I've been working behind the scenes if you will. I know I haven't been motivated to write the book just yet, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about what I'm going to write. I am thinking about that.
I sat down tonight to read another Perry Mason book and right in the middle of it I thought to myself, "Why not add a few of these lines to the book and twist them so I'm not actually plagiarising." I do that. I write and rewrite, but I won't take something that doesn't belong to me. In other words, since we know there's nothing new under the Sun, I can take an idea that Erle Stanley Gardner had and revamp it giving it a new look, and a new outcome. I just use other people's work as a springboard - - I don't swim in their pools of thought.
I took out a new composition notebook and began taking notes about what I will have the characters say, and do, and how they will interact with one another. I decided to have Ferguson come down from Chicago to help Nick in the desert while he's chasing clowns and taming Mustangs. Ferguson's new passion for trading in the stock market will be helpful and even case-altering at one point. Eoghan will understand the concepts in his own very unique way of thinking, and he'll come up with a means of mapping or tracing patterns in the various markets as they resemble music in his head.
There will be clowns, acrobats, crystal balls, fortune tellers, knife throwing, and even a sharpshooter act that places Nick in a rather precarious situation to be sure. There will be tigers, elephants, and bears...and yes, there will be murder. There is always a murder when Nick Posh is involved. His choice to leave Oklahoma City for this particular case will be the straw he'll need to break the proverbial camel's back when it comes to deciding whether or not to take a full-time desk job with the City of Oklahoma City. (What do you think he does?) :)
I've added every circus act you can think of and mixed them with a few side-show freak acts to make the thing that much more enjoyable. Laura traveled with a sideshow for a while and we got to know some of the motley crew who both performed for the side shows and some who brokered the show(s). It was fascinating from a logistics point of view. I've always been fascinated by how things actually come together.
Mesa is coming together - - I've written out a few notes tonight, and will do it again tomorrow. Maybe by the weekend, I'll feel like putting a chapter or five in the box. That could happen. I think this will be a good book -- fun and interesting. I only wish I could be off work full time and make a real living as an author so I could just do that all day - - but alas, not at this time...maybe another day.
Photo Credit: Smithsonian Magazine
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