Lost Dogs,
Wayward Puppies and the Little Black Dress, by M. S. Spencer
I’d like to talk today about those perfect
little scenes that somehow don’t fit the plot line but you just love them and
want to corkscrew them in somehow even though in your heart of hearts you know
they’ll have to be excised eventually. And you know that if you don’t, your
editor will.
Over the years I’ve packed many boxes away in my
memory, boxes filled with stories that cried out to be told—real-life
adventures, hilarious mix-ups, curious coincidences. They while away the years in a corner of my
brain waiting to be triggered by something—a scent, a color, but more often a
line in a book I’m writing.
When one of these tidbits heaves into sight, the
urge to use it can be painfully intense. That’s all well and good if it popped
into my head because it’s a natural extension or embellishment of the plot. But
if it’s more stream-of-consciousness—say, my mind is wandering because the
story isn’t flowing, or I’m hungry—I end up playing all sorts of games to
justify inserting it. I massage the plot, or cut the bit back to a couple of
sentences and hope the editor misses it.
Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Rose Culloden, the heroine in my second novel Lost and
Found, works for a professor at Harvard. As I worked on a chapter set in Cambridge, an
incident that took place there some thirty years ago came to mind. A former lover of mine, a wealthy, powerful,
and handsome fellow who claimed aristocratic descent, but who lived by a rather
relaxed definition of truth, fell under suspicion for a horrific, ritualized murder.
The story had all the elements of a gripping narrative, so I stuck in a scene
in which Rose learns of his arrest. My
editor loved the anecdote, but pointed out that it had nothing to do with the
main story and little to offer in the way of plot or character development. He
was right—it didn’t belong there, so I had to suck it up and delete it.
Luckily (yes, Virginia, there is a happy ending)
the joy of modern technology means that my intriguing little memory is neither
lost nor relegated to the dusty left corner of my mind; it’s saved on a flash
drive marked “Lest We Forget.” The key is to be patient: all good stories have
their moment. Someday I’ll be blithely tootling along and wham! The plot begs for a ritual murder and/or a handsome Polish
scoundrel.
The moral is that almost every story will, like
a lost dog, find its way home eventually. As with a wayward puppy, if you let
it loose prematurely, its bark falls on deaf ears; if too late, everyone’s
moved on to happy hour. In which case, you get to wear the little black dress.
Biography:
Although M. S.
Spencer has lived and traveled on five continents, the last 30 years have been
spent mostly in Washington, D.C. as a librarian, Congressional staff assistant,
speechwriter, editor, birdwatcher, kayaker, policy wonk, non-profit director
and parent.
Ms. Spencer has
published five best selling contemporary romance novels. Lost in His Arms is set in the spinning world of 1991 when
countries fell like flies and a CIA fixer had his hands full. In Lost and Found we follow a desperate
wife searching the wilds of Maine for the husband who disappeared. Losers Keepers is a tale of love, lust
and treachery set on the island of Chincoteague. Triptych tells of jealousy and intrigue high above the Potomac
River. Her latest release is Artful
Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders, in which Milo Everhart, artist, meets
her match in lawyer Tristram Brodie on the battleground of the old munitions
factory turned art center called the Torpedo Factory.
Contacts:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/msspencerauthor
If you’d like to read more about Lost
and Found, you can find it here:
Lost and Found
Red Rose Publishing (2010)
eBook, 69,000 words, ISBN
978-1-60435-707-3
Contemporary Romance,
Action/Adventure; M/F; 3 flames
What do you do when David, your husband of a year,
ups and disappears? If you’re Rose
Culloden, a beautiful, wealthy woman in her forties who had despaired of
finding happiness, you do anything to find him.
The trail takes you first to the North Woods of Maine, then to Florida,
and back again to western Maine. Along
the way you meet James Stewart—a Maine guide—who vividly highlights the
contrast between a real man and your delicate Harvard professor of a
husband. Loyal to your marriage despite
your powerful attraction to James, it takes the dramatic discovery that David
is not just vicious and venal, but insane, to free your heart for true love.
My latest romantic suspense/murder mystery is
Artful Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders
Secret Cravings Publishing (April 2012)
Artful Dodging: the Torpedo Factory Murders
Secret Cravings Publishing (April 2012)
eBook, 65,000 words, ISBN: 978-1-61885-250-2
ASIN: B007X3S552
Contemporary romantic suspense/Murder mystery, M/F, 2 flames
Recently widowed Milo Everhart isn’t prepared for
Tristram Brodie, who wants not only her beloved Torpedo Factory Art Center but
her heart. Nor is she prepared to find a dead body that snowy December
night. Can she set aside her grief and
fall in love before the murderer strikes again?
Buy Links:
Catriana, thanks so much for having me here today--I had fun with this blog and I hope your readers enjoy it (and my books). M. S. Spencer
ReplyDeleteMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MS! LOVE DOGS, PUPPIES, AND BOOKS!
ReplyDeletelinda_bass@sbcglobal.net
How about little black dresses? M. S.
ReplyDeleteI love all of the above. I am so happy to have found a new author to follow. Both of these books sound really good!
ReplyDeletelaura
Thank you Laura! If you have a chance, check out my three other romantic suspense books as well. You can click on the covers on my blog. M. S.
ReplyDelete