I’ve been working on a short story, hopefully, the first of a series. My initial goal was 10,000 words but these people just didn’t cooperate. They got too interesting! As I approached 20,000 words, I felt the need to research parameters for a short story. Technically, they can be anything from 1,500 to 30,000 words. I felt certain I could finish up in 30,000 words and did, but barely. That was when I decided I had too much going to stop there.
Having spent most of my time editing and publishing in recent years, I forgot how entertaining it is to simply write. It’s amazing how things come together when I work on a book. I picked the year 1911 and an article I read in Priscilla magazine from September of that year as inspiration for the beginning. The article was a charming story by a lady named Edith Robinson about a rather inept saleslady and her first attempt to sell her wares at an exclusive hotel.
I changed the setting to Catalina’s famous Metropole Hotel and began research on transportation to the island in the day, tourist activities available at that time, 1911 fashion and music. This might be drudgery to some but it is endlessly fascinating to me. I try to immerse myself in the historical period I’m writing about and hope that shines through in the details of my stories.
Although published works dated before 1923 are in the public domain, I wanted to give a nod to Edith Robinson’s work, so I named a few of my characters after hers and gave her credit as my inspiration. I wasn’t able to find much information about this author, born in 1858. She might have sold stories to magazines regularly. She apparently authored 14 children’s books. The article in The Modern Priscilla was not a romance and any similarity between her tale and mine ends early on in The New Saleslady but I wanted her original idea to live on.
It’s amazing what gems I find in old magazines. Period terminology can be a challenge that often proves useful. I discovered these ads for Kitchen Bouquet, Karo Syrup, Kingsford’s Corn Starch and Lea and Perrins Sauce—products found in my own cupboard today. I wonder if the ingredients are identical?
Another recent inspiration came from our visit to the Bembridge House in Long Beach. The 1906 Queen Anne-style house is in almost pristine condition. It now serves as the model for Elsie’s house in The New Saleslady.
See that wonderful turret at the corner of the house? We got to go up into the huge attic space and stand in the witches cap—the area above the turret. The framing inside is a work of art. I have plans for that witches cap in my story and can hardly wait to get there.
I have never before gone to such lengths to cement a character’s home in my mind, although Carroll Avenue in downtown Los Angeles served to inspire my ideas about Queen Anne homes. Since this could turn out to be a long, multi-volume story, I better like the setting.
While researching the history of the park across the street from the Bembridge House, I ran across a macabre bit of information. Dorothy Rankin Bembridge, founder of the Long Beach Historical Society and world-renowned pianist, lived in the house on and off from 1918. A handyman who worked for her was sentenced to prison for theft. Less than a month after he was released from his nine-year prison term, he strangled Dorothy in her backyard. She was 92. Oddly, the docents who gave our tour never mentioned this titillating piece of history. One mentioned Dorothy died at the house but never alluded to her nefarious ending.
Nonetheless, I have been furnishing my imaginary home with Victorian pieces and cataloguing history from that era. I’ll keep you updated.