The Manderley of My Dreams: This Writer's Research

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...secretive and silent as it had always been, the gray stone shining in the moonlight of my dream, the mullioned windows reflecting the green lawns and terrace. Time could not wreck the perfect symmetry of those walls, nor the site itself, a jewel..."

These opening words by the second Mrs. de Winter in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca are some of the most famous in literary and cinematic history. I thought of them as I did novel research over these past weeks.

My second mystery, Marry in Haste [working title], needs a Victorian house for part of its setting. Did that come from my subconscious memories of a house I lived in, or did it appear out of plot necessity? As usual, it is a question of the chicken or the egg.

This huge Victorian house was my first 'home" when I moved to the small town of Monmouth, Illinois in 1968. My husband and I lived on the entire first floor for the next three and a half years, and the upper two floors contained five apartments. What fascinated me was the idea that this huge mansion was a one-family home during the late 1800s and well into the 20th century. Alas, the house was razed in 1990, and only lives on in my imagination and this photo. I heard it variously called "the McCullough house" and "the Allen house." [Even small town memory today calls houses in Monmouth by their earlier occupants.]

Regardless of whose house it used to be, I decided to delve into its history, a past highly entwined with that of the town. I have been digging away at its "mysterious long ago" at the Warren County Genealogical Society and the Warren County Courthouse, and interviewing Jeff Rankin (local historian), Dale Unverferth (another past occupant of the house), and Marcum Spears (attorney.) While my fascination might seem like a detour in my book research, it isn't. The folks who lived in this house have provided me with many ideas about the mysterious, imagined characters who will occupy my novel's fictitious house.

Two houses sat on the lot at what began as 400 and became 402 West Broadway. The Victorian was preceded by a smaller house and that's where I began my search.

The earliest mention of a lot at the corner of West Broadway and Pine Street (currently North "C" Street), is 1863. Once the land was organized into subdivisions, an attorney and local businessman sold Lot 5 to Amanda Jerome, a widow, in 1865. Either they or she built a house on that corner since it is visible on the 1869 town map. But it is not the Victorian house of my dreams. Across the street, on the east side of North "C" Street was a Weir factory, built in 1863. Fortunately for Mrs. Jerome, it moved to South 4th Street in 1865. The house at 400 West Broadway was a boarding house, not at all unusual for a woman back then.

Alas, Mrs. Jerome did not stay there long. She sold

The Monmouth Square, late 1800s

the early house to a Miss Sarah McBroom in 1886. Sarah had two sisters--Jennie (a teacher, I'm happy to say), and Mattie, who moved with her from a boarding house "between North Boston and Clinton." 

This is where things begin to get murky (enter confusing music.)

Someone built the huge Victorian mansion during this time period and now I must do some guessing. In 1893, Sarah sold the house and lot to Charles L. Barnes who was a building contractor living a block east at 308 W. Broadway. It appears that he financed the deal through an attorney named Almon Kidder. However, this is speculation on my part, based on the block and lot descriptions. Whether Barnes built the Victorian house or simply razed the McBroom house, I don't know. However, now W.W. McCullough enters the picture, one of two important men who would live in this house.

W.W. McCullough owned a lumber yard and he most likely supplied the boards for "402" West Broadway. He was living in "my" huge house with his family in 1896, but never actually owned the mortgage, according to the property description. The house is called "the McCullough House" in an 1899 city publication. This means my house was probably built between 1893 and 1899. McCullough and his family lived there until June 19, 1902. 

W. W. McCullough was a wheeler and dealer who had his hands in lumber, coal, implements, and the interurban railway. He resigned as secretary of Weir Pottery in 1902 (wisely holding on to his shares), to devote his time and money to the electrical lines and power station that would provide an interurban cable car/train between Monmouth and Galesburg (12 miles to the east) and eventually Monmouth to Rock Island (44 miles to the north.) 

An ad for John C. Allen's dry good store from the 1905 Monmouth College Ravelings yearbook.

John C. Allen, the second amazing house occupant and actual owner of the house, came to town in 1896 from Nebraska where he had been a merchant and

from A History of Warren County

Nebraska's Secretary of State. By 1905, he owned a huge dry goods store at 55 S. Side of Public Square and also at 105 and 107. It had an entrance on both the Square and on South 1st Street so it occupied almost a block. 

He also became president of the Board of Education in 1917, and president of the People's Bank. That same year my house acquired something new: a phone

The Monmouth Square early 1900s

number--4407.  Allen ran for Congress and served two terms in the House of Representatives in Washington, DC. All the while he and his family were living in my house. Imagine the social gatherings they must have had, especially with a ballroom on the third floor. He or his widow, Eudora, owned the house until 1944 when she deeded it to her son (or he inherited it.)

In 1948, Mr. and Mrs. Mell Moody bought the house. When they died in a car crash, their three daughters came into possession of the house in 1967. They sold it to Bruce Langford of Roseville in 1970, and he was our landloard during the last two years we lived in the house.

When the house was subdivided into apartments is a good question. The city directories show only Widow Allen living there when her son came into possession of it. My guess is that it was subdivided after that by either the Allen son as an investment, or by the Moodys.

And so this brings us to the end of the recoverable history of the painted lady at 402 West Broadway. Like Mrs. de Winter and her musings about Manderley, I often think about this house and its splendor back in the late 1800s, wondering what it would have been like to live in the entire home. In my next post I'll describe the house's interior as I remember it. Then it is a short jump to imagining the fictitious people who will inhabit it in Marry in Haste. 

All Characters Are Not Created Equal

       I saw the movie version of "Les Miserables" this week and the order of actors in the credits reminded me of the Shakespearean quote about the world being a stage. Yes, it's true that each player has his time and size of role. But even the most obscure part has its function. (Think of all the bodies at the end of the revolution or on the battlefield of "Lincoln.")
       What functions do authors think about when they create characters in their minds or on their pages?
       Orson Scott Card, who has written multiple books about the writing craft, mentions that characters can be divided into walk-ons and placeholders, minor characters, and major characters. In a movie like "Les Miserables" or a mystery novel, an author has to consider how much time and description to give to each character he creates.

       The walk-ons and placeholders are part of the background of a story. They have their purposes either in large ensemble groups or in small parts. They come in, do their thing, and then leave. In movie credits, such a character might be labeled "second man with gun." In the Sherlock Holmes' stories, the Baker Street Irregulars, a band of street urchins that Holmes relies on for intelligence, is such a group. In "Les Miserables," the priest who gives Jean Valjean the candlesticks or the foreman of the factory who throws Fantine out, help send each character toward his or her destiny. Then the priest and foreman leave the stage/screen, mission accomplished.
       In the mystery I just finished writing, Three May Keep a Secret, the county coroner, Dr. Ron Martinez, identifies a fire victim and then escorts her body to the larger city of Woodbury to keep the chain of evidence intact prior to her autopsy. I describe him only briefly, with a few details to show how tired he is when called out in the middle of the night. I also mention he is actually a pediatrician who doubles as a coroner in the tiny town of Endurance. Multiple titles is a characteristic of small towns.

       The second category, minor characters, helps the plot along and we learn more about them than the walk-ons. They have their purposes too, and without them the story wouldn't work as well or take some of the turns it takes. In "Les Miserables," Samantha Barbs plays Eponine, a tragic character who is in love with Marius, and she has more screen time than the walk-ons, but she is not considered a major character. It is important that we feel her despair when she realizes that Marius is actually in love with Cosette, because then we understand Eponine's motive in hiding Cosette's letter from Marius. Major plot point!
       In Three May Keep a Secret, Grace Kimball has two friends who play supportive roles in her life. One is Deb O'Hara, former junior high school secretary, married with two grown-up daughters, and always ready for a party, especially if it involves margaritas. Deb raises the alarm when Grace goes missing. She is in sharp contrast to Jill Cunningham, another friend who makes infrequent appearances in the book.  She is there when Grace learns of an unexpected death and she always keeps the group in focus. She is an accountant and a no-nonsense kind of disciplined person who jogs two miles every morning. Unknowingly, they put Grace in the path of a killer when they volunteer her for a job. They are necessary to the plot, but not major characters.
       A sub-category of minor characters is those who provide comic relief, especially in such a tragic story as "Les Miserables." Those characters would be Madame Thenardier (Helen Bonham Carter) and her husband played by Sacha Baron Cohen. In Three May Keep a Secret, two characters offer comic relief. A dark mystery needs to give the reader time to catch her breath after something terrible happens. Ronda Burke is such a character. She is pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian and is Grace's former student. She has an enormously ugly dog she has named "Adonis." Grace's sister-in-law, Lettie Kimball, is also a comic relief character. She believes everything she reads in the tabloids, listens to all the gossip around town, and has outrageous opinions. A minor character, she reflects a kind of small town person, but she also keeps her ears open for what is happening. She knows the pulse of the town.
       We get to know the major characters well and want to know their fates. Their lives--and often their points of view--drive the plot. These major characters have both strengths and weaknesses and what we think of each of them determines how we feel about their fates. We must care about them, however, to stay involved in the story.

       "Les Miserables" can only work because every character has his role to play. The same is true in any novel we read. The author determines page time and description length by the function of the character. Next time you read a novel or watch a film, think about the role each character plays, large or small. How would the movie or novel be different if that character, no matter how minor, didn't exist?

An Author in Search of a Title

You may have noticed that recently I've been absent from this blog. The answer is easy to explain: I've had a lot of deadlines as well as editing for my work in progress (WIP).  Those problems have taken up every nook and cranny of my brain. Seriously.

          For the last three weeks I have been thinking about titles. I am terrible at figuring out titles. An author needs to have a title she can live with...forever. She also needs a title that could be the beginning of a series so it must have continuing possibilities.

          This has been a terrible question in my mind, disturbing my sleep and interfering with my brain during every minute of my waking hours...and sleeping hours...for weeks.
          I played bridge and thought of titles (I think it improved my bridge.) I paced the kitchen floor and thought about titles. I watched the presidential returns--and thought about titles. I talked to my children across the country and thought about titles. Nada.
          I played word games and wrote down dozens of words that might remind me of possible phrases for titles. Nothing.

          You get the picture.

          When Daylight Savings Time occurred I couldn't quite adjust for the first time ever. At first I thought it was because I'm now officially a senior citizen. Now I wonder if it was simply my fixation on titles, even in my dreams.

          Arghhh.

          The working title for my book is A Silent Place to Die. It is a phrase I used in the prologue to the book. It's perfect, I thought. However, my traditional mystery isn't quite as gruesome as this title. Even one of my former students questioned why my title was so gruesome. It didn't sound like the Me he knew. That, of course, made that Me start thinking. 
          Other writers have titles in a series that have a theme. For example, Julia Spencer-Fleming uses titles that are religious in nature like I Shall Not Want or In the Bleak Midwinter. Her main character, Clare, is an Episcopal priest. Makes sense. Wow, what a great thing she has going. Since many writers use Christian symbolism in their stories figuring their readers will "get it," Spencer-Fleming has a whole layer of reader understanding working for her. She also has endless possibilities for titles.
          So is there some kind of "teacher culture" that readers will know about that I could use since my Grace is a teacher?
          No.

          Sheila Connolly's Orchard series uses apples in every title. Her main character owns an apple orchard and all the stories revolve around the small town, her house, and the orchard. Julie Hyzy's manor house mysteries--with a main character named "Grace"--have "Grace" in every title. Grace Under Pressure or Grace Among Thieves. My main character is a Grace and it would be so easy to connect her name with various ideas for my titles. Too bad Hyzy got there first.

          So I looked through many, many pieces of literature by American writers. After all, "my" Grace taught American Literature for twenty-five years and her story does have literary allusions. The books in her library are by her old favs: Fitzgerald, Poe, Thoreau, Emerson, Longfellow, and others.

          And then I remembered.

          Ben Franklin. He was an American original, discussed in many American Literature classes, and broadly taught across the country. Like Spencer-Fleming's layer of Christianity, Ben Franklin's aphorisms are part of American culture. Here, you finish his thoughts:

"A penny saved is..."
"God helps those..."
"Early to bed and early to rise..."

          See, I'm still giving quizzes.

          Of course people know these sayings. If I write the first part, readers can finish the second part.
          Ah ha! I may be on to something.

          How about one saying that's a little more obscure? 

          "Three May Keep a Secret..."?

Would you automatically finish that with "if two of them are dead?"
          If so, I think I have a title.
          

     

What's in a Name? A Rose..." or Ten Rules to Remember About Creating Character Names

          Anyone in the teaching profession knows the old joke about the pregnant teacher who can't think of a name for the upcoming tiny arrival because each name she considers has a negative association with a former student. "I can't name him 'Ben' because of that teenager I had in class named Ben who was always whispering obscene things under his breath to the girls who sat around him." Names are important and sometimes they have personal connotations.

          As a former teacher making up names for characters in my book, I don't have to worry about past associations. I can go for broke on names. I can also use names I like from my own life, go through a phone directory, or jot down a name I hear in conversations.

          With these thoughts in mind, I'd like to mention ten guidelines to make character names work better for both writers and readers.

          First, as an author who reads, I have to make sure I don't subconsciously use names I have read before in books. One of my favorite sleuths is Spenser in the Robert Parker novels. This character makes sure the reader understands that he has two s's in his name because of the poet, Edmund Spenser. And this detective is quite the poetic philosopher. Perfect name. Taken. I can't use it.

          Second, as an author who has lived many, many, many years, [well maybe only two "many"'s is enough], I need to make sure I don't use a name and location of a real person I've known in my past. I found myself subconsciously doing this with a minor character who had the first name of a long-ago college roommate, and who lived in the roommate's current city. A week later I realized what I had done and changed it.

Grace Kelly

          Third, the main character has to have a name I love because I will be using it a great deal, hopefully in more than one book. My main character, Grace Kimball, has a first name that I love. The religious concept of "grace" has always been an awesome idea to me. Ditto the concept of "grace under pressure" in Hemingway novels. "Grace" is also the name of a beloved granddaughter, and it's a beautiful concept when used as "graceful." Then, of course, Grace Kelly, beautiful American film star, was the epitome of grace. "Kimball" was simply a last name that I conjured up because it went nicely with Grace.

          Fourth, I never introduce too many names or characters at once. Even though I've read books that include a table or genealogy of several generations, I get confused if I read too many character names too quickly. I try to find unique ways to introduce characters.

          Fifth, I try to make names memorable so the reader won't have to page back to figure out who this character is thirty pages later. For example, my detective is TJ Sweeney, a decidedly detective-sounding name. Not until much later in the book does the reader learn that the "TJ" stands for Teresa Johanna. [I always wanted to name my daughter Johanna, but I was vetoed on that one. Good thing, I suppose, since my grown-up daughter tells me she doesn't like that name.] So now I have free reign to use it in my book.

          Sixth, I make sure my main characters have names with different syllable combinations and different first letters. This makes it easier for the reader to remember which character is which. I don't have a Sharon, Susan, Sandy, and Shauna in the same story.

          Seventh, I believe a great way to introduce humor is to use a name to indicate what a character is like or to indicate an opposite. In A Silent Place to Die, my work in progress, the mayor's name is Mayor Blandford. And, yes, he is bland. I also include a character with a slobbering, ugly pet dog like the Bordeaux bulldog in Turner and Hooch. My character/owner named him "Adonis," a name from several mythologies that represents a handsome male. This dribble-mouthed dog is anything but.

          Eighth, since my story takes place in Endurance, Illinois, it's important to have multiple ethnic backgrounds and cultures because even in small town America a person will see various names. Grace discovers that Endurance's past included a huge Swedish population because she researched a story involving Gustav Swensen. In checking out his grave at the cemetery, she discovers Ahlstroms, Olofssons, and other Swedish names. In current Endurance, she drives impatiently along at 10 mph behind Nub Swensen, probably a descendant of Gustav. Nub doesn't get the concept that 35 mph doesn't equal 10 mph, one of this author's pet peeves about small towns.

          Ninth, I describe secondary characters who aren't all that important with just a first or last name or the job they do such as "the janitor" or "the train porter." The reader will not see them more than once or twice so they don't have to waste brain cells remembering them.

          Tenth, I use different names for characters only if I make sure the reader understands what I'm doing. Otherwise, confusion reigns. Grace would call her friend "TJ," but others would call her "Detective" or "Detective Sweeney." Her boss, Stephen Lomax, might yell "Sweeney." And just to vary descriptions, "TJ" can sometimes be referred to as "the detective." 

          An additional note: I keep a list of all names of people and places I use in my rough draft. Each time I finish a chapter I add to the list so I'll be consistent throughout.

          These are the guidelines I try to observe for character names. In a future post I will consider author sources for place names for their novels.