Different Strokes for Different Folks

I’m a morning person. Most days, as soon as I wake up, I’m alert and ready to start my day. After coffee, of course. That’s why I choose to write in the morning; I’m fresh and at my best. When I’m writing, whether it’s the first draft of a manuscript or a rewrite, I focus on that. I don’t even check my email or answer my phone until I’m satisfied that I’ve produced the day’s writing. It’s too easy for me to get sidetracked, responding to emails, posting on Face Book and commenting on other writers’ blogs. I like to get up early but not as early as Louise, one of the characters in Mixed Messages.

Louise had tossed and turned all night long. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table: 4:58 a.m. The alarm would go off in two minutes. She reached over and turned it off. I don’t know why I bother to set it, she thought. No matter what time she went to bed, every morning for more years than she cared to remember, she had awakened at exactly the same time. Intuitively, her brain knew that it was time to get up.

But that’s not for everyone.

I have several friends and family members who, whenever possible, stay up until all hours and then sleep the morning away. And, I’ve read interviews with other writers who claim they’re the most productive at night. Just like Lawrence, another character in my book.

Lawrence was a night person. Long after his mother had gone to bed, he would stay up, reading or watching television. He loved the peace and quiet. It was “his time.” He wasn’t “on call” for his mother and there weren’t any of the little disturbances there were during the day such as telemarketers calling, the annoying noise of lawn mowers, leaf blowers and cars honking their horns. At night, there were no interruptions; he could do what he wanted to do.

What works for you? Are you an early bird or a night owl?

My Most Memorable Valentine's Day

The other day, I overheard someone say, “I hate Valentine’s Day! It’s just another Hallmark holiday.” I hope he reads this post because, well, no, it’s not!

There are many legends surrounding the origin of Valentine’s Day and the identity of St. Valentine but the fact remains that valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages and written valentines began to appear after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today is a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife, while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after his capture at the battle of Agincourt. I could be wrong but I don’t think Hallmark was in business back then!

I love Valentine’s Day! There’s something so special about it. You can almost feel the romance in the air whether you’re romantically involved at the time or not. I’ve had some wonderful, memorable Valentine’s Days. Through the years, there were candlelit dinners and gifts of candy, flowers and jewelry. But, as much as I enjoyed and appreciated those celebrations, they pale in comparison to the Valentine’s Day when I was six years old.

My first Valentine’s Day party! Our first grade classroom was decorated with hearts, which we’d cut out of red and pink construction paper and pasted on lacy, white backings. We ate pink and white frosted cupcakes and heart shaped cookies. Then, we passed out our Valentine’s Day cards with images of kittens, puppies and cupids. I can still remember how excited I was when I opened the cards, especially the one from Stevie Thompson. I had such a crush on him!

At the end of the day, as we walked down the front steps of our elementary school to head home, Stevie called out my name. I stopped and turned around. And then, he walked up to me, kissed me on the cheek and took off running down the steps. I think I floated all the way home. Happy Valentine’s Day, Stevie, wherever you are!

What was your most memorable Valentine’s Day?

Imagination

When I think back to my childhood, I realize that it’s no wonder I became a mystery writer. My parents, younger brother and I lived in an old two-story house with all kinds of good places to play Hide’n Seek. The basement was an especially scary place; the foundation had thick stone walls, a fruit cellar and a coal bin. We had a large backyard and, at the end of it, a woods extended as far as the eye could see with a cemetery just barely visible in the distance. It was the perfect breeding ground for a young girl, who loved to read Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew mysteries, to develop a fertile imagination.

My best friend, Bev, and her younger brother lived one house away and they often came over to play. I loved to make up stories about the house and the woods to entertain (and frighten)  them. For example, there was a large, rusty nail hammered into the back of the basement stairs and I convinced them that the elderly (imaginary) woman who used to live in our house was hung from it. The murderer, of course, was still at large.

Another place that fed my imagination was our elementary school (see photo) and the woods behind it. We were forbidden to venture into those woods but I occasionally managed to convince  Bev, who was a grade behind me and shy by nature, to go. My parents had warned me that there were dangerous people living in shanties there, which I’m sure they didn’t realize, only served to increase my curiosity.

There were so many intriguing places to explore in our neighborhood. Since we walked to and from school, we passed some of them: an abandoned bakery that had been shut down for years (I had to sneak in there) and a long, wooded lane with a rundown farmhouse at the end of the drive. The day I persuaded Bev to go there, ignoring the “No Trespassing” sign, a man came out and yelled at us, firing his shotgun into the air to scare us away. I remember wondering what his story was and, naturally, with no way to find out, I had to concoct one.

So, the fact that I write mysteries is, well, no mystery.

Famous One Liners

Movies, many of which are based on novels, contain a lot of dialogue but why is it that some lines become so popular that they’re instantly recognizable by just about everyone? What is it about them that makes them stand out and stand the test of time?

“My mama always said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.’” Tom Hanks played Forrest Gump in the movie, “Forrest Gump,” based on the novel by Winston Groom.

 “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again,” Scarlet O’Hara said in “Gone With the Wind.” The book was written by Margaret Mitchell and, in the movie, Vivien Leigh played the part of the southern belle.

Or, how about this one? “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Mario Puzo wrote this novel entirely from the research he’d done; he had no experience whatsoever with the Mafia. Marlon Brando played Vito Corleone in the movie, “The Godfather.”

Who remembers this? “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Ryan O’Neal played Oliver Barrett IV and Ali MacGraw played Jennifer Cavilleri in “Love Story,” based on the novel by Erich Segal.

“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!” “There’s no place like home.” “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” L. Frank Baum was the author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and Judy Garland played Dorothy Gale in the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.”

 “May the Force be with you.” This is an interesting example because the movie, created by George Lucas, actually came out before the book. Harrison Ford played Han Solo in “Star Wars.”

Can you think of other examples?

Getting to know Katherine Hall Page

This is the first post in my “Getting to know you” series. The purpose of the series is to give the readers of my blog the opportunity to get to know my guest not only as a writer but also as a person. The fourth Sunday of every month, I’ll feature a writer of mystery/suspense. I’d like to thank Katherine Hall Page, author of the Faith Fairchild mystery series, for being with us today.

Katherine, where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer? If so, how?

I grew up in Livingston, NJ. (also the talented and delightful Harlan Coben’s hometown). Livingston is in northern New Jersey, less than an hour’s bus ride from Manhattan. My parents had many friends in the arts and NYC was our backyard—museums, concerts, theater. My father, William Kingman Page, was the founding director of the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, NJ and my mother, Alice Malmgreen Page, was a professional artist. I am the middle of three with an older brother and younger sister.

Another influence in my childhood was my mother’s large Norwegian-American family, most of whom lived nearby. My parents and two of their close friends, Charlotte Brooks, the only female staff photographer for LOOK magazine and Julie Arden, like my mother, an artist, all encouraged my writing. I penned “Tales I Told My Sister” when I was about 8 years old and recently found it saved among my late mother’s things. So I suppose I must have had the desire to be a writer, but certainly wasn’t aware of it. I was too busy reading. Our house was filled with books.

What are your favorite things to do when you’re not reading or writing? Hobbies, travel plans, etc.

Since writing is both sedentary and an indoor activity, I like to get out and explore. This may be someplace like Italy or it may be a walk in the woods. In the summer, I swim in Maine every day because I’ve been doing it since I was a child and no one ever mentioned the water was extremely cold. My husband is from the Bronx and we go to NYC several times a year. I do like to cook, although not the way Faith Fairchild does every day. Experimenting with new recipes, trying out new restaurants and occasionally taking a cooking class are all activities I enjoy. I also love to go to the movies. The big screen, and as for the small one I’m a pop culture junkie -love “New Girl” and “Modern Family”. And of course “Top Chef” etc. I’m also on the board of trustees at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, in Lincoln, MA and work with their education department, as well as serve on a board at Wellesley, my undergraduate alma mater.

What’s your favorite color? Why?

Vermillion, because it’s so much fun to say.

Describe yourself – not physically – but personality wise.

Oh dear. Short and near-sighted isn’t enough? Calm (those Nordic genes), loyal, optimistic, and caring.

Where do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels? If not, how do you choose your settings?

I live in a small town west of Boston and in Maine on an island in Penobscot Bay, both of which have provided settings for my books. The other settings: Norway, France, New York City, Vermont, etc. are all places I’ve visited for various amounts of time. The book I am currently writing is set in Italy. I am in awe of writers who can write about places they have never seen.

Do you like to travel? If so what are some of your favorite places to go and/or your favorite vacation?

See above and add Britain—many lovely trips there and am hoping to get to Dublin next fall.

Name three of your favorite authors in the mystery genre and/or name specific books you love.

Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, and Robert Barnard, A Scandal in Belgravia

Fill in the blank. If I won a million dollars, I would . . .

salt some of it away for my old age, which seems to be advancing more rapidly each day, take my husband to Buenos Aires to tango, and have the extraordinary pleasure of giving large chunks to my favorite grassroots charities like Hands in Outreach, which works with girls and young women in Nepal, and the Youth Advocacy Foundation here in Massachusetts , provides legal and other social services to juveniles in need. Oh, and many programs on the island in Maine. The recession is hitting very hard there.

Did you plan your mystery series before or after you wrote the first book in the series?

Like my friend and fellow writer, Valerie Wolzien, who started her terrific Susan Henshaw and Josie Pigeon series about when I did, I had no idea I was starting a series with that first book, The Body in the Belfry. Had I but known, I most probably would have been so overwhelmed; I would have quit then and there. Although the 20^th book, The Body in the Boudoir, comes out May 1^st, I can’t say I’ve planned any of it.

Did the inspiration for your characters and/or plot come from people you know, a specific place or personal experience? If not, what got you started?

For me, one of the joys of writing fiction has been to create characters and plots that are not based on anyone I know or anything I’ve done. I like Madeleine L’Engle’s description of the writing process as “taking dictation from one’s imagination”. When I set out to write the first book, my husband was on sabbatical and we were living in France where they have excellent, readily available day care. For the first time in my adult life, I wasn’t working or pursuing a graduate degree. I’d take my two-year-old son to the pleasant nursery school down the rue and come back to write the type of mystery I liked to read—good puzzle, suspense, a strong female sleuth, no serial killers, some humor, and food. The rest, as it were, is “mistory.”

Truth IS Stranger than Fiction

In real life, when we hear of someone doing something bizarre or out of character, we often wonder, “What on earth possessed him to do that?” And, if we know the person, we might even think “That’s not like him.” But, since we know that he did it, we have no choice but to shrug our shoulders, shake our heads, accept it and move on. It happened; it’s a fact. In real life.

In fiction, writers don’t have that luxury. If one of our characters behaves in what would be considered an irrational manner, our readers aren’t going to accept it unless they know what motivated our character to do it. We have to keep each of our characters “in character.” We want our readers to identify with them or, at the very least, to see them as believable, fallible human beings and we know that readers will tend to judge our characters based on their own perceptions of what their behavior should be. I’ll use Ann, the main character in Mixed Messages, as an example.

Ann is married to David and they have two young children. David is an alcoholic who is drinking heavily, gambling and staying out all night. Ann has had to assume all of the responsibility for raising their children because David is physically and emotionally unavailable most of the time. In spite of Ann’s best efforts, the marriage continues to deteriorate. David is often verbally abusive and every conversation turns into an argument. They haven’t been intimate for awhile; the only time he seems to want her is when he’s drunk. She finally builds up the courage and attempts to seduce him but he rejects her, leaving her feeling undesirable and humiliated.

When you read that paragraph, what did you think? Did you wonder why Ann doesn’t leave David? Did you lose respect for her because, obviously, she lacks the gumption to get out of an unhealthy relationship? Did you project your own feelings onto Ann, thinking I would never tolerate that? That you would take the children and leave?

But what if you knew what motivates Ann to do whatever she can to “fix” her marriage and preserve her family? What if you knew that she lost both of her parents when she was nine years old and her grandmother raised her and her sister, Marnie? That, Nana passed away when Ann was eighteen and Marnie moved out of state to go to law school, leaving Ann alone? And that, when Ann met and fell in love with David and for most of their marriage, he was a sweet, kind man, a wonderful husband and father? Does Ann’s behavior make sense now? Do you understand why her family is so important to her? Are you pulling for her? Do you hope that, somehow, everything works out?

And then there’s David and the other characters in the novel. What motivates them to behave the way they do? Well, you’ll have to read Mixed Messages to find out.