A Writer’s Dream
“When will you stop checking out books from the library and start writing?” My husband asked me this more than six months after my announcement that I was going to write a novel set in Spain during both medieval and modern times. In it, I would explore endangered connections between cultures that are vital to our understanding of the modern world. No small order! And here I was, surrounded by piles of books growing at an alarming rate, with no idea of how to proceed.
So, what’s a writer to do when she’s in thrall to a “big idea” as unwieldy as a block of concrete? Was I capable of distilling all this accumulated knowledge into a simple premise on which to base a compelling story?
Ah, there’s that dreadful word. Premise. For me, it’s the most crucial and mind-boggling piece of the writing process.
I swiveled my desk chair and gazed at all the volumes I’d devoured on the literary achievements of Jews and Muslims in pre-medieval Spain, the brutalities of the Inquisition, the expulsion followed by the Sephardic diaspora, Franco’s dictatorship, and modern day religious and political extremism. Sorely tempted to run into the kitchen and raid the freezer for ice cream, I forced myself to stay put. I wasn’t going to let the presence of all this knowledge bully me into submission. There had to be a simple, storytelling thread that would lead me out of my mental maze.
Nothing. I drew a blank.
That’s when I realized that to preserve my sanity, as well as my independence of thought, I had to forget every word I’d read and ask myself why I wanted to write this damn book.
Putting aside the useless reasons, such as “it’s what I do,” and “I don’t want all this research to go to waste,” I closed my eyes, cleared my mind, and waited as patiently as I could for even a hint of an answer.
Still nothing. Disgusted, I packed it in for the night and went to bed.
I was drifting on the edge of sleep when it came, not a static idea but a moving image playing in my mind’s eye. I saw people dressed in loose, colorful clothing, walking in pairs along a riverbank. They were reciting literary passages they’d memorized, each one of them a living book replacing one that had been burned. It was the last scene in François Truffaut’s brilliant movie adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The “book people” were repairing history, undoing the destruction of centuries of knowledge and getting some fresh air and exercise too.
The next morning, a few ‘what if’ questions buzzed through my brain. What if a few thousand books had been saved from the fires of the Spanish Inquisition? Who might have saved them and where would they have been preserved? Where might these books be located now? Who would be working to preserve them? Who would be seeking their destruction?
Slowly I ran my eyes over the shelves, revisiting the titles of books that were once again my friends. I selected a few to consult as I wrote the prologue. When I was done, I still had 340 pages to go. But my book’s premise was tacked up on the wall beside my PC, ready to reinforce my intent if I wandered off course. For better or for worse, I was now married to my theme and would stay faithful. I’d better. After all, writer-premise marriage counseling is not a thing – yet.
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Joyce Yarrow is the author of literary novels of suspense that “appeal to readers who enjoy unusual stories with an international setting.” – Library Journal
Her latest offering is a historical fantasy – ZAHARA AND THE LOST BOOKS OF LIGHT – from Adelaide Books in Dec 2020.
A New York City transplant now living in Seattle, Joyce began her writing life scribbling poems on the subway and observing human behavior from every walk of life. Her published novels include ASK THE DEAD (Martin Brown), RUSSIAN RECKONING – available in hard cover as THE LAST MATRYOSHKA (Five Star Mysteries), RIVERS RUN BACK, co-authored with Arindam Roy (Vitasta, New Delhi).
Joyce is a Pushcart Prize Nominee with short stories and essays that have appeared in Inkwell Journal, Whistling Shade, Descant, Arabesques, and Weber: The Contemporary West and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Yarrow is a member of the Sisters in Crime organization and has presented workshops on “The Place of Place in Mystery Writing” at conferences in the US and India.
ZAHARA AND THE LOST BOOKS OF LIGHT
Seattle journalist Alienor Crespo travels to Spain to claim the promise of citizenship offered to the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. As she relives history through her vijitas (visits) with her ancestors, Alienor also confronts modern-day extremism and commits herself to protecting an endangered “Library of Light.”
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Preorder HERE
Category: On Writing
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