Sketchy Characters - Maureen

I take the train to work each day. It's excellent fodder as a writer because I see a huge range of people and there are very few repeats. Thus I've invented a little game for myself, to help hone my description skills. I select a random person and describe them as though I'm putting them in a scene. Sometimes I give them a bit of back story. Sometimes I just jot down appearance descriptors. Either way it's a good exercise. I thought it might be fun to post those brief character sketches on occasion.

Today, I'd like to introduce Maureen:

Maureen’s dark hair was caught in a short ponytail at the back of her neck and a headband secured the front. Black rimmed reading glasses were lost against the dark tone of her skin. Arms like ham hocks rested on the back of the seat and her shirt stretched too tight across her large stomach and chest. She had three bags, straps tangled together on her shoulder:  a laptop case, a canvas shopping bag and a cavernous purse that could have held not only a kitchen sink, but possibly a full bathroom set as well. The skin on her cheeks was rough and pocked, darker than the surrounding skin. Wide lips that stretched into a smile as easily as a frown.

It ain't perfect but like an artist furiously dragging pencil across paper, sketching in a model's exact position before they shift, these written character sketches are fast and messy, ready to be cleaned up and refined later if I need them.

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Sketchy Characters - Maureen

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

4 stars out of 5

Lost in the beginning stages of dementia, Maude struggles to hold onto her thoughts. One thought in particular keeps her worrying - her friend Elizabeth is missing. No one will listen and no one will help her find Elizabeth. Maude knows that something awful may have happened to her friend and she's determined to find out the truth. Seventy years before, Maude's sister, Susan, went missing as well and Maude never found out her sister's fate. As Maude's dementia progresses, the past and the present begin to mingle in her mind as she tries to unravel dual mysteries.

This is a heartbreaking book. I sympathized with Maude and at times cheered her on, at times felt only pity and occasionally squirmed with discomfort at her shenanigans. Emma Healey presents a brilliant and convincing portrait of advanced dementia, evoking sympathy not only for Maude but for her family and their struggles to take care of her. The language is beautiful with lovely unique descriptions that bring the story to life.

I felt that the story dragged on a bit in the middle and perhaps a third of it could have been edited down or cut. The pacing overall suffered from that mid-book slump and there was a repetitive feel to many chapters. I realize that is largely because Maude, herself, is stuck in a continuous loop, but that could have been conveyed without drawing things out so much. The mystery of what happened to Elizabeth and Susan is an interesting plot device used throughout the story. Unfortunately it's one of the areas that failed for me because in the mystery depart there was no twist offered at all. The answer to both questions was patently obvious from mid-way through the book and there were no real surprises, except the connection between the two mysteries.

In most stories there's a character arc where the main character progresses, in this novel, due to the nature of its protagonist, that's the exact opposite - her character devolves. The ending fit the story and fit Maude's character. I appreciate that, for the most part, Healey didn't feel the need to wrap things up in a pretty little bow. That wouldn't have fit her story or characters. Part of the tragedy of the story is that due to her dementia, though Maude ultimately solves both mysteries, she can't remember that fact. For her there is never any resolution, because there can't be. I applaud Healey for remaining true to her characters and story.

This book is likely to appeal to fans of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Still Alice by Lisa Genova and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It's an adult contemporary novel and you'll find it shelved in the general literature section or with cozy mysteries.

Find it on Goodreads >>

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Reading As A Writer

I've been addicted to books as long as I've been able to read them. How I read books, however, has changed over the years. Most significantly, when I began writing my taste in books and what I appreciate changed dramatically. I suddenly became a far more critical reader. 

On one hand I mourn those days when a book was simply an escape that I appreciated without thought. On the other hand, I appreciate a good book so much more now because I realize how much goes into every page. I adore when an author can silence my inner editor and suck me into a story so deeply that I don't want to come up for air.

As a writer, I want to study my favorite books and deconstruct them to see how their authors created that particular alchemy that I adore. But I never succeed, even on the 15th read through, because I get lost in the story every time. I find myself appreciating a turn of phrase, a particularly well done description or a zingy bit of dialogue with more pleasure these days. And those moments of appreciation are always followed by a tiny sigh of envy. One day I will write something that makes a reader fall in love. One day I'll write a description that makes another author pause and say "damn, I wish I'd thought of that."

I'm an unabashed book addict and while my friends may fan-girl actors and actresses, for me authors are the celebrities I make an idiot of myself over. That makes me happy in an extremely nerdy way. I'd take a lunch date with Maggie Stiefvater over a chat session with this week's movie star any day.

Books are pure magic when they connect with you as a reader. That's something that hasn't changed and I hope never will. My reading these days is both aspirational and inspirational. But I'll always be a fan girl at heart.

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Reading As A Writer