HEROES, VILLAINS AND VICTIMS

   
     Why do some professions lend themselves to fictional heroes?

Others are thought to harbor villains. Several give us an easy or sympathetic victim. Royalty is chock full of victims and villains--Shakespeare's live on. Politicians? Many more villains than heroes. Perhaps we'd better stay away from politicians unless we intend writing a detective novel that features the Father of our Country.
     Most of John Gresham's lawyers are role models and professors can be exciting and even sexy--think of Harrison Ford chasing after the Holy Grail. But stay away from Colin Dexter's Oxford and a few of the professors who teach there. Those intellectuals keep Inspectors Morse and Lewis busy solving their crimes.
     There is the crusading newspaper reporter--our hero and his opposite--the gossip columnist who wrecks havoc with lives and careers. And what about doctors? In real life and most television shows we are filled with admiration and usually follow everything prescribed but in fiction? A doctor often falls off the pedestal he or she is placed on. And victims--Susan Isaacs in Compromising Positions used Dr. Fleckstine, a dentist, as a victim. Lawence Olivier as Dr. Christain Szell--a dentist, Nazi and former SS Officer made a splendid villain. I'm sure many movie patrons lived with hours of pain before keeping their dental appointments. I've never read about a fictional dentist as hero--fellow writers the character is all yours.

Bests,

Elise

IRELAND

     Grew up in Inwood in NYC where Manhattan was bought from the Indians who thought they were just sharing. The neighborhood was mixed--descendants of immigrants from Russia, Germany, Greece and Ireland and I decided that someday I would visit the places where my friends grandparents had once lived. In 2005, my husband and I took a trip to Ireland.
     The town of Ennis--the home base for the tour,  grew around the friary in the heart of County Claire. The 13th century friary has many sculptures and there's a walk along a sculpture trail. From Ennis we went west to the lofty, 650-foot-high Cliffs of Moher--the highest in Europe and a nesting site for thousands of seabirds. Below  the billowing ocean presents a spectacular picture. A walk along the coast introduces us to a limestone landscape called the Burren with white, deeply crevassed limestone that's hospitable to semi-tropical and arctic vegetation growing in close proximity .
     No visit to Ireland is complete without a stop at Blarney with its famous castle. One hundred and twenty seven steps up a tower is the Blarney Stone. Legend tells us that anyone who manages to lean backward and kiss the stone will receive the gift of Blarney--a smooth, endearing way with words. Almost impossible to resist is a shopping trip to the Blarney Woolen Mills--I've used my sweater whenever the cold hits our city.
     Cobb is on our agenda--the port where many an Irish immigrant looking to make a new home in the new world embarked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was also the last port of call for the Titanic and the Lusitania.
     Travel along the coast of the Iveragh Peninsula is a visual adventure combining oceans, coasts, mountains and the ever changing weather and light with a long pause in Kells to see Ireland's Border Collies working at a sheep farm.

                                                SHEEP TO THE LEFT
                                                SHEEP TO THE RIGHT
                                                WHEREVER WE LOOK
                                                 THERE'S A SHEEP IN SIGHT
       One of our last stops is Tralee and the Kerry County Museum--a living history museum that explores life from 7,000-years ago, the Mesolithic hunters and fishermen, and later settler including Celts and early Christians. We end our journey in Dublin. We walk along the same streets as Joyce and Yeats, see the Book of Kells and take in a show at the Abbey Theatre. Of course, no trip is complete without a walk along the River Liffey.

Do you enjoy travel?

Elise

IMAGES AND IMPRESSIONS

     A young woman—overflowing with enthusiasm—addressed our tour group. We were invited to a wine tasting in Tuscany. We trouped down the cellar stairs, were gifted with silver-colored wine tasters and listened trying to absorb her lessons about how the grapes were grown, how to taste and how to choose the appropriate wine for each meal and each course.

     We learned how to sniff the wine, roll a sip around our mouth and decide if it was to our personal taste.

     Our first sip and the “teacher,” looked at us and asked for our opinions. Quiet reigned.

     “Nice,” I said.

     “Nice!” I received a glare in return for breaking the silence.

     “This wine,” she said, “This wine is rich with the fragrance of the earth. Sunlight has added a warm glow.

     When we write our stories many writers paint an image of time and place, the background and the actions that affect our heroes and villains. We think and may place upon page previous happenings that may cause a specific or sometimes unexpected reaction in the tale we tell.

     Other writers keep description to the bare minimum and pare the words and sentences until the story is lean and spare.

     I imagine the writers we tend to read and admire have influenced our own choices when we sit down at the keyboard.

     Are you lean and spare or do you paint your picture? Who has been an influence in your life?

Bests,

Elise

      

AH, SWEET MYSTERY

     Detective. Crime. Potboiler. Police Procedural. Cozy. Who Dunnit? Thriller or Spicy Romantic Suspense. How did the genre begin? Who wrote or perhaps told the first story? There were rudiments of detection in a few early works of fiction—similar to a 16^th century Italian story translated into French in 1719 by Chevalier de Mailly and three years later translated into English. The story titled The Travels and Adventures of Three Princes of Sarendip told of three princes who are asked questions about a camel and use the power of deduction to solve the mystery.

     The English philosopher, William Godwin, wrote the Adventures of Caleb Williams in 1794. The characters in Godwin’s book include an amateur investigator and a relentless secret agent. That same year, Ann Radcliffe wrote The Mysteries of Udolpho—the story of Emily St. Aubert, an orphan with guardians both vicious and heartless. Imprisoned in the eerie castle of Udolpho in the sinister and imposing Apennines and facing the loss of her inheritance, she is at last freed by her lover. Radcliffe next wrote The Italian and became the most popular novelist in England.

     A fugitive from French justice, Eugene Francois Vidocq, soon began offering his services as a police spy and informer. Victor Hugo based two characters, Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert on Vidocq when he wrote Les Miserables. Vautran, in Honore Balzac’s Pere Goriot was also based on the former crook as was the fugitive in Dickens’ Great Expectations. Vidocq attained such success in his second career that he was made the first chief of the Surete in 1811 and directed a force of 28 detectives whose former activities ran afoul of the law. A master of disguise and surveillance, Vidocq, was also the first to make plaster-of-paris casts of shoe impressions, and possessed a patent on indelible ink. He wrote a best-seller titled Memoires which earned him a reputation as the world’s greatest detective.

     Beginning with The Murders in the Rue Morgue, in 1841—the first of the locked room mysteries—Edgar Allan Poe wrote what he called tales of reasoning. The Gold Bug, where the answer could be found in a veiled communication, The Mystery of Marie Roget—armchair detection—and the first comic detective story, Thou Art the Man. Wilkie Collins, known as “The King of Sensation,” launched the sensation novel with The Woman in White in 1860 and The Moonstone, considered by some to be his masterpiece, in 1868.

      Anna Katherine Green began by writing romantic poetry—her verse went nowhere and she turned to writing her first novel The Leavenworth Case, published in 1878. the novel was admired by Collins, and the year’s best seller. She published approximately 40 books and developed the series detective—Ebenezer Gryce of the New York Metropolitan Police Force. In three of the Gryce novels, his associate is Amelia Butterworth; an inquisitive bachelor girl and member of society. Green also gave birth to the “girl detective,” with Violet Strange—a debutante who sidelined as a sleuth. Her plots included dead bodies in libraries, the coroner’s inquest and expert witnesses.

     “Charles Felix,” was the pseudonym taken by an anonymous author. The story with illustrations by George du Maurier—the grandfather of Daphne du Maurier—was originally published as an eight part serial in a magazine called “Once a Week.” Publication began on November 29, 1862. Bradbury and Evans, who published the series, then published it as a novel. No one knew the true identity of Charles Felix during his lifetime until 1952 when his name was discovered. Charles Warren Adams—the author—was a lawyer and the sole proprietor of Saunders, Otley & Co. which published another book by Charles Felix titled Velvet Lawn. His work lives on; an e-book version is now available.

     The writing of mysteries is well into the third century and has developed over time. Literacy began its ascent during the Renaissance and as laypeople learned to read they acquired a hunger for the working out of dilemmas. Human reason—at least in books—remains triumphant.

 

THE CONSTITUTION

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.

God Bless America

Elise

IMPROVISATION

    Illustration courtesy of Pohodenkol I Dreamstime.com

Beginning with the Drama Club at the Y and continuing with classes in acting, the teacher always set aside some time for improvisation. Approaching one member of the class, he or she would speak in a low voice and say something like this:

Example 1:

“You are a spy and you must make this man fall in love with you. You must find out what information he has.”

The instructor would then approach your acting partner.

“Find out why this woman is here. What she knows. Do anything you have to but get the information.”

Example 2: The assignment for the next class was becoming an animal. Most of the class chose the ones with four feet. I lived closer to the aquarium and spent an afternoon studying a fish.

Sleepless one night, I began to think about those days as an actress and realized improvising had a lot in common with writing. You begin with your idea of what the characters should do, why they’re doing it and what the story and the theme is about. Then, sometimes without any warning, your characters decide they want to go in another direction. Your villain isn’t your villain anymore, an unlikely heroine emerges, and a chapter or two or three or more needs to be cut, completely rewritten or put in another spot. You try to keep to your original idea but your characters are stronger than you and you think-Oh, what the hell, I’ll try it their way.

Usually they’re right.

I’m into the first draft of a new book and my characters are beginning to misbehave, another character doing things I never expected of him, my sweet ingenue is not as sweet as I originally thought she was and my amateur detective has become something of a wise-ass--always telling me what to do. I can see we will definitely be having a few discussions about the right direction for the novel. How much of a say, do you allow your characters?

Best,

Elise

"A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME"

    

     Courtesy of Dreamstime.com

     In the March/April editon of Writer's Digest, I found myself engrossed by an article titled Go Organic by Steven James. He writes about outlining being taught as the right way to shape a story and continues that if you don't follow the formulas you'll be labeled an SOPer--a "seat-of-the-pantser," or just a "pantser." James advises writers to develop a more organic writing process.
     I thought he's talking about me--I had never heard or read the term pantser before. People inspire characters for me and, in turn, the characters influence the plot. I have a pretty good idea how they will react to each other and the events that occur and I know how the story will end. But my characters often surprise me and change the direction of the book or story and then I will have to go back and discover why and how she or he took a different turn. The villain I had originally chosen for Scene Stealer changed my mind and I believe the villain in the cozy I'm working on now is about to do the same thing. I have another suspect in mind--time to go to work and question him.

Bests,

Elise