Talk of the Town discussion

I challenge you to come up with the most puzzling questions about the book! OR just ask whatever you are most curious about.

This is so awesome! Thank you peachy for setting this up

Thank you Mr. Hawkins for agreeing to talk with our group!

First off, I have to say I loved everything about this book - the characters and the story line and the twisted plot that ended up all coming together in the end.

What was your creative process in writing this book? Did you have the story line mapped out before you started writing it, or did it expand as you were writing? The same question goes for character development...what led to David wearing a pink tutu?

Cathie wrote: "This is so awesome! Thank you peachy for setting this up"

You're welcome Cathie!

Thanks Cathie! I love it that you love it.

I have a hell of a time getting started on a book, so I've evolved some tricks over the years to help me get rolling. Many-to-most of the writers I know start with an outline and then flesh out the chapters in order they will be read. I tried that once, but it didn't work for me. I found that I'd be kind of phoning in the stuff I was supposed to work on today because my mind was on the stuff scheduled for next Tuesday, or whatever. Then, when Tuesday rolled around, my mind was on the bit I was supposed to be working on two weeks ago.

After that first book I decided to just work on whatever I think about when I wake up in the morning. That goes double when I'm just starting out on a new book.

So, day one, blank page: I start with the most random title I can think of and use that as a writing prompt. The working title for "The Library at Mount Char" was "The Library at Mount Sammich." Everybody (including me) eventually thought that that sounded misleadingly kid-friendly, so we changed it shortly before publication.

Once I've got the title the real work begins. I take a few months and try to make up random scenes that sound cool. I'm not paying too much attention to plot or character at this point, I just want stuff that would be fun to read. I write ten or so, at least in sketch form. Some of them stick, most don't. For Mount Char, the three that stuck were Carolyn+Steve breaking into the bar, going out for a jog and getting attacked by dogs then saved by lions, and the scene at the end with the neighborhood picnic that got nuked. Those were the three that I thought had the most life.

Once I had those three scenes roughly on paper, plus some notes on characters, I started shuffling them around to see if some sort of overall story line emerged. The final plot was mostly a product of trying to come up with a narrative that strung together those three scenes in a way that made sense. To me, this is the fun part.

"So...magic lady wants a burglar to steal something? Okay, fine, but what? Why?"

"Who is this guy out jogging? (It wasn't necessarily Steve at that point). Lions save him, you say? Well, okay, people like lions, but the hell did they come from? Not a lot of lions in Virginia last time I checked."

"Why would somebody nuke a neighborhood picnic? Maybe there's evil potato salad? No, that's too weird. Hmm."

And so on.

There were a lot of little a-ha! moments. About 3/4 of the way through the book, it became clear that Carolyn and Steve had nothing in common and would never live together happily ever after. Steve was originally going to be the guy who shot David, but by that time I'd already established Steve as a non-lethal sort of guy. That's where Erwin came from. Erwin started out as a single paragraph in a "Character Sketch" folder on my hard drive. I think he was originally aimed at a previous book that never came together.

As far as tutu--good question. That came out of a writing workshop (Taos Toolbox, highly recommended if there's any aspiring writers in the group). One of the exercises was to put conflicting elements in your characters. I'd already established that David was badass, so I was supposed to come up with some character trait that played against that stereotype. "Hmm. Tutus are kind of ridiculous, let's try that. But why would he be wearing a tutu?"

The tutu had a pleasant side effect in that you could have other characters, even ones who didn't know David very well, see him from a distance and he'd still be immediately identifiable to the reader. Who else is going to be walking around in a tutu? That's a trick I'll keep in mind going forward.

This isn't a question...just something that happened while I read this book in regards to David and a tutu and I want to share it with you Scott.

I permanently picture David as Ace Ventura Pet Detective now. I believe that is the movie where at some point Jim Carey ends up wearing a tutu right?

Scott wrote: "Thanks Cathie! I love it that you love it.

I have a hell of a time getting started on a book, so I've evolved some tricks over the years to help me get rolling. Many-to-most of the writers I kno..."

Wow. That was very interesting! I've always wondered how writers formulate their stories.. I am an aspiring writer, but currently I'm starting with short stories. I find the app, The Writing Challenge, very helpful. My style of writing would probably resemble yours more, if I ever decide to write an entire novel: the plot and characters would be built around scenes/dialogues that I decide "must" be in the novel.

It is quite amazing how such an incredible plot come from 3 random scenes you picked out. Thank you so much Scott!

Thank you for your great question, Cathie.

Stephanie wrote: "This isn't a question...just something that happened while I read this book in regards to David and a tutu and I want to share it with you Scott.

I permanently picture David as Ace Ventura Pet Det..."

Carey could do a good job as David if he didn't go too far over the top, but I always got more of a Dwayne Johnson as The Tooth Fairy vibe.

I love the idea of a heart coal, and how it was so significant in explaining how Carolyn survived, as well as of Steve's character. How did you come up with that idea? Where did the term originate from?

Hi Peachy,

Good question!

People sometimes ask me whether I plot my books out in advance or just make them up as I go along. I'm definitely in the as-you-go-along school, and things like the "heart coal" are why.

At one point, I was hoping to title every chapter of Mount Char with a made-up Pelapi word. You know how every now and then somebody on Facebook will post a list of words in German (or whatever) that have no analogue in English, but should? "Schadenfreude" and all? I wanted to make up a bunch of Pelapi words that would name situations / emotions that everybody would immediately recognize, but that didn't have an English word.

I still think that would have been cool if I could have pulled it off, but the problem was that I only came up with a couple of good ones. Still, I was keeping my eye out for candidates as I was writing.

So, to answer your question, when I got to the scenes with Mrs. McGillicutty, I wanted to give her a bit more depth. I was trying to think why she lived alone, and why no one would raise an eyebrow that there were a dozen weirdos shacked up with her all of a sudden. So I came up with this story about her missing son. And it occurred to me that there are a lot of people like that, who live kind of stuck in the past to a greater or lesser degree. Most people have mourned at least mourned a breakup for a couple of months, or whatever.

As far as the actual term "heart coal"--I just thought it sounded cool.

Then, after I got done writing about Mrs. McGillicutty, it occurred to me that Carolyn had a variation of the same thing. At that point "heart coal" stopped being a throwaway and started being a theme. It tied neatly into the nostalgia from the 1970s and 1980s scenes, and kinda-sorta worked with Steve's lingering guilt over his buddy Jack as well.

So, the TL;DR version is that I made up the term "heart coal" to service what I intended to be a very minor plot point, but I liked it so well that I ran with it.

Scott

p.s. -- Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I was tied up with a prior engagement most of the day yesterday.

Scott wrote: "Hi Peachy,

Good question!

People sometimes ask me whether I plot my books out in advance or just make them up as I go along. I'm definitely in the as-you-go-along school, and things like the "h..."

Wow. The more I read your wonderful answers to our questions, the more I realize how awesome the The Library at Mount Char is, and the more I love it! I now changed my rating to 5 stars!

P.S. That's what I love about this discussion format, there is no time pressure for anyone. I'm just really grateful that you can participate. This is so much fun!

What did she whisper to David, and then Steve?! And what father whispered to mithraganhi???

Amber wrote: "What did she whisper to David, and then Steve?! And what father whispered to mithraganhi???"

To stop time, Carolyn whispered "Par atah kan karai," which is a Pelapi phrase that means "please take a seat, the doctor will be with you shortly."

Because, you know, doctor waiting rooms take forever and...

I'll show myself out.

Scott wrote: "Amber wrote: "What did she whisper to David, and then Steve?! And what father whispered to mithraganhi???"

To stop time, Carolyn whispered "Par atah kan karai," which is a Pelapi phrase that means..."

Lol!! Love this - cracking up laughing!