With the release date of The Cemetery Club, Grave Shift, and Best Left Buried peeking over the horizon, I am becoming more excited about their launch into the world of books. Writing is fun! And a lot of that fun is in establishing the characters, giving them personalities, and introducing them to the reader. I like to describe characters and scenes through dialogue, what my make-believe people say to each other. As I sat drinking my second cup of Folgers this morning, I stumbled upon Darcy, Flora, Grant Hendley, and Jim Clendon. They were sitting in Flora’s warm kitchen and they were drinking coffee too.
Jim Clendon leaned forward, his eyes boring into mine. For some reason I had never liked nor trusted Grant’s deputy. I could almost see his ears twitching, ready for a juicy story. “There has been too much talk about what Cub dug up,” I said. “I really hope this won’t go any farther than the kitchen table.”
Clendon frowned and Grant sighed. “Darcy, you know that neither Jim nor I would repeat anything you or Miss Flora tell us.”
“Okay. Understood. In the first place, I think you have some answers to a few important questions. Who is this Eileen Simmons? She evidently is pretty well acquainted with you.”
Clendon snorted and a slow red crept up Grant’s neck. “I should have explained Eileen’s visit before this. She’s just an overboard kind of person, Darcy. She runs either hot or cold. She hugs everybody.”
Jim swirled his coffee. “She didn’t hug me.”
“Shut up and drink your coffee,” Grant muttered. “She’s somebody I knew a long time ago, Darcy. In fact, she worked for a while as a dispatcher in the sheriff’s office. That was before I was elected but I got to know her.”
I didn’t miss the sly look and grin that came and went on Clendon’s face.
“So she used to live here in Levi?” Mom asked.
Grant nodded. “She didn’t know many people here and seemed kind of lonesome.”
“That didn’t last long,” Clendon added.
In that scene from Best Left Buried, the reader got an idea of Eileen Simmons and what she might have meant to Grant. It also furnished a peek into Eileen’s past.
One of my favorite authors was Lilian Jackson Braun. Her “Cat Who” books brimmed with many characters who lived in downtown Pickax. Even Jim Qwilleran himself was a refugee from Down Below. He was an unforgettable hero as was Qwill’s Siamese cat Koko. Ms. Braun’s characters were unforgettable but, if it suited the plot, she didn’t hesitate to kill off one or two as each story progressed. A writer has to be rather ruthless like that. And, at such times, it’s good to remember the book is only fiction!
Jim Qwilleran kept readers coming back for more. When Miss Braun herself passed away, I was sad to think I wouldn’t be able to take any more trips to Pickax and see what the people who lived there were doing.
Characters are the story! Characters and conversation move the story along. Curiosity about the characters (as well as genuinely liking them) keeps the reader reading.
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