Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Why Did I do That? A lament by Rhys Bowen

RHYS BOWEN: How many times does a writer create something she wishes she hadn’t? Or write herself into a hole? Or both? I have friends who have given their character a dog, only to get angry letters from readers pointing out that the dog hadn’t been fed for fifty pages and not walked in the second half of the book. I made that inadvertent mistake when I gave Molly Murphy a baby. She has to flee to Paris from New York and arrives there with the baby. Oh mercy me! She has to find someone trustworthy to leave the baby with when she’s out sleuthing. Then she has to rush back to breastfeed it jus when she's about to discover an important clue.

 Now I’ve written myself into a similar annoying situation in my new book, tentatively titled THE TEASHOP AT THE EDGE OF ETERNITY. 

 It is World War II again. My heroine is a Londoner whose house is bombed and she’s buried in the rubble. Rescued, taken to hospital, she is evacuated out to Lincolnshire on the East Coast. I wanted her to start the story with nothing. Absolutely nothing. And show her resilience as she builds a new life for herself. But here’s the problem: she has nothing. She has been given the basic toiletries—comb, toothbrush, washcloth and clothes passed along from the poor box, but I keep coming up with things she needs and she DOESN’T HAVE THEM. Nor has she any money to buy them. Her husband (the bully) is in the army overseas. He has a Post Office savings account she can't access (and maybe more money she doesn't know about) but she has no money in a bank. (She kept the household money in the teapot on the mantlepiece) She is injured so she can’t work. She is placed with a single woman who will feed her for now but… how did people survive? Where will she go from here? Was there a government hand-out for those bombed out of their houses? Lots more research needed here. 

But here is research I have done: since the story moves to a bomber base, I was taken to air museums and saw WWII bombers up close and personal!




 Here is the scene when the bombing happens:

In the middle of Sunday night she was awoken by the wail of the air raid siren. She sat up cautiously, trying not to bang her head on the table top above her. How far off was the siren? She was already learning when she needed to take action fast and when it was all right to get dressed and then decide if she needed to shelter. In the distance came the rumble of approaching planes and the sound of the ack-ack. The rumble grew louder. So many of them this time. Josie wondered if she was doing the right thing, staying put under her table. But then the first wave of planes was overhead. No time to go to the shelter in the Tube station now. 
    
 Suddenly there was a whooshing sound and a deafening explosion nearby. The windows were blown in, the blackout curtains luckily stopping most of the glass from flying into the room. Sooty air came around the shredded curtains. The smell of burning and brick dust. Instantly the sounds from outside were magnified—screams, shouts, the bell of a fire engine. “Some poor person on this street,” she thought and wondered if she should come out from the table to take a look. She was reaching out to find her slippers, mindful of the broken glass when there came a second whoosh. Then, almost instantly, an earsplitting blast. She was thrown back, the air sucked from her lungs as she tried to cry out. The world was falling around her. Bricks were raining down. Something hit her head and she knew no more.

 Josie opened her eyes to total darkness. It hurt to breathe. Something was across her face. My hair, she thought and tried to lift a hand to brush it away. But her arm wouldn’t move. She tried the other arm. Then her legs. Something was pressing on her from all sides. She was trapped. Buried. She wiggled her toes and was relieved that they, at least worked. So did her fingers. At least she wasn’t paralyzed, but the implication of where she was began to dawn on her. “A tomb,” she said to herself. “I’m in a tomb.” And she felt panic rising because she had been buried prematurely. But then she heard the sound of an all-clear siren, the closer clanging of an ambulance bell.
     “Help!” she called, trying to make a parched mouth work and force air into her lungs. “Somebody help me.” The latter phrase was stopped by a fit of coughing as she breathed in the dust and dirt that covered her. She tried to see where she was. She realized then that her house must have collapsed around her and she was covered in debris. 

Odd slivers of red light came in through the gaps in the curtains, creating a surreal glow through the layer of dust, but she couldn’t make out the table under which she had slept. Had she left her shelter before the bomb dropped? She couldn’t remember. And then, as she looked up, a sudden gust of cold wind stirred up the dust and it cleared for a moment, making her gasp. Above her was the night sky and she was looking at a star. She took it as a omen, a sign from heaven that everything was going to be all right.

So writers--have you ever written yourselves into a corner?  Readers, does it bother you when the writer doesn't feed the dog enough?  And what do you think of the title?


68 comments:

  1. The horror of war . . . how ghastly for Josie [and for the reader . . . I felt like I was trapped right there beside her].

    I really like the title and, if I'm being honest, I have to say that I've never noticed the dog not being fed enough or walked enough . . . .

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  2. Poor Josie. I think I might be more worried about her having a bully husband than no money. I don’t guess you could kill off the husband and she gets money that way. Or, if she needs to have more of a struggle, the husband dies, but his family, who never really took to Josie lays claim to the money. They finally agree to buy her off with some of it, just enough for her to start a new life. I know, maybe a long list aunt would be better. But still get rid of the bully husband somehow.

    I don’t know if I always pay attention to the dig being taken out or fed, but I do if it’s become a routine for the character in the book. I was recently reading a book, and the dog usually was taken for a walk when the character got home. The character didn’t keep his regular schedule, and I thought about the dog. Luckily, the dog was attended to.

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    1. Kathy, my first thought was also: kill the bully...

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    2. Husband is abroad in the army. She doesnt know where

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    3. I always wonder why authors give a character a dog if the dog isn't important to the story in some way. Cats can just happen to a person or a character, but dogs are intentional creatures.

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    4. Danielle-momo, we should start a petition. Hahaha! Rhys, but you could find him and do him in. OK, I'll stop my campaign against the husband, but I assume he's going to show up at some time. Gigi, that's exactly it.

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  3. I'm constantly writing myself into a corner. My protagonist doesn't have a dog. She has a barn full of horses. Thankfully, she has horsey friends willing to take on her chores when she has to be away for extended periods of time.

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    1. I find that believeable, Annette. I know horse people and there is always someone who needs more riding time, free boarding, some pin money, etc. who is willing to watch/feed/clean up the horses.

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  4. I love the title, Rhys, and the scene.

    Most of my protags have cats, who do well being left alone for a while as long as they have water and dry food. I just realized the delightful parrot Belle in the Cozy Capers series is going to be a problem in book four. Hmmm.

    I read a manuscript by a friend who had stuffed way too many hours into a Saturday. It was exhausting! But it was her first book, and she fixed it.

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    1. That time-stretching problem is a pet peeve of mine as a reader, Edith. Or, conversely, the reduction of time to unrealistic measures. For example, a character putting on the kettle and two lines of dialogue later sitting down to a fully steeped cup of tea. Nope. That's not realistic. Doesn't work for me!

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    2. I notice that sometimes, too, Amanda!

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    3. This is probably why men write loner sleuths

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    4. Ha! Rhys, I love it. It's probably also why so many sleuths are orphaned and divorced.

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    5. Amanda, that time stretching is a peeve of mine too. Not so much around tea making, but showering and dressing in barely the time it takes to turn the water on...and no mention of picking up the shared bathroom for the next shower!

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  5. The title is terrific. And I always worry about the dog not being fed or walked. Ditto for children or friends who pop up miraculously when convenient for the plot but otherwise stay hidden.

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  6. Great title for this book and the snippet is amazing. The historical time frames that you choose for your stories are close enough that they are very relevant to my life and I just love your choices.

    As for writing yourself into a hole, the reader doesn't really know that you've done it. I recently read that City of Darkness and Light and think it is brilliant that Molly has to find a way to take care of Liam both on the ship and in Paris. Although you may have had to go places that you didn't want to go and create characters you did not feel you wanted either, the story is much more realistic because she has that baby. So, kudos on that one.

    Yeah, I do notice if the protagonist does not take care of the dog. Dogs, like babies, do not take care of themselves and so, you have to do it!! But to keep a well loved protagonist like Molly or Georgie from having children in order to make it easier for her to sleuth, that makes me sad. So much of the reason why I adore your characters, who come to life in your books, is that they are so very human.

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    1. I wonder if that's why so many characters have cats, instead of dogs!! SO much less maintenance.

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  7. This is fantastic, and you know I am such a fan. But Rhys, why don’t you just… Give her something. Maybe she has a kit that she prepared for such an eventuality? So she has nothing but this kit, which shows she has foresight and skills and maybe she had to sneak money to put in it, showing she has some power over her terrible husband.

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    1. She does go back to the ruins later and finds her little jewelry bag that had a few gold sovereigns in it. But this is like last resort emergency money. She was poor to start with living from week to week

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  8. Rhys, I love the title! And can I say here, after all the work to get a title, The Venice Sketchbook and cover work beautifully together--that cover is perfect! Can't wait to see the cover for this book!

    The scene is horrifying! I can't even imagine being in that predicament. And then to learn that Josie's husband is a bully--what kind of life has she had? I'm thinking, if it were me, I might pin my money under my dress or in a pocket before I went to bed under that table every night. Just in case the worse happened--as it has!

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  9. This has gotten me really curious, though. What did they do with people who had nothing? There had to be lots of them. They there had to be a system. Or an organization or many organizations. The Red Cross? Whatever that would’ve been?

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    1. She is housed in a convent and then evacuated to the country but I have to research whether there was a government stipend. If she hadn’t been injured she could have gone into the forces of factory work and been housed and fed

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  10. A wonderful excerpt Rhys, cannot wait to read this!

    Maybe, when she's buried in the rubble, she notices the teapot smashed beside her and is able to fold that money into her underwear:)

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  11. I am the kind of reader that notices things like the dog not being walked or fed. The worst though is when they leave the dog in the car "with the window cracked." That might work in cold northern states in the winter but nowhere else. It must stop! And people who have cats that "can take care of themselves". Not really. Is a litter box involved?

    As for Josie with nothing - what if she found her husband's secret stash of money? She had no idea it existed until a piece of paneling or something was ripped away.

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    1. Ooo, I like that, Judi! Or under a floorboard under that table. The floorboard is smashed in the bombing and she finds the money.

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    2. Yes, something exactly like that!

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  12. Josie sleeps fully dressed, her valuables in a silk bag made out of her wedding hankie, strung on a ribbon around her neck. A kindly volunteer at the shelter helps her find a long-lost cousin or half-sister who know she's married to an abusive husband and help her out. Great premise! Looking forward to reading more.

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    1. Lovely, but the point is that she has nothing, which would have been true for many poor bomb victims

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  13. Love the title. Her predicament is horrifying. Looking forward to read what’s next.

    I’m presently reading a book in which a women goes from California to Sweden to her great aunt deathbed with her twenty months girl. She brings her to the hospital and there’s no way she could do that here in Quebec.

    I don’t remember having noticed about a dog not being fed or exercised and I certainly would not bother an author with that.

    What bothers me most are supposedly human beings going all day long, day after day without eating while doing there job.
    Or people badly beaten or injured (the kind that would put me to bed for a least a week ) leaving there bed to conclude an investigation .

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  14. I like the title. I've given my protagonist in the Laurel Highlands Mysteries a dog, but he also has a helpful neighbor who can take care of the dog for him in a pinch. Betty Ahern in my Homefron Mysteries has a stray cat - but as someone else pointed out, cats can do well on their own.

    I like the idea of Josie having an "emergency kit" of sorts, so she has at least something.

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  15. I love the title! I hope poor Josie doesn't become claustrophobic, but I suspect she might. There are so many good suggestions here that I can't think of anything to add.

    Re pets, look to Lilian Jackson Braun for inspiration. Even if the pets in your story are an not an integral element, use Qwill's excuse to get out of awkward situations: "Sorry, I have to go feed the cats." LOL

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  16. Rhys,

    Love the title. Kill the abusive husband. or make him a POW. Give your heroine a kit for such eventuality as Hank said. One of the comments mentioned a relative who knows about the abusive husband and helps her?

    Look forward to reading what happens.

    Cannot recall a book about a dog not being fed or exercised. Remember it is fiction and I would not bother the author about that. As O recall when Molly went to Paris, it was Gussie and her partner who babysat the baby? Or was it the innkeeper who babysat? I remember that there was someone taking care of the baby.

    Diana

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  17. Love the title and the excerpt. My heroines all have critters. Dogs or cats and they are cared for appropriately, although they may not be present in every scene.

    It seems as if Josie would have had a to go bag of sorts available, but whether she could have gotten to it is another matter. I'm thinking she may have had a few pounds pinned to her clothes.

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  18. She was buried in rubble and couldn’t find any of her belongings and she would only have had a small amount of cash on hand anyway

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    1. Perhaps the teapot is lost in the rubble and somehow it winds up in the village where she is evacuated to?

      Diana

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  19. Perhaps you could make taking the money from the teapot and sticking it into her bra a pre-raid routine? Put on her shoes, stick the money down her bra, get under the table . . . That kind of thing. Then, at least, she's have a bit of the ready.

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  20. Well, this is a conundrum! She must start with nothing to serve the premise, but then...

    Does she have a skill she can turn into a bit of cash? My go-to of course is always seamstress, which she could always use as barter, at least.

    This discussion is making me wildly grateful for not being in such desperate straits. As rotten as the last year has been, at least we have comfortable shelter and enough food.

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    1. Yes, a marketable skill like seamstress or cooking.

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    2. Ah--that skill will be the whole story and I'm not telling!

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    3. Perfect! Looking forward to reading this book.

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  21. Rhys, I love the excerpt, and I suspect writing yourself into a corner will actually wind up improving the book. I think when we give our character strictures, it forces us to be more creative, which is always a good thing.

    In one of my books, I was feeling bored with the way things were unfolding, so I broke Russ's leg. It added drama and excitement, but it was less than halfway through the manuscript, and I had to figure out how he dragged around on crutches, unable to drive, for the rest of the story. It wound up being the set-up for the extended fourth-act "they're in danger" scene, as well as revealing a lot about his character and his relationships with others.

    Your heroine will figure something out, and you will too, and it will be fantastic.

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    1. Julia, that was one of my favorites of your series!

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    2. Damn, Julia! Remind me never to let you get bored. "I was bored, so I broke his leg" is cold. Really cold. Do not include this information in your online dating profile.

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  22. Could one honest clean-up crew/fireman/neighbor find the teapot and bring it to her in hospital? I know they had folks that searched rubble after the raids....and that the oddest things managed to survive. We saw a wonderful exhibit at the Imperial War museum a few years ago about day-to-day life during the Blitz. Love your books...can’t wait for this one and Venice. Pre-ordered the next Georgie last night....

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  23. Love the title. I like that you put yourself in a corner, because I know you are going to turn it around and it will be perfect.

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  24. I love the title! And I am feeling every bit of your angst as a writer to have to navigate writing a character who has nothing. Ack! I had to hire in more characters with my bakery mystery for that reason! Ah, the challenges of writing real life without making it all chores laden and boring! Can’t wait for this book, Rhys!

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  25. Yeah, we keep coming back to the teapot.(Did you say the Teapot at the Edge of Eternity?) It's just so tempting, isn't it, to think she can crawl back into the rubble and find the teapot. (remember Their Finest? All she had after the bombing was the battered kettle.) But as you keep saying, Rhys, she has nothing.

    So, along the same lines as Julia breaking Russ's leg, how about she risks her life to get back into the wreckage, grabs the teapot and makes it out again, only to find...it's empty! Damn it! Someone (landlady? neighbour's kid? husband?) already helped themself to the contents. AND she got a further injury from the escapade. She's even worse off now.

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  26. Rhys, I love the title, and I know too well the writing characters into corners feeling. But I agree with Julia that it will likely end up improving the book. I can't wait to see what you work out for poor Josie! I know you've read Few Eggs and No Oranges, but might that be helpful in seeing what people did in those situations?

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  27. So, she is evacuated to a village on the east coast. The church can help her out perhaps. Someone can find her a job she can do while recuperating. Are there any relatives on her side who could help? How about the Women's Institute? Any civilian jobs at the nearest RAF base? I like the title but it brought Douglas Adams to mind.

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    1. She has no useful relatives but she is staying with a woman who feeds her. She can't work because of a broken collar bone and concussion--that is the problem. She has to wait until she heals. I wanted the reader to imagine what it was like if you were invited out but you had no make-up, no way to wash your hair (with only one arm)

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  28. I like the scene, has horrific as it is, it is based on facts known, London was boomed, a lot. As cruel as it sounds, I have no problem with Josie starting having nothing after being rescued. You've explained that she had very little to start in your responses. I want to know why she doesn't got to the shelter as soon she hears the siren. What causes her to stay home, under that table. Can't wait to read the book to find the answer.

    I don't think I've ever noticed when pets aren't getting fed or walked or watered. I do remember when they were walked or fed (or not fed because the humans knew Galahad had already been fed and was just "begging" for more.)

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    1. I made that point earlier, Deana. In the big public shelter in the Underground she felt she was in danger from a group of drunken men. Many people got so used to bombing that they did not go to shelters--my own family for example. I was a baby and we slept under the dining table.

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  29. So many times, I'll read something and think there is no way the author can get their character out of that predicament. And yet it happens. I have faith you'll figure out a way to get your character back to something resembling normal life. Or as normal as life can be during a war.

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  30. I can’t wait to read this book! I think I saw on Foyle’s War that they had places in areas where people were evacuated that provided clothing and other necessities, but I’m not sure about money ~

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  31. What about her ration card, Rhys? If she lost it, is it reissued?

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  32. I once read a mystery (perhaps 3rd in the series?) where the amateur sleuth was a single mother of a 6-month old baby (from an encounter in a previous book, I gathered). I suspect the writer realised she'd written her character into a corner, because this woman not only had an unbelievably perfect daycare woman who'd take the baby at the drop of a hat, day or night, but had her father living next door for emergency backup. Those of us who have gone through the daycare nightmares of our young working years know what an absolute fairy tale that is.

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  33. I’m not a writer, Even if they don’t SAY the dog was fed or walked, I believe they were responsible and did. But I’ve always wondered about women having to relieve themselves on a long carriage trip. They never said they did. 😊

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  34. Cindy, you remind me of Swiss Family Robinson. All the details about the wonderful things they built in their treehouse, but no mention of bathroom facilities. It really bugged me as a kid.

    Clearly the answer, for Rhys, is NOT back in the woman's apartment. There was nothing to begin with. There is even less now.
    We will all delight in seeing how it is resolved.

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  35. I have faith in your ability to sort it all out.

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