Literary Deal-Makers

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about “Literary Deal-Breakers”–plot elements or types of characters or settings that make one not try a book, not matter how well-recommended, or put a book down unfinished. On a more positive note, I though I’d talk about “Literary Deal-Makers”–types of stories or characters or settings that will cause one to actively seek out a book.

I know there are certain story elements that appeal to me across genres. I’ve always loved stories about married couples whether in mysteries, romances, classics, historical fiction, or plays. The Scarlet Pimpernel, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Spiral Path, The Real Thing, Laurie King’s Mary Russell series, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Busman’s Honeymoon, Len Deighton’s Bernard Samson books, An Ideal Husband. Modern setting or historical, happy ending, tragic ending, or something in between. If I hear a book or play or movie described as an examination of a marriage, I’m likely to seek it out.

I also like stories about ex-spouses or lovers reuniting. The Philadelphia Story. Persuasion. Much Ado About Nothing. Bath Tange. Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And I’ve always had a weakness for spy stories. Whether it’s the moral ambiguity of John Le Carré or Len Deighton, an espionage-laced historical romance like Mary Jo Putney’s Petals on the Wind, a play filled with double-crosses like Tom Stoppard’s Hapgood, or a television series like Spooks/MI-5, if I hear “spies” or “espionage,” my attention is caught.

It’s not surprising that these interests mesh in the Charles & Mélanie books. They also continue to influence the type of books (and movies, plays, and tv shows) I seek out.

What about you? What type of plot premise or character or setting makes you seek out a book? Do your “deal-makers” work across genres and eras?

Be sure to check out the Fraser Correspondence. I’ve just posted a letter from Simon Tanner to his actress friend Cecily Summers, which catches up on what happens with Manon after Cecily helps her escape the Tavistock Theatre early in Beneath a Silent Moon.

 

World Building, Disneyland style

My apologies for the slightly later update this week. I just got back from a three day escape to another world–I spent the weekend at Disneyland with a good friend and her daughter, celebrating my friend’s daughter’s twelfth birthday.

I’ve been to Disneyland twice before–once as a baby and once at the age of five (quite a few years ago :-). I was looking forward to this trip, but mostly because it would be fun to get away for a few days and hang out with good friends. I knew it would be fun to watch my young twelve-year-old friend enjoying Disneyland. I hadn’t realized how much I’d enjoy it myself. I’d forgotten how wonderfully and imaginatively detailed the settings are at Disneyland. Everywhere you look is a feast for the eyes–gas lanterns, cobblestoned paths, fanciful moldings, wrought-iron balconies. Darting between a pirate ship and battlements with cannonfire whizzing overhead or drifting through a town that has to be Tortuga, I felt as though we might happen across the Black Pearl round the next bend. Careering down a hill in a safari jeep with the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” theme blaring, I felt as though I’d jumped into one of my favorite movies. This is quite literally world building. Of course, following up on last week’s post on the gritty side of history, the Disneyland worlds pick and choose historical details to create a prettified, romanticized version of the past. But it’s still a rich, vivid world that the novelist in me couldn’t help but admire and the kid in me couldn’t help but love to step into.