Characters

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My Brother Tim

May is the month of warm breezes, blue skies, and fragrant lilacs. It is also the month Timmy was born. My big brother was seven and I was four when Tim burst into our lives, a blond bouncing wonder of a boy. Seventeen months later our baby sister appeared and our small house was filled. Just as my older brother and I were inseparable, so too were Tim and our baby sister.

From the beginning, Tim exuded a teasing, electric energy. It was readily apparent in how he laughed and in how he played. His laughs were wholehearted belly laughs. He loved grown-up things, donning dad’s work helmet and boots, racing his fire engine, riding his tricycle. For him, life was an exhilarating adventure filled with ever new possibilities. He never walked when he could run, as if he knew he had to reach and gather every ounce of enjoyment from each day.

Baby Tim

Family stories are almost legend…how he once climbed out on the porch roof when he was three…how he raced his tricycle into and up a sloping tree.  If he liked something, he wanted to touch and play with it whether it was playful puppies or swimming goldfish.

The morning of July 2nd was hot and promised to get hotter.  We had no air conditioning so doors and windows were open, in hopes of a catching an errant breeze.  Mom was working in the kitchen.  My older brother was eating a bowl of cereal when he happened to glance outside. Mom later told us that his face drained of color.  “The car,” he said.  It was rolling down the hill. They raced outside to see our twenty-one month old sister standing alone in the car’s front seat.

Paula and Tim

The driver’s door was open.  Timmy lay on the street.  He’d fallen, or jumped…no one knows exactly.  The car rolled over him.  Mom found him and lifted his crushed body.  A passing motorist raced them to the hospital. Our four-year old brother Tim died on the operating table.

Death changes life.  The death of a child changes life forever.

All people experience grief. It is part of being human, part of the price we pay for being sentient, for having a soul.

But we also live through true joy, such as my nephew Tim, my sister’s son, experienced three days ago when his son was born.  A new generation.  As he held his newborn son, I have to think that his Uncle Tim was looking down on both his namesake and on his newborn grand-nephew with a huge grin.

As writers we need to draw on life’s grief and on life’s joy and feed these raw emotions to our characters.  We need to make them a part of their lives.  It is how our fictional characters become real.  In this way, our stories become a gift we can pass to others.   ∞

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Worry-Wart

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” ~ Swedish Proverb

I’m a worrier. I guess I always have been but I don’t think I realized it until a few years ago.

On a visit to Wisconsin, my siblings and I sat talking around the kitchen table one evening when I said something, although just now I can’t quite recall what.  I do remember that, after the chuckles subsided, my older brother said “Well, Deb always has been a worry-wart.”

A hundred-watt bulb lit up over my head. He was right, of course.  (Big brother is nearly always right.) So strange that I never realized the truth of his words until then.  I guess I figured everyone worried about their kids staying out late, and about loved ones driving in bad weather.  Didn’t everyone wonder if they’d turned off the stove before leaving home?  Didn’t everyone fret whether they’d locked the door, and shut the upstairs window?  In the mall parking lot, did I lock the car, or not?  Did I remember to charge my cell phone before I left on a road trip?  Did I bring the car charger?

I’ve generally kept my worry-wart nature hidden.  Few people know about it, except those closest to me.  Oh, and maybe the neighbors who observe my frequent returns to re-check the front door.  And now, those of you who are reading this post.

In her book, HEROES & HEROINES: Sixteen Master Archetypes, author Tami Cowden describes sixteen basic characteristics for heroes and heroines.  There isn’t a worrier among them.  None of my heroines have been worriers either.  I guess worry just isn’t a very heroic quality.

Still, I think it is a trait that might work well with a Nurturer – a mother who worries unduly.  Or a Waif who might worry about how she will find her next meal, even after she wins the lottery.  Or a Crusader who might worry over whether the greedy nuclear plant builders have built in enough safeguards.

Our heroes and heroines must be heroic but they must be real, too. Perfection creates boredom.  Heroes and heroines are more real when they have some inborn less-than-desirable quality to overcome.  Jealous, intolerant, greedy, vengeful, or lacking faith.  And one who, occasionally, worries.

I believe the reverse is true for villains.  Even Hannibal Lecter, among the most chillingly evil of villains, cared for and, in his own way, looked after Clarice.  I’d love to read about a villain who, in addition to his despicable nature, is also honest, caring, generous, or tolerant.  And yes, even one who worries.  ∞

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Nannies, Servants & Such

Recently, through the wonder of Netflix, we discovered a captivating program that first aired on BBC in 1998. berkeley-square Set during the time of King Edward VII’s coronation, London 1902, Berkeley Square tells of three nannies and the wealthy families they served.  As we watched the first few episodes, we were reminded of the Masterpiece Theater classic Upstairs, Downstairs and its revelations of the British upper class and their servants’ lifestyles.

Although nannies were among the more privileged of servants, their lives were wholly dependent on their employers. Berkeley Square touches on some social issues not often seen in popular film – child neglect, the use of laudanum and baby-farming.  The depiction of children and their caretakers was both thought-provoking and sad.  The movie shows strong visual images in the costumes and settings.

As a writer of historical romance, I’ve long been fascinated with newport-ri-0171servants during the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Two years ago, my husband and I toured a few of the summer mansions in Newport, Rhode Island.  We especially enjoyed seeing The Elms.  The tours – both of the main house and the special behind-the-scenes servants tour – revealed two different worlds.  The contrasting tours were like entering the kitchen of an exclusive restaurant; we saw both the glamorous facade and where the potatoes were peeled.

Studying how people lived – cultural history – helps to better rwa-national-2008-sf-0114 create and shape our characters.   That’s what I find most valuable in my writing research, discovering what folks wore (both day and night), what they ate, how they dressed, and what they valued.  Last year’s History Conference at RWA National included workshops on dressing our characters, a Regency period Soiree, and samplings of foods from different time periods.

Movies.  Books.  Websites. Conferences.  Old house tours.  Civil War re-enactments.  They all reveal needed details that breathe life into our characters.

→ Have you seen Berkeley Square?   What movies, books, or other events have helped you to enrich your knowledge of cultural history?

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Good Movies

As a writer, I love a good movie. Appealing characters bounce from the screen.  Relationships develop and conflicts ensue.  Setting can become a character.  Music transports us through scenes.  Filming enchants while edits provides pacing.  Later I sometimes wonder, using only words how would I write those scenes or that character into a novel?

Since the holidays I’ve seen three movies at the theater.  All have sparked my thoughts into a bright blaze.

Gran Torino, directed by Clint Eastwood, screenplay by Nick Schenk and storygran_torino-poster2 by Dave Johannson, is about Walt Kowalski, a curmudgeony Korean War Veteran who can’t get along with his children, his grandchildren, or the Hmong immigrants who have taken over his middle class Michigan neighborhood.  Kowalski responds to the changes in an intriguing way, yet remains true to the man he is.  This strong story touches our beliefs, our brains, and our hearts.  Side note–while the ad poster is technically accurate, Gran Torino is not a shoot ’em up action flick.  I guess even Hollywood legends can get bad covers. 😉   The Rotten Tomatometer for Gran Torino reads 77%.  I’d rate it higher.

Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard and written by Peter Morgan, tells of the frostnixon32511977 televised interviews between British talk show host David Frost, and former U.S. President Richard Nixon.  The beginning focuses on Frost, apparently in exile in Australia.  Watching Nixon’s resignation from the Presidency on TV, Frost becomes intrigued by the “numbers.”   So begins his three year quest to interview Nixon.   The movie is the story of two very different men, each wanting something from the interviews.  Only one can win.  It’s a classic plotline.  Watching it unfold on the screen is captivating.  The Rotten Tomatometer for Frost/Nixon reads 91%.  An appropriately high rating.

Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California.  The film begins with Milk milk_movie_poster1recording a tape in his kitchen, “to be listened to in the event of my assassination.”  It is 1977 and he is 48.  In a brilliant blend of flashbacks and real news clips, we see Milk and his partner move from New York  to San Francisco where they open a camera shop in The Castro.  With persecution all around, Milk is pulled into politics and becomes a fiery voice for gay rights.  He forges alliances and urges gays and lesbians to come out to their families and friends so the straight community will see them as real and, as Roger Ebert writes, will “stop demonizing an abstract idea.”   On so many levels, Milk works.  It is warm and thought-provoking.  I left the theater with a sad smile.  And, as a writer, I wondered.  Using only words, how would I write such a remarkable man’s journey?   The Rotten Tomatometer for Milk reads 93%, calling it “Triumphant.”  I agree, and hope you see it.

→Have you seen any of the above movies, or any other really good movie recently?  Please share your experience and thoughts.

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…In the Dead of Winter

Two of my sons came home for a visit the weekend after my birthday. One carried a florist’s bouquet. As I pulled back the delicate tissue paper and lavender satin Flowersribbon, I seemed to hear Patricia Neal’s smoky voice. “Flowers,” she whispered. “In the dead of winter!”

Amid smiles, hugs, and centering the fragrant blooms on our coffee table, Neal’s words lingered in my thoughts.  The movie was The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, a pilot for the old television show, The Waltons.  You remember — the Great Depression, a large family.  John-Boy.  When Olivia Walton (Neal’s character) receives the flowers, her sense of awe is tangible.  “Flowers,” she says.  “In the dead of winter.”

With those few words we understand Olivia.  Her rural poverty.  Her warmth and love of beauty.  Her wonder at the miracle of flowers growing in winter.   The words anchor her in a different time and place, a time when folks couldn’t easily pick-up fresh floral bouquets year-round.

Other than a few blogs and articles, mostly I write historical fiction.   Reading it has taught me the need to ground my heroine in the time she lives.  I must make her era come alive through her thoughts, deeds, and dialogue.  What does she find wondrous?   What might she fear?   What does she believe?  How does all of that influence her words and actions?

It takes a light hand to do this.  No long rambling diatribes.  Just something simple.  Something like “Flowers. In the dead of winter.”

→If you write historical fiction, or any fiction set outside your own norm, what have you found helpful when creating your characters?  How do you sculpt them to make them appropriate for the time or place in which they live?