Daily Diary, May 14, 2022, Day 622: Despite all my good intentions to increase my speed, this past week, I got fewer words per day written and didn’t even make my 500 a day goal, averaging 466 new words a day. Can’t even blame unusual circumstances, since I had a pretty normal number of scheduled phone calls and marketing tasks to do throughout the week. But there were also a lot of times when I either found myself just thinking about the characters, expanding the min-biographies I had for them, or deleting and rewriting sections. That’s why I talk about “new words” written, because there are whole hours where the total is -# of words at the end of the session. However, when I look back at the week I realize the lack of word count was because I was working to provide more depth to Mrs. Stein and her daughter and grandson’s characters.
For those of you who have read at least some of my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, you will have encountered Esther Stein and her husband Herman. From the start, this couple played the role of guardian angels to my main protagonist, Annie. Herman was crucial to advising Annie how to support herself, first by turning the old O’Farrell Street home into a boarding house, then by suggesting that Annie use her business expertise to give financial advice, first as the clairvoyant Madam Sibyl, then eventually as a reputable accountant. For her part, Esther, who treated Annie like a daughter, was never loath to give her unsolicited advice about how she should conduct her life as a respectable woman, wife, and mother.
Yet, because I always struggle not to bog down my mysteries with too much backstory for the minor characters, I’ve never felt I really had time to develop Esther full. Consequently some years ago I determined that I would do what I’ve done for other characters, give Esther Stein her own story. I even came up with the title Mrs. Stein Solves a Crime. The problem was, I didn’t know that the crime was, and I kept putting off writing the story. Then, as I completed Entangled Threads, my latest full-length novel (and where Esther had only a tiny role) I knew it was time to write that story. And, as I expected, as I developed the plot I discovered there was a lot more to Esther than even I, her creator, realized.
What I didn’t anticipate was how two other characters, Esther’s younger daughter Hetty, and Hetty’s grandson Georgie, were going to surprise me (and actually surprise Esther) as I wrote the novella. And dealing with those surprises is what slowed me down this week.
This is how I first introduced Hetty, early on in my first book, Maids of Misfortune.
“Unfortunately, of all the Stein children, Hetty was the one Annie had met most often and liked the least. Hetty seemed to find it a personal affront that her parents had chosen to give up their home and move into Annie’s boarding house. As a result, she was not surprised when Hetty began to complain the minute she set foot in the carriage.
‘Mother, I am so sorry to have inconvenienced you this way. This carriage can barely hold three comfortably, let alone four. I would have gone with Adela, but she had to stop at her dressmakers’ on Larkin first, and I couldn’t leave until I had given instructions to Mrs. Phelps. She has been simply impossible ever since the little dinner party I had last week. She’s all in a huff about the scolding I gave her about the sauce for the salmon. It was inedible. Of course she blamed it on the stove, and she does have a point. I’m sure that half the reason your Mrs. Kelly did so well, Mama, was the wonderful kitchen she had to work in. I just can’t fathom why you gave the house up. Not that Mrs. Fuller’s cook isn’t adequate, but really one can’t expect boardinghouse cooking to compare.’”—Maids of Misfortune
Poor Hetty and her son, Georgie, show up in a few other books, but only in passing, generally portrayed as spoiled. Turns out, there is a lot more to both Hetty and Georgie, and I do believe the novella will be a much more satisfying read now that I have taken the time this week to flesh them out more fully.
As I have said more than once, persistence and patience, are two characteristics that serve me well, as a person and a writer. So, my goal is still to write more than 500 words a day this coming week, but I won’t beat myself up if I don’t accomplish this.
By the way, the photos below are a before – this past winter (before house painted and sidewalk replaced and front yard clean up) and after photo I took today. On Monday we will try to get some plants for both the front and the backyard, but we probably won’t complete this task fully until winter when we hope to have some more expectation of rain. Again, persistence and patience on the house as well. (smile.)
Mrs. Stein’s novella has piqued my curiosity about Hetty again. I’m curious as to who she really is and why she seems to have so many grievances. I like the way your landscaping is coming along and new paint truly freshens the look of a house.