Writing husband YES!

 

The drive from Geneva to Argelès takes between 6 and 8 hours depending on stops, meals and sightseeing.

We listen to music, I nap and we chat on all kinds of subjects. One of the topics today was a problem I was having with Anatomy of a Novel: Lexington and Concord, the working title.

"I was able to do a show/tell combination with Lt. Col. Alexander Leslie, reporting his failure to find the missing cannons on his mission to Salem. James, was witness to Leslie's report so he could report the scene in real time."

My husband, is always quick to encourage, but he is also quick to point out what needs to be better too. He needed more information. "So what's the problem?"

"I need the story to cover February to the April battle in Lexington and Concord. I suppose rather than deal with the history, I could build on his interest in either Molly Clark or Annie Brewster, but I don't want to make the novel look too much like a romance."

We were having the discussion on a beautiful sunny day and were making good time on the French autoroute. At Grenoble we came to a tunnel that ran thought a mountain. We stopped talking as my husband executed the tunnel.

Emerging on the other side, it was pouring rain. Only when it let up did we renew the discussion.

"Did James go to Lexington, prior to the battle?" he asked.

I had James doing some spying in Boston earlier in the novel, I told him. "He accompanied General Cage on trips to Salem and communities surrounding Boston, but never to Lexington."

We then started playing with possibilities. Why not? James is a a fictional character. As long as the history is correct, James can do whatever I want him to do. That is the fun in writing. I can bend the characters to my will as long as it rings true.

1. James could stop at the Wayside Inn. Since being back in Argelès, I've checked to see if that was the name of the Inn in 1775. It was probably Howe's Inn. I sent an email to the foundation for the inn asking for the name in February 1775. 

2. By having James stop at the Inn, it would also deepen the relationship between the modern part of the novel and the historic.

3. I could have Dr. Benjamin Church, Gage's spy and member of the Committee of Supply, recognize James. Writing how both react should build some tension. 

4. I need to mention that the inn was not named Wayside when Daphne and Florence, my modern characters eat there. A single line should do it.

5. As much as I would like to go into Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn, it is not time appropriate and would like I was trying to show off my research.

I am in the final stretch of the first draft.