[First published on Neil S. Plakcy's
blog, The Inside Look.]
Some people are dog people, some are cat people. I like
both, depending on the individual, but if anything I am really a wild animal
person. One of the benefits of my New Mexico home office is that I can look out
the window at the wild world wandering by – lizards, quail and many other
birds, even occasionally a fox or coyote.
A couple of years ago, I met a local falconer. I tagged
along on hunts, as he released a falcon after homing pigeons on a cold winter
morning or let a hawk chase rabbits on a spring afternoon. (For those of you
who are squeamish, the birds of prey don't succeed as often as you might
expect, but they get exercise.) I visited the falconer’s home to see newly
hatched hawks and falcons. I even wrote an article about him and
his birds for a local publication.
Raising falcons is an intense, time-consuming, and expensive
hobby, so I don't plan to get into falconry myself. But as an author, I could
do the next best thing – I could write about it.
In What We Found, a young woman
stumbles on a dead body in the woods. Audra gets drawn into the investigation,
but more than one person isn't happy about her bringing a murder to light.
Fortunately, she has some allies, including her brainy 12-year-old brother and
self-appointed sidekick, Ricky; a sophisticated Navajo coworker, Nascha; and
her goofy but loyal boss, Eslinda. And because this is suspense with a dose of
romance, she has a love interest – Kyle, a mysterious young man who happens to
be the brother of the murder victim.
Kyle is recovering from physical and psychological wounds he
received during military service. He finds some peace helping his grandmother,
Nancy, work with the falcons and hawks she keeps. Audra gets her first tour of
the aviary from Nancy:
A beautiful bird sat on a perch.
I couldn’t identify different kinds of falcons and hawks, but this was clearly
a bird of prey, with a sharply hooked beak and long claws on the yellow feet.
It was only about a foot high, but the tiny black eyes rimmed with yellow had a
fierce look, warning that this was not a cuddly pet.
“This is Lucy,” Nancy said. “She’s a peregrine falcon, an old
girl like me. She was a rescue.” The bird turned her head and shrieked, her
little pink tongue visible in the open mouth. Nancy ran the back of her fingers down the
bird’s breast.
I’d never been this close to a
falcon before. She had beautiful coloring, dark brown on the head and back,
with a white throat that gave way to a mottled pattern of cream and brown on
the breast. I had the urge to reach out and stroke her like Nancy had, but I wasn’t sure the bird would
take that from strangers, and anyway it seemed rude.
I drew closer and could tell one
wing was different, part of it missing. I got a sudden image of Kyle and
wondered if Nancy took in injured creatures of all kinds. “Are all your birds
rescued?”
“No, but several are. Once I had
birds, people knew me as ‘The Bird Lady’ and started bringing me injured
birds.” She smiled at the falcon and I could feel the connection between the
two of them. “In the summer, the hunting seasons are closed and the birds are
molting. You can’t fly the birds, so I started breeding them. I think it’s good
for their health, to pair up.”
That made me think of Mom. I was
reading symbolism into everything.
The falcons are realistically portrayed in What We Found, so they don't help solve
the crime or anything like that. But the falconry aspect helped me develop
thematic elements of the story, added some unusual action, and provided readers
with insight into an usual pastime. One reader wrote, "The falconry aspect
was almost as intriguing as the unveiling of the murderer!”
Writers hope to create characters readers will love.
Secondary characters – villains, love interests, sidekicks, friends and family
and others – can make the story world feel real, add tension and complications,
and provide comic relief. They can also allow the main character to express herself
in different situations and with different kinds of people, thus letting
readers get to know her better. Each story requires a different cast of
characters, but I like to include strong female friends, a gentle hero, a few
quirky minor characters, and fascinating animals – wild or otherwise – if they
fit.
For another aspect of the book, read the real story of our
accidental involvement in a murder case, the experience that inspired What We Found, in a guest
post on Digital Book Today.
Kris Bock writes novels of suspense and romance involving
outdoor adventures and Southwestern landscapes. What We Found is a mystery
with strong romantic elements about a young woman who finds a murder victim in
the woods. Whispers in the Dark involves
archaeology and intrigue among ancient Southwest ruins. Rattled
follows the hunt for a long-lost treasure in the New Mexico desert. Read excerpts
at www.krisbock.com or visit her Amazon page.
