04 September 2021

Two September Stories


  

No, they're not set in September. One takes place in August and the other in a month that I suppose could've been September, but a time of year was never stated (just that it was hurricane season). What both stories have in common with September is that they were both published on the first day of this month, in two different magazines.


One of the stories is "Friends," in the Sep/Oct issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It isn't a mystery story, although crime is included in the plot. "Friends" is mostly a leisurely conversation between two longtime buddies, one of them a fisherman and one an ex-con, sitting together on the beach of a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico following a tropical storm that wasn't quite a hurricane. The idea for the story came from no more than the fact that I once did a lot of that when I was stationed for six months on the Gulf Coast, in the Air Force. Just sitting on the sand and staring out at the water. I have great memories of that. And how can a few ideas NOT roll into shore when you do that, even if the waves are imaginary?

I think the most different thing about this story, for me, is that it probably comes closer to that vague term "literary" than most stories I write. I wanted to focus more on the complicated relationship between these two friends--and on some details of the setting--rather than on the plot. It's also a pretty short story, around 2500 words. That's not only short for the Post, it's shorter than most of the stories I write these days. It contains only those two characters and only one scene, though there are some things that happen off-screen. The supporting cast is made up of a woman they both know, who's only mentioned in their dialogue, and a truckload of guys who stop and talk with them for a minute about post-disaster cleanup work.


The other story, "The Delta Princess," is in the September issue of Mystery Weekly. As you might suspect with a market like that, it is a mystery, and is firmly centered around a crime--in this case a multi-step, Mission Impossible-like theft of money from the safe of a wealthy landowner. It's long, around 7000 words, and includes a lot of scenes and characters and locations, although the main setting is the cottonfields of the Mississippi Delta. (Write what you know, right?)

The thing I'll always remember most about this story is the idea that triggered it. I've often mentioned, at this blog and elsewhere, that I usually start first with a plot idea and only then create my characters. It was the same with this story, except that the plot began with something my wife said to me, about her sewing.

A little background, here. My wife Carolyn loves to sew. Always has. Not quilting or embroidery or tatting, but sewing. One room of our house is even called The Sewing Room, a mysterious place I usually avoid because I understand absolutely nothing about what goes on in there. Some of what comes out of there, though, are things I can relate to, like dress shirts that actually fit me and bathrobes that are so comfortable I could live in them 24/7 and coats and jackets that not only look good but keep me toasty warm even on the coldest outings. I'm not fond of cold weather.

Anyhow, my point is, she likes sewing the way I like writing--it's relaxing and satisfying to her--and one day I overheard her talking to a friend on the phone about a sewing technique involving something called water-soluble thread. When I asked her about it afterward, she said she occasionally uses it to test out patterns to see if certain things will work and fit the way she expects them to. When the test run (using a stitch called basting, with a long a, as in tasting) is finished, she just applies water to the seams in the fabric, and--presto!--the thread dissolves. It actually disappears, and fast, and the sample garment literally falls apart. Then she can start over and sew it with real thread because she now knows it's right.

I of course didn't hear the rest of what she was telling me. I was too busy thinking WhoaI see a story there. From that point on, all I had to do was come up with a situation where a devious person--a devious seamstress, in this instance--would use that disappearing thread to evil advantage. And all of you know the process: once the seed's been sown, it's not that hard to put together (weave, maybe?) the rest of the tale. The result was "The Delta Princess," a title that I think I can promise will not mean what you might think it means. As one of the characters says, "Sounds like a riverboat." It's not. 

And that's my pitch, about two stories published on the same day--far different from each other in terms of length, genre, mood, complexity, and the magazines that bought them. But both were fun to write. 

If you have occasion to read one or both, I hope you'll like it (or them). Please let me know what you think.

Meanwhile, I need more fodder for the idea machine. Where'd my wife go . . . ?


16 comments:

  1. Water-soluble thread--an excellent plot idea! John, you have good reasons to spend a lot of time with your wife. By the way, is there a Writing Room in the house too?

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    1. Hi Anne. Yep, we have one of those too--just a little home office with my computer and desk and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on three walls. (Our house's foundation probably dips a little on that end.) That's where I do almost all my writing, and it's my little kingdom, just as the Sewing Room's my wife's. What I create in my office probably isn't as useful to the family as what she makes in hers, but I think it's more fun (at least to me).

      The source of ideas for plots is crazy, and can come from anyplace. One thing I've tried to teach myself is to be more observant, to watch and read more closely and listen more carefully. Not sure that's working, but I try.

      Thanks as always for your comment! Hope things are going well in your world.

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  2. congratulations on your recent sales!
    Clearly sewing has moved on from when I did a lot of it. Basting thread used to have to be pulled out once the garment was finished. Disappearing thread is a clever idea in sewing- or plotting.

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    1. Thank you, Janice! I realize that the use of this unusual kind of thread has been around for a long time and is old hat to the folks who use the technique, but it was surprising and fascinating to me when I heard about it. When that happens, it's almost a shame NOT to try to somehow build that information into a story. Whether those kinds of facts turn out to be interesting to others is never guaranteed, but the writer can at least be sure it'll be "different." Thanks for the comment!

      By the way, I'm looking forward to reading your story in the upcoming Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021. It should be out soon!

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  3. John, Amazon Prime delivered my paper copy of Mystery Weekly Magazine on Thursday afternoon, and since I just finished reading the latest issue of AHMM, Mystery Weekly is next up on the reading pile. As always, I look forward to reading your stories, although I may have to look some for the Post.

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    1. R.T., I haven't seen either of those issues yet myself. Looking forward to that Mystery Weekly because both of us are in there this time. (Congratulations on that, by the way!)

      Thanks for reminding me--I need to order the MW issue today. You take care!

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  4. I loved the story, 'Friends.' It's so simple but the imagery is so vivid I felt like I was sitting on the beach (my favorite place to be) near them and listening in on their conversation. I agree that paying attention to the small details in life can create a load of writing ideas. In fact, the picture in my head of you coming out of your 'writing room' and your wife out of her 'sewing room' and bumping into each other in the hallway conjures up several story ideas. Now I just need to get myself into MY writing room and flesh out the story.

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    1. Thanks, Carol--glad to hear you liked the story. That one is simple--nothing like the one in Mystery Weekly--and sometimes those are the most fun to write.

      As for our two hideaways, Carolyn's sewing room is twice as big as my writing room, which is only right because twice as much work probably gets done there. (And, yes, it is nice to have one's own fiefdom. One of the biggest differences is mine doesn't get cleaned as often . . .)

      Thank you for stopping in here, today! Good luck on ALL your stories.

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  5. We didn't have water-soluble thread when I was a girl; you just basted with a color opposite to the fabric, and then pulled it out when you were sure it worked. But what a great idea. Congratulations on your stories!

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    1. Thank you, Eve! Yep, ideas can come from anyplace--even an activity as mysterious to me as sewing.

      Be safe, up there, and keep in touch!

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  6. I loved your "Delta Princess" story. Like Eve, I haven't done any sewing in years & didn't know water-soluble thread existed. Another thing people used to do, when designing a new garment or extensively reconfiguring one, was to cut it out of unbleached muslin, sew it together, & if the design worked out, then cut the garment out of the real fabric & sew it up with the real thread. Muslin is too flimsy to use for actual clothing!

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    1. Hey Elizabeth -- Thank you so much, and I'm glad you liked the story!

      Yep, Carolyn explained muslin to me during that conversation, among many other things, and I tried hard to understand it all. The good thing about researching this subject was that I could do it right here at home. (But I think I'li tackle something easier for my next story, like integral calculus.)

      Thanks as always for chiming in, here!

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  7. I had a lot of surgery when I was a lot younger and I remember surgical thread that dissolves after a while from the early 70s. The soluble thread has "impossible crime" written all over it! Can't wait to read it! And I have read "Friends," and loved it! (And Willie Gillis on the SEP cover DOES look like Alfalfa!)

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    1. Hey Jeff. Yes, the very concept of something disappearing under certain conditions fires up the idea machine. Glad you liked the Post story--thank you!--and I hope you'll like the Mystery Weekly one too.

      For those of us old enough, Alfalfa's face is one that'll always be remembered!

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  8. Well, just finished reading The Delta Princess and it kept me engaged. I don't want to give away the story, but I certainly felt at times 'oh, something unexpected is about to happen' (cue the scraping shrill of violins). It really delighted me right to the very end and, yes, I thought it was a clever way to take something so common (the 'disappearing thread') and turn it into something funny, thought provoking, and suspenseful. I could nearly see this in a stage play!
    Thanks for this, John. It'll sate my appetite until I read 'Friends.'

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    1. Brad, how kind of you. Thanks for reading the story, and I'm glad you liked it. Not your normal crime story for sure, but I bet you can see how it was great fun to write.

      Thanks also for stopping in at SleuthSayers. Best of luck to you with your own writing, and please keep me posted!

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