Fiction by L.L. Muir
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No Sherlock, just Watson

2/20/2016

11 Comments

 
Picture
Boy, it's been a while. 
But before you think less of me, please note that in the past 7 months I have published 13 novels or novellas. And thanks to a couple of other writers in the Culloden Moor series, we now have 17 books up=16 warriors removed from the moor, safely tucked away in their happily ever afters. Well, mostly.

It's quiet tonight. But I'm not in the waiting room. The creaks of tight rope and complaining planks of wood come from the ship I'm on--a late 18th century galleon. And those snores you hear are from the crew and passengers tucked away beneath the deck for the night. A week ago, it was decreed that only sailors are allowed to be out and about after dark.

Obviously, Captain Titus is sick of the passengers after five solid weeks at sea. You can see him watching the last orange bump of the sun settling into the water at our backs, and the second it's gone, he bellows to the steward, "Mister York! Put the children to bed!"

They're all bothersome children now, no longer invited to dine with him. They're careful to stay out of his line of sight for the most part. And those who do cross his path, he pretends not to notice. Eye contact is a thing of the past. Silence is golden.

And now that you know where I'm spending my time, it will come as no surprise that our next Highland warrior will soon be arriving on the scene. There is a great mystery afoot, you see. And, luckily for us, Soncerae is sending Watson to help us solve it. A tall, braw lad from the Isle of Mull, Tremayne Watson has a taste for mysteries even though he never met Sherlock Holmes in real life.

​But then again, none of us has...


11 Comments

    About the room...

    There are a number of rooms in my head. Behind one, there is a gnarly table covered with thick open books. If I close those and tuck them away on the shelves, my thoughts become less cluttered. I can focus on whatever is left on the table.

    The floor of another room has so many tasseled pillows you can never reach the surface beneath. Tapestries cover the stone walls. (This is from my childhood memory of a movie about Katherine the Great. I think Peter O'Toole was tickled there without mercy.) I loved her room so much, I created one of my own.

    The most trafficked place in my head, though, is The Waiting Room. Characters arrive of their own free will. Few are ever asked to leave--even the villains have to be allowed from time to time, though I try to finish their stories and hustle them out the door as quickly as I can.

    The room itself is square. No alcoves for characters to hide from me or initiate romances with characters from other books. For example, the main character from a Regency romance started flirting with Isobelle from 1496! I had to get to her story quickly before the relationship could threaten both their happily ever afters.

    I have an obsession with white-leather wing-backed chairs, so the waiting room is full of them. Let's face it, there's an actual duke in there and I can't just give him a folding chair from Sam's Club, can I? His given name is Stanley, and like Stanley, many of these characters have been waiting years for their turn. And though they need no food and water, no change of costume or trip to the loo, I like to think I've made them comfortable.

    I mentioned that few have been asked to leave. One of those was Mrs. Wiggs, a female gunfighter and a lovely woman for the most part. But she doesn't suffer fools or poor piano playing, so when she shot another character for a weak attempt to entertain the rest, I had to send her and her guns packin'. *snort* Get it? Packin'? 

    In any case, Mrs. Wiggs will have to bide her time in the waiting room of Bella Bowen until her trilogy is finished. (Bella Bowen is the pen name under which I publish Western romances.) She's better off there. Or at least, the other gun-toting characters will be able to defend themselves... As for the poor piano player, I don't think she's going to make it.

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