Mining the calendar

n Any Color You Want I used the lead-up to and the outcome of a kids' soccer tournament to build tension (along with a historic Election Day, a mammoth financial meltdown and other goodies). In The Beer Flower Limited (The Girl Who Cried L-v-), I have a rivalry between two individuals (Pijiu and Houston), two countries (China and the U.S.), (at least) two media outlets (East and West) and other factors to build tension, but it never hurts to consult the calendar.

In this case, I'm consulting the Chinese calendar, in particular, their calendar and history of cultural festivals as described in Traditional Chinese Festivals (2007) from the Spring Festival to the Harvest Festival. Until I actually get to make the trip to China, this book and others have greatly enlightened me as to Chinese traditions, history, culture and language - all bits that can only make my story richer and more poignant.

Working with a particular festival can also help me time my story as a community/country prepares for a festival, celebrates a festival and then recovers from it essentially providing its own arc which the rest of the story can run parallel to, if I so choose.

Lastly, thanks to Jessica Hische for the capital "I" that lead off this post. She has made such caps available for free through her Daily Drop Cap site.

Going Global & The BFL

I don't know how long this trend will last, but I've noticed that my first two novels are both global in scope. While the first takes place in Dearborn, Michigan, it reaches around the state, the country and then off to the Arab Middle East among other places. The novel I'm working on now takes place in China, between a native and a New Yorker and it too will have people putting their equivalent of two cents in through global governing bodies, international corporations, various media outlets and beer houses and halls the world over.

I like this. I like showing how there are repercussions (globally) to our actions. These actions range from judgments passed on blogs and in pubs to violence incited over cartoons or a lack of good beer.

While I did not explore this much in the first book, this time I will have more opportunities for the protagonists to see and react to the waves of responses they stoke.

Lastly, my new working title for the book is, The Beer Flower Limited (BFL). I have Brittany Morford to thank for this. Thank you, Brittany.

Marco Polo & Pancakes

I've been able to make a little progress with both Family and Not for Nothing (NfN) this week. For Family, I've started re-reading Michael Ruhlman's The Elements of Cooking to brush up on my technical kitchen terminology. I have also told the chef de cuisine at work that I want to help prepare family meal once a week. This first hand experience should serve me well and help me improve my cooking. This Friday we're shooting for pancakes.

I've also requested a couple CDs from the library by Akwid, a Mexican hip hop group that we occasionally listen to at work in the mornings. These boys are tight. They've got a nice flow, but what I like most is how they sample classic Mexican beats into their music. In each song they celebrate their past while embracing their future. Pretty cool.

I've also started a preliminary outline for NfN and have requested a couple books from the library which I look forward to reading. One is a modern history of China since 1850. I'm thinking of setting the story there. To that end, I see a potential parallel with the story of Marco Polo. The other book I've requested is about him.