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Author's 'big' break

Self-published writer could see book adapted for big screen

Mari Faiello Correspondent
Author Cassie Selleck’s self-published novel "The Pecan Man" is now in production as an independent film, though filming has yet to begin. [Brad McClenny/Staff photographer]

As a little girl, Cassie Selleck often tried to escape into other worlds.

An avid reader who taught herself to read at age 4 with a phonics series and “Fun with Dick and Jane,” Selleck would find a way to relate to the characters as she went through difficult times at home.

As she got older, she found her favorite, by far, was escaping to Maycomb, Alabama, with Scout, Jem, Atticus Finch and Arthur “Boo” Radley. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” inspired Selleck to be a writer.

“When I learned that words form stories, I was absolutely hooked,” she said.

Today, the 60-year-old lives out that childhood fantasy with three published novels. Her 144-page “The Pecan Man” is the first of a two-book series that found a market on Amazon in 2012, selling more than 200,000 copies and garnering more than 3,000 reviews.

The book tells the story of a homeless black man in a southern town in the late 1970s, who is charged with murdering the police chief’s son.

Ora Lee Beckworth, a white widow, has kept the secret of what really happened for 25 years when she finally tells the truth about the Pecan Man to Blanche, her black maid.

Described by a reviewer as “ ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ meets ‘The Help,’ ” Selleck’s book is now in production as an independent film, though filming has yet to begin.

BCDF Pictures, a film production company, was browsing through Amazon looking for books that would make good film adaptations. They thought Selleck’s book was the perfect fit.

Selleck says her writing style is much like a movie on paper, reading as if someone is watching a film before their eyes with vivid imagery and no shortage of detail.

“Half the time, I will be typing with my eyes closed because I am watching the movie unfold,” she said. “I write down exactly what I see happening.”

Selleck concedes that her creative process isn’t really much of a process.

There’s no outline or list of things she wants to accomplish from one cover to the next, but her stories are character-driven and written out on a timeline, scripted by what she sees happening to the characters each day, she said.

“They say all the time, show, don’t tell,” she said. “That’s the whole point of it.”

The Lakeland native believes that character development is the biggest reason for her book’s success.

Going out on her back porch in Mayo which looks out to the Suwannee River in the early morning and listening to nature helps her find writing inspiration.

For 10 years, Selleck struggled with a lack of confidence in her writing ability.

But with the support of friends and peers at the Gainesville Poets and Writers, Selleck found her voice.

After finishing the novel, she sent emails to about 10 publishers. It was her one and only run at trying to find someone who loved the story as much as she did and could help her publish it.

Only a few responded, with blanket rejections: They didn’t know how it would find an audience; it was too short to take mainstream.

But Selleck was confident that readers not only know what they want, but how to find it.

She went through Amazon’s self-publishing program to appease family and friends who had been pestering her about the project for years.

About two years after the book was published, Selleck got two emails from literary agents interested in her story.

She opted to accept a partnership with the second agent who approached her, Claudia Cross of Folio Literary Management.

About a year after such good news, Selleck’s personal life hit a wall.

After her sister died from a drug overdose in October 2015, Selleck’s mother took a turn for the worse and died five months later.

Selleck’s husband took his distraught wife on a trip to the mountains, hoping to lift her spirits.

The couple found a “dumpy” Super 8 motel in Wytheville, Virginia, and decided to stay a few days to escape the sadness with their white Chihuahua Sugar, Selleck said.

It was at the motel that Selleck got the call from BCDF Pictures, the film company interested in adapting her novel for the movie screen.

Selleck was ecstatic. Her husband was crying.

“It’s the little book that could,” Selleck joked.

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