Living out our fantasies... by Helen DePrima and Liz Flaherty

by Helen DePrima
            

I wonder how many writers act out their secret (or not so secret) wishes in their work. I certainly do. Because my teenage dreams of living in Colorado didn’t work out as planned, I’ve indulged my wishful thinking by setting my first four books in locations I’ve visited and loved. For my first novel, I returned to the ranch where I spent happy summers during high school, finding it almost unchanged over the decades, to soak up sensory impressions and practical knowledge about ranching in northern Colorado. My Cameron’s Pride series takes place in southern Colorado, near Durango and Mesa Verde, another area that calls me back.

            I’ve lived in New Hampshire for more than forty years, but as much as I love the White Mountains, the rocky coast line, and our proximity to Boston, it will never be home the way Kentucky is to me. I grew up surrounded by extended family, living with my grandparents, with aunts and uncles and cousins galore. The last of the elders have gone, but I miss hanging out with my cousins and gathering for holiday celebrations. Despite the humidity and tornado alarms in summer, the grey winters with occasional ice storms, I’d move back in a heartbeat, given half the chance. I stalk the real estate listings in my favorite Louisville neighborhoods, lusting over homes I’ll never occupy. Since I can’t have one special house I discovered, I’ve given it to a character in the book I’m currently writing, complete with its own poignant story line.

            My fantasies probably don’t jive with the healthiest state of mind, but I wonder if writing fiction doesn’t require a certain degree of yearning, of discontent, to reach out beyond the realities of here and now. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

by Liz Flaherty
           

I must admit, when Helen suggested the topic for today’s post, my mind went pretty blank. While this isn’t that unusual, it did irritate me at myself—it’s happening too often these days! But living out fantasies? I just couldn’t imagine it.

But then she mentioned Louisville, where my husband’s from. He lived there until he was 15, and we visited it regularly until his father passed away in 1991. Then again when some of our kids lived in Southern Indiana, but sometimes drove across the river to work. My daughter-in-law, a structural engineer, still points out “my building,” visible from the highway.

My husband, the teetotaler, comes from a long line of bartenders. The six Flaherty brothers tended bar at the Brown Hotel until some of them bought the Essex House and still more opened Garland Flaherty’s Tavern and, later, Flahertys Three. Flaherty is an unusual name where we live, but Louisville is full of them—most of them related!


On the other side of the climate coin, another set of our kids lived in Vermont for 15 years. The first time I drove into St. Johnsbury, I knew I was home. As happy as we were when they moved back to Indiana several years ago, I still miss having a reason to visit Vermont.

And that’s where Back to McGuffey’s came from. Why else would I write an Irish pub in the middle of Vermont’s Green Mountains?

Writing about these things makes me remember so much. Calling my mother-in-law to ask her what glasses to use for what drinks. If you’re busy, use whatever’s clean. Taking the Bardstown Road exit in Louisville and waving at the Essex House billboard as we came off the highway. Driving through a picture postcard in Vermont no matter what season it was. Even sitting in pubs in Ireland whose ambiance gave birth to McGuffey’s convivial atmosphere.

I’ve written tearooms in Indiana, a quilt shop in Kentucky, a sock shop in Maine, and a couple of bookstores. Yeah, fantasies all. You were right, Helen.

Comments

  1. So the lesson here is write what you know......and what you'd like to know?????

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    1. Yeah, pretty much. If I write what I know, I...well, couldn't write much. But if you shuffle in memory and regret and research, you can go anywhere.

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    2. I have to write what I know intimately; I rely heavily on sensory memory to flesh out my settings. In my books, for example, weather is often an active factor in the plot. Living out West especially, being aware of weather signs can be a matter of life or death. And I like to throw in birds' songs, the scent of new hay or sagebrush, or the warning whirr of a timber rattler.

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  2. In a way, writing has become my fantasy world in every time I create a place, character, and history. Of course, once in a while my characters start doing their own thing. And that's exciting too.

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    1. Oh, it is--one of the best parts of it.

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    2. I bow to anyone who can create a fictional setting. I've never tried that -- too lazy, I guess. Instead, I research the heck out of the real-life locations I use, down to which direction one-way streets run and what time a bus station in Durango shuts down for the night.

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  3. I live in Alaska where my stories are set, but because I'm not nearly as active and daring as my characters are, they get to see and do things I never will. I've had characters who dance well, who hike up mountains, and who have the perfect comeback to rude behavior. I've never been able to do any of those things! So yes, I'm writing out my fantasies, too.

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    1. Yep. The word "fantasy" never works with me, but I guess it's actually what we're writing. I love the trips you take me on to Alaska!

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    2. Marvelous to live in such a dramatic setting as Alaska -- endless possibilities for drama. I've seen only a few coastal towns but would love to explore farther inland. And I devour Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak mysteries.

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  4. I love to use favorite places and sometimes live vicariously through my characters. A long time ago, I set a book in the house I once lived in and in another I used my neighbor's house. Loved them both I've used larger settings, too, like lakes and oceans and such. But I'm like Beth--my characters get to do and be things I'm not. What a great life, huh?

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    1. Funny, as wonderful a childhood as I had with my grandparents, I've never been tempted to use their home as a setting. I did memorialize in my first novel a wonderful lady who kept our haphazard household functioning -- even used her real name.

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    2. I used my grandparents' farm (now my sister-in-law and brother's) as the setting in Home to Singing Trees. It was such fun not only using the things I knew but adapting them to the needs of the story.

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