Pulling A Fonzie

I'm about halfway through reading Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. It's the first of the Miss Marple books, and I'm wondering if Dame Agatha had planned to start a series when she wrote it. My guess is no.

The book is written in first person from the perspective of the vicar. Miss Marple is, at this point anyway, a secondary or even tertiary character. She's the old busybody who lives next door to the vicarage. One of many old busybodies in the village. But she is more fully fleshed than any of the other characters. Was this on purpose? Or did Christie just fall in love with the character and give her more attention than the protagonist? Was the format a purposeful device to introduce Miss Marple?

I know there are biographies of Agatha Christie. I don't know whether any of them go into these issues. Would anyone other than a writer care? But I'm smelling more research in my future. Of course the big question is, does this impact what I'm doing with my own mysteries?

Possibly. What if in HM, Caleb becomes the stronger character? Pulls a Fonzie, so to speak. Is this something to protect against in the writing by making sure Sloan is the more interesting of the two? Do I slight Caleb in order to elevate Sloan? Would it really matter?

I think I need to trust my gut and just write it. There should be room for two, or more, strong characters.

Prompt of the Week

When you hear the word "summer" what images come to mind? Pick one or two and write about them.

Bonus prompt: Write a poem using these images.

Research or Distraction?

I like to do research. It's learning new things. I was one of those kids who looked forward to the new school year. Doing research is one of the joys of writing for me.

But there are times when I think I overdo it. In HM, the protagonist has a job that I know only a little about. So I need to research it. No problem there. Buy a magazine that caters to the person who does this job. Except it isn't one magazine. It's all 4 titles on the shelf. For several months in a row. Do I really need that much information?

The same with D&D. They own a particular type of business. This one doesn't have a lot of magazines on the shelf, but I buy what I can find. Then I decided that someone they know should make jewelry. Ali and Mary are both wonderful jewelry makers. Great sources. But I also bought 5 jewelry magazines the other day.

Maybe it's not a research problem, but a magazine addiction.

To emulate Ali, I'll pose a question: How much research is too much?

Prompt of the Week

Christmas in July. How would you change the way you celebrate Christmas if it fell on July 25th instead of December 25th? If you don't normally celebrate Christmas, which holiday would change for you and how if it was held in mid-summer instead of the usual date?

Relief

About fifty pages into the reread, and it's not as bad as a I feared. That may change when I get further in, but for now it's looking okay.

Yay!

I decided to read through what I have already and make some notes. Not a full rewrite, but at least get down what I feel is wrong.

It feels like positive motion.

Hallelujah!

Prompt of the Week

In honor of Bastille Day: What would be worth going to prison for?

Whining

Just a little.

I'm having trouble getting back into a routine with HM, and I'm not sure why. Part of it may just be that I did break my routine. That can make things a bit hinky.

Writer's block obviously isn't the problem, because I'm not having trouble posting. Or working on other things. So it's HM related.

What about HM is giving me pause?

Characters? No, I love my characters. The Group teases me about playing with the guys. And I like the supporting cast. So characters are not the problem.

Setting? Again, love the setting. A little town in the mountains of Colorado with a blend of people whose families have been there for generations and newcomers using the former village as a bedroom community. All good.

Plot? I like the murder. Which is weird sentence to type. Victim-good. Murderer-good. But there's something nagging there. Subplots aren't strong enough. And I'm not sure that the clues are great. Or the resolution.

In summary, what I hear myself saying is that it needs revision. Okay. But revision is for after the first draft is done. First draft is for just getting it down in all its messy glory. As Deb says, "Sometimes The First is painful, embarrassing or messy." And for first drafts, it should be.

So, I need to tell that Inner Editor to shut up and wait her turn.

Goals

Guess I should fess up to how I did on my wimpy goals for June and set some new ones for July.

Last month I said, "I'd like to finish my first cozy, known here as HM, and outline a second, which will go by D&D (not Dungeons and Dragons, even though my nephew loves that D&D). Not a lot but enough to keep me busy.I'd also like to read a few more of the current crop of cozies out in the world today. Just to see what's there and, maybe, discover what might be missing."

I did not finish the draft of HM, but I did figure out that it's okay to write the beginning, then the end, then the middle. Hoping that helps move the page count. Did not outline D&D since goal one wasn't finished. It shouldn't have mattered one way or the other, but it did. I did read another cozy and bought the two Agatha Christie's to delve into.

This month, I'm setting my sights a little lower since we're already more than a week into July. I'd like to write 25 pages of HM. And I will outline D&D no matter what happens with HM. And read at least the 2 Agatha Christie's.

Prompt of the Week

"The sky is falling!"

Something falls on your head. What is it? Where did it come from? What does it mean?

Getting to The End

Interesting First Monday last night. There was some great discussion about Deb's book, which I've read and like, but have a hard time with all the characters at the beginning. Then we moved on to our usual format.

Deb and Jenny spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the Harry Potter series will end. I guess I'll have to read the books one of these days. The movies are okay. I'm not sure why I've resisted reading them so much. Maybe it's all the hype around them.

Someone asked me about HM. I told them about the problems I'm having with just wanting to end it even though it's far too short. Shane asked if it wouldn't be okay to write the beginning, then the end, then the middle. I don't see why not.

I think that's what I'm going to do. I have a five-day weekend to put it in practice. Maybe that will be my process. Maybe not. But I feel like I need to experiment and the first book is the place to do that.

Prompt of the Week

In honor of Jenny (she knows why):

Your character was born on February 29th. Describe how s/he feels on those non-leap years.