Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Now You're There - In the middle!

Song number seven from Rockin' the Afterlife is up now. Actually, it was up yesterday, but I forgot to mention it. Don't know if anyone believes in the afterlife or in reincarnation, but that is the theme of the album. Still working on getting the soundtrack put into the blog. I would love for anyone who wants to hear it to be able to hear it. It's in the future.

And that title, (Now You're There) is applicable to where I am when it comes to writing my novel, I'm at that sticky stage. Yeah, I'm still coming to terms with the new stuff I put in that wasn't in the outline. The funny thing is I didn't have this problem for either of my first two novels. I was able to start and zip on through to the end. Again, one was not outlined and one was. I felt that with the outline, I would have a concrete blueprint to follow, and it worked like that with THE VASE. I followed the outline from start to finish. Sure I put a couple new things in that weren't on the original outline, but it didn't change the course of the story. That's what happened this time. The course of my story has changed, and I can't adhere to the outline...well, I'm trying to. I'm trying to make it work. I talked about it yesterday. I said you just got to try harder.

Here's where my snag is. The climax of the story is supposed to take place in a large biochemical laboratory. (As it did in the first book.) But I have to get all the key character over there to make it happen. Trouble is the lab is in Minnesota. The key characters are in New York and San Francisco. And I have so many characters, I feel like I'm swimming in characters...drowning even.

So each character has got to have a good reason, a believable reason, to go to that lab in Minnesota. Every time I think I have the answer, I think of something that makes it not so believable. But the thinking cap is still on. I am committed to this story. It is, after all, my favorite character. And I do have the ending down, although not on paper yet. I may write it sooner than later if I can't unsnag this middle.

2 comments:

  1. I don't outline because it spoils the fun for me. But when the ending came to me, at about midpoint in the novel, I wrote it. It may change again yet but it gives me someplace to go.

    So, sure go ahead and write it, it might just help you in your dilemma. You know how once you write down your ideas they expand. Good luck with it:)

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  2. Thanks. Great to hear suggestions from other writers. I'm hashing out the build up to the climax now. I am wary of forcing it. Twice, already, I've deleted segments that I felt didn't work. And good luck with Gardner West! Sounds terrific.

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