Rod McFain’s Blog - Thoughts and Nonsense

Sylvia Beach at Shakespeare and Company Circa 1920s

My latest thoughts on writing, writers, and reading. Occasionally, I may stray off into horses, fly-fishing, or the good fortune of living in the mountains.
So much to comprehend - all in one place!

A little known fact: When Kris Kristofferson wrote the line “He’s a walking contradiction,” he was writing about me. That’s little know because it’s not true that he wrote it about me. He’s never even met me.

A Question of Magnificence

My girl Maggie is getting more reviews, responses, and questions than my other writings. I am thrilled. If you are interested in a little behind-the-scenes information about Maggie and the novel, here is a bit of a look-off page.

I am most often asked about the title. Why did you title it “The Magnificent Maggie?” That one is easy. Because my editor and I thought that title would sell books. Yep, that’s it.

I get all kinds of questions about Maggie. I will try to answer a few of the most frequently asked without giving any spoilers, I hope.

The most frequent is “Why is she Magnificent?” What first comes to mind when I try to answer is, “Is she magnificent?”

Regarding the title, I can think of three possible readings, all depending on the meaning of the word “magnificent.” Perhaps you, the reader, have another. But here are the three I had in mind while writing the novel.

Straightforward

This version takes magnificent as a straightforward compliment, meaning “wonderful.” Perhaps Maggie is magnificent because she is the prettiest, most alluring, and most talented female (she is magnificently talented; that is just a fact). Or, maybe she is magnificent because she lives a carefree, rich life, throwing the most bee’s knees parties. In this take, the title means total admiration: Maggie is magnificent.

Mocking/Sardonic

As readers—and the novel’s characters—learn more about Maggie, does the initial fascination with her turn into disappointment? Does the magnificent turn bitter. In reality, is Maggie unhappy? Has she created a fake persona to live out a fantasy? This title reading indicates that Maggie is a sad shell of magnificence.

Theatrical

The final possibility I toyed with is that magnificent is just a stage name, something to draw an audience. This version of magnificent is also entirely fitting: after all, she transforms into a totally different person on the stage or the screen. This could also align with how Maggie can create a spectacle and seems to be acting—on and off stage, not actually living.

So? Which of these versions is correct? One of them? Two of them? All of them? None of them? Does the title’s meaning shift depending on how far you’ve read or what you ultimately believe about Maggie’s motivations and driving ambition? This is where I tell you that Maggie’s magnificence, or lack of it, is entirely up to you, the reader.

A few readers have said they find Maggie self-centered. To quote Jethro Gibbs, “Ya think?”

The thing is, they’re missing the point. Is she self-centered? That’s the wrong question. If you find Mags self-centered, and you legitimately may, the interesting thing you should explore is, “Why?” What makes her self-centered? Is she simply petty? Is it a defense mechanism? Is it determination, not egotism? Who, what is her real motivation?

Another observation I’ve heard. C.J. seems weak. I don’t know, does he? How?

Another question about C.J. is, “Is C.J. Maggie’s savior, her anchor?” I may be on slippery ground regarding a spoiler, but the answer is—nope. I don’t think that will ruin anything. I’ll just say you are looking at the wrong character. So who is? Someone is. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Another question is, “How accurate are the depictions of the real-life characters in the novel?” A bit of literary license has been taken. But overall, I think I’m reasonably accurate.

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald are met at their zenith—at their mountaintop. I present Zelda in a sympathetic light. I believe she deserves that; she has been maligned and mistreated enough. Although Zelda and I never met, we are awful close.

I would say the same about my new buddy and the protagonist of my next novel, Clara Bow. “The IT Girl” has only a little more than a cameo role in this work, but I’m fascinated by her and more than a tad compassionate toward her.

Oh, I forgot someone. Hemingway—the importance of being Earnest. I'm being asked "Don't you like Hemingway?" Well, a plaque in Sun Valley, Idaho, dedicated to Earnest, says, “Most of all, he loved the fall.” I like the sentiment. We'll leave it at that.

When I start a novel, I do a brief sketch or outline of each character I plan on using. Some characters haven’t even crossed my mind at the beginning. They pop up sometime in the story.

All characters are created by their writer. The writer is the god of their world. I suppose many writers maintain that role throughout the story. That is not the case with me.

I am no longer in control after I’m twenty to twenty-five thousand words into a novel. I’m simply an observer scribing what the characters are doing. They are in control. And, if a character doesn’t take control, I cut them. I’ve no time for those who don’t carry their own weight. I hope I’m not the only writer like that. I’m not sure, but I believe the clinical explanation for such behavior is “the writer is nuts.”

Anyway, here is the original outline for Mags. Although I don’t think there are any spoilers in what follows, you might want to stop here if you haven’t read the novel.

Did Mags turn out to be what I meant her to be? Let me know.

Maggie O’Sullivan Elliott—

Maggie is the center of the novel. But despite this, there is quite a bit we don’t know about Maggie—her inner thoughts and motivations can be hard to untangle. Maggie is a doer. Not always a thinker.

Physical description

Soft red hair, beguiling eyes as green as the emerald isle itself, a warm skin tone, tall, willowy, and a hint of lilt in her voice.

Personality and role in the novel

Shrewd, stubborn, enticing, and sassy

Understanding the context of the 1920s—especially the role of women—is vital to understanding Maggie’s role in the story and analyzing her actions. First of all, even though women’s rights were expanding during the 1920s (spurred by the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920), the prevailing expectation was still that women, especially wealthy women, would get married and have children, and that was all. Because of the restrictions, Maggie pushes boundaries, sometimes daringly.

Maggie represents change—a burning desire for equality.

She is also the object that C.J. pursues, the person who has come to stand in for all his hopes, dreams, and ambitions. Because of this, Maggie can be tied to the American Dream—she is as alluring and ultimately as fickle and illusive as a dream.

Maggie’s voice is important. Throughout the novel, there is the suggestion that Maggie’s beautiful voice makes her both irresistible and dangerous, especially to men: Opera Directors, Joe Zelli, Maurice Ravel, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and C.J. Elliott all fall under her spell. There is an obvious connection late in the novel to the sirens in The Odyssey—the beautiful creatures who lure men in with their voices.

Maggie typifies a very showy lifestyle. She is a flapper and drinks alcohol.

While she’s not exactly a starry-eyed optimist, Maggie has resilience and an ability to start things over and move on.

Maggie is a pragmatic opportunist who sees possibilities everywhere. Despite occasionally coming across as cynical and sharp, she stays excited about life’s possibilities.

One last question I’m asked. “Is the Magnificent Maggie a romance novel?” No. It does not meet the tropes of a romance novel.

In my view, the story is a tragedy in that Maggie soars to great heights, but, like Zelda Fitzgerald, Clara Bow, and Louise Brooks, she is largely forgotten in the end.

So, there you have it.

The Muse

When creating a character, most writers, at least I suppose, most writers are under the influence of a muse. Sometimes it’s someone we know. F. Scott Fitzgerald's muses come to mind. Zelda (Mrs. Fitzgerald), Gerald and Sara Murphy had mixed emotions about being muses for his writing. Nicole and Dick Diver of Tender Is the Night by Fitzgerald are widely recognized as having been based on the Murphys. In an interview, Sara said she didn’t like it--being written about. Years later, in another interview, she said she liked it less.

Sara’s statements are why, as a rule, I don’t tell people they are a muse for one of my characters. There is no point in being more unpopular than I may already be.

My current work in progress, THE MAGNIFICENT MAGGIE, has a very definite muse for the character of Maggie. Clara Bow. Whether Clara, the IT Girl, would enjoy being the muse, I will never know. I do know I like Clara Bow.

Ever plucky, ever resourceful, Clara was a charmer. Armed with vivaciousness, sensuousness, and a touch of cunning tossed in, Clara Bow lit up a screen like no other actress in history. She was a flapper, a regular gal, and completely real to audiences.

Clara was and remains an enigma. According to Biography, “Her life was a tangled mass of quivering femininity, a depraved childhood, and Hollywood super-stardom. She seemed to dance her way through life (and into our hearts) as the carefree ‘IT’ girl and seemed surrounded in a posh future of Hollywood history and fulfilling marriage and motherhood. Yet, Clara died alone, much as she danced her way through life. Alone, with only the shadows to accompany her.”

With Clara Bow as my muse, I hope I have created a character in Maggie, as marvelous as the real “IT” girl. To paraphrase Emmylou Harris, I didn’t know Clara Bow or Zelda Fitzgerald, but we’re awful close.

Choosing The Roaring 20s as My Setting

Last week, someone asked me why I decided to write my new novel in the Roaring 20s. The answer is simple.

Zelda Fitzgerald, Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, Greta Garbo

I knew the 20s was a great decade, full of social and cultural change, the period of prohibition. It was also a period of economic and political change. More Americans lived in cities than on farms. The nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929.

The good times of the 1920s gave us Wonder Bread, Baby Ruth Candy Bars (not named after the Babe), Kool-Aid, jazz, flappers, and The Great Gatsby. Did you know Nick, Jay, and Daisy were first brought to the silver screen in 1926? Scott and Zelda hated it and walked out of the theater.

The decade gave new meaning to Trial of the Century. It had five of them in just the first half of the decade: Sacco & Vanzetti, Chicago Black Sox Scandal, Murder Trial of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Leopold & Loeb Trial, Scopes “Monkey Trial.

Despite Woodrow Wilson leaving the White House in 1921, the decade remained discriminatory for Blacks and women. Before the election of Wilson, Black Americans worked at all levels of the federal government. When Wilson took office, he mandated that the federal workforce be segregated by race—reducing Black civil service workers’ income, increasing the significant income gap between Black and white workers, and eroding some gains Black people had made following Reconstruction.

His racial segregation order came swiftly and suddenly, taking Black Americans by surprise. Wilson imposed segregation in his Cabinet departments and appointed Southern Democrats, who supported segregationist policies, to lead them.

Wilson’s order was overtly discriminatory, unlike the purported “separate but equal” policies of the Jim Crow era. He designed his segregation order to limit the access of Black civil servants to white-collar positions via demotions and failing to hire qualified Black candidates.

While Tennessee became the 36th State to ratify the 19th Amendment in August 1920, females were still far from equal. My original plan in The Magnificent Maggie was for Maggie to win a seat in the Boston Symphony as a cellist. Oops, females were not allowed in symphonies. That irked my sweet Maggie.

Requesting a passport in the 1920s was pretty straightforward—if you were a man. The flapper style dominated the 1920s, even though women in many parts of the country still faced stifling clothing restrictions. In Virginia, a legislative bill attempted to prohibit women from wearing evening gowns with more than three inches of their throat displayed. Utah legislators worked to fine women whose skirts were higher than three inches above the ankle.

Through 1922, thanks to the Expatriation Act, women who married non-citizens automatically lost their U.S. citizenship. Despite having the legal right to vote as of August 18, 1920, it would take decades for all women to vote, much less serve on a jury. Only 24 states permitted women to determine their peers’ innocence or guilt by the end of the Roaring Twenties.

The Roaring 20s was a great setting for a story. It was time to create a protagonist. In cooking up Maggie, I used a splash of Zelda Fitzgerald, a dash of Clara Bow, a pinch of Louise Brooks, and a spattering of Garbo. How could it go wrong?

Zelda, a pearl-twirling party southern belle turned jazz-age heroine, dubbed “the first American flapper” by her husband and partner-in-drink Scott, died at 47 after a fire broke out in the North Carolina sanatorium where she was a patient. Zelda and Scott proved the parties often don’t last.

Clara Bow, the “IT Girl,” whose eyes lit up a screen like no other, lifted herself out of depravity like no one else. Her best friend, a seven-year-old boy, died in her arms after being burned in a fire. As a teen, she would wake up with her mother holding a knife to her throat, promising to kill her. She made it on her own to being arguably Hollywood’s biggest star, receiving 45,000 fan letters a month and sending Henna sales through the roof.

Louise Brooks, Lulu, was beautiful, funny, and talented. Like Clara, she went from everyone knowing her name to, for many years, being forgotten. I love her attitude. What a great quote about dancing in the Ziegfeld Follies. “The rest of the girls wore smiles as fixed as their towering feather headdresses. I decided right then that onstage I would never smile unless I felt like it.”

With the help of Zelda and Clara, my heroine was born. Maggie is a modern woman battling a still restrictive environment. She’s confident, strong, striking, funny, and a champion of women’s issues. She’s also reckless, just like Zelda, Clara, and Louise.

Maggie needed a face that no one would forget. She needed to be wild like a prairie flower and burn her candle at both ends. She needed a hint of scandal and to live in an elegant facade covering a life that chews people up. The Roaring 20s were the perfect time for Maggie.

Why We Need Westerns

This country does not need a good five-cent cigar. It needs good Western novels. Don’t believe me? Read Lonesome Dove. It may well be the great American Novel.

There are those who think the Western has gone out of style. They are wrong. The Western may rise and dip in popularity, but it will never disappear. The Western is America, perhaps more American than any other literary genre.

I love writing in the setting of the Old West. Writers like Louis L’Amour presented one version of the West, steeped in the myth of their own times. As I believe others in the genre now do, I try to present a different version – more pervasive and character-driven. I rarely write heroes, probably never. My characters are all flawed. They may do something heroic, but they are not Hoppy, Gene, or Roy. They also do things that may be selfish, weak, or almost cruel. When they fight, they fight to win; fighting fair may not enter into things.

I believe a good novel is based on the relationships of the characters. Time periods are sort of irrelevant. Think about Gus and Lorie, Gus and Woodrow, Dish and Laurie, Gus and Clara, Woodrow and Clara, Woodrow and Newt (of course, I go to Lonesome Dove first). But there are also Scarlett and Rhett, Peeta and Katnis, Gatsby and Daisy, Huck and Jim, Scout and Atticus, Henry and Claire. Well, you get the idea. Great characters and relationships make excellent writing.

I believe there is also an emergence of a historically underrepresented character in nineteenth-century historical fiction, the female. Nothing improves a Western like a strong female character. No more damsels in distress. I write about females with problems and troubles, but never weak, helpless ones crying into their hankies.

Isn’t a good story a good story regardless of the period?

Next time, I will write about writing HARD GOODBYES – about what motivated it, how characters sometimes change from what I intended them to be, take control of their own personalities, and things that were cut from the first drafts or added.
Talk Later.

I Will Miss Them . . .

A few months ago, Larry McMurtry passed away. From HORSEMEN PASS BY to THE LAST PICTURE SHOW to LONESOME DOVE, Larry McMurtry influenced me to write. To me, LONESOME DOVE is The Great American Novel. Gus, Woodrow, and Lorena are among my closest friends.

Three days ago, we lost someone else. Not a writer of novels, but a singer and songwriter. I will miss Nanci Griffith’s music. She wrote music that was literary. She wrote and sang of small towns and big cities. Sad and happy at the same time, her words and music made life slow down. Her songs made me smile, sometimes a little melancholy, and sometimes she made me laugh. Especially when she told me how all Woolworth Stores smelled the same – like popcorn and chewing gum rolled around on the bottom of a leather-soled shoe, or when she admitted that New York City brought out the stupids in her. We’d all have been fortunate if we could have had Mary Margaret as our best friend. The next time you want to feel warm inside, find a quiet place where you can connect to the internet. RIP Nanci