Lifescapes

Sandhill Cranes

A cold front breezed down from the north this afternoon, bringing with it some pretty wild weather: thunder, lightning, hail, wind, and plenty of rain, nearly an inch of it. The rain is welcome, and the cooler temperatures too. There's a lovely bite in the air, suggesting that winter may not be long in coming.

But the loveliest gift of the cold front is a gaggle of sandhill cranes far overhead, streaming south in a long, ragged V, their high, wild calls falling on me like a blessing. I listen to them with a mixture of love, longing, joy, and apprehension, for many of the cranes that come to the winter grounds along the Texas coast have their nesting sites in northeast Siberia. With avian flu so much in the news, I have to wonder whether the cranes will be affected.

Another visitor today: a cold, wet black-chinned hummingbird, who took refuge on the single feeder I've left up for just such emergencies. I haven't seen any hummers for the past couple of weeks, so this guy is definitely a left-behind. He spent quite a while tanking up; hope he got enough good hummer juice to keep him going until he gets to . . . oh, say, San Antonio. It should probably be warm enough for him down there.

And it was cold and wet enough outside for Shadow to spend the afternoon on my desk, with her favorite mouse. 

Standalone and Series Fiction

I woke up thinking about this topic this morning, which suggests how intrigued I must be by the idea of the "book-bridging" plot.

In mystery fiction, a "standalone" is usually defined as a non-series book, outside of an established series. It's often a thriller, at least according to April Henry, who alternates series and standalones. But a standalone can also be a series book that is strikingly independent of the other books in the series, like RUEFUL DEATH or BLOODROOT, in the China series. Both of these books have only tangential connections to the rest of the series, primarily because they are "out-of-town" books. RUEFUL is set in a monastery; BLOODROOT is set in Mississippi. Of course, since China is the protagonist, both books are connected to preceding and subsequent books through her. But since the settings are different, there are few continuing characters. I tied up the plots in each of these books and China returned home, to continue her adventures back in Pecan Springs.

The other books in the series don't stand alone. They are linked by the interwoven threads of the characters' lives: China, Ruby, McQuaid, Sheila, and so on. It is these characters' evolving plots that are carried from novel to novel, and my reason for thinking of the series as a "mega-novel," with each of the books as chapters. One result of this structural organization: the novels are best read in order. This is an unpleasant limitation for readers who don't like to be bound by the published order of the books, or who find it hard to get books. For other readers, it's a big part of their enjoyment. (Some people have told me that they reread their favorites in the series, in order, before the next book comes out.)

Another result: the continuing plots that thread from book to book--the "book-bridging" plots, as I've come to think of them. The first of these occurred in LOVE LIES BLEEDING, which ends with a significant mystery: will McQuaid survive the shooting, and if he does, will he be permanently disabled? To be absolutely honest, when I finished writing that book, I wasn't sure whether he would live or die--that is, whether he would prove to be a continuing character. But it felt right to me that China's next challenge as a maturing woman was marriage, so McQuaid stayed on. The next two books, CHILE DEATH and LAVENDER LIES, continued and finally completed that marriage plot. Now, looking back, I see this part of the series--BLEEDING, CHILE, LIES--as a trio within the overall arc of the series.

Enough for today. When I pick up this thread again, I want to say something about MISTLETOE MAN, which I originally imagined as the first book in another trio involving Ruby. For me, today starts off with a bang. I have to take all three dogs to the vet to get their anti-rattlesnake-venom shots. Fun, huh? Then back home, to get (I hope) some work done on DAGGER.

WIP: Lizard

We turned in DEATH ON THE LIZARD months ago, got the copy-edited manuscript about 60 days ago, and last week, received what are called the "first-pass pages": the pages as you will see them in the finished book. Somebody at Berkley (normally, the copy-editor) will read these carefully, but the author also reads them too. Over the years, as the process has become automated, these pages have gotten cleaner. One horrible experience lingers from my earlier incarnation as an English professor. I wrote a book for a university press, and they had it typeset in Singapore, to cut costs. It looked as if it had been typeset by a team of maniac gerbils. There were so many glitches that it had to be completely reset and was delayed for a full year.

These pages were clean, I'm glad to say, and I finished them last night, working the evening shift. It's nit-picky work that always gives me a headache, so I have to limit the number of pages I read every night to 60. 328 pages means 5 evenings, plus one evening to get everything ready to go back this morning. In case you're wondering, Bill opts to read only certain sections: the action scenes, mostly. He made several non-mechanical changes to the text itself. Back in the old BC days (before computer), this was verboten, because rewriting text meant resetting type, and the cost could be charged against the author's royalty account. Now, thankfully, it's no big deal.

So another milestone has been passed in the process of getting this book out of our brains, into various computers, and into your hands. The next time we see it, it will be "between boards," as they say--that is, it will be an actual book. And for a change, we really like the cover.

Ladybugs and bees

It's Halloween and the big topic of conversation on the Wittig Family Blog, built by son Michael and D-I-L Sheryl, is the COSTUME. Granddaughter Becky may want to be a ladybug; here she is, winged but not quite fully garbed. To see Grandson Michael in his bee costume, doing what bees do best, go here, or click on the blogroll in the sidebar.

China Goes to the Netherlands

It's always a treat to see a new publication of one of the books. These, translated into Dutch, came in the mail a couple of days ago. A stand-alone publication of ROSEMARY REMEMBERED (on the right), and an "omnibus" publication of the same novel, with Lisa Scottoline's FINAL APPEAL (on the left). China and Ruby are so self-impressed that nobody wants to be around them. They're showing the books to everybody who comes into the shops, and Hark Hibler is doing a special feature on them in Saturday's Enterprise. In little Pecan Springs, this is a Big Deal.

Plots and Character

I'm still thinking about Kathleen Halloran's review, which I wrote about yesterday. And your comments are still coming, most of them suggesting that you read for character, rather than plot, and that you're not troubled by a book-spanning plot. In fact, of the dozen or so notes posted to the blog or emailed to me, only one reader said she felt "ripped off" when the author doesn't knit up all the plot threads--understandably, since that's the accepted narrative model for mysteries. Writers who don't follow the rules are going to lose some readers, inevitably. Thanks for commenting, everyone--and please, continue to add to the dialogue.

I wanted to turn the subject back to characterization for just a minute. Reflecting on Kathleen's ability to guess the evil genius behind all the bad doings in BONES, I think the problem wasn't a plot problem, but a problem in characterization. I painted that villain darkly from the beginning. If I had toned this person down a bit--colored the character more sympathetically or humorously, nuanced the character more fully--Kathleen might not have been so likely to spot the villain among the milling crowd of possible suspects. What begins as a problem in characterization results in what amounts to a problem with the plot, for those readers who are able to finish knitting up the mystery before China does.

Another day, when I have more time, I'll say something about point of view and plotting, which is always a huge issue for me when I'm working on a China book. It's TOUGH to construct a first-person mystery! But today, I have to put the writing aside and work on the book tour schedule for next April--another part of the writing business. Meanwhile, Bill is getting the van loaded for a 10-day stay in New Mexico. While he's gone, maybe I'll do some (necessary) housecleaning. When I'm working on a book, I manage to get the laundry, the cooking, and the dishes done, and I usually make the bed and occasionally sweep the floor. But not much else.

Plots and plotting

One of my favorite reviewers says several nice things about DEAD MAN'S BONES in the November 2005 HERB COMPANION, and I am (as always) grateful for Kathleen Halloran's thoughtful reading of the novel and her tongue-in-cheek appreciation of the fun I have with puns.

She has a couple of bones to pick with the book, though, both of which have to do with plotting. She doesn't think it was much of a mystery, for she found the killer disappointingly easy to spot--in other words, she was able to resolve one of the plot lines (the mystery plot) too early. And one of the plot lines, she points out, wasn't resolved at all! It was left deliberately dangling. "No fair!" she exclaims. "One does expect that all the danglng threads of the plotlines will be neatly tied up at the end for a satisfying finish..."

Let me think out loud here about the first concern: about plot lines that some readers resolve too early. When I began getting letters from readers (back in the days before email!), I was startled to learn how varied the reading experience can be.

Some readers complained (like the HERB COMPANION reviwer) that they "got it" too early, while other readers confessed that they were baffled right up to the moment that China solves the mystery. And still other readers wrote that they didn't give two hoots about the mystery: what they enjoyed were the characters, the dialogue, the settings--the elements of fiction that make a novel. More mystery? Fewer clues? They didn't care. Just write novels, never mind playing the mystery game.

It's an interesting range of responses, and probably says as much about readers, their reasons for reading, and their experience as readers as it says about the book.

Now let's think about plot lines that aren't resolved at all. This is a fascinating subject for me, so I'll probably be coming back to explore it from time to time.

Mysteries have been writen in series for well over a century: that is, the same character/s, usually in the same settings, recur from book to book. Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Miss Silver, Archie Goodwin, Nancy Drew--we could name many examples. But until the last decade, those characters were fixed and static, more or less. They were always the same, they never changed or grew. When I began thinking about China, I wanted to create a character who would change and grow from book to book--a novel idea in writing mysteries series!--and I fell to it with a will.

This business of character change and development takes wonderful advantage of one of the special characteristics of mysteries: they are serials, and readers expect to meet many of the same characters in the next book of the series. So why not, I have been saying (at mystery and writers' conferences, mostly) take advantage of this serial construction to create continuing plots, as well as continuing characters.

And so I have. China's plot has been contining from the very first book: will she move in with McQuaid? will they survive a betrayal? will they get married despite McQuaid's disability? These questions (plot issues, if you will) are mostly unresolved from book to book, and I have come to think of the series not as separate books, but as one long and continuous mega-novel, each book representing a chapter in the characters' lives.

And now, in BONES, I have carried the continuing plot a step farther. I have deliberately left a mystery plot line open and unresolved. And not only is it not resolved in BONES, it is still not resolved by the end of BLEEDING HEARTS, which is the next book in the series. (I can already hear Kathleen: "Not fair, Susan, totally not FAIR!!") This plot line will be resolved--I promise--in SPANISH DAGGER. But I will also promise that the narrative technique of unresolved plot lines will appear often in this series. It is a way of exploring and exploiting the narrative possibilities offered by the serial construction of mysteries--which for me, is the very best part of the mystery game.

So what do you think? Do you want your mysteries tidied up at the end? Or are you willing to live with a dangling plot that leads into another book? I'd love to hear your comments on this--agreements, disagreements, whatever.

In bloom this week: Texas elder

When this beautiful native shrub was "improved," it was renamed "Yellow bells," maybe because plant purveyors felt that a pretty name might entice people to buy an otherwise nondescript green plant, sans blooms. Whether it is called Texas elder, yellow elder, trumpet bush, Candelillio (my favorite), or Tecoma stans, it's a beauty, and the star of my autumn garden.

Ethnobotanists have recorded a variety of uses for this southwest shrub. In Mexico and Latin America, the leaves, bark, and roots have a variety of herbal uses, including the treatment of digestive ailments, diabetes, and yeast infections. The bees and hummingbirds love it, too. Today, I saw a couple of hummingbirds making a hasty pit stop, tanking up on its nectar on their way south, ahead of tomorrow's cold front.

Here at MeadowKnoll, Tecoma stans freezes to the ground in winter, coming back strongly in late May and blooming from late August until frost. But in tropical countries where there's no cold weather to keep it under control, it becomes invasive, crowding out the native shrubs with which it competes. Just goes to show you that "flowers" aren't always flowers--and weeds aren't always "weeds."

Reading Notes.

I like to think of the landscape not as a fixed place but as a path that is unwinding before my eyes, under my feet. To see and know a place is a contemplative act. It means emptying our minds and letting what is there, in all its multiplicity and endless variety, come in.--Gretel Ehrlich, in Legacy of Light

Beatrix goes to Russia

Encouraging news: the Russian translation rights to the first two Cottage Tales, Hill Top Farm and Holly How have been sold. The Korean rights were sold a few weeks ago, and the Japanese are said to be interested. They've always been great fans of Beatrix's Little Books, so maybe those rights will be sold soon.

But Russian? That surprised me. I studied Russian when I was in college, and even translated a Russian book-length study in point of view, Boris Uspensky's A Poetics of Composition, which was published by the University of California. The book still shows up in bibliographies for graduate-school classes in literary theory from time to time. I wonder whether I can still read the language. If they send me an author's copy of the Cottage Tales translation, maybe I'll sit down with the Russian text, side by side with the English, and see what I can make of it. I wonder how those talking animals will sound, with Russian coming out of their mouths....

But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I read just the other day that Peter Rabbit has been translated into 35 languages, most recently into Egyptian hieroglyphics. Quite a feat for a small bunny who has trouble finding his way out of the garden.

Scarecrows, blue jays, and pie

We don't know whether our gang of crows were frightened off by Bill's scarecrow or were offended at the idea of sharing their pecan snacks with a disreputable bundle of rags, flapping in the breeze. Whatever it was, they packed their bags and left a few days ago, without even saying goodbye.

But when the crows were gone, the jays took up residence, paying absolutely no attention either to the scarecrow or to the numerous mirror-like CDs that Bill has strung up in the trees, and which are supposed to give them pause for reflection. My guess is that they're too intelligent to be intimidated by such obviously harmless devices. Remember what Mark Twain said about blue jays in "Baker's Blue Jay Yarn"?

There's more to a bluejay than any other creature. He has got more moods, and more different kinds of feelings than other creatures; and, mind you, whatever a bluejay feels, he can put into language. And no mere commonplace language, either, but rattling, out-and-out book-talk--and bristling with metaphor, too--just bristling! And as for command of language--why, you never see a bluejay get stuck for a word.

That's our Texas blue jays. Smart, vocal, bristling with metaphor and blessed with a sense of the ironic. They perch gaily in the tops of the trees, break off the husks, crack the shells, eat the meat, and throw the shells on the ground, just to let us know they've been there, done that. And when they've eaten all the nuts they can hold, they steal others and cache them, poking them into holes in the trees or even pile-driving them into soft ground, saving them for the next rainy day. Crows can be spooked by scarecrows and mirrors, yes, the poor foolish things. But blue jays? Never. When we walk through the woods, we hear them laughing up their sleeves, and calling all their blue jay buddies to share in the joke.

Here are a few of the pecans the blue jays left for us. The smallest one on the left is a native, wild pecan. There are bushels of those, but the jays don't like them much. They prefer the Kiowas (large one top right) and the Chocktaw (large, lower left), although in a pinch, they'll settle for the Desirables (the three smaller nuts). Personally, I can't tell the difference, except for the wild pecans, which sometimes have a bitter taste. I doubt if you can, either, especially when they're properly baked in a pie. For my favorite pecan pie recipe (Bill's, too), go here.