Still Chaos

 Well, I still don't have a working kitchen, but the damp problem has been attended to and I am in hope of having a functioning sink this week. But don't say anything about the washing machine, please. Doing all the washing up in the upstairs bathroom is getting very wearing, the house is cold - all those open doors and trying to concentrate on anything is hard, with so much happening. Not sure why having work done in one room seems to spread all over the house - and the dust...

Once it is finished then I'll have to clean it - but that is a joy for another day. 

Normal service next week - fingers crossed. 

Chaos

 When you live in a house that is well on its way to its second century things need doing from time to time. Currently it is the kitchen, work which involved removing the units to see what was going on behind them. As a result I have not had a functioning kitchen since last Tuesday! All will be well - eventually - but in the meantime it's a bit chaotic here. Hence the short and rather distracted post. 

Hope that normal service will be resumed without too much delay. 

Motive

 One of the threads that crime writers are very involved with is motive. Why does the villain do that? What is the reason behind the crime? We need to know. I've been told that in the real world of crime fighting not so much. Other evidence is found to be more useful.  Certainly writers and readers need to know about it. Successful books are often lauded for the memorable characters and maybe motive fits with this.

As a writer who combines two genres I read both crime and romance. I tend towards what is known as the 'cosy' end of the crime spectrum - the Agatha Christie type puzzle. Cosies are essentially domestic and so are the motives - love, hate, envy, revenge, greed - most of the seven deadly sins.  Occasionally there is a plot involving spies and state secrets - I'm thinking of Sherlock Holmes, called in when some top secret plans go missing and saving the day - but these tend to be historical settings, where the venue is often the country house party for the plans to be discussed in a meeting arranged out of the spot light. So - still on a domestic level, possibly with a locked room element added to the mix. Modern spy stories are a different matter and a genre of their own. 

I'm also an occasional reader of the more sweeping thriller - mostly American - the kind of thing written by Harlan Coben. I struck me, having just finished one of these that the motive here is something that does not really occur in a cosy - power. Often a cover up when someone who is seeking it wants to obliterate evidence of some past sin. 

It's something I am going to think about.

Books in different mediums

 

Warning - may be minor spoilers 

Last week I went to see the theatre version of Murder on the Orient Express, which is currently touring. Very good - stylish set, good ensemble acting and an excellent central performance by Michael Maloney as Poiret. I highly recommend it. Having seen it I returned to the original Agatha Christie book to check on things that I thought had been changed. It was an interesting comparison exercise. Fewer suspects- understandable as large casts on stage cost money. A dramatic shooting that ended the first act - an idea lifted, I suspect, from Death on the Nile (which will also be touring later this year).  Differences in the characters. Rachett - the victim - was very different from the book - a flamboyant gangster based on the version played by Jonny Depp in the Ken Branagh film - the Albert Finny version  played by Richard Widmark was nearer to the original.  The biggest change was the central role of Mrs Hubbard. From a typical American widow abroad she has metamorphosed into a glamourous man eater. A great deal of fun, and played with gusto on stage by  Christine Kavanagh appears to have undergone the sea change in the Finney version when Lauren Bacall played the part. There are other small things, but most of what I remembered from the book are there. 

It made me think about the life that a book has outside a book. Film, TV, audio. There are stories of authors being heart broken over changes made - with general advice of 'Take the money and run' being regularly handed out. 

I don't do audio - tends to send me to sleep - but I know lots of people love it. Film in various guises is always interesting. I know I have been one of the indignant mob when a favourite has been mangled.

But we always have the book - the place where it is just you and the author and your imagination. The place where it all begins. 

It's in the cards.

 I have a very long standing fascination with Tarot cards - so it was no real surprise that when the Warburg Institute announced that the opening exhibition for its new  gallery space, following a multi million refurbishment, would be a Tarot exhibition that I organised a quick day trip to London  to take a look. 

It was worth it. Not a large exhibition and with an academic flavour, as one would expect from an organisation that is part of London University, it was a wonderful glimpse into the history of these fascinating cards. Originating as playing cars for a game similar to Bridge, over time they evolved into the devices for divination that we now associate with the pack. The historic cards on display - some dating from Italy in the time of the Renaissance - were worth seeing and I was especially interested too in the small section that dealt with new realisations of the cards, using all sorts of art work, many originatng in the pandemic. The ducal courts of Italy had cards painted by the court painters  -luxurious and beautiful - but the deck that is most recognisable is of course the Ryder Waite Smith deck. Ryder the publisher, Waite the interpreter of the meanings and Pamela Coleman Smith - for may years barely acknowledged - as the creator who did the art work. Unacknowledged like so many women artists in the past, but now getting her proper recognition. I don't like the way the word iconic has become an overused buzz word, but in this case I think it is applicable. If you think of the Tarot this will be the deck that comes to mind.  

The Tarot features in the Work In Very Slow Progress and the exhibition, and the work I am doing for the current evening class on Paganism has crystalised how it will feature in the book. It is a great feeling when you suddenly get an insight of how part of the plot is going to work out. 

One of the best parts of being a writer. 

More legacy

 Last week I was looking at the big life changing inheritance - property. But an inheritance can be a much smaller item - and a whole heap of trouble. 

This one probably veers a bit more to the suspense/crime end of the spectrum. 

Letters and journals - opening a can of worms on family history. A piece of furniture - does it have a secret drawer? Jewelry - what is its history? 

You know what the say - where there's a will there's a wrangle. The possibilities are enthrallingly wide. 

A secret where the inheritee doesn't know what they have. A secret where they do know that there is a secret, but not what it is, and have to find it. A contested will - possibly resulting in a trail of dead bodies? 

Inherited paper opens a whole different scenario. I have debated with fellow writers that it is very difficult to write any kind of dual time story without a paper trail. The different time periods have to be able to communicate somehow and letters and journals are the easiest way. In time slip a piece of art - a painting or an object - might be a key. Dual times that revolve around family are essentially domestic - concealed  births and unknown families are favourites. DNA investigations are suggesting possible new routes to family mysteries, but I don't think we will ever tire of the good old lost diary. 

I haven't found the deeds to the castle in my decluttering but I haven't any diaries or lost jewels either. You probably need a much bigger scenario than the average family - most of us know where all this stuff came from. There are family stories and legends to accompany items that are passed down. Family secrets can be a bit different. I know of a few in my own family that might make the start of a book, if I ever wanted to write it. I don't think so - I'd rather use my imagination. Let the past keep its privacy. 

But you can't beat a good legacy for kicking off a plot. 

the legacy story

 Continuing the campaign to declutter the house, I am ploughing through shelves, drawers, cupboards. A lot of stuff is mine, but there is also a lot that has been inherited - my mother's wedding china, a Georgian rummer that was my grandfather's, tools that belonged to my dad, books, small items of jewelry, ornaments. 

It occurred to me while sorting all this stuff that many readers enjoy a 'legacy' story. I do myself - reading them and writing them. And they come in a wide variety from a basic premise. An inheritance. 

The big ticket item is obviously property. Although most of us know that there is no way that a mysterious unknown uncle is suddenly going to leave us a mansion, and that the odds of it actually happening IRL to anyone else are probably pretty steep, it is still an attractive day dream 

What if ...

I was thinking of the possibilities.

The inheritance that is not a mystery - a protagonist who knows they will inherit. This usually involves  keeping up a family home or business, with a lot of themes of responsibility and duty. A protagonist torn between expectation and following their own dreams?

That unexpected inheritance. All sorts of mysteries here, across the spectrum from romance to crime.  Finding out about the person who made the will, finding out about the property itself - it can be a cottage or a stately home, an historic mansion or  the modern equivalent of Sleeping Beauty's castle. A Gothic ruin ...

Lots of fun here. the life changing effect on the protagonist being only the start of the story. They have to decide to live there, or at the very least to visit. No fun if the place is put straight on the market, sight unseen. Often it comes when the hero/heroine is at a cross roads in their life. Decisions, decisions.  It perhaps means learning new skills like estate management (thinking historical here - usually involving an unexpected title as well). As with the expected inheritance it also can carry previously unknown responsibilities. It might involve a location the protagonist has never experienced before - lots of 'fish out of water' potential.

Then there is the mystery of the mystery 'Why me?' 

It's not surprising that it is a popular plot device. 

And no - I haven't found the deeds to a castle in the highlands amongst my grandmother's collection of Victorian novels. 

Not yet, anyway.