Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "loser"
We're Writers--We Make Stuff Up
From time to time, people argue about whether writers can evoke something they've never experienced. I have friends in the writing community who take classes in how to shoot a gun, sign up to go rock climbing, and (of course) travel to faraway places in order to write realistically about a subject.
We know, though, that writers must also use their imagination to create scenes and characters they can't actually visit: battles are pretty much out for me, as is being a teen-aged boy abandoned by his mother. I have to imagine them, like Shakespeare, who created Juliet without ever having been a young Italian girl.
Loser, the protagonist in KILLING SILENCE, (http://tinyurl.com/a8gyqjd) is homeless, mentally fragile, and living in Richmond, Virginia. I spent time in Richmond, so I have a sense of where things are in the Fan, how far one would walk to get to this place or that. I have, in my lifetime, enough experience with mental stress to imagine being overcome by life's trials. Homelessness was a stretch. I've never in my life been truly hungry, never slept outside, never had to deal with the people (homeless and not) who threaten a woman with no place to hide.
I was asked at a workshop if I had to "dumb down" the dialogue, since Loser is homeless. Hmmm. An assumption that homeless people are all stupid?
Interestingly, I recently met someone who was homeless for some time as a young person. She's intelligent, articulate, and amazingly healthy, physically and mentally, considering the life experiences she's had. As we talked, I found that my imagination had served me pretty well as I wrote Loser and her companions. She mentioned that once she was able to have a normal life again with a home and family, she became, as she termed it, "a control freak." Having had a life that was out of control, she's compelled to make sure everything is right, at least in her mind.
Totally understandable. And in addition, it's going to help a lot with Book #2!
We know, though, that writers must also use their imagination to create scenes and characters they can't actually visit: battles are pretty much out for me, as is being a teen-aged boy abandoned by his mother. I have to imagine them, like Shakespeare, who created Juliet without ever having been a young Italian girl.
Loser, the protagonist in KILLING SILENCE, (http://tinyurl.com/a8gyqjd) is homeless, mentally fragile, and living in Richmond, Virginia. I spent time in Richmond, so I have a sense of where things are in the Fan, how far one would walk to get to this place or that. I have, in my lifetime, enough experience with mental stress to imagine being overcome by life's trials. Homelessness was a stretch. I've never in my life been truly hungry, never slept outside, never had to deal with the people (homeless and not) who threaten a woman with no place to hide.
I was asked at a workshop if I had to "dumb down" the dialogue, since Loser is homeless. Hmmm. An assumption that homeless people are all stupid?
Interestingly, I recently met someone who was homeless for some time as a young person. She's intelligent, articulate, and amazingly healthy, physically and mentally, considering the life experiences she's had. As we talked, I found that my imagination had served me pretty well as I wrote Loser and her companions. She mentioned that once she was able to have a normal life again with a home and family, she became, as she termed it, "a control freak." Having had a life that was out of control, she's compelled to make sure everything is right, at least in her mind.
Totally understandable. And in addition, it's going to help a lot with Book #2!
Malice Domestic, Invisible Sleuths, and Me
I got my panel assignment this morning for Malice Domestic, May's mystery conference in Bethesda, Maryland, . (One year we had a gentleman stop some female participants and congratulate them for banding together to fight spousal abuse, but that ain't it, kid!)
My panel is on invisible female sleuths, those characters who can investigate crime largely because no one pays them any attention. I was chosen for the panel because of Loser, my homeless protagonist, and she fits the bill perfectly. I got the idea for her from living in Richmond for a few months and seeing the street people every day, visible to me as a newcomer but largely unseen by the residents. I began thinking about what those street people must notice, what they might be thinking. I know some of them are hampered by chemical or psychological problems, but what if there was one who observed, was able to form conclusions, could make a plan and follow it through? From those thoughts, Loser emerged.
The first Loser Mystery has done well, and I even got a note from a former student who was waiting to pay at a faraway B&N when a woman came up and asked for Peg Herring's new book. Now the second one is almost ready. I'm doing final proofing this week and it should be out in early April. Once again Loser uses her anonymity to eavesdrop and observe, and she's ignored until...well, until she isn't, which leads to lots of action and danger and all the things one expects in a mystery.
Loser has become very real to me, and as I finish Book #4 of Simon & Elizabeth's adventures, I'm already thinking of what the next Loser Mystery will entail. In the meantime, I'll be interested to meet my fellow panelists for Malice Domestic and see what they've done with their invisible sleuths.
My panel is on invisible female sleuths, those characters who can investigate crime largely because no one pays them any attention. I was chosen for the panel because of Loser, my homeless protagonist, and she fits the bill perfectly. I got the idea for her from living in Richmond for a few months and seeing the street people every day, visible to me as a newcomer but largely unseen by the residents. I began thinking about what those street people must notice, what they might be thinking. I know some of them are hampered by chemical or psychological problems, but what if there was one who observed, was able to form conclusions, could make a plan and follow it through? From those thoughts, Loser emerged.
The first Loser Mystery has done well, and I even got a note from a former student who was waiting to pay at a faraway B&N when a woman came up and asked for Peg Herring's new book. Now the second one is almost ready. I'm doing final proofing this week and it should be out in early April. Once again Loser uses her anonymity to eavesdrop and observe, and she's ignored until...well, until she isn't, which leads to lots of action and danger and all the things one expects in a mystery.
Loser has become very real to me, and as I finish Book #4 of Simon & Elizabeth's adventures, I'm already thinking of what the next Loser Mystery will entail. In the meantime, I'll be interested to meet my fellow panelists for Malice Domestic and see what they've done with their invisible sleuths.
