Earlier today, I finished reading “The Red Notebook” (La Femme au Carnet Rouge), a book by Antoine Laurain about a Parisian man who finds a woman’s purse on the street just hours after it was stolen during a violent mugging. As any good Samaritan would, the hero of the story sets about finding the owner of the handbag (no easy task without a wallet or phone).
Upon reading the last page, I looked up Laurain to see what other books he’d written. Turns out he also penned “The President’s Hat” (Le Chapeau de Mitterrand), a story about a man who comes into possession of a hat that was accidentally left at a brasserie by French President Francois Mitterrand. Clearly, the author is drawn to the theme of things that are lost and found.
As I struggle to write more novel-length stories, I wonder what my theme will be. Will my love of obits filter into my fiction? (Yes.) Do I sound too much like a journalist or can I tell a fantastical tale that’s worth reading? (Still up for debate.) Must someone always die? (Yes.) Why are all of my heroes/heroines such tortured souls? (Perhaps because I’m not.). Lastly, should I determine the theme before putting pen to paper or just let the characters share the story they want to tell? (I suspect the latter.)
–h/t to Chuck Wendig for the title. Photo by Brian A. Jackson.
