This is my first blog to launch my website, so why did I choose these images?
Since I’m writing historical fiction, I wanted images evocative of the past. And I like clickable images, but I didn’t want them floating in space. I had to put them somewhere. A mantel would have worked, but then I’d have to decide on a fireplace, and a fire.
So I picked an old steamer trunk, like something Tintin and Captain Haddock might have packed, although I have no idea what they’d put inside since Tintin never changed out of those three-quarter pants, not even in the snowfields of Tibet. So that’s the trunk.
The kaleidoscope was easy since my YA manuscript is The Devil’s Kaleidoscope, about a 14-year-old Armenian boy named Arakel, caught up in the genocide 100 years ago. In May 2015, around the time of the 100-year commemoration of the genocide, I was preparing a presentation about Armenia, where I planned to end by reading a chapter from the manuscript. I found an old, creepy-looking kaleidoscope for the slide, which was in the background while I read. That’s this image.
The old leather-bound books? I like them. They look classy. Since a leather-bound book figures in The Devil’s Kaleidoscope, that was another obvious choice.
The lantern makes me think about danger and bravery, like waiting out a hurricane with no water or power, or making the rounds after midnight on a night watchman’s circuit.
The pitcher is here because . . . I’m not sure why. I like its shape and I wanted something hand-made and hand-painted. The running tile across the top is the same idea — hand-painted Armenian tile.
So that’s it. I might add more once I finish my second novel, which I am only starting now. That one features two girls who drop out of college during 1970, live in Berkeley and get into a lot of trouble with boys, drugs and life in general. Maybe a pair of wire-rim glasses or love beads draped over the pitcher will appear one day. We’ll see.
What images inspire you?