What We're Writing--Deborah Crombie and the Unexpected Path

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I don't want to say too much about the things I thought I would be focusing on in the WIP (Kincaid/James#19), because there are still some existing threads that it might be a spoiler to mention. But I knew I wanted to write about Bloomsbury and Russell Square and the British Museum, and that the primary case would be Duncan's, at least at the outset.

But one of the most wonderful things about writing fiction is that things can take unexpected turns or detours and you cannot anticipate them! My fancy was taken by a ceramics gallery I chanced upon in Bloomsbury, and out of that grew a character, a ceramist, who works there part time. In real life, I'd come to know a young, very talented artist and potter, Alex Macias, who sells her work at local galleries and at our farmer's market. When I was asked if I would participate in making a bowl for our community Empty Bowls fundraising event, I asked if I could do it with Alex.

Check out some of Alex's work here--it is fabulous! And yes, my collection is growing... I have my eye on the lidded honey jar...

Here we are yesterday at the studio Alex shares with six other artists!

(Apologies for the weird perspective! I am not really a midget and Alex is not twice my size!)

And here's my bowl, ready for Alex to trim, then fire in a week or so, and then I can help with the glaze which will be a gorgeous robin's egg blue.

Now I know what a studio should look like.

I know how the clay feels, and how the smell lingers on your hands long after you wash them. I know a little bit of the terminology!

All grist for the character-building mill.

And then there is The Nutcracker. I knew I wanted this book to be set in November. What would Toby, Gemma and Duncan's seven-year-old dancer, be doing in November? Dancing in The Nutcracker, of course! So I am deep into YouTube videos (this one from the New York City Ballet's 2011 production  is wonderful) and I've been rereading my very battered copy of the Maurice Sendak illustrated edition of E.T. A. Hoffmann's THE NUTCRACKER. 

I didn't remember how weird the story was, but it puts the ballet in a different perspective.

So we have two very unrelated elements going into the book mix, and who knows what sort of sausage we will end up with? I don't, yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out. (And there is still a murder.)

Readers, do you like learning about things (along with the author!) in a book?