What is it about Mrs. Pollifax?

I'm binge reading the Mrs. Pollifax novels again, as I find myself in need of comfort. And it's got me thinking. What is it that's so comforting about them? Something in their construction? Can I dig into it for my own writing on the novel. I think first of all, you fall a little in love with Mrs. Pollifax. She's non-judgmental, self-reflected, strong-minded, no nonsense, a bit quirky with her wild hats, and ultimately utterly likable. She's very open and curious to everyone she meets. She doesn't waste time, she gets straight to business, even when it seems like she's off on a tangent - speaking to some budding it-girl model on a plane - it's actually all about business. She's RELATABLE. I definitely want to be her, down to pondering whether I should sign up for karate lessons.

As far as the progression of the novels themselves, I find them different than Agatha Christie, whose work they are compared to. Agatha Christie is so self-consciously holier than thou - you could never figure out who did it because you're clearly too stupid. Sherlock Holmes is like this too. Here, she's often the one who is underestimated by her peers, not the one with a slightly thick sidekick.

Everything that happens in these novels moves the plot forward and while you might not see it coming, how she's going to get through it - breaking in to the main prison in Sofia, Bulgaria was just pure guts - you are along for the ride, rather than having vital clues hidden from you to be revealed by a pompous little Belgian in the final chapter.

I love how Bishop becomes more and more of a Q figure as the novels progress - providing her with the clandestine kit she may need to affect the mission. Though her kit is more along the lines of special hats that hold passports and cameras built into an elaborate brooch, than guns and fancy cars. Again, she's just so RELATABLE.

The books are also easy-reads. I'm reading basically one a day and I'm not spending all day doing it, I'm just reading for a couple of hours at bedtime and then maybe a little late afternoon to unwind. But what is it that makes them easy? That forward motion of the plot? It's not like it's super simplistic language and there's clearly a lot of research about locations and their history woven into the plots, so they're not just throw-away broad brush strokes.

As I was reading the first one, which ends up in Albania, I found myself thinking that there was no way Dorothy Gilman could have written it without having been to Albania. It has a legit Balkan feel, as does the one set in Turkey and the one in Bulgaria. She had to have visited the Balkans and in the 60s and 70s, when she was writing these, that wouldn't necessarily have been an easy feat. If she didn't, I'd love to know how she did it.

One of the mechanisms she uses is that Emily Pollifax has to figure out who someone is. Sometimes it's someone who is working with her and sometimes it's someone who is working against her. But that said, I don't find them necessarily formulaic, other than maybe that they feel a bit cinematic. I'm surprised that only a couple of them were made into films or made-for-tv movies. Angela Lansbury played Emily Pollifax, which I'm not sure is the best casting, but perhaps it was for that era. Hmm, who do I think should play her? I don't know how Geena Davis looks these days, but maybe someone like her? If Meg Ryan hadn't ruined her face with too much plastic surgery, I might think she would be good, but I'm afraid she has. There has to be a quirky streak and I don't think Angela Lansbury really had that. Though I haven't seen the film. I should see if it's on YouTube.

Ok, today's musings aren't really on the topic of Finding Lumke, but yet, they kind of are. Because thinking about what makes a good, compelling story that you really want to read is important work. So, to sum up what I think it is, it's a likable, relatable main character, it's a plot that moves forward all the time, and it's letting the reader in on things and not making them feel stupid, while also keeping that fine balance of keeping them guessing and moving along with you. Of course, our novel isn't a mystery or a spy story, but surely the same elements matter.

an excerpt from my 750 words - february 26

in march, i'm going to devote at least some of this daily writing to the novel, even if it's just a paragraph or two, it would be good to get some solid writing in on that. i think that writing whatever is in my head here over the past month or so has cleared the way for me to really start writing something of substance. i had a lot of writing blockage to clear out. i really feel my time in lego in 2014 set up a road block to my daily writing, since there were so many secrets and i am such an immediate, here and now sort of writer. when i couldn't write about what i was doing and experiencing, i stopped writing and found it hard to get back to it. this past month has helped me over that.

yesterday, i read coleridge's rime of the ancient mariner, which is a lovely and mystical poem. i don't remember if i read it in high school or not. if i did, it didn't leave an impression. i knew a line from it, without knowing that it was from it - "water, water every where and not a drop to drink." i went looking for interpretations of the poem online and found i could have bought a few high school level papers on various websites. i did not. and it made me realize that whatever interpretation i come up with myself of the poem is as good as any. i dug in a little bit to the notion of the mariner as a wandering jew - or the biblical cain, doomed to keep wandering and telling his story to all he meets. i think it could definitely be woven into our story. i originally became interested because of the interpretation of it as related to the flying dutchman legend of a ghost ship. i quite love the supernatural in the poem, in the battle over his soul. i could definitely see some moments of the supernatural in our story, so i will work on bringing that out. surely the voyage to cape town can contain some moments of the supernatural. perhaps i have to introduce a mariner-type character among the crew, or perhaps the captain can be that kind of figure. and he could have experience with women who sail as men and he knowingly accepts lumke's disguise.

see, the ideas are already flowing. i need to do a bit of research into the actual name of the captain of lumke's ship, surely those extensive records the VOC kept have that information. i'm happy to make up a name, but since we have so many other historical, factual details, it would be good to have his real name. i just hope it's a good one. he could always have a nickname if it's not.

i do think that reading things which inspire is a key to writing. hemingway suggested that in his moveable type, and i can tell that reading the rime of the ancient mariner has sparked new ideas and moved me closer to seeing how things can come together in my own writing. everything that goes in, must come out, processed somehow and transformed into something that's my own. our own. i think that i feel a strong belief in the project all of a sudden as i write this. and that's a very awesome feeling. it wasn't that i didn't believe before, but i have felt like i couldn't really see how to get to the writing. now, i think i can.