Janice Rydzon

Mystery Writer

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By Jan Rydzon 2 Comments

What We Bury

IMG_0114I’m about halfway through The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens. It’s about a college student who has an English assignment to interview a stranger and write his or her biography. With time running out, he hurries to a nearby nursing home and meets someone willing to talk–a dying Vietnam veteran who’s also a convicted murderer.

I didn’t expect to like this story, but was desperate for something to listen to while exercising, since I couldn’t find anything else that appealed to me. Over thirteen thousand audible.com “readers” gave it a four and a half star rating, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

The readers’ ratings proved absolutely correct. The author’s phrases are lyrical, the story heartfelt, and the narrator terrific. Even so,  I’m getting more out of this story than I’d intended.

Both the protagonist, Joe, and the murderer had buried secrets that affected their lives, and it started me thinking about the secrets we all bury.  I unexpectedly found myself soul searching for the buried secrets that affected my behaviors and shaped my interpretations of everything around me–made me the person I am. It also gave me an insight into using secrets to help me create more complex characters.

Do you have secrets that molded your life?

By Jan Rydzon 2 Comments

Just Imagine

grandma's house

My grandmother’s Los Angeles home

Ever since I was a kid, I adored reading fiction. It was an escape from my ordinary life, parachuting me into times, places and situations I’d never encounter on my own–the wizardly world of Harry Potter, the English countryside of Miss Marple, the Civil War of Scarlett O’Hara. I feel a dream-like collaboration with an author, when their words meld with my imagination, captivating me with an adventure created by both of us.

Something similar happens when I tour old mansions in the US, palaces in England and Russia, and ruins in Italy and Greece. I’m transported into worlds filled with people whose lives were different from mine. But since there’s no author to tell me about the emotions, motivations and desires of the long gone women and men, I stand in a quiet corner and try to conjure the essence of the feelings left behind–and they’re there. We all leave a bit of ourselves in the places we’ve lived. Proof? A home that has sheltered generations “feels” different than a brand new house.

Authors have written the imaginary Tara, Manderly, Hogwarts, Bridehead, and Bates Motel as characters–participants in the lives of the novels’ humans. My grandmother’s Los Angeles home, built in 1899, has been a character in my life and an inspiration for my novels. I’ve researched other potential homes-as-characters, come across some unusual ones, and incorporated them into my own stories. They’ll be among the topics of future blogs.

 

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