Save The Fish!

Ovidia—every other Tuesday

I have guests in my office—my guppies are in a temporary tank here because their larger (approx 120 L) fish tank by our bed sprang a leak in the middle of the night.
That’s a lot of water, but fortunately it’s a slow leak and I should be able to get all my fishy charges out in time…

The glass panes don’t seem damaged, so I’m guessing it’s the silicone sealant that’s given way. Not too bad, given it’s held up for the ten years we’ve lived here!

I could probably fix it myself, right? Like any reasonably intelligent adult could?
But where to start?
Enter B Plot: The Save The Cat Story Structure.

I’ve been hearing about the Save The Cat Story Structure/ System/ Beats for some time now.
I’m not very comfortable with the idea of following any kind of writing template, but after yet another (the third) fellow writer recommended it, I decided to find out what it’s all about.
Apparently the title comes from how you can make your protagonist appealing by having them do something selfless like saving a cat.

I was wrong when I'd assumed it was about defining priorities in writing (as in saving the cat ought always to be a number one priority).

The other thing I was wrong about was that it’s a guide to screenwriting rather than book writing!
But it's all about telling stories, isn't it?

Aside from that, it’s quite interesting.

And it's even proving helpful—especially in the questions it prompts.
For instance, ‘What does your Protagonist Want?’ vs ‘What does your Protagonist Need?’

I realised I could apply this to my current leaky fishtank situation—
What do I want? A tank that doesn’t leak (very true, but doesn’t help)
What do I need? I need my fish to survive (okay this gave me an action plan)

Once I got that cleared up, the first step was to set up their temporary abode—

And transfer them safely into it.
Also, to find temporary accommodation for all their furnishings

And get everything moved to safety before draining and tackling the leaky tank.

How? Like the protagonist in a Save the Cat scenario, I’ll assess my tools—

Yes, I have a silicone gun, even if I don't have much experience with it.
There's a lot less risk to working on a leaky sink in the bathroom compared with a fishtank in the bedroom!

Though a closer look's just told me this silicone isn’t ‘aquarium safe’ so I might have to go shopping for that and a razer blade scraper/ holder, since I don’t trust myself not to slice off a fingertip and contaminate my tank…

Luckily Polyart (my main source of aquarium supplies) is open 24 hours.
And according to Save The Cat, I should access the protagnist's (my) flaws.

My Biggest and All encompassing Flaw: I know how all this works in theory:
Cut and scrape off the old silicone, wipe down with acetone, apply duct tape guidelines along the joins, allowing at least double the width of the glass, apply the aquarium safe silicone and spread it into the join with a finger, making sure to get it into the ‘valley’. Then leave to dry for 48 hours before testing for water proofing.

It’s the same thing with writing according to the Save The Cat Guideline isn’t it? Again I know how it works in theory:

Introduce my protagonist as someone with a want, a need and a flaw. Make their starting condition clear to your reader (as in scrape off all the old silicone so you know exactly where you are). Confront them with a crisis that they’ll be unable to solve in their present state (the tank that can’t hold water without leaking). And set them on the path to fixing it (duct tape, silicone seal, etc).

And at the happy ending of both processes, the flaw’s been fixed, the situation’s resolved and the tank holds water again!

At least I hope this story will have a happy ending. I won’t know till after all the silicone scraping is done and the new seals set, so not before Thursday, most likely.

And a final unexpected similarity: Silicone smells incredibly like Salt and Vinegar Potato Crisps… which is pretty much how my room smells when I’m in the last throes of a final draft!

Please send good thoughts for my Save The Fish project!

The Page 69 Test

 Annamaria On Monday

As usual it is still Sunday as I write this, and I have just finished a wonderful conversation with Verena Rose.  For those of you who don’t know her, she wears every hat in the crime writing community and is treasured in every category: author, reviewer, editor, publisher, blogger, book seller, podcaster. It was the seventh of those activities that brought us together this week, when she interview me for a future podcast.

She sent me her questions in advance, and they were interesting and fun to discuss, and different from the typical ones.  Number seven on her list was not even a question.  It said "The page 69 Test.

The test was invented by Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian philosopher most famous for coining the phase "The medium is the message."  He also had an interesting piece of advice for someone unsure whether to buy a book. He suggested that they read page 69 to see if they found it interesting.  During our conversation, I took the test for my latest--A Death on the Lord's Day.

Here is my page 69: 

     “So you ­ were the one who moved the corpse ­ after Mrs. Tolliver

and her ­ father had seen it. Where did you put it?”

      “When I took it away from ­ there, I put it in the bush, for the

hyenas. Matua was not a Christian.” He paused for a few breaths.

“But I was braver than that.” His voice was strong now, almost

prideful. “I was the one who put the body of Matua in front of the

farm of Bwana Tolliver.”

     This revelation jolted Kwai Libazo. He kept calm. “Matua Jomo

was not killed in the place where he was found lying, near the Tolliver

farm?” he made the words half statement, half question.

    “No.”

    Kwai Libazo asked the question he had heard the Baroness ask

when she dined with Mr. and Mrs. Tolliver. “Why would a person

want to drop a corpse in such a place?”

Joseph said nothing.

    “Answer me!” Kwai could not keep the urgency, the demand out

of his voice.

     “No,” Joseph said. His voice ­ every bit as determined. “I have

already told you too much. I have already told you—­ Mimi mimi

mwogaa.”

     Kwai suppressed an impulse to grab the man and shake him.

Why, he demanded of himself. Why would this man take the corpse

of a friend—­ his tribal ­ brother—­ and drop in front of the Tolliver

farm? It took only six beats of his heart for the answer to flash into

his head. It shocked him so that he spoke it out loud.

    “You wanted Bwana Tolliver to find the killer.”

    “I did,” Joseph said. He moved ­ toward the light, and the look in

his eyes said he was making the same demand of Kwai Libazo.

    “Then you know who the killer was.”

    A level stare was Joseph’s only answer.

    Frustrated, angered, Kwai stood and towered over the man still

seated on the floor. “I can tell the police that you are concealing

The first word on the next page is "'evidence.' "

So what do you think?  Would this bit encourage you or discourage you?  To be fair to McLuan, he said his readers should not make page 69 the only deciding  factor.  But to keep an open mind about the book in question.

And to you, my fellow authors:  What about you?  Do you care to share a page 69 of one of your books?

Tourism Today, Aiming for Tomorrow

 

photo: Alexandros Beltes

It’s understandable with all going on in the world today that you might have missed the rebellion-mentality taking hold in many of the world’s most popular –and upscale–tourist destinations.  In Barcelona, that meant water pistols leveled at tourists.

 

Tassoula Eptakili

As reported in July 2024 by Tassoula Eptakili in Ekathimerini (Greece’s newspaper of record), “thousands of residents in Barcelona protested against the effects of overtourism, which are making their lives unbearable. Spain is the second most popular destination in the world after France, receiving 85 million visitors last year and expecting even more in 2024. The streets in downtown Barcelona are constantly congested, rental rates have skyrocketed by nearly 70% in the past few years, water is being rationed (every resident is entitled to 200 liters a day) and small neighborhood businesses are shutting down and turning into bicycle rental shops, cafes and souvenir stores.”

 

photo: Tricafaldetes

In an earlier Ekathimerini article, Eptakili reported “about 200 activists gathered on a popular beach in Mallorca, Spain, to protest the effects of overtourism on the environment, on rent and prices in general, and on their daily lives. On this small beach, a cove with emerald waters, 4,000 visitors and 1,200 cars arrive every day to take a photo and post it on Instagram. In videos posted online, locals can be seen shouting at foreign visitors to ‘go away, go away’….

 

“In Greece, we may not have similar incidents, with locals shouting at tourists to ‘go away,’ but dissatisfaction has been expressed on several occasions.”

 

Photo: Petros Giannakouris

Alex Papachelas, Ekathimerini’s Executive Editor has written, “Let’s say a large hotel unit is being built on an island… it is an investment that initially many people will see positively. It is aimed at high-income tourists and the expectation is created that it will raise the overall level of the island. Few people are concerned about the fact that the island in question lacks basic infrastructure and that the incomplete network that does exist was not designed for such high numbers of tourists… Understaffing is a major issue of our time and obviously a large unit makes it worse for everyone else who is struggling to find personnel and compete in terms of wages.

 

“But another problem also emerges: The new hotel rents out every room and apartment on the island for its staff. The room owners are happy because they have a stable income, but people who work in state-run services on the island can no longer find affordable accommodation. At the same time, the average Greek who stayed in these rooms because their prices were reasonable can no longer visit the island. The cheaper tavernas also feel the impact and the domino effect continues.”

 

Alex Papachelas

So, what is there to be done?  It is a matter front and center in the minds of the current government, shared by forward thinkers concerned for the future of Greece’s most valuable commodity, TOURISM.

 

An example of that thinking is the following article published a couple of days ago by Tom Ellis of Ekathimerini describing his paper’s commitment to focusing on how best to address the needs of Greece’s critical tourism dynamic:

 

Tom Ellis

“Most Greeks, of all ideological persuasions, agree that tourism is our national industry. Hence it is only natural that we should do everything we can to protect and improve it.

 

“As the steadily increasing tourist volume of the last few years has not only brought obvious benefits but also caused distractions, legitimate questions are being raised about how local economies can or should deal with them.

 

“Is tourism in Greece – the result of the country’s natural beauty – a blessing or a curse? It’s obviously a blessing. but we should do everything we can to protect it so it stays a blessing.

 

“The issue has leapt to the forefront, demanding a public dialogue about where we are, how we got here and, most importantly, where we go from here, and how.

 

“It is in that context that Kathimerini has taken the initiative to try to forge a roadmap for the future.

 

“Greek tourism is doing well and it is without doubt a very important success story for this country.

 

“That doesn’t mean that some aspects of the way the country’s tourism industry has developed in the past cannot change. Improving the Greek paradigm, making it more solid through responsible practices, should be a national goal.

 

“It is with that in mind that this week Kathimerini hosted another Reimagine Tourism in Greece summit, in coordination with our partners who have shown a long-term positive impact on the industry, share our hopes and aspirations, but at the same time are similarly concerned about deficiencies and obstacles that have to be overcome.

 

“The aim is to have a modern tourism industry that benefits Greek society as a whole, while safeguarding our traditions and cultural treasures, and at the same time protecting the environment and the country’s natural beauty.

 

“In that effort we aim to be the intellectual cornerstone of a healthy debate and exchange of ideas.

 

“If we do it right, it will benefit everyone: private businesses, local economies, and, at the end of the day, the country as a whole.

 

“Our aim is none other than to contribute to the creation of an ecosystem that facilitates innovation and encourages the implementation of best practices, and, in doing so, helps to reshape Greek tourism with an eye to a sustainable future.”

 

Let’s hope these goals come to pass. Better yet, let’s all work toward making them happen.

 

––Jeff

A week in Memes

 

I've just delivered novel 16 or 17 or something.

This was a Halloween fancy dress outfit somebody thought my editor might like to send me.

There was a facebook post asking why Scottish people put everything between two slices of bread.

Because we can.

This is a traditional Scottish lunch-  a piece on mince.

Pieces on  sugar or mayonnaise or salad cream are all acceptable.

Pieces on salt and vinegar crisps are very nice indeed.

The gas man came to service the boiler

 He left this behind.

 He didn't know where he'd left it.

His secretary had to sort it out.

It's still on the front step.

I feel a novel coming on.

We are concerned about the US elections.

I think everybody is.

Using onedrive for the first time, my computer constantly overwrote the new version of the book with the older version of the book.

Technically, I think I have discovered the portal to time travel.

£300 for an Oasis concert?

I'd rather listen to the same chords in the right order with vocals by somebody who can sing. And spell.

So that'll be the Beatles then.

I saw this and thought of Jeff.

Those getting on the flight looked like party people.

The Glasgow flight was at the next gate, looking like people who had already partied.

Along with the advertising executives, telephone sanitizers and 

influencers.

No faith is without its problems.

Mathilda the staffie is very old- she could be 17, more likely 15. Nobody knows.

This is her approach to a long happy life.

And she has never listened to Oasis- she has sensitive ears.

Being close to Glasgow which is always covered in thick cloud, we didn't see the Northern Lights. the Comet or the supermoon.

And then Alex Salmond died. He was in my house once.

Was after a piece on sausage.

Good job I'm veggie,  I hate the haggis hunting season.

Me thinking about  the chances of me being called as an expert witness and called to be on the jury... on the same day! 

Wee Carry on Sleuthing joke for you.

old dogs can be demanding!

A uncomfortable period between going to greggs for coffee.

and yes, I have a list!

This categorises everybody on social media. 

Except writers of course.

My gran died at 106 and she used this word...a lot!

This might have been written by my editor.

Stan?  Michael?

I did. In art class. And a Miss Piggy in ceramics.

There's one thing with more fury.... that's two Scottish women

Lowest life expectancy in the developed world and we are okay with that.

See meme re mince above.

The wind has been having too much velocity this past week.

It's heading our way on Sunday.

We have danger to life warnings at 30mph winds.

Or just thinking of ways to kill people.

Tie a slinky across the stairs......

In Praise of Reptiles, Rodents, and things that go Squawk in the Night

Wendall -- every other Thursday

Everyone loves pandas. Everyone loves dolphins. But what about the Visayan warty pig, the numbat, or the long lost gastric brooding frog? 

 

Numbats are losing their habitat in Australia.

 

Not all of the fifty most endangered animals on the planet are cute –well, numbats are pretty cute—but they’re all vital to their individual ecosystems and to the planet overall and they’re disappearing, if I may misquote Annie Lamott, “frog by frog.”

 

The gastric brooding frog, who delivered their young through their mouths and held them there, has been extinct since the mid-80s.

 

41% of amphibians are endangered. This one, Leptopeles spiritusnoctis, is threatened in Ghana.

At present, it’s hard to know exactly how many species we are losing. Conservation sites like the World Wildlife Fund, or CITES, The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, hazard a guess of 2000 extinctions a year—due largely to poaching, loss of habitat, and climate change—but they admit those estimates may be much higher.

 

When I first considered focusing on the world of endangered animal smuggling and the broader issue of wildlife extinction in the Cyd Redondo series, I was still woefully ignorant on this issue and a bit embarrassed about taking on such a serious topic, especially in what was essentially a beach book.

 

 

Sgt. Ian Knox of Scotland Yard’s Wildlife Crime Prevention Unit put my mind at rest. He was a big fan of the “spoonful of sugar” approach to education, saying a book like mine might make someone ignorant about these issues think twice about buying python boots or real tortoise shell barrettes, or inspire them to join the World Wildlife Fund. 

 

An evidence room full of confiscated endangered animal parts and products.

 

So he and his team took me through their horrifying evidence room, told me a million stories, put me in touch with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the various conservation agencies, and the theme for my series was born. I’d never imagined myself writing animals as characters, but remembering the beloved books of my youth like Black Beauty, The Yearling, or The Jungle Book gave me the courage to try.

 

After spending time with the wildlife agents, I was determined to focus on animals that didn’t normally get attention, animals that might make Cyd, or us, uncomfortable. The other requirement was that the creatures needed to fit in her bottomless Balenciaga bag. 

 

Cyd carries a vintage Balenciaga bag on her travels.

 

Like my character, I am utterly freaked out by most reptiles, so in Lost Luggage I went for maximum conflict and a real learning curve for Cyd by creating Barry the Madagascan chameleon as her first sidekick. 

 

Barry, the chameleon.

 

The market for reptiles (as well as many other creatures and their parts) smuggled from and through Africa, from the spurred tortoise to the Madagascan boa to Kasmer’s dwarf burrowing skink, is massive and growing, so I wanted to shine a light on that. As soon as I imagined Barry taking out Cyd’s false eyelashes with his tongue, I was off.

 

There are so many ways to smuggle reptiles, and not just in their luggage.

 

The choice for Drowned Under was easy, as Tasmania has one of the most famous “functionally extinct” species ever—the thylacine or Tasmanian tiger. The last verified thylacine died in the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1936, but there are still “sightings” and groups like the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia, who are sure there are still Tasmanian tigers in the wild.

 

The "last" Tasmanian tiger and his keeper.

James and I visited the former site of the Beaumaris Zoo this summer.

 

Even as babies, they’re fierce creatures with very sharp teeth and a strange, keening bark, so I knew keeping Howard the tiger safe, especially in her purse, would make things more complicated and funnier for Cyd, while still offering insight into the world of wildlife crime.

 

Once I decided to set the third mystery, Fogged Off, in London, I thought it might be time to turn to another misunderstood species—rodents, especially when I happened upon one that was irresistible—the highly endangered hazel dormouse. 

 

The species had its “fifteen minutes of fame” in Alice in Wonderland, but my eco-enthusiast character, Grey Hazelnut, insists these creatures are underappreciated. “When he’s motivated in mating season, that little guy can jump ten meters. . . They sing to the females at night with this trilling kind of sound. And their pheromones are so strong that humans can smell them.” 

 

This is how the hazel dormouse sleeps. . .

 

They also sleep curled up with their tails held over their faces and make a distinctive, snuffling snore which is unbearably cute— unless it’s coming out of your purse. Bruce, the dormouse, allowed me to highlight how loss of habitat contributes to wildlife extinction, and how important it is to use Tupperware when you travel.

 

When I decided on Bali as my setting for Cheap Trills, my choice was easy. Not only is the Bali starling “rock star” gorgeous, but even today, where there has been some conservation progress, they remain the most endangered birds on the island. In 2007, when the book is set, there were only 7 of them documented still in the wild. The more research I did, the more evidence I found of a huge network of poachers, smugglers, and corrupt officials involved the Indonesian songbird trade, so in that book, I tried to shine a light on that problem.

 

The highly endangered Bali starling.

 

If you are interested in this issue you can go to sites for both of the organizations above, to the Monitor Conservation Research Society, or to TRAFFIC to read more about what you can do to help these astounding and under-appreciated creatures.

 

--Wendall