Write what you know... or don't

“Write what you know.” At first blush, that oft-given piece of advice doesn't seem to apply here. I've never visited the rainforest (though I would love to,) and please believe me when I say I have no first-hand knowledge of cocaine smuggling. But like most authors, aspects of my own life appear between the lines of every page.

The elements I wanted to write about just gelled this way. The theme that kept coming back to me was selling the unsellable, putting a price on priceless things (Priceless was the working title for a long time, but I found it had already been overused.)

The elements of the story came to me often through the daily news. Accounts of lives traded for cocaine not only worked with my theme but also suggested Colombia as the location. Reports of unexplored and endangered treasures of the rainforests of South America reinforced that theme and locale. Advertisements for “mail order” brides from the third world suggested a sub-plot. 

 

More on inspirations in future blogs, but now it's time for your Character of the Day:

Caleb Luis Vasallo, Maggie's love interest. I got his last name from the Spanish word for "bondsman." If we go back to the adage of "write what you know" it was only natural that I base my romantic lead on the man I've been with since my teens. More endearing than the stereotyped romantic hero who is arrogantly convinced that he alone can save the heroine, his greatest trait is supporting the heroine as she endeavors to save herself. Again in contrast with those confident Casanovas, I wanted Luis to be quiet and mystified by the opposite sex.

"Watching Maggie as she slept, Luis' face was puzzled, as if he didn't know how she'd gotten there, as if he weren't the one who'd brought her here. Two days ago he'd left home to load up on supplies. Now he was returning home with nothing but 50 feet of rope, a sack of corn flour... and a woman."