Reading and research

Tags

bootlegging, New York City, postaday2013, prohibition, Reading, research

I am now at the point in my book where my two characters have crossed the Atlantic and enter prohibition era New York City, specifically the year is 1926. I am getting ready to switch gears because New York City of any era is different than Paris and I want to try to be faithful to the New York City flavor and also try to describe it through the eyes of a newcomer. I think that I have my work cut out for me but I have already taken steps to try to make it easier to recreate what life was like back then in New York. My local library here in Blandford did me the wonderful service of ordering me a few books all related to New York during the prohibition era. One is a beautiful pictography called “New York Then and Now” and it shows gorgeous pictures of all the great neighborhoods way back in the late 1800’s and how they look now. It is so fascinating to see how industrious the early New Yorkers were, it definitely has always been the city that never sleeps.
One book in particular that has me very excited is “Dry NewYork” I have already gotten into a few chapters and it is a fascinating look into the sociological, economic and political dynamic of prohibition in New York and every single impact that you can think of throughout the fabric of its society. There are two others, “Taxi cabs and its Culture” and “Criminology of the Prohibition Era”, these two will surely be helpful in giving me insight into what universe my character Madeleine will be walking into with her lover Jack who she will come to see is knee deep in the criminal activity of prohibition.

I have my research in front of me and the only thing that is worrying me is that once I start writing, I’ll be involved in another book before I am done. Which by the way is all good and fine, but I am kind of chomping at the bit to get this book finished and out into the world of rejection. Joking. This book will be done when it is done. I vaguely remember the legendary actor Orson Welles shilling for an American wine maker Paul Mason and he used to say “No good wine shall be opened before its time” or something to that effect; I am merely extending the sentiment to my book, no good book shall be finished before its time.

Progress on my novel, hooray!

Tags

bootlegging, doozy, exciting city, intimate scene, postaday2012, streets of paris

I took advice from a very nice writing buddy, TillyBud, she said “to thine own self be true” and so I wrote my first intimate scene for my heroine, Madeleine and her true love Jack. The scene is short and the focus is on the emotion shared between the two and the complete convergence of their lives into one. This moment, especially for Madeleine, is the moment of no return, her destiny is no longer her own, it is now intertwined with Jack’s. This was a big stumbling block for me because I felt awkward in writing it and so I kept writing about everything all around Madeleine, the streets of Paris and the food that she made and ordered to eat, what she thought and how she felt. Now I feel liberated to move forward with the story and get Madeleine and her love Jack out of Paris and overseas to the exciting city New York.

I wonder if I’m stalling in Paris because since I miss France so much, I’m really enjoying researching the history of 1920’s Paris and writing about it. It is a lot of fun to write about French food and recipes but I am sure that researching New York of the 1920’s will be a lot of fun as well. The nightlife must have been a doozy given prohibition and the underworld of bootlegging.