In The Flow of Time – February 1, 2025
I just finished a chapter. Along the way, a possibility arose. Hmmm, this could be fun.
I’ve dug into all kinds of rabbit holes. I learn things, I take notes. Along the way I see FACT, and I think to myself, “Self, that could be useful.” Many such details populate my plot document. When it’s time to write, sometimes the stuff I thought would matter, doesn’t. The obverse is also true. Stuff that I thought was trivial or unlikely reappears. Hey, as it turns out, maybe that would be awesome!
FACT: Moman’s white partner has died. His name was D’Arcantel.
FICTION: The brother showed up with the undertaker. Don’t bother to come to the funeral. And threw her out of the house. Because she’s not white.
FACT: that story happened for real about 50 years later, to Marie’s daughter. For real, when D’Arcantel died, Marie’s mom was in his will, as were their two children. But in the end she got nothing. Allegiance to the truth, not the facts. While the “real” story happened, so did the one from 50 years later, and that fits the story better. Anyway…
TRIVIAL FACT: D’Arcantel had a MAJOR book collection. <— AHA! The inventory of D’Arcantel’s belongings upon his death, “… and 210 books including an Atlas of the Voyage of Captain Cook—a library of this size is remarkable in an age when few people were literate.”
The idea crosses my mind. Maybe Mom took a book when she leaves, her only memento of D’Arcantel. That could be powerful, be part of the suppertime conversation as we explore Mom’s feelings. OK. I need an early 1800s book, in French!
My antagonist is a plantation owner named René. He’s historical. The first book I find, a best seller, is titled René. Oooh, I love this kind of synchronicity. It’s a very French novel, the foundation of French Romanticism. It’s about a guy from Brittany who goes to Louisiana (EVEN BETTER!) to escape his dull, boring, pointless life. He travels the world, back to France, finds his sister who is going into a convent to escape her incestuous love of her brother. He goes back to Louisiana, dies in a battle with Indians. I mean, can you say French? Boy has sister, sister wants to have sex with her brother but runs away to a convent, boy runs to the wilderness, everybody dies. Ennui Abounds.
All right, that went off the rails. But I don’t need details. There’s a great quote that maybe I can use. “There is no beauty left in the world.” That mirrors Mom’s attitude at supper, having lost her partner of thirty years, the man she abandoned her daughter for.
Marie is illiterate. Her mother probably is, since had been a slave and it is illegal to teach a slave to read. But I can fudge that, she’s been free for 30 years. I can make this book an actual gift from her man, because he’s not likely to read the 19th century equivalent of a bodice ripper. So hubby’s gift, and the book she used to learn to read. And the title is the antagonist’s name.
Imagine supper conversation. Mom gets nostalgic, goes on about how she did that bastard brother one better, walked away with what was hers. Harumph. The title might set off Marie, illiterate and not wanting to do the work to become literate. Her attitude is she wants to live real life, not get lost in idiot stories like her mom did. So there’s some good “compare and contrast” between the generations, and we can have a lot of fun exploring Mom’s motivations and feelings.
Wait a minute. The story is about Marie, not Mom. Pondering throws other problems in the way. Nope, we’re not going to go there. A wasted morning? Nope, it’s how it goes.
So in this case trivial fact turned into rich exploration that ended up going… nowhere. That was a dry hole, D’Arcantel’s library remains trivial. Time to head out to the garden and do some other pruning.
