Category: Book

Writing a book in 365 days – 225

Day 225

Taking notes and ‘seeing’ what’s around you

…

The Writer’s Secret Weapon: Why Your Notebook is Your Best Friend (and When Truth Gets Tricky)

As writers, we are, by nature, magpies. We collect shiny bits of conversation, interesting peculiarities, and fleeting moments of human experience. We squirrel them away, not just for personal memory, but for the grand, glorious, and often messy act of creation.

This isn’t just a hobby; it’s a fundamental part of the craft.

Your Life as Your Lab: The Power of Observation

Think of your life as a vast, unfolding laboratory, and your notebook (whether physical or digital) as your ever-present logbook. What you see, what you hear, what you feel – it’s all potential.

  • Dialogue Snippets: Overheard a unique turn of phrase on the bus? Jot it down. A peculiar way someone emphasized a verb, or a perfectly mundane conversation that suddenly turned profound? Capture it. These are the building blocks of authentic voice and character.
  • Mannerisms & Quirks: The way a stranger sips their coffee, the peculiar cadence of a regional accent, a nervous habit noticed during a meeting. These seemingly minor details can imbue your characters with an undeniable sense of reality, making them leap off the page.
  • Sensory Details: What does that old antique shop smell like? What’s the specific echo in an abandoned building? The texture of a worn wooden banister? The exact shade of twilight on a specific street corner? Capturing these sensory inputs can transform a bland description into an immersive experience.
  • Emotional Reactions: How did you feel when you heard that news? What was the atmosphere in the room when a difficult conversation unfolded? Logging your own emotional responses, or those you observe in others, becomes a rich wellspring for character motivation and scene tension.
  • Oddities & Coincidences: Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. The bizarre incident at the grocery store, the uncanny synchronicity that made you pause, the surprising fact you stumbled upon in an article. These are often the seeds of truly original plotlines.

The goal isn’t just to transcribe, but to absorb. To understand the underlying dynamics, the unspoken subtext, the human element.

Weaving the Threads: From Life to Lore

The magic happens when these scattered observations are ready to be woven into your plot or storyline. That nervous habit you noted becomes your protagonist’s tell when they’re lying. That overheard argument gives you the emotional core for a conflict between two lovers. That unique smell triggers a memory for a character, propelling them into a flashback.

Your notes become the raw, unfiltered material that you then refine, re-shape, and reimagine. It’s not just about copying reality; it’s about using reality as a springboard for invention. You’re taking the ordinary (or extraordinary) moments of life and distilling them into the essence of compelling narrative.

The Treacherous Path of Truth: When Reality Bites Back

And here’s where we hit a crucial caveat: sometimes, truth can cause problems.

While life is an endless well of inspiration, it’s not always a safe one to drink directly from.

  1. Legal Ramifications: Directly transcribing a real person’s life, especially if it’s unflattering or involves private matters, can lead to defamation lawsuits, privacy violations, or intellectual property disputes. Even if you change names, if the person is recognizable, you’re on thin ice.
  2. Ethical Quagmires: Is it fair to exploit a friend’s personal tragedy for your plot? Is it right to expose a family secret, even if it makes for a dramatic story? While all art draws from life, using someone else’s pain or private life without their consent (or adequate disguise) can be a profound betrayal.
  3. Personal Betrayals: Friends, family, colleagues – they might recognize themselves, their quirks, their arguments, even if you’ve changed the names. This can lead to hurt feelings, destroyed relationships, and a sense of being used.
  4. Creative Constraints: Paradoxically, sometimes truth is too specific, too bizarre, or too unbelievable for fiction. Real life doesn’t always follow narrative arcs, and copying it verbatim can make your story feel clunky, disjointed, or simply not credible. “But it really happened!” is a poor defense when a reader stops suspending their disbelief.

The Alchemist’s Touch: Transforming Truth into Timeless Fiction

So, how do you harness the power of observation without stepping into these pitfalls? You become an alchemist, transmuting raw truth into fictional gold.

  • Disguise and Amalgamate: Never use one person directly. Instead, take elements from three different people and create one new character. Blend two different real-life situations into a third, entirely new plot point. Change genders, ages, settings, and motivations.
  • Focus on the Essence: Instead of the exact details of an argument, capture the feeling of frustration, misunderstanding, or power imbalance. Instead of a specific event, consider the consequences or emotions it evoked.
  • Ask “What If?”: You saw a specific interaction. Now, what if one small detail changed? What if the stakes were higher? What if the characters were different people entirely?
  • Use as a Springboard, Not a Blueprint: Your notes are starting points, not finished maps. Let them spark your imagination, then allow your creativity to take over and build something new and unique.
  • Prioritize Story Over Strict Accuracy: Your primary responsibility is to your story and your reader. If a real-life detail doesn’t serve the narrative, or actively hampers it, change it.

Embrace the magpie within you. Observe, collect, and fill your notebooks with the vibrant tapestry of life. But when it comes time to weave those threads, remember the art of transformation. It’s in the balance between rigorous observation and imaginative alchemy that truly compelling stories are born – stories that resonate with truth, without causing real-world problems.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever jotted down for future story inspiration? Share your note-taking wisdom in the comments below!

Searching for locations: The Castello di Brolio, Gaiole in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy

The castle is located in the southern Chianti Classico countryside and has been there for over ten centuries, and owned by the Ricasoli family since 1141.

Like any good castle, it has strong defences, and I was looking for a moat and drawbridge, but it looks like the moat has become a lawn.

The very high walls in places no doubt were built to keep the enemy out

The castle has been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the last 900 years.  It was part of the Florentine defences, and withstood, and succumbed to many battles with Siena, which is only 20 km away.  More recently, it still bears the scars of artillery fire and bombing in WW2.

The room at the top of this tower would have an excellent view of the countryside.

Here you can see the old and the new, the red brick part of the rebuilding in the 1800’s in the style of an English Manor

We did not get to see where that archway led.

Nor what was behind door number one at the top of these stairs.  Rest assured, many, many years ago someone wearing armour would have made the climb.   It would not pass current occupational health and safety these days with a number of stairs before a landing.

Cappella di San Jacopo.  Its foundations were laid in 1348.

Renovated in 1867-1869, it has a gabled façade preceded by a double stone staircase.  The interior, with a crypt where the members of the Ricasoli family are buried, has a nave divided into three spans with cross vaults.

The 1,200 hectares of the property include 240 hectares of vineyards and 26 of olive groves, in the commune of Gaiole.

The day is disappearing, and nothing is getting done

Do you have days when you feel like you’ve achieved nothing, even after getting through what might appear to be a lot?  It’s the ancillary stuff that’s the bugbear of anyone who simply wants to get on with what’s important, and that’s writing.

You know, sit down in front of a blank page on the computer, on your writing desk, if you have one, ready for the words to come.

Except there’s the email to check.

Then there are ads to be sent out on Twitter and the general Twitter feed to look at just to keep up with what’s happening out there.

Then there’s the news usually that arrives on my desktop computer, the feed from the major papers around the world, for me, the New York Times, in the US, the Times in The UK and the Australian, in my country.

And, dammit, each has a challenging crossword that I really don’t have time to do, well, not in the morning.

Then there’s the stuff that has to be done around the house. I’m home, but my wife still works, so there’s washing, cooking, and domestic tasks to be done, which eats into the day.

Sometimes it’s not until mid-morning before I get to sit down with a cup of tea.

The point is, it’s not conducive to writing during the day because you can’t get a run at it, time enough to think about what you’re going to write before committing it to paper.

That is, before the phone rings with another scammer and breaks your concentration.  Right, I hear you, cut the phone off.

So, three phone calls later, I’m about to give up.  It’s time to get dinner on with family coming.  Perhaps I’ll have a few bottles of beer instead.

This is why I write at night, sometimes after ten.  No phone calls, no distractions.  Well, that’s not necessarily true because what you didn’t get done earlier has a way of backing up if you don’t get through it promptly.

Perhaps I’ll get a blog post or two done, another episode of the trip to China, upload another photo to Instagram and look at the current novel I’m in the middle of editing.

By that time, it will be two am, way past anyone’s decent time to go to bed.  In fact, it’s ten past two, and I’ve got an early morning.

An excerpt from “Mistaken Identity” – a work in progress

The odds of any one of us having a doppelganger are quite high. Whether or not you got to meet him or her, or be confronted by them was significantly lower. Except of course, unless you are a celebrity.

It was a phenomenon remarkable only for the fact, at times, certain high-profile people, notorious or not, had doubles if only to put off enemies or the general public. Sometimes we see people in the street, people who look like someone we knew, and made the mistake of approaching them like a long lost friend, only to discover an embarrassed individual desperately trying to get away for what they perceive is a stalker or worse.

And then sometimes it is a picture that looms up on a TV screen, an almost exact likeness of you. At first, you are fascinated, and then according to the circumstances, and narrative that is attached to that picture, either flattered or horrified.

For me one turned to the other when I saw an almost likeness of me flash up on the screen when I turned the TV on in my room. What looked to be my photo, with only minor differences, was in the corner of the screen, the newsreader speaking in rapid Italian, so fast I could only translate every second or third word.

But the one word I did recognize was murder. The photo of the man up on the screen was the subject of an extensive manhunt. The crime, the murder of a woman in the very same hotel I was staying, and it was being played out live several floors above me. The gist of the story, the woman had been seen with, and staying with the man who was my double, and, less than an hour ago, the body had been discovered by a chambermaid.

The killer, the announcer said, was believed to be still in the hotel because the woman had died shortly before she had been discovered.

I watched, at first fascinated at what I was seeing. I guess I should have been horrified, but at that moment it didn’t register that I might be mistaken for that man.

Not until another five minutes had passed, and I was watching the police in full riot gear, with a camera crew following behind, coming up a passage towards a room. Live action of the arrest of the suspected killer the breathless commentator said.

Then, suddenly, there was a pounding on the door. On the TV screen, plain to see, was the number of my room.
I looked through the peephole and saw an army of police officers. It didn’t take much to realize what had happened. The hotel staff identified me as the man in the photograph on the TV and called the police.

Horrified wasn’t what I was feeling right then.

It was fear.

My last memory was the door crashing open, the wood splintering, and men rushing into the room, screaming at me, waving guns, and when I put my hands up to defend myself, I heard a gunshot.

And in one very confused and probably near-death experience, I thought I saw my mother and thought what was she doing in Rome?

…

I was the archetypal nobody.

I lived in a small flat, I drove a nondescript car, had an average job in a low profile travel agency, was single, and currently not involved in a relationship, no children, and according to my workmates, no life.

They were wrong. I was one of those people who preferred their own company, I had a cat, and travelled whenever I could. And I did have a ‘thing’ for Rosalie, one of the reasons why I stayed at the travel agency. I didn’t expect anything to come of it, but one could always hope.

I was both pleased and excited to be going to the conference. It was my first, and the glimpse I had seen of it had whetted my appetite for more information about the nuances of my profession.

Some would say that a travel agent wasn’t much of a job, but to me, it was every bit as demanding as being an accountant or a lawyer. You were providing a customer with a service, and arguably more people needed a travel agent than a lawyer. At least that was what I told myself, as I watched more and more people start using the internet, and our relevance slowly dissipating.

This conference was about countering that trend.

The trip over had been uneventful. I was met at the airport and taken to the hotel where the conference was being held with a number of other delegates who had arrived on the same plane. I had mingled with a number of other delegates at the pre conference get together, including one whose name was Maryanne.

She was an unusual young woman, not the sort that I usually met, because she was the one who was usually surrounded by all the boys, the life of the party. In normal circumstances, I would not have introduced myself to her, but she had approached me. Why did I think that may have been significant? All of this ran through my mind, culminating in the last event on the highlight reel, the door bursting open, men rushing into my room, and then one of the policemen opened fire.

I replayed that last scene again, trying to see the face of my assailant, but it was just a sea of men in battle dress, bullet proof vests and helmets, accompanied by screaming and yelling, some of which I identified as “Get on the floor”.

Then came the shot.

Why ask me to get on the floor if all they were going to do was shoot me. I was putting my hands up at the time, in surrender, not reaching for a weapon.

Then I saw the face again, hovering in the background like a ghost. My mother. Only the hair was different, and her clothes, and then the image was going, perhaps a figment of my imagination brought on by pain killing drugs. I tried to imagine the scene again, but this time it played out, without the image of my mother.

I opened my eyes took stock of my surroundings. What I felt in that exact moment couldn’t be described. I should most likely be dead, the result of a gunshot wound. I guess I should be thankful the shooter hadn’t aimed at anything vital, but that was the only item on the plus side.

I was in a hospital room with a policeman by the door. He was reading a newspaper, and sitting uncomfortably on a small chair. He gave me a quick glance when he heard me move slightly, but didn’t acknowledge me with either a nod, or a greeting, just went back to the paper.

If I still had a police guard, then I was still considered a suspect. What was interesting was that I was not handcuffed to the bed. Perhaps that only happened in TV shows. Or maybe they knew I couldn’t run because my injuries were too serious. Or the guard would shoot me long before my feet hit the floor. I knew the police well enough now to know they would shoot first and ask questions later.

On the physical side, I had a large bandage over the top left corner of my chest, extending over my shoulder. A little poking and prodding determined the bullet had hit somewhere between the top of my rib cage and my shoulder. Nothing vital there, but my arm might be somewhat useless for a while, depending on what the bullet hit on the way in, or through.

It didn’t feel like there were any broken or damaged bones.

That was the good news.

On the other side of the ledger, my mental state, there was only one word that could describe it. Terrified. I was looking at a murder charge and jail time, a lot of it. Murder usually had a long time in jail attached to it.

Whatever had happened, I didn’t do it. I know I didn’t do it, but I had to try and explain this to people who had already made up their minds. I searched my mind for evidence. It was there, but in the confused state brought on by the medication, all I could think about was jail, and the sort of company I was going to have.

I think death would have been preferable.

…

Half an hour later, maybe longer, I was drifting in an out of consciousness, a nurse, or what I thought was a nurse, came into the room. The guard stood, checked her ID card, and then stood by the door.

She came over and stood beside the bed. “How are you?” she asked, first in Italian, and when I pretended I didn’t understand, she asked the same question in accented English.

“Alive, I guess,” I said. “No one has come and told what my condition is yet. You are my first visitor. Can you tell me?”

“Of course. You are very lucky to be alive. You will be fine and make a full recovery. The doctors here are excellent at their work.”

“What happens now?”

“I check you, and then you have a another visitor. He is from the British Embassy I think. But he will have to wait until I have finished my examination.”

I realized then she was a doctor, not a nurse.

…

My second visitor was a man, dressed in a suit the sort of which I associated with the British Civil Service.  He was not very old which told me he was probably a recent graduate on his first posting, the junior officer who drew the short straw.

The guard checked his ID but again did not leave the room, sitting back down and going back to his newspaper.

My visitor introduced himself as Alex Jordan from the British Embassy in Rome and that he had been asked by the Ambassador to sort out what he labelled a tricky mess.

For starters, it was good to see that someone cared about what happened to me.  But, equally, I knew the mantra, get into trouble overseas, and there is not much we can do to help you.  So, after that lengthy introduction, I had to wonder why he was here.

I said, “They think I am an international criminal by the name of Jacob Westerbury, whose picture looks just like me, and apparently for them it is an open and shut case.”  I could still hear the fragments of the yelling as the police burst through the door, at the same time telling me to get on the floor with my hands over my head.

“It’s not.  They know they’ve got the wrong man, which is why I’m here.  There is the issue of what had been described as excessive force, and the fact you were shot had made it an all-round embarrassment for them.”

“Then why are you here?  Shouldn’t they be here apologizing?”

“That is why you have another visitor.  I only took precedence because I insisted I speak with you first.  I have come, basically to ask you for a favour.  This situation has afforded us with an opportunity.  We would like you to sign the official document which basically indemnifies them against any legal proceedings.”

Curious.  What sort of opportunity was he talking about?  Was this a matter than could get difficult and I could be charged by the Italian Government, even if I wasn’t guilty, or was it one of those hush hush type deals, you do this for us, we’ll help you out with that.  “What sort of opportunity?”

“We want to get our hands on Jacob Westerbury as much as they do.  They’ve made a mistake, and we’d like to use that to get custody of him if or when he is arrested in this country.  I’m sure you would also like this man brought into custody as soon as possible so you will stop being confused with him.  I can only imagine what it was like to be arrested in the manner you were.  And I would not blame you if you wanted to get some compensation for what they’ve done.  But.  There are bigger issues in play here, and you would be doing this for your country.”

I wondered what would happen if I didn’t agree to his proposal.  I had to ask, “What if I don’t?”

His expression didn’t change.  “I’m sure you are a sensible man Mr Pargeter, who is more than willing to help his country whenever he can.  They have agreed to take care of all your hospital expenses, and refund the cost of the Conference, and travel.  I’m sure I could also get them to pay for a few days at Capri, or Sorrento if you like, before you go home.  What do you say?”

There was only one thing I could say.  Wasn’t it treason if you went against your country’s wishes?

“I’m not an unreasonable man, Alex.  Go do your deal, and I’ll sign the papers.”

“Good man.”

…

After Alex left, the doctor came back to announce the arrival of a woman, by the way she had announced herself, the publicity officer from the Italian police. When she came into the room, she was not dressed in a uniform.

The doctor left after giving a brief report to the civilian at the door. I understood the gist of it, “The patient has recovered excellently and the wounds are healing as expected. There is no cause for concern.”

That was a relief.

While the doctor was speaking to the civilian, I speculated on who she might be. She was young, not more than thirty, conservatively dressed so an official of some kind, but not necessarily with the police. Did they have prosecutors? I was unfamiliar with the Italian legal system.

She had long wavy black hair and the sort of sultry looks of an Italian movie star, and her presence made me more curious than fearful though I couldn’t say why.

The woman then spoke to the guard, and he reluctantly got up and left the room, closing the door behind him.
She checked the door, and then came back towards me, standing at the end of the bed. Now alone, she said, “A few questions before we begin.” Her English was only slightly accented. “Your name is Jack Pargeter?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“You are in Rome to attend the Travel Agents Conference at the Hilton Hotel?”

“Yes.”

“You attended a preconference introduction on the evening of the 25th, after arriving from London at approximately 4:25 pm.”

“About that time, yes. I know it was about five when the bus came to collect me, and several others, to take us to the hotel.”

She smiled. It was then I noticed she was reading from a small notepad.

“It was ten past five to be precise. The driver had been held up in traffic. We have a number of witnesses who saw you on the plane, on the bus, at the hotel, and with the aid of closed circuit TV we have established you are not the criminal Jacob Westerbury.”

She put her note book back in her bag and then said, “My name is Vicenza Andretti and I am with the prosecutor’s office. I am here to formally apologize for the situation that can only be described as a case of mistaken identity. I assure you it is not the habit of our police officers to shoot people unless they have a very strong reason for doing so. I understand that in the confusion of the arrest one of our officers accidentally discharged his weapon. We are undergoing a very thorough investigation into the circumstances of this event.”

I was not sure why, but between the time I had spoken to the embassy official and now, something about letting them off so easily was bugging me. I could see why they had sent her. It would be difficult to be angry or annoyed with her.

But I was annoyed.

“Do you often send a whole squad of trigger happy riot police to arrest a single man?” It came out harsher than I intended.

“My men believed they were dealing with a dangerous criminal.”

“Do I look like a dangerous criminal?” And then I realized if it was mistaken identity, the answer would be yes.

She saw the look on my face, and said quietly, “I think you know the answer to that question, Mr. Pargeter.”

“Well, it was overkill.”

“As I said, we are very sorry for the circumstances you now find yourself in. You must understand that we honestly believed we were dealing with an armed and dangerous murderer, and we were acting within our mandate. My department will cover your medical expenses, and any other amounts for the inconvenience this has caused you. I believe you were attending a conference at your hotel. I am very sorry but given the medical circumstances you have, you will have to remain here for a few more days.”

“I guess, then, I should thank you for not killing me.”

Her expression told me that was not the best thing I could have said in the circumstances.

“I mean, I should thank you for the hospital and the care. But a question or two of my own. May I?”

She nodded.

“Did you catch this Jacob Westerbury character?”

“No. In the confusion created by your arrest he escaped. Once we realized we had made a mistake and reviewed the close circuit TV, we tracked him leaving by a rear exit.”

“Are you sure it was one of your men who shot me?”

I watched as her expression changed, to one of surprise.

“You don’t think it was one of my men?”

“Oddly enough no. But don’t ask me why.”

“It is very interesting that you should say that, because in our initial investigation, it appeared none of our officer’s weapons had been discharged. A forensic investigation into the bullet tells us it was one that is used in our weapons, but…”

I could see their dilemma.

“Have you any enemies that would want to shoot you Mr Pargeter?”

That was absurd because I had no enemies, at least none that I knew of, much less anyone who would want me dead.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Then it is strange, and will perhaps remain a mystery. I will let you know if anything more is revealed in our investigation.”

She took an envelope out of her briefcase and opened it, pulling out several sheets of paper.

I knew what it was. A verbal apology was one thing, but a signed waiver would cover them legally. They had sent a pretty girl to charm me. Perhaps using anyone else it would not have worked. There was potential for a huge litigation payout here, and someone more ruthless would jump at the chance of making a few million out of the Italian Government.

“We need a signature on this document,” she said.

“Absolving you of any wrong doing?”

“I have apologized. We will take whatever measures are required for your comfort after this event. We are accepting responsibility for our actions, and are being reasonable.”

They were. I took the pen from her and signed the documents.

“You couldn’t add dinner with you on that list of benefits?” No harm in asking.

“I am unfortunately unavailable.”

I smiled. “It wasn’t a request for a date, just dinner. You can tell me about Rome, as only a resident can. Please.”

She looked me up and down, searching for the ulterior motive. When she couldn’t find one, she said, “We shall see once the hospital discharges you in a few days.”

“Then I’ll pencil you in?”

She looked at me quizzically. “What is this pencil me in?”

“It’s an English colloquialism. It means maybe. As when you write something in pencil, it is easy to erase it.”

A momentary frown, then recognition and a smile. “I shall remember that. Thank-you for your time and co-operation Mr. Pargeter. Good morning.”

…

© Charles Heath 2015-2021

Writing a book in 365 days – 225

Day 225

Taking notes and ‘seeing’ what’s around you

…

The Writer’s Secret Weapon: Why Your Notebook is Your Best Friend (and When Truth Gets Tricky)

As writers, we are, by nature, magpies. We collect shiny bits of conversation, interesting peculiarities, and fleeting moments of human experience. We squirrel them away, not just for personal memory, but for the grand, glorious, and often messy act of creation.

This isn’t just a hobby; it’s a fundamental part of the craft.

Your Life as Your Lab: The Power of Observation

Think of your life as a vast, unfolding laboratory, and your notebook (whether physical or digital) as your ever-present logbook. What you see, what you hear, what you feel – it’s all potential.

  • Dialogue Snippets: Overheard a unique turn of phrase on the bus? Jot it down. A peculiar way someone emphasized a verb, or a perfectly mundane conversation that suddenly turned profound? Capture it. These are the building blocks of authentic voice and character.
  • Mannerisms & Quirks: The way a stranger sips their coffee, the peculiar cadence of a regional accent, a nervous habit noticed during a meeting. These seemingly minor details can imbue your characters with an undeniable sense of reality, making them leap off the page.
  • Sensory Details: What does that old antique shop smell like? What’s the specific echo in an abandoned building? The texture of a worn wooden banister? The exact shade of twilight on a specific street corner? Capturing these sensory inputs can transform a bland description into an immersive experience.
  • Emotional Reactions: How did you feel when you heard that news? What was the atmosphere in the room when a difficult conversation unfolded? Logging your own emotional responses, or those you observe in others, becomes a rich wellspring for character motivation and scene tension.
  • Oddities & Coincidences: Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. The bizarre incident at the grocery store, the uncanny synchronicity that made you pause, the surprising fact you stumbled upon in an article. These are often the seeds of truly original plotlines.

The goal isn’t just to transcribe, but to absorb. To understand the underlying dynamics, the unspoken subtext, the human element.

Weaving the Threads: From Life to Lore

The magic happens when these scattered observations are ready to be woven into your plot or storyline. That nervous habit you noted becomes your protagonist’s tell when they’re lying. That overheard argument gives you the emotional core for a conflict between two lovers. That unique smell triggers a memory for a character, propelling them into a flashback.

Your notes become the raw, unfiltered material that you then refine, re-shape, and reimagine. It’s not just about copying reality; it’s about using reality as a springboard for invention. You’re taking the ordinary (or extraordinary) moments of life and distilling them into the essence of compelling narrative.

The Treacherous Path of Truth: When Reality Bites Back

And here’s where we hit a crucial caveat: sometimes, truth can cause problems.

While life is an endless well of inspiration, it’s not always a safe one to drink directly from.

  1. Legal Ramifications: Directly transcribing a real person’s life, especially if it’s unflattering or involves private matters, can lead to defamation lawsuits, privacy violations, or intellectual property disputes. Even if you change names, if the person is recognizable, you’re on thin ice.
  2. Ethical Quagmires: Is it fair to exploit a friend’s personal tragedy for your plot? Is it right to expose a family secret, even if it makes for a dramatic story? While all art draws from life, using someone else’s pain or private life without their consent (or adequate disguise) can be a profound betrayal.
  3. Personal Betrayals: Friends, family, colleagues – they might recognize themselves, their quirks, their arguments, even if you’ve changed the names. This can lead to hurt feelings, destroyed relationships, and a sense of being used.
  4. Creative Constraints: Paradoxically, sometimes truth is too specific, too bizarre, or too unbelievable for fiction. Real life doesn’t always follow narrative arcs, and copying it verbatim can make your story feel clunky, disjointed, or simply not credible. “But it really happened!” is a poor defense when a reader stops suspending their disbelief.

The Alchemist’s Touch: Transforming Truth into Timeless Fiction

So, how do you harness the power of observation without stepping into these pitfalls? You become an alchemist, transmuting raw truth into fictional gold.

  • Disguise and Amalgamate: Never use one person directly. Instead, take elements from three different people and create one new character. Blend two different real-life situations into a third, entirely new plot point. Change genders, ages, settings, and motivations.
  • Focus on the Essence: Instead of the exact details of an argument, capture the feeling of frustration, misunderstanding, or power imbalance. Instead of a specific event, consider the consequences or emotions it evoked.
  • Ask “What If?”: You saw a specific interaction. Now, what if one small detail changed? What if the stakes were higher? What if the characters were different people entirely?
  • Use as a Springboard, Not a Blueprint: Your notes are starting points, not finished maps. Let them spark your imagination, then allow your creativity to take over and build something new and unique.
  • Prioritize Story Over Strict Accuracy: Your primary responsibility is to your story and your reader. If a real-life detail doesn’t serve the narrative, or actively hampers it, change it.

Embrace the magpie within you. Observe, collect, and fill your notebooks with the vibrant tapestry of life. But when it comes time to weave those threads, remember the art of transformation. It’s in the balance between rigorous observation and imaginative alchemy that truly compelling stories are born – stories that resonate with truth, without causing real-world problems.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever jotted down for future story inspiration? Share your note-taking wisdom in the comments below!

The story behind the story – Echoes from the Past

The novel ‘Echoes from the past’ started out as a short story I wrote about 30 years ago, titled ‘The birthday’.

My idea was to take a normal person out of their comfort zone and led on a short but very frightening journey to a place where a surprise birthday party had been arranged.

Thus the very large man with a scar and a red tie was created.

So was the friend with the limousine who worked as a pilot.

So were the two women, Wendy and Angelina, who were Flight Attendants that the pilot friend asked to join the conspiracy.

I was going to rework the short story, then about ten pages long, into something a little more.

And like all re-writes, especially those I have anything to do with, it turned into a novel.

There was motivation.  I had told some colleagues at the place where I worked at the time that I liked writing, and they wanted a sample.  I was going to give them the re-worked short story.  Instead, I gave them ‘Echoes from the past’

Originally it was not set anywhere in particular.

But when considering a location, I had, at the time, recently been to New York in December, and visited Brooklyn and Queens, as well as a lot of New York itself.  We were there for New Years, and it was an experience I’ll never forget.

One evening we were out late, and finished up in Brooklyn Heights, near the waterfront, and there was rain and snow, it was cold and wet, and there were apartment buildings shimmering in the street light, and I thought, this is the place where my main character will live.

It had a very spooky atmosphere, the sort where ghosts would not be unexpected.  I felt more than one shiver go up and down my spine in the few minutes I was there.

I had taken notes, as I always do, of everywhere we went so I had a ready supply of locations I could use, changing the names in some cases.

Fifth Avenue near the Rockefeller center is amazing at first light, and late at night with the Seasonal decorations and lights.

The original main character was a shy and man of few friends, hence not expecting the surprise party.  I enhanced that shyness into purposely lonely because of an issue from his past that leaves him always looking over his shoulder and ready to move on at the slightest hint of trouble.  No friends, no relationships, just a very low profile.

Then I thought, what if he breaks the cardinal rule, and begins a relationship?

But it is also as much an exploration of a damaged soul, as it is the search for a normal life, without having any idea what normal was, and how the understanding of one person can sometimes make all the difference in what we may think or feel.

And, of course, I wanted a happy ending.

Except for the bad guys.

Get it here:  https://amzn.to/2CYKxu4

newechocover5rs

The cinema of my dreams – Was it just another surveillance job – Episode 27

I’m back home and this story has been sitting on a back burner for a few months, waiting for some more to be written.

The trouble is, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritizing.

But, here we are, a few minutes opened up and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.

Chasing leads, maybe

“Who’s coming?” snapped Maury.

“Some nice men in white coats, to take you away to a dark and dank hole somewhere in this city where you may tell us what you know, or you might not survive the experience. You got one shot at the easy way, now it looks like it’s going to be the hard way.”

I had to admire her. She had gone all gung-ho on him and, frankly, it was a frightening side to her that you wouldn’t normally see, or even guess that she had.

“This is a big mistake, Jackson. I suggest you call Severin and get this straightened out very quickly.”

“I’m going to call him, eventually. After I find the USB and see what’s on it. What it is that you seem to be so desperate to get to first?”

“That’s a matter of national security.”

“I suspect it’s a matter that involves you and Severin. O’Connell was working for a man called Nobbin. He runs another department, it’s starting to sound like there are wheels within wheels, who’s part in all of this I’m yet to understand.”

“He’s after the USB too?”

“Of course. If it’s evidence against you, and or others conspiring to do God knows what, he probably needs to know so he can put a stop to it. Apparently, since no one has heard of you or your operation, I’ve been transferred to his department.”

“How do you know the information is not about him? It’s not unheard of for an agent to discovered irregularities against his commander.”

“Then let’s hope I find the USB first. And, just out of curiosity, why did you kill O’Connell. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to capture him and make sure he had the USB before you did anything irrational.”

“It wasn’t my idea.”

“That’s what most of the Nazi’s said at Nuremberg.”

There was a knock on her door.

Jan went over and opened it. It was, I thought, the wrong thing to do when we had a man as dangerous as Maury in the room.

Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I could say it was the wrong thing to do, but at the time, even I didn’t think Severin would know what was happening to his attach dog.

Apparently, he did.

The door crashed open sending Jan into a fall that saw her head hit by the swinging door. Three men with guns came bursting in, followed by a fourth, Severin.

Severin took in the room with a single sweep, then glared at me. “You need to pick a side, and soon, Jackson.”

One of the other men cut the ties and helped Maury to his feet. He also glared at me as he left with the other two. “You’ll keep,” Maury muttered as he went past, then was gone.

Severin looked at Jan, now a crumpled heap on the floor.

“Don’t play with MI5. They never see the big picture. Maury doesn’t forget, Jackson, so there will be a reckoning later. I suggest you find a way of redeeming yourself in his eyes. Perhaps it would be better if you cut ties with Nobbin and disappeared for a while. This matter is too big for a newbie like you.”

I heard a groan by the door, Jan waking.

“Just keep out of the way, Jackson. And her, if she knows what’s good for her.”

He left, closing the door behind him.

I went over to Jan and checked to see what injuries she had other than to her pride. A gash on the side of the head, with a little blood. It would give her a huge headache though.

“I’ll get a wet towel,” I said, helping her into a sitting position.

She still looked groggy.

“What happened?”

“You answered the door before finding out who was on the other side.”

“Maury?”

“Gone. He must have signaled Severin somehow that he was in trouble, or they were tracking him. Either way, they got here rather quickly to rescue him.”

“My people?”

“Not here yet.”

I left her to find a towel and run water over one end.

When I came back, she was on her phone, having got up off the floor. She still looked quite shaken.

“Yes, sir.” was all I heard of the conversation before she disconnected the call.

“Did you call off the collection team?”

“They weren’t coming. They said apparently I had rung back to say it was a false alarm.”

“And they believed that?”

“Whoever called had my special code, so yes, they did.”

Call finished, she sat down in one of the chairs and pressed the wet part of the towel against her head.

“Next time you might consider looking first before opening the door,” I said, realizing that it was not the advice she would be looking for.

“It’s a mistake I won’t make again, I can assure you,” she said. “but, we haven’t lost him yet.”

“How so?”

“I slipped a tracker onto his clothes, not one he’ll easily recognize or find, and as we speak, he’s being tracked through outer London. We’ll soon know where he’s going, and perhaps second time lucky.”

She was more resourceful than I would normally give anyone credit for.

Now it was a matter of waiting. Would he lead us to the heart of Severin’s operation? Only time would tell.

© Charles Heath 2020

Writing a book in 365 days – 224

Day 224

The line between them was theoretical and yet was still clearly obvious to anyone with eyes.

…

Jason was a good friend and a practical person. He had gone through school, achieved good academic grades, and got into the schools that he needed to achieve his lifelong ambition.

He never went outside of his comfort zone and didn’t need to. He had a guardian angel and providence on his side. His parents were predictable, his girlfriend was predictable, and his brothers and sisters were predictable.

His life was on the path.

The only thing about him that was not predictable, and the one thing I couldn’t fathom, was why he bothered to have me as a friend.

I was his absolute polar opposite.

…

“You’re wasting your time.”

It was another of those conversations over lunch, usually coffee and a cake in a café near the University, where it was more interesting to see the people who came there than those who turned up in the campus café.

I went there because Beatrice went there. I had run into her, literally on the first day, and she had made an indelible impression on me. Then, it just seemed that our paths crossed, at least once a week, sometimes twice.

“One day.”

He gave me another of those withering stares he usually saved for me when I was particularly obtuse, and I could tell he was formulating an insightful response.

“One day you will be in Uzbekistan, and she will be in Azerbaijan, and never the twain shall meet. You truly just don’t get it, do you?”

“I’m irrepressible, she said so.”

“In that one and only conversation that lasted all of ten seconds. She was being polite.”

I looked over to the table on the other side of the cafe, towards the back, by herself, every now and then looking up, towards the entrance, as if she was expecting someone to arrive. Like just then, a swish to brush the hair out of her eyes, a glance towards the door, a deep breath, then back to her studies.

It didn’t matter if I did or didn’t get it; Richie would never believe me. A year and a bit into the four-year degree cycle, I knew that the closest I would get to her was as far as I was away from her now.

We shared several lecture classes, and I had once almost sat next to her, but she had not noticed I existed. I had tried to speak to her, but something always came up: a phone call, a friend, another place to be.

“Well, I’m looking forward to going to Uzbekistan.”

He shook his head, just as his phone vibrated, an incoming message. He pulled the cell phone out of his bag and looked at it, then sighed. “Michelle is still free for Saturday night, and she is within your sphere. Mary wants to know if you’re back in the real world yet?”

Mary was Richie’s girlfriend, and Michelle was her friend, someone who was just like me, choosing people who would never give them a second look for whatever reason.

Richie knew, though, because he was practical. He had the uncanny knack of picking the partner of those he knew, with such alarming accuracy that it was scary. He hadn’t declared positively that Michelle was my perfect match, but it wouldn’t be long.

Another glance in Beatrice’s direction. I could not see what Richie could see, but perhaps that was because I was ‘blind’ to the reality.

There was a line between us, one that everyone else could see but I could not.

Of course, that didn’t mean that I could hope, one day she would notice me.

…

Everyone had a nemesis, that one person who was put on earth to make your life miserable. All through high school, that nemesis was Jacob. Doors opened when his parents pulled out their chequebook, doors that I could never pass through.

Which, in the end, I was happy about because he was going to a different university, one more prestigious, one that I could never afford. And one I didn’t have to travel to the other side of the country to attend.

But I never gave it a thought that one day, doors would close on him, that money could not make up for the fact that he was not as smart as he thought he was. Not until I saw him arrive one morning a month or so after the second year began.

His excuse? Circumstances dictated that he had to study closer to home. The truth? He had been booted out of his last university, and the one I attended was the only one that would take him.

A few days later, knowing he was looking for me, I went to the cafe and parked myself in the back, not far from where Beatrice usually sat. I could see why she was basically hidden from the front entrance, and she could see everything outside and inside.

And revelling in that thought, I looked up again to see her standing not far from me. It was a look that told me I was sitting in her seat, at her table, and she wasn’t happy.

I shrugged, got up and went to another table, not quite as anonymous, and one where just as I sat, Jacob arrived, saw me, and came straight over.

“I thought I’d find you here. Hiding away among the losers.”

“Doesn’t say much for you then.” He didn’t get the inference.

“I hear you’re struggling.”

I’m not sure how he could know that unless his father was on first-name terms with the Dean.

“I know you flunked out at your last university, and this is your last hope.”

That wiped the smirk off his face. He was going to give me one of his trademark put-downs, but noticed Beatrice instead. He had always considered himself God’s gift to women, and had a manner that reviled most whom he spoke to, but that didn’t mean he readily accepted they could not immediately fall in love with him.

It amused me that his prom date had agreed to go with him, allowed him to get her an expensive dress and accoutrements, and then left him standing at the front entrance waiting for her to never arrive. It was the best day of my life, as bad as that sounds.

“Excuse me,” he muttered as he got up and walked confidently over to her table.

I watched in utter fascination. I could, all of a sudden, see that line that Richie often spoke about.

At first, she didn’t bother to look at him, standing by her table. Waiting. Waiting for what? An invitation to sit? She would never give him, or anyone else, one.

He waited a minute, shifting impatiently from one foot to the other. Then, “Excuse me?”

She took a few seconds before lifting her head, then giving him her trademark death stare. “What did you do?”

He sucked in a breath. Annoyance. “I didn’t do anything. I thought I would introduce myself. Jacob Stawinski. Anything you want, anything you need, I’m your man.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “Yes. There is something I want.”

“Name it?”

“I want you to go away and never come back. Think you could do that for me?”

The expression on his face was priceless. For an egotist like him, that sort of rejection was poison. He didn’t look at her, he didn’t look around, he didn’t know what to do with himself, so he left, quickly, before anyone realised what had happened.

And, of course, in that short amount of time, I saw the truth of Richie’s statement. There was a line, invisible as it was, but as clear as day. That would have been me if I had tried as he had. She was simply here to learn and then go home.

I picked up my phone and dialled Richie’s number. When he answered, I said, “Tell Michelle I’ll be happy to take her to the party.

…

©  Charles Heath  2025

Having something to say is one thing, saying it is something else

As accomplished as we can be at putting words on paper, what is it that makes it so difficult to sit in a chair with a camera on you, and say words rather than write them?

Er and um seem to crop up a lot in verbal speech.

OK, it was a simple question; “What motivates you to write?”

Damn.

My brain just turned to mush, and the words come out sounding like a drunken sailor after a night out on the town.

The written answer to the question is simple; “The idea that someone will read what I have written, and quite possibly enjoy it; that is motivation enough.”

It highlights the difficulties of the novice author.

Not only are there the constant demands of creating a ‘brand’ and building a ‘following’, there is also the need to market oneself, and the interview is one of the more effective ways of doing this.

If only I can settle the nerves.

I mean, really, it is only my granddaughter who is conducting the interview, and the questions are relatively simple.

The trouble is, I’ve never had to do it before, well, perhaps in an interview for a job, but that is less daunting.  That usually sticks to a predefined format.

Here the narrative can go in any direction.  There are set questions, but the interviewer, in her inimitable manner, can sometimes slide a question in out of left field.

For instance, “Your character Zoe the assassin, is she based on someone you know, or an amalgam of other characters you’ve read about or seen in movies?”

That was an interesting question, and one that has several answers, but the one most relevant was; “It was the secret alter ego of one of the women I used to work with.  I asked her one day if she wasn’t doing what she was, what she would like to do.  It fascinated me that other people had the desire to be something more exotic in an alter ego.”

Of course, the next question was about what I wanted to be in an alter ego.

Maybe I’ll tell you next time.

The first case of PI Walthenson – “A Case of Working With the Jones Brothers”

This case has everything, red herrings, jealous brothers, femme fatales, and at the heart of it all, greed.

See below for an excerpt from the book…

Coming soon!

PIWalthJones1

An excerpt from the book:

When Harry took the time to consider his position, a rather uncomfortable position at that, he concluded that he was somehow involved in another case that meant very little to him.

Not that it wasn’t important in some way he was yet to determine, it was just that his curiosity had got the better of him, and it had led to this: sitting in a chair, securely bound, waiting for someone one of his captors had called Doug.

It was not the name that worried him so much, it was the evil laugh that had come after the name was spoken.

Doug what? Doug the ‘destroyer’, Doug the ‘dangerous’, Doug the ‘deadly’; there was any number of sinister connotations, and perhaps that was the point of the laugh, to make it more frightening than it was.

But there was no doubt about one thing in his mind right then: he’d made a mistake. A very big. and costly, mistake. Just how big the cost, no doubt he would soon find out.

His mother, and his grandmother, the wisest person he had ever known, had once told him never to eavesdrop.

At the time he couldn’t help himself and instead of minding his own business, listening to a one-sided conversation which ended with a time and a place. The very nature of the person receiving the call was, at the very least, sinister, and, because of the cryptic conversation, there appeared to be, or at least to Harry, criminal activity involved.

For several days he had wrestled with the thought of whether he should go. Stay on the fringe, keep out of sight, observe and report to the police if it was a crime. Instead, he had willingly gone down the rabbit hole.

Now, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, several heat lamps hanging over his head, he was perspiring, and if perspiration could be used as a measure of fear, then Harry’s fear was at the highest level.

Another runnel of sweat rolled into his left eye, and, having his hands tied, literally, it made it impossible to clear it. The burning sensation momentarily took his mind off his predicament. He cursed and then shook his head trying to prevent a re-occurrence. It was to no avail.

Let the stinging sensation be a reminder of what was right and what was wrong.

It was obvious that it was the right place and the right time, but in considering his current perilous situation, it definitely was the wrong place to be, at the worst possible time.

It was meant to be his escape, an escape from the generations of lawyers, what were to Harry, dry, dusty men who had been in business since George Washington said to the first Walthenson to step foot on American soil, ‘Why don’t you become a lawyer?” when asked what he could do for the great man.

Or so it was handed down as lore, though Harry didn’t think Washington meant it literally, the Walthenson’s, then as now, were not shy of taking advice.

Except, of course, when it came to Harry.

He was, Harry’s father was prone to saying, the exception to every rule. Harry guessed his father was referring to the fact his son wanted to be a Private Detective rather than a dry, dusty lawyer. Just the clothes were enough to turn Harry off the profession.

So, with a little of the money Harry inherited from one of his aunts, he leased an office in Gramercy Park and had it renovated to look like the Sam Spade detective agency, you know the one, Spade and Archer, and The Maltese Falcon.

There’s a movie and a book by Dashiell Hammett if you’re interested.

So, there it was, painted on the opaque glass inset of the front door, ‘Harold Walthenson, Private Detective’.

There was enough money to hire an assistant, and it took a week before the right person came along, or, more to the point, didn’t just see his business plan as something sinister. Ellen, a tall cool woman in a long black dress, or so the words of a song in his head told him, fitted in perfectly.

She’d seen the movie, but she said with a grin, Harry was no Humphrey Bogart.

Of course not, he said, he didn’t smoke.

Three months on the job, and it had been a few calls, no ‘real’ cases, nothing but missing animals, and other miscellaneous items. What he really wanted was a missing person. Or perhaps a beguiling, sophisticated woman who was as deadly as she was charming, looking for an errant husband, perhaps one that she had already ‘dispatched’.

Or for a tall, dark and handsome foreigner who spoke in riddles and in heavily accented English, a spy, or perhaps an assassin, in town to take out the mayor. The man was such an imbecile Harry had considered doing it himself.

Now, in a back room of a disused warehouse, that wishful thinking might be just about to come to a very abrupt end, with none of the romanticized trappings of the business befalling him. No beguiling women, no sinister criminals, no stupid policemen.

Just a nasty little man whose only concern was how quickly or how slowly Harry’s end was going to be.

…

© Charles Heath 2019-2024