By Sidney W. Frost
 |
| Read any good books lately? |
Once again I am amazed by how a novel can grow and expand
without my help. I started Sun City Murders, a work in process, with a detailed
outline. I must admit I hadn't decided on the ending, but with a murder
mystery, there are often a number of possible culprits to keep the reader
wondering. In this case I was wondering, too. This week I had a breakthrough
that will give the story more depth than I could have hoped for.
Even though I now know, I can't tell you how the story ends.
But, I want to give you enough information to appreciate the breakthrough.
Liz, the bookmobile librarian, finds a patron dead and sets
off to find the killer. Liz has been in all my bookmobile books, but this time
she is the main character and the story is told from her viewpoint. If you've
read the other books, you know she was the director of library services in
Austin, nearing retirement age. In this book, Liz has married and is living on
a farm in nearby Georgetown. Brian and Karen, whose bookmobile had been in all
the books, have moved to California and left the bookmobile with Liz. She makes
a deal with the city library to provide library service in Sun City, an
age-restricted neighborhood for active people 55 or older. Michael, the
bookmobile driver, is the only youngster in the book. He's Liz's grandson and
she invited him on this adventure to help her with the computer which she
refuses to learn.
There is a secondary story line involving a PTSD-driven
veteran who is living in Sun City without a home. He served in Vietnam, and for
four years after that, he worked behind the lines in Cambodia. He gets psychiatric
care from the VA, but with little success.
Liz finds a baby blue Cadillac in the dead woman's garage. Last
week I searched the Internet for a photo of a baby blue Cadillac and found a 1975 Cadillac
Sedan DeVille to be perfect. Photos of setting locations, cars, and objects
help me write more realistic descriptions. See: https://www.pinterest.com/sidneywfrost/images-for-bookmobile-book-5/
for photos.
In my writings last week, the homeless veteran steals the
car and it reminds him of where he was in 1975. Without planning this ahead of
time, I picked the perfect car. The Cambodian revolution was 1975-1979.
Here's another coincidence. My book club was reading a novel
about the Cambodian revolution (In the Shadow of the Banyan: A Novel by Vaddey
Ratner. In reading this book I found information that will help me in writing the book.
The final coincidence is reading "A Floating City of
Refuge" in the April 2015, issue of Georgetown
View, describing the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. My fictional veteran was
there for the evacuation and he felt so close to the people he didn't
want to leave.
I've heard other writers talk about how a novel takes on a
life of its own at time. I think it's true. I've also had several strong
secondary characters who had to be held back from upstaging the main character.
Isn't it fun to create a story? I can't wait to share this
one with you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'd call those GOD-incidences...not CO-incidences! It's a great book, so far.
ReplyDelete(speaking as a member of your critique group).
You're right, D.A. Featherling. Thanks for commenting.
ReplyDelete