Pop-up Memories

“I could use a little pop-up about now while I play my guitar in the MG.”

One of my friends loves the “Pop-Up Memories” that Facebook frequently posts on her timeline. I have discovered a different sort of pop-up memory. These little pop-ups suddenly appear in my writing.

All my writing comes from experience. If I have not personally experienced an event, place, or person, I can’t write about it. My fifth grade teacher, who encouraged my writing, always emphasized writing from experience. I did the same with my students. I’ll admit; sometimes my involvement in the material is minimal, but it is still there. Of course, the fantasy in my stories is always fictitious. Somewhere in the story, however, there is a spark of reality.

When I organize and outline my books and stories, the personal experience leads the way.

Then, once I begin writing, the pop-ups appear. They are spontaneous and unplanned.

Sometimes, I don’t notice them until I begin to revise and edit the work.

Three pop-ups appear in The Magic Nation Vacation. One is simply a sentence, one involves a photograph, and one is a lengthy conversation. The pop-ups are actually unrelated to the story lines. (Edgar Allan Poe would be quite upset. The pop-ups are probably unnecessary.)

On the way to breakfast, little Teddy says, “I could use a few pancakes about now.” When I proofed that sentence, I was reminded of an incident many years ago. My husband and I were watching my cousin’s three year old for the afternoon. When I asked the boy if he wanted a snack; he opened my refrigerator, looked inside and said, “I could use a little cottage cheese about now.” We were nonplussed. For one thing, we couldn’t believe a three-year-old would want cottage cheese. More importantly, that “about now,” remark was precious. The phrase became a staple in our household. And now, that pop-up memory it appears in a novel.

When I visited Winchester in 1998, I noticed an MGTD from the 1950s parked on the street in front of a café. My husband loves old MGs, so I immediately photographed the car. While writing my novel, I needed a picture for the chapter about Winchester and restaurants. Of course, as I reviewed my old vacation photos, that one popped up.

Then there is a conversation in Vacation

that appears completely unnecessary. Sometimes, as I am writing, a conversation just pops up. The characters come alive in my mind and lead my fingers on the keyboard. At one point, I considered deleting this one from the novel, but I left it there. It is now a tribute to a favorite uncle: Ted McCarty. The dialog appears in the chapter about Bath. Holly and Miss Rockwell are in a musical instrument store. The salesman tells Holly he had a relative in Kalamazoo who held patents on guitars, but never played any instrument. Uncle Ted, along with Seth Lover, invented the humbuckler. Ted designed numerous guitars (the Flying V was the most unusual), put Gibson Guitars in the black, and is now in the rock and roll Hall of Fame. Ironically, he played no instruments!

For the most part, these pop-ups will go unnoticed by my readers. For my family and friends, however, I hope they provide a chuckle and a tribute.