The Wait Is Almost Over Escape From The Inferno

There are times when as a parent and a teacher and a coach it is difficult to know with whom you spend more time, your child or those of countless others in the community. Ask a question of Billie in his Literature of the Western World class what’s Mr. Carbee’s favorite work and it’s likely that the answer would be forthcoming without hesitation. Most would opt for the Inferno, Dante Alighieri’s famous work from the early Renaissance in which he portrays his voyage down through the circles of Hell searching for truth and ultimately goodness. It has been translated from Italian by scholars and for centuries the experts have analyzed its many passages searching for nuances never before unearthed. Ask Christopher the same question and he would most likely answer Sports Illustrated.

When I began writing my first novel, there was no question in my mind what would be the universal theme. Few humans would fail to see life metaphorically as a voyage of enlightenment where experiences both good and bad shaped what we become and ultimately who we are. Dante loved Florence, Italy, served it proudly in the military and on the governing council, but ended up on the wrong end of the stick in a civil war and was exiled. Return and he would be burned alive.

That was the starting point but it would have been a damn short novel. I needed a main character with whom my readers could identify and I needed a back story which would lead him to undertake (at my age ‘undertake’ is a hard word to use) a voyage of enlightenment. That would be the situation around which the subplots would intersect and the characters would encounter situations which would lead them to discover important lessons.

Some authors spend months developing a detailed outline of crises, characters and solutions to those character’s crises. I can’t write that way. If I tried I would never write and no one wants to wade through a thirty page outline. My method works for me. Start with a basic premise, a main character, a central conflict and an ending in mind. As I look back, I could not have imagined the twists and turns of the plot, the development of the characters, the settings and choreographing of the climactic scenes. In writing Escape from the Inferno several times I took the plot to the edge of extinction only to be bailed out by a revelation. The same thing has happened with several characters who started out only to serve a short lived plot advancement and ended up being a central character. A good example of that is Senora Neri, who started out as the landlady and ended up being one of my favorite characters. The mafia were never intended to be anything but a brief reference but drove the plot throughout much of the second novel.

I was determined to use the catacombs of Paris as the background for the final scene after I could think of no logical way to bring my story back to the Twin Cities. However, the fact that my villain was being sought by every level of law enforcement in Europe left me with no way to bring him together with my hero in Paris. Enter the grocery delivery boy and bingo the solution surfaced.

My main character is not James Bond or Jack Reacher. He isn’t able to leap tall buildings with a single bound or drive the Batmobile through Gotham. He isn’t an expert on Dante, like Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s novels, only an enthusiast. He doesn’t perform the heroic, life-saving act at the end, someone else who has greater motivation than he is the one stepping up.

I love my characters and I’ve been tinkering with ideas that could bring them together again. However, for now my energies are directed to finishing my third novel, a Second World War story based loosely on events surrounding the death of American Paul Swank, a Lieutenant in the United States Army who was killed near Alet les Bains. The main plot has been resolved but there are several subplots that deserve closure and so I have but a few chapters remaining.

When I began writing twelve years ago I had no goals in mind. It was like the marathon I ran…finishing was the only accomplishment I envisioned. Now that I have completed works and most readers have enjoyed my contributions to literature, I would not mind making a buck or even a euro or two. To that end I have employed a couple of professionals to guide me where I am clueless, in marketing my books and in making them more professionally presented.

Chuck Burns, who played on one of my first basketball teams paid me a great compliment. “I always knew that you were a good coach, but I think you are a better writer. I can’t wait for the next novel.” Well, Chuck, that novel is almost here.