—allows me the freedom to think without worrying about whether I’ll remember it later.

  What is your favorite book of all time? Do you find yourself more interested in plot-driven or character-driven works?

  My favorite book of all time is probably The Time Traveler’s Wife. I also love A Discovery of Witches and Where’d You Go, Bernadette. I enjoy both plot-driven books and character-driven books, depending on my mood. I have a deep love of historical fiction, although I don’t think I could ever write it.

  What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you grow as a writer?

  My writing partners first and foremost—Aimee Molloy and Liz Kay. Nothing we write gets sent to editors or agents without first passing through the group. It helps to have people you can count on to read something and tell you whether you’re on the right track or not. I have a lot of other writing friends who are my greatest cheerleaders and commiserators, which makes the journey a lot less lonely.

  The Ones We Choose is such an emotional book, and it delves deep into intricate relationship dynamics and familial bonds. Do you find it easier or more difficult to write an emotionally charged scene? Why? What was your most difficult scene to write?

  Once I know the characters, writing them in emotional scenes happens pretty naturally because I know what they’ll probably say or not say. Or say wrong. It’s when I’m still trying to figure out who they are and what they really care about that I find it hard to write them in tense, emotional scenes. I think my first chapters are always the hardest to write. Because you have to get those pages just right. There’s so much riding on them. I’ve probably written and rewritten the first chapter of The Ones We Choose a hundred times, in a hundred different ways. The big emotional scenes that come later in the book weren’t as hard because I was in the middle of the story. I knew what my characters wanted and what was standing in their way. But first pages are hard. So much needs to be communicated in a very nuanced way.

  How do you prepare yourself to be creative? Do you have a ritual or a time or place that is most conducive to working? What one element is absolutely necessary for your process?

  I write every day first thing in the morning. Monday through Friday I wake up at 3:45 in the morning and write until 6:00. On weekends I let myself sleep in and then get right to work. My best thinking happens when my brain is still soft from sleep, with a giant pot of hot coffee next to me. But during the week, my writing time is usually over by 6:00. After that, I have to get the kids up, get lunches packed, get out the door, and teach a full day. There isn’t room to write on top of all that. If I’m on a deadline, I’ll put in a couple more hours in the evenings, but I try to save evenings for reading and relaxing. I always say . . . you can write a whole book in just two hours a day!

  Follow Julie Clark on social media to find out what she’s working on next!

  Twitter: @jclarkab

  Instagram: julieclarkauthor

  Facebook: julieclarkbooks

  About the Author

  ERIC A. REID PHOTOGRAPHY

  Born and raised in Santa Monica, California, Julie Clark grew up reading books on the beach while everyone else surfed. After attending college at University of the Pacific and a brief stint working in the athletic department at University of California, Berkeley, she returned home to Santa Monica to teach. She now lives there with her two young sons and a goldendoodle with poor impulse control. The Ones We Choose is her first novel.

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  Gallery Books

  An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is enti
rely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Julie Clark

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Gallery Books trade paperback edition May 2018

  GALLERY BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Interior design by Bryden Spevak

  Cover design by Black Kat Design

  Cover photograph © Irene Suchocki/Trevillion Images

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Clark, Julie A., 1971– author.

  Title: The ones we choose / Julie Clark.

  Description: First Gallery Books trade paperback edition. | New York : Gallery Books, [2018]

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017049736 (print) | LCCN 2017061157 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501184482 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501184475 (paperback)

  Subjects: LCSH: Mothers and sons—Fiction. | Paternity—Fiction. | Genetic genealogy—Fiction. | Psychological fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Psychological. | FICTION / Literary. | FICTION / Family Life.

  Classification: LCC PS3603.L36467 (ebook) | LCC PS3603.L36467 O54 2018 (print) | DDC 813/.6—dc23