Kelly Romo's Blog, page 3

Which came first? The fly fishing or the thriller? And how I came up with the title.

THE FIRST SPARK

I came up with the idea for DEAD DRIFT while on a fly fishing/hiking/sightseeing road trip. The first little spark happened while driving through a little railroad town along the Columbia River called Wishram. It is on the Washington side of the river and only has a population of about 350. I have no idea why it came to me in Wishram or why I remember it so vividly, but it did, and I do.

The setting and ideas developed as we continued on into Maupin, Oregon, a whitewater rafting town where we watched rafts going through rapids on the Deschutes River. I describe my two characters, Emmy and Amber, driving through the town of Maupin in my novel. My fictional town of Lodell is based on Maupin, but I didn't want to bring any bad juju on Maupin by setting it there.

Who needs waders when you have short shorts and rubber boots?

THE TITLE

Titles are tough for me. At one point, DEAD DRIFT had the working titles of DROWNING TOWN and DROWN ME LIKE A RIVER. I liked DROWN ME LIKE A RIVER because it reminds me of the Bishop Briggs song, RIVER. I never felt good about DROWNING TOWN, but it served its purpose while writing.

I ended up going with DEAD DRIFT. I like how it sounds, plus it is a fly fishing term. The serial killer in my novel is a fly fisherman. The term "dead drift" in fly fishing is where your fly floats down the river naturally without any artificial drag from your line or tippet. It is incredibly challenging to do. If there is any tension, it is not a true dead drift and does not appear natural to the fish. I thought that fit perfectly since the serial killer in my novel is a fly fisherman. He also drowns, then releases his victims into the river (that is not a spoiler since the prologue and occasional chapters are from the killer's point of view).

Fishing with a lab isn't all it's cracked up to be.

THE ANSWER

The answer to my riddle is: The fly fishing came before the thriller. Although...learning to tie my own flies came after I decided to have my serial killer tie a single strand of his victims' hair into each of his flies.

A year into writing my novel, I discovered that one of the priests martyred during the Cristero War, and later canonized into a saint, may be related to my sons...

Sometimes my writing takes on a life of its own and takes me down a path I never expected. WHEN SORROW TAKES WING is a novel I never intended to write. I was working on a novel based on a female aviator who flew into the 1935 world fair, setting a world record by flying upside down over an international border. In that novel, Mariana was a secondary character whose story blossomed. My editor said Mariana's story was so compelling that I should develop it more.

In my story, Mariana becomes involved in the Cristero War in Mexico (1926-1929) when the government banned the Catholic religion and murdered priests and anyone who attempted to worship. The people rose up in rebellion against the government, including an entire underground network of 25,000 women called the Joan of Arc Women's Brigade.

As I dove deeper into Mariana's story, the novel became so big that I had to separate Jenny's story from Mariana's. Jenny's story is mostly finished and will be released as soon as I can.

A year after focusing on Mariana's story, I discovered that one of the martyred priests had the last name of Romo. When I started researching him, I immediately noticed a family resemblance to my sons. My sons' ancestors are from Mexico, so it is a distinct possibility. Maybe one day, they will do further research into their genealogy to find out if they are indeed related. Wouldn't that be something?

Saint Toribio Romo González is the patron saint of immigrants and has a shrine in the chapel where he was a parish priest in Santa Ana de Guadalupe, Jalisco.

If you would like to know a little more about Santo Toribio Romo González, here is a story from the Texas Monthly.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea.

I made many research trips to San Diego while writing WHISTLING WOMEN. As a single mom, I did not have the money to make the trips, so a friend suggested that I say in a youth hostel. Given the fact it had the word "youth" in it, I didn't think that was an option. I went online, found the Banana Bungalow, and called. They said as long as I was "young at heart," I could stay there.

The Banana Bungalow has changed its name and is now called The Beach Bungalow. It is a beachfront hostel located on Pacific Beach and within walking distance to Belmont Park amusement center. They have dorm rooms and individual rooms. On my first visit, I stayed in a dorm room, and on other visits, I stayed in one of the individual rooms. The single rooms offer privacy, but I met more people, and it was more memorable when I stayed in the dorm room.

The top bunk with the "Free Naked Surf Lessons" sign was mine when I stayed in the dorm room. The surf instructor slept in the bottom bunk.

I met wonderful people from all around the world. These girls talked me into joining them at a party on their last night at the hostel, and it was a blast.

The two men on the right are firefighters from New York. They kept talking about how easy it would be to fight fires in San Diego since most buildings are only one or two stories tall.

A young man from Israel cooked us one of his family's traditional breakfasts.

On one trip, I went on an ocean kayaking adventure with the hostel. Two "lifeguards" from Australia were with us, and they bragged about their superior swimming and kayaking skills. They had trouble getting beyond the waves, and one of them got seasick. The other young man jumped out of his kayak for a swim and could not get back in. It was hilarious.

I got a lot of research and writing done while staying at the Banana Bungalow. I spent most of my time on the beach or taking the bus to Balboa Park, where WHISTLING WOMEN is set.

If you are young at heart and have a budget to match, give a youth hostel a try.

My fictional town, Lodell, is loosely based on the town of Maupin, Oregon.

While writing DEAD DRIFT, my kids and I stayed in one of the historic railroad cabins at Oasis Cabin Resort and we rafted with High Desert River Outfitters.

Brennan reluctantly agreed to come. He thought rafting would be nothing more than a boring float down the river. Little did he know, it was one big party with water gun fights, class III and IV rapids, and a fun night out at a bar...with his mother. Lol! We went to The Rainbow Tavern and I ended up basing the bar in my book, Buckskin Mary's, on it.

We had a great time on the river blasting people with water, 'riding the bull' on the front of the raft, and stopping for a barbecue lunch. Unfortunately, Brittany rode one of the rapids in her life jacket. I also ended up in the water, taking one for my writing. What better way to learn?

If you've never been whitewater rafting, I highly recommend it!

Ryan with his paddle in the air as we enter Oak Springs Rapid.

Our raft "taco-ing" and folding us into the center.