Excuse Me, Mr. Writer

Please grab a latte from the coffee bar and join me in visiting with Terry Nelson, today's Wednesday's Guest, as he is taken to the mat by one of the characters in his book, Loonies in Hollywood. I must say, I enjoyed meeting Clancy in the story, and she is just as charming here. 

While Terry is entertaining us here, I am over at The Blood Red Pencil today, sharing a bit about the grieving process and how it specifically affects writers.    

Long before I began writing, I either read about, or saw interviewed on television, a writer claiming that one of the minor characters in a book he wrote had slowly taken over the story, getting a larger role than the writer expected. In fact I encountered more than one writer who said the same thing.

I thought what nonsense.

Until, that is, I encountered Clancy while writing Loonies in Hollywood. Clancy was a 22-year-old Flapper. She was intended to be a plot device, someone to move my two leads to Tom Dixon, who may have been a killer. She dominated her first scene. She was flirty and fun-loving, with a charismatic personality.

“What do you mean ‘was a 22-year-old Flapper’ Mr. Writer?” asks Clancy, “No one has planted me in the sod yet. I am still a Flapper, still 22, and still love button shining to whangdoodles. You know you can’t get rid of me you old pillowcase.”

As I was saying, Clancy tended to pop into the story from time to time to change the rhythm and take the story to a new place.

“Someone had to do it,” says Clancy, “You brought me in to enliven the story, spice it up you know. I was the only one who could. Chet and Eveleen are adorable in their own way, but strictly straight arrows. And, by the way Mr. Writer, I don’t like your tense. You wrote ‘I was flirty and fun loving.’ Piffle, as Eveleen would say, I am still flirty, but not with a Father Time like you. Please remember I am not a ‘was’ because I still am an ‘am.’ Honestly you should know better."

Dear reader, now you know what, or who, I was dealing with. Clancy always seemed to know- excuse me-always knew when she was needed, knew what she had to do to help Chet and Eveleen solve the murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. 

“Yes I did, oh yes, indeed I did. Chet and Eveleen are not real detectives sad to say. They don’t know the people I do, the poor dears, and often I had to set them back on course, as they were, well, a bit lost. But they are sweeties you know.”

Excuse me, Clancy, but you did not solve the murder, if that is where you are heading.

“No Mr. Writer, I agree I did not solve the murder. I had no idea who the killer was. And don’t tell Chet or Eveleen, but I didn’t care about the whole murder thing anyway. But those two married lovebirds are dear friends, love them to death, though not literally, of course, but I was there as a friend you understand. And thank you for finally using present tense. You’re no Johnny Bananas. But I must go. I have helped you enough with this writing thing and I have to catch a dimebox and go meet a snugglepup.”

Whew! Now I know what that other writer was up against.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terry Nelson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Western Washington University. He was film critic for the Daily Chronicle for ten years, also doing freelance stories in the Business Technology segments of the Life Section. He interviewed child actress Ashlyn Sanchez who co-starred in “Crash” and “The Happening” among other films for a front page news story. His brief memoir “Twenty Dollars” appeared in “Christmas Spirit” published by St. Martins Press in October 2011. He has written a book on the history of The Fox Theatre located in Centralia, Washington.

You can visit Terry on his website  and follow his Seattle Mariner blog.   Visit his writing blog  for more fun.

Book Review - Loonies in Hollywood by Terry Nelson

Loonies In Hollywood
Terry Nelson
File Size: 407 KB
Print Length: 224 pages
Publisher: Terry Nelson; 1 edition (August 11, 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00EHK4OJ2

Written in a classic noir style, Loonies in Hollywood is a fun romp through an era of Prohibition and the early years of film. Chester Koski, a writer for Famous-Players Lasky, is told by a studio executive to find out what happened at the bungalow of murdered silent film director William Desmond Taylor. Chet, who is a straightforward character simply had this to say in response:

I did as I was told for I am a company man in a company town. 

Before long nearly everyone in Hollywood is aware Chet is trying to solve the murder. He is targeted by a blackmailer, his wife is kidnapped, he is accused of killing his wife's former boyfriend, gives a 22 year old flapper a gin bath, and his new radio is stolen.

The relationship between Chet and his wife, Eveleen had a bit of a Nick and Nora feel to it, and the banter between the two characters was natural and engaging. When the reader first meets Eveleen, Chet has this to say about her:

She deserved an answer, always does, and I always give her one and it is always the truth.

I thought that said a lot about the characters and the relationship. Plus, I really like a woman who says, "piffle wiffle" instead of some other expletive when faced with a drunken husband. My kids always teased me about saying "piffle" and I never knew where that word came from. Perhaps Eveleen visited me in a dream.

Of course the studio execs would like this all to go away as quickly as possible, with no backlash on them, so Chet starts investigating and turns up a number of suspects. Actress Mabel Normand who was the last to see Taylor alive is high on the list, but there are also several more: Mary Miles Minter, a young actress enamored of Taylor; Minter's overprotective mother Charlotte Shelby; Tom Dixon, wealthy pencil heir and jealous suitor of Minter; and Edward Sands, Taylor's former valet and known thief who has disappeared.

Following Chet through the labyrinth of Hollywood connections was both engaging and informative. The details of the time and place were so well done, the reader is there meeting the people and visiting the gin joints, the homes of the powerful and not so powerful in the business, and all the places that the pretentious like to be seen.

The ending was a surprise, and while it is not meant as a serious solution to the murder of Taylor, Chet's solution is plausible. Chet is a bit of a philosopher throughout the story and the  rationale for some of the choices he made that closes the book is well worth reading to get to.

Terry Nelson will be my guest on Wednesday, so I do hope you will come back and meet him.