As I was making myself iced coffee this morning (to the endless horror of my dear husband, I like it this way in summer when a cuppa hot seems too much before going out to work in the yard) I was contemplating the nature of my sense of humor. The coffee station in our office is a repurposed hutch (lest you think me handy, I bought it cheap while junking around). It’s really convenient to have the coffee and teakettle in the office. Over the years I’ve added a bit of décor to it. Behind the coffeepot is a tin sign depicting a black cat with slitted golden eyes, holding a steaming cuppa joe. The lettering reads: Coffee, because murder is wrong. And off in the corner is stuck a nice vinyl sticker I got with an order of Deathwish coffee. These two, I was thinking, say a lot about what I find funny, and friends who’ve noticed them tend to chuckle as well.
Violence doesn’t solve everything, although it can certainly be a help. When you are plotting a book, what were you thinking? Anyhow, there are stories where the old advice of Raymond Chandler “In walks a man with a gun” just doesn’t work well. I don’t often use his advice straight up, lest it get boring, but when you are sticking and the scene is dull, having something unexpected happen will often jolt the story back on track and get the whole thing moving again. This can, of course, be done badly. The trick is to make it fit with the story, and the world the story is set in, and not break the characters.
I’ve been stuck for a while on the novella I’d hoped to release for Valentine’s Day. As this is mid-May, you see there is a problem. It’s not the plot – well, not just the plot – it is the level of stress and business in my life this year. It’s been a heckuva year, this last eleven months. Aside from that, while writing I’ve realized that I do depend far more on violent conflict, drama, and situations to propel the story than I can use in this story. Writing science fiction and fantasy allows you to be more dramatic. Writing a small-town boy-meets-girl is… cozier. And that is where I’m having difficulty.
It’s too easy. There needs to be more plot than just that. So I have been reading cozy light novels, sometimes romance, but more often tales of people and family and their little village. In short, I’ve turned to an old favorite author for retreat from my own troubles, and also for possible inspiration on my work. I’ve been reading DE Stevenson for most of my life (since my teens, anyway) and I think I’ve talked here before about her stuff. I’ve finally run through all of her books, even splurging on the expensive ebooks, and then I was trying to figure out what next? Amazon to the rescue. The helpful bots suggested Molly Clavering, who it turns out was Stevenson’s friend and neighbor in the Scottish town where both settled after the second World War to live out their days. I tried one of hers as an ebook, discovered that it was similar but not the same, and settled in with delight to read through her catalog. At the same time, Amazon suggested Susan Scarlett, which is the penname of Noel Streatfeild. Now, Streatfeild is best known for her children’s books, of which the most popular was Ballet Shoes, which should have given me a clue.
Stevenson’s books are full of very human characters living in interesting villages or towns, and they are compelling reads, mostly. I’ve always enjoyed them, and likely they have shaped my writing. Clavering, while writing about similar towns, has a different flavor to her writing, more earthy, more bittersweet, and I really enjoyed these. Scarlett, however, does a heavy dollop of treacle in her stories, and there is no doubt at all what the resolution is going to be for the main characters – boy and girl – and I find myself not enjoying them nearly as much. I’ve read, I think, three, and won’t bother buying more. I want there to be more substance and not nearly so much saccharine in my reading. I want there to be that acid touch of sarcasm, without being cutting (I don’t care for Cold Comfort Farm, for instance, and so haven’t tried any other Stella Gibbons). I want warm relationships alongside the catty village gossips who make so much trouble even when the main character is strong enough to just roll her eyes at it. If you’d like to try Scarlett’s work, I liked Babbacombe’s best because there is this wonderful family in it, content with one another as they are, working together to succeed in life. For Clavering, you might try Dear Hugo, which was unexpectedly twisty through the story, but warm-hearted and lyrical in its descriptions of the countryside the author obviously knew and loved. For Stevenson, the Drumberley series, which begins with Vittoria Cottage, is my favorite.
I started reading at night, when I climbed into bed, to make sure that I was making time to read, a few months ago. I even have a reminder notification and timer set on my phone – twenty-four minutes of reading every day – so I don’t forget. There are days I fall asleep in the middle of it. There are nights I’ve gotten caught up in story and regretted the lack of sleep in the morning. I haven’t only been reading fiction, I’ve managed to work my way through a number of non-fiction books as well. It has been very good for me. This is time I could spend elsewhere, sure. I think I need the reading, more, than other things, yes, even putting words into a story. When life is stressful you need to keep your mind sharp, and sometimes a little escapism is giving your body time to relax and heal a bit. My plot predicament will come right at some point. The words are filtering into my mind again, slowly. The well runs dry easily these days, because stress cortisol is a heckuva drug. I’ll manage. And in the meantime, I’m loving the ability to find authors I missed, and read books that make me happy. Books that fit with my quirky sense of humor. Now all I need is a book with a coffee-drinking, death-dealing black cat… oooh. I could write that into my story!
Mad Genius Club 
24 responses to “The Quirky Reader”
Thanks for the recommendations. I enjoy me some cozies, too, but not the predictable sweet ones.
We have a coffee corner set up in the kitchen. I’m looking for an appropriate sign to add to it.
For reading, several years ago, I found myself reading LL Bean catalogs in bed because that was all my tired brain could manage after spending days discussing and reading about esoteric EU policies or whatever drivel the committees I was on were focused on or dealing with my mother’s issues. When the catalog reading dawned on me, I got worried and made a point of putting actual books by the bed. I went back to my comfort reads (Eddings has long been that for me) and started working my way through the series. That got me to a point where I could read new things and I finally felt like I was back on an even keel. I’m going to have to check out the ones you mentioned (I really like your Blue Hills stories).
I am glad you like them – the novella I’m stuck on will be a Bluehills story.
Mary Stewart’s later books are more cozy than her early thrillers. Thornyhold, Rose Cottage, and the like are quiet stories.
Thanks for these suggestions. I’m going to check out D.E. Stevenson.
I’ll have to look at those – I enjoy mystery, usually, just hasn’t been the mood recently.
Streatfeild wrote incredibly fluffy romance as Susan Scarlett, but she also wrote other grownup books under her own name. A Table For Six takes place during World War II and is not fluff at all. I can’t remember any others. My favorite Susan Scarlett, by the way, was The Man In the Dark. There is a 17 year old American girl who is completely jaded, screamingly funny, and still sweet. And she’s not the main character. I didn’t read Babbacombe because I was tired of the books before I reached that one.
One of Stevenson’s books, Listening Valley, contains an amazing description of the Blitz; it is still one of my comfort reads.
It is a wonderful book. I just re-read it.
For your stuck novel, make a cat your stress point? Dependacat needs to be tuckerized, am I right?
She does, and I think I will add a cat to the story. Can’t hurt!
I’ve been casting around for new books and all these recommendations sound wonderful. Thank you.
My pleasure!
My fall-back comfort/cozy reads used to be the Mitford books (1-5) by Jan Karon. An Episcopal priest and his eccentric parishioners in a North Carolina mountain town. Good things happen, bad things happen, and people usually rise to meet the challenges.
For the last couple of years, mine have been Familiars and Merchants.
Did you borrow my Kindle? 🙂
I really need to try those.
The idylls is a respectable form of literature that is in the shade right now. It does hinder in that it’s hard to find examples to emulate.
Shady sounds good in the Texas summer 😀
Angela Thirkell is worth a look. She wrote a series of novels set in Anthony Trollope’s Barsetshire, but a couple of generations later: 1930s to 1950s. Very funny romances, with a touch of sociopolitical satire from a Tory viewpoint. Might need to read a few to really get into them, since she has a very large cast in interlocking relationships. They are in print, so easy to find on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
I’ll take a look, thanks!
Um. My fall-back comfort reads are Digger by Ursula Vernon, Broken Toys and White Powder by Larry Lambert, Alma Boykin’s blue collar fantasy, John Van Stry’s rollicking fun, and nonfiction like Michael Watson’s Hunting in the Shadows, Henry Thompson’s SOG Codename Dynamite, Out there: Essays on the Lower Big Bend by Ben English…
Not exactly the cozy stories you’re looking for. I find them a comfort, anyway.
I need to read Larry’s books. I haven’t read Henry Thompson, either, but the rest all are familiar friends in the library on my phone.
My comfort books tend to be children’s. I like easy reading when I’m not up to much.
Freckles, A Little Princess, etc.
13 Clocks, The Phantom Tollbooth, Castle Hangnail