Tuesday, July 17, 2012

From Small Beginnings

It started quite by accident. My husband was looking for a small something to add to a gift years ago and he saw a tiny, painted, wooden owl.  He thought it looked cute and bought it for me. I loved it. Since then the collection has grown so I now have over 100 owls. That’s just the owls on the shelves. There are others in the garden, on the walls, on bookmarks, paperclips and jewellery. They are inexpensive but they are a fun thing to collect. Here's a photo of a few of the owls.

Then, the other day a lady at writers’ group handed me a little owl button she bought she because when she saw it she thought of me and my love of owls as evidenced by my website, www.daleharcombe.com

That same evening a friend I hadn’t seen for ages came to dinner and presented me with a cute, tin owl with amber eyes. He is now comfortably at home in the rookery with his owlie mates. Here he is. 

But what do owls have to do with writing? When we are writing about characters we might decide to give our character a fascination with some sort of items to collect. In a fiction manuscript I am working on at present the woman has a collection of thimbles, though not from choice but something her daughter thinks she would like. As she is a lover and owner of two cats, she also has a collection of cat ornaments.

When I wrote Streets on a Map I made sure the things Laila surrounded herself with showed different aspects of her character. Her lounge suite for example is tapestry with walnut arms with scratches in them, which shows she’s not a person who replaces things just because they are a bit worn. She goes for comfort and things with meaning to her. However the rest of the room shows her love of books and that money spent on them is an investment in pleasure and learning. Her books include classics by Bronte and Austen, books on philosophy, orchids, prayer, history and contemporary fiction as well as books of poetry both from the past and by contemporary poets. She is also interested in gardening and in particular roses, which is reflected in the flowers and shrubs chosen for the garden of the restaurant. The roses also have a sentimental family significance.

Abby, the other main character in Streets on a Map, likes to collect interesting artworks and crafts though she had no skills in that area herself. Maybe because she doesn’t have those skills. I can relate to that!  You can find out more about Abby In a interview with Abby I did at this site. http://lauries-interviews.blogspot.com.au/search?q=dale+harcombe

Abby’s interests are reflected in the type of music she listens to and sings, mainly old ballads and jazz music, plus in the collection of sheet music she keeps all carefully packed away under the bed. It shows she is almost obsessive about music and singing. She is a person who is not into sports but strictly an indoor person who comes alive at night rather than a morning person. That tells us quite a bit about her.

So back to the owls. One little owl started off a whole collection. Building a character is much the same. Sometimes we start with one little idea - a few lines of dialogue, a face we can’t forget ,  a character trait and from there the writer builds until you end up hopefully with a person that becomes real to the writer and to readers. To me that’s the secret to building a good story.
Streets on a Map, Dale’s latest novel was published by Ark House Press in December 2010. Prior to that Dale has had seven children’s books and Kaleidoscope a collection of poetry published. Many of the poems in Kaleidoscope have been previously published in Australia’s literary magazines. She has won prizes for her poetry and has been published in several anthologies. She has also written bible studies and Sunday school lessons.
More information about Dale can be found at www.daleharcombe.com or on her Write and Read with Dale blog http://www.livejournal.com/users/orangedale/

12 comments:

  1. You are sooo right Dale! It's true! You can tell a lot about the main character from just the things in their house and the music they listen to. Without having to actually 'say' it! Incidentally, my grandmother collected owls. I only managed to get one of them when she passed away, but I do treasure it. Thank you for making me thinking of her today... she was one crazy/brave woman...

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    1. Lovely that my owls brought back happy memories for you, Jenn. Thanks for telling me.

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  2. I love what we learn from what our characters possess. I sometimes ask myself what is in my character's pocket. That question shows habits and what is important. (My pocket right now contains a crumpled receipt that went through the wash. What does that tell you?)

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    1. Another LeAnne is what is in a character's handbag.That can be telling.
      It tells me you probably were in a hurry when you did the washing and missed a pocket. I'm sure we've all done it at times. It could have been worse. It could have been a tissue.

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  3. Oh, great idea, Dale. I never thought of giving that little trait to one of my characters. I'm a small jug person myself. It's amazing how many oddments you can collect. Oh yes, and I've collected carved wooden Siamese cats which perch here and there around the house. I do like the way your owls are all sitting there together .looking wise

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  4. Glad I gave you an idea Rita. Sounds like you'd go well with the cat person in my current manuscript. Makes the owls more of a collection instead of having them all over tables etc.As you can see some are owl families. Same owl in different sizes.

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  5. I love those owls! I enjoy learning about other people's collections too. And I agree that when we're patient and don't try to force it, we soon collect all sorts of interesting character attributes for people in our stories.

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    1. Paula, You should have heard the coments last night from our bible study grouop when they saw how the owls had recently spread their wings to take over more room in the lounge room and coomnted on the new one.It amazes me at time where some insights about characters come from.

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  6. Thank you, Dale, I enjoyed your blog today. I have 3 owls looking at me as I write this- my favourite is a little brass fellow my husband bought for me at a flew market.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it Ruth Ann. Markets are often good places for owls. Owls are very popular right now. Seems my husband and I were ahead of the times as I've been collecting them for many years.

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  7. Thanks, Dale - great blog. It has set me on a track of thinking more about my characters and how I can reveal details about them by what they hold as precious and interesting.

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  8. Thanks Jo-Anne. Glad to set a couple of people thinking

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