Sources of Inspiration
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Inspiration comes to authors from many places. In March, I read an article by a Chinese-American mystery novelist about how she used the elements of the Chinese new Year celebration to structure her latest mystery, and I realized that the Jewish holiday of Purim could provide the same framework. Dog of Deliverance will be out next year.
Recently I read an article in the New York Times about iyashikei. Japanese “healing fiction,” which often involves a cat with magical powers. Since I think Rochester has a touch of magic about him, I immediately wanted to write my own book in that genre. I’ve been working on The Smiling Dog Café all month—dogs guide people in need of healing to a very special Brooklyn café.
(This is an image I’m working with for the cover of The Smiling Dog Cafe.)
Sometimes when I start a story, I have an image or a sentence in mind, and my imagination takes off from there. For the first story in this genre, though, I was finding my way, and I spent this morning restructuring the opening chapter. I originally began at the protagonist’s lowest point—he’s lost his girlfriend, his apartment and his job, and a golden retriever appears to guide him to the café.
I realized it would be more impactful to tell the story chronologically—beginning with the girlfriend’s departure. What she says to him sets up the whole story. Then he discovers a programming flaw at his company, and his boss rejects his idea. When he heads home, he finds that his building has been condemned. And the next morning, because of his programming discovery, his whole department is being outsourced.
Hopefully this structure will make his struggle more meaningful. I’m zooming on this project, two linked novellas, and hope to have it out by inauguration day in January 2025, when I think a lot of readers will need something comforting!
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