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Last summer, I started a new novel. I got half way through the first draft by Christmas and set the manuscript aside for the holidays. My New Year’s Resolution is to finish the first draft this spring.
The novel’s story begins in Czechia aka Czech Republic three months before the start of World War One. I chose this time period to make use of the research I’d done for my last novel, A Killer Whisky, which was set during WWI. This era also ties the new book to my maternal grandparents, the inspirations for the story. They emigrated from Czechia (then part of the Austria-Hungary empire) shortly after The Great War and settled in Canada.
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| Matous & Emilie Slovacek |
Unlike A Killer Whisky, this novel-in-progress isn’t a whodunit mystery. A murder will take place – I think – but it won’t happen until later in the book. My original plan was to kill off the victim at the book’s one quarter mark, prompting my protagonist and her friends to escape to North America to avoid the police and imminent war. But as my writing of the story progressed, I didn’t want to rush the killing and stumbled upon a different first quarter turning point. My characters remained in Czechia and hatched a criminal plan, but it still didn’t lead to murder half way through. Their prospective victim was also becoming fun, in an evil way, and I wanted to keep him in the story.
Before my Christmas break, I outlined enough future action to take place in Czechia that I’m pretty sure my
characters won’t cross the Atlantic Ocean before the end of the book. There are
advantages to keeping them in one location. Sending them elsewhere would mean
creating a new supporting cast and researching another historical setting. Instead, I can develop my existing support characters more deeply and give them larger
roles in the story.
My Czechia setting of Karlovy Vary will also become more important. A positive will be the opportunity more richly describe Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad in German), a beautiful spa city known for its hot springs and healing mineral waters. Goethe, Beethoven, Chopin, and Peter the Great were frequent visitors. A negative is that I don’t live there. I visited Karlovy Vary thirteen years ago but feel a need to return to check out the locations in my story and learn more about the spa city’s history.
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| View of Karlovy Vary from Diana Lookout |
So, this spring, I’ll be adding a week or so in Czechia to a holiday in southern Germany. In Karlovy Vary, I’ll soak in some spa baths, drink the (extremely salty) mineral water from a classic sippy cup, visit the history museum, trace my characters’ footsteps on forested hill walks, stroll the river promenade, dine in the luxury hotel murder site, and absorb the city’s baroque architecture that hasn’t changed since the era of my story. Not a bad incentive to finish the first draft of a book.
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| Sippy Cups for sale - (above) Drinking hot mineral water from a sippy cup |
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| Susan on the promenade |
