Most writers I know don't like to talk about a work-in-progress - or even an idea about a book.
Superstitious or something.
Not me.
I have a little note on my computer where I have jotted down some of the really really really really hazy thoughts/images/characters/phrases/places that are s-l-o-w-l-y percolating.
I have always worked like this. Some of those jottings eventually disappear into the cosmos - but many of them come together, hold hands, do a jig, and become a book.
Here are some of the notes of my really really really really really hazy ideas/images yada yada yada:
Knock Knock
It had never snowed in Carter, Georgia. Not once.
a mountain to the north
an ocean to the south
in the middle was a one-whistle town (train)
finds crate of novelty items
Lives over the dry cleaners
Owen Jester tiptoed across the gleaming linoleum floor and slipped the frog into the soup.
It swam gracefully under the potatoes, pushing its froggy back legs through the pale yellow broth. It circled the carrots and bumped into the celery and finally settled beside a parsnip, its bulging eyes staring unblinkingly up at Owen.
[Note: Please do not contact PETA. The soup is not hot, people, okay?]
Edsel
Catfish
Squirrel
Odelia
Jiggs
Travis
Luther
Itchy and Scratchy
Stumpy
Tollie
Icey
Levi
Joleen Berkus
Tooley Graham
[Those are names that have popped into my head. Catfish and Squirrel were REAL people I met in the Waffle House in Simpsonville, South Carolina. Itchy and Scratchy are dogs.]
4 comments:
I have a friend, unnamed here, who is a distinguished law professor and is the proud moma of a large albino frog. He lives in slightly greenish water in an aquarium on her kitchen counter. Once he hopped out and was burned on the stove and the family were frantic, but he survived. He was of course supposed to be the kids' frog but he has outlived their time at home! Frog and Moma have a signal and ritual where she lightly taps the water and he comes to eat pebbly frog food off of her finger tip. They communicate and are friends. This family aLso has a snuffly, broad bulldog and it would be impossible to decide which pet is more adored. JAZ
Love these notes! What great character names. And you know I love that scene with the soup. I'm very superstitious. Glad you're not!
I agree with jama -- the names of your characters always draw me in!
Thanks for sharing!
I once librarianed in a school in Georgia where the kids had never seen snow. One day it started to come down and no amount of school marmish behavior could get them back to their places on the floor to hear my story. They stood mesmorized by the window, watching the flakes fall. It was a long time ago but I still remember the looks on the faces!
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