What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? Most of my work on my title, Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?, took place from November 2019 to November 2021.
Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? I was tied to home during the pandemic, like most everyone, which is when most of my drafting for this project occurred. I work in a small, octagonal studio shed at the back of our wooded property in southern Connecticut. I call it the Sprittie after a line in Robert Burns poem: “Auld Farmer’s New-Year-Morning Salutation to His Auld Mare, Maggie): (Till sprittie knowes wad rair’t an’ riskit.
Click on the link below to read Robert Burns’s poem “Auld Farmer’s New-Year-Morning Salutation to His Auld Mare, Maggie”
http://robertburns.org/works/85.shtml
Our house is very small and it filled up fast during the pandemic, with family seeking to “pod” with us. Suddenly, I knew that the Sprittie was one of our best investments ever. Talk about emotion; I truly love this space that allows me to carry on my work.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? My writing day starts on the hiking trail with my dogs. That’s where I do my “dedicated daydreaming”– continually bringing my thoughts back to the scenes for the work in progress. It’ my way of reentering the story.
I wrote in a notebook first (in pencil because I enjoy the feel of graphite going onto the page), including sketches, maps, a calendar and research notes. I moved to my laptop once the scenes started to flow. My soundtrack was birdsong. I drank tea all day—always do– and I coveted a mug-warmer a friend gave me. (Great gift!)
Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.
AURORA
Twilight
(pages244-245)
The trees are not so thick and the boulders aren’t as huge. Looks like another meadow up ahead.
“Close, close,” Pop tells us. He looks at the map on the phone. “One last property to cross. We should see the road soon.”
Soon is usually a good word. But when Pop says it now, I tug on the ends of my hair and don’t let go. All seems lost. Soon means we’ll stop. How can we do that when we haven’t found Frenchie?
Then I see something. “Wait. What is that?” My heart pumps like it’s starting me up. “There is something in the trees!” I bound forward.
I keep it in my sights. It’s round enough to be a person’s head!”
Right size!
Right height!
And is it moving? I swear I see it moving.
I keep clawing forward.
Frenchie? Frenchie? Please be you!
But it isn’t Frenchie. It’s a ball-shaped burl on a tree trunk. I drag my fingers across it—rough, old brain-shaped thing. How could I mistake a bump of bark for my friend?
Mom and Pop and Gracia catch up to me.
Mom puts her hands on my shoulders, gives them a squeeze. “Did you meet with a trickster, my girl?”
“Yeah,” I mumble. “Sorry. Sorry, Gracia.”
“Don’t be,” she says. “It’s hope that makes us see things. And I won’t lose hope.”
We reach the roadside, and we can see other searchers heading to the school. Not far. Gracia pauses. She looks at the horizon line. The sun is gone. A narrow streak of pink is left behind.
“Gracia?” Mom asks. “What is it?”
“The twilight, “she says, looking up and all around. “Seems so inky.”
And I bet she is thinking what I am thinking: her no-talk boy, her son, is somewhere out there in the almost dark.
Click on the link below to order ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE from Amazon.
Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? The passage comes as the main character, Aurora, and her family are forced to suspend their day-long search for her best friend, Frenchie, who is missing. With them, is Frenchie’s mother, Gracia. The scene is emotional for me because hope comes into question, and it is Gracia—mother of the missing—who refuels that hope. Also, Aurora is only eleven, and I don’t relish making my young characters suffer. But the best experience I can give a reader is emotional engagement—the seed for empathy.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. No major deletions in this scene. It was always very concise. The markups were all done electronically. I’m sorry I don’t have an old-school manuscript to share.
If you wish: I can share this rough map that I kept by elbow as I drafted(ABOVE). Later, the cover artist, Ramona Kaulitski (BELOW RIGHT), created the beautiful illustrated map (BELOW LEFT), which appears in the front of the book.
Click on the below link to visit Ramona Kaulitski’s website
https://www.ramonakaulitzkiart.com/
Click on the below link to visit Leslie Connor’s website
Most of the INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links can be found at the very end of the below feature:
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/03/stephenson-holts-arranged-marriage-is.html