{"id":8094,"date":"2018-05-05T18:08:42","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T18:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=8094"},"modified":"2018-05-05T18:08:42","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T18:08:42","slug":"backstory-the-story-behind-the-second-dakota-stevens-mystery-the-rich-are-different-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/backstory-the-story-behind-the-second-dakota-stevens-mystery-the-rich-are-different-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Backstory: The Story Behind the Second Dakota Stevens mystery, The Rich Are Different \u2014 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, in Part 1 of the sto\u00adry behind The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, I described my expe\u00adri\u00adences dur\u00ading 9\/11 in Man\u00adhat\u00adtan and the months fol\u00adlow\u00ading, and how they pushed me to quit my cor\u00adpo\u00adrate job and focus on being a nov\u00adel\u00adist full-time.<\/p>\n

Now, in Part 2, I\u2019m going to describe the devel\u00adop\u00adment of the nov\u00adel that rose from the ash\u00ades of 9\/11: The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Mutant Alien Version of The Rich Are Different<\/em><\/h2>\n

The nov\u00adel I wrote on my IBM Selec\u00adtric at the White Plains Mer\u00adrill Lynch office, and in long\u00adhand on the train to and from the office, was about Mon\u00adtana.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ever since I was a boy, I had want\u00aded to go to Mon\u00adtana and see Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone Nation\u00adal Park, the Nation\u00adal Bison Range, and Glac\u00adi\u00ader Nation\u00adal Park. I\u2019d been a Boy Scout in my youth and I missed the out\u00addoors. Plain and sim\u00adple, I was sick of New York City and need\u00aded the kind of restora\u00adtion that only grand, mag\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcent open spaces could give me, spaces like Montana\u2014\u201cBig Sky Coun\u00adtry.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I wrote a nov\u00adel about a painter, an artist from New York City, who goes to Mon\u00adtana after 9\/11 to restore his artis\u00adtic soul. While there, he meets a beau\u00adti\u00adful woman park ranger. The two fall in love; she vis\u00adits him in Man\u00adhat\u00adtan, decides there\u2019s no way she\u2019s mov\u00ading there<\/em>; and so he aban\u00addons his life in New York to join her in the wilds of Mon\u00adtana. How\u00adev\u00ader, as he\u2019s dri\u00adving across the coun\u00adtry with all of his pos\u00adses\u00adsions and his dog, he finds out there\u2019s a mas\u00adsive for\u00adest fire in the park where the woman is a ranger, and soon there\u00adafter her remote sta\u00adtion is dis\u00adcov\u00adered in ash\u00ades.<\/p>\n

The End.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Now, why did I go into all of that detail last week about the months pre\u00adced\u00ading the writ\u00ading of The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, and why did I describe the plot of the novel\u2019s first draft? Because I want you to see that nov\u00adel-writ\u00ading is messy; that we nov\u00adel\u00adists, even if we have a sem\u00adblance of an out\u00adline to fol\u00adlow, usu\u00adal\u00adly don\u2019t know exact\u00adly where we\u2019re going with a sto\u00adry. The most impor\u00adtant thing about the first draft of a nov\u00adel is not that it\u2019s per\u00adfect, but that it gets writ\u00adten.<\/p>\n

One of the most apt metaphors for nov\u00adel-writ\u00ading was giv\u00aden by nov\u00adel\u00adist E.L. Doc\u00adtorow, who said that writ\u00ading a nov\u00adel was like dri\u00adving a car across the coun\u00adtry, but only trav\u00adel\u00ading at night: You can only see as far as your head\u00adlights, but you can make the entire trip that way. Based on what I\u2019ve learned about this work, I would add the fol\u00adlow\u00ading to his metaphor: You sim\u00adply have to have faith<\/em> that, if you keep putting one sen\u00adtence after anoth\u00ader, you\u2019ll even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly reach your des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion: a fin\u00adished draft of a nov\u00adel.<\/p>\n

I spoke of the months pre\u00adced\u00ading the writ\u00ading of The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, and then I men\u00adtioned the writ\u00ading of the Mon\u00adtana nov\u00adel, because I want\u00aded you to see that the final Dako\u00adta Stevens mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel result\u00aded from an iter\u00ada\u00adtive process.<\/p>\n

In one of my favorite movies, Aliens<\/em> direct\u00aded by James Cameron, there\u2019s a scene in which Ellen Rip\u00adley and the sur\u00adviv\u00ading Colo\u00adnial Marines find a lab with dozens of mutat\u00aded aliens in glass tanks.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the corol\u00adlary when it comes to writ\u00ading: For every shiny, riv\u00adet\u00ading, smooth-read\u00ading, page-turn\u00ading, fin\u00adished nov\u00adel that read\u00aders buy and enjoy, the nov\u00adel\u00adist like\u00adly pro\u00adduces five or six of those mutant aliens that will be for\u00adev\u00ader trapped behind glass.<\/p>\n

A Boyhood Dream Fulfilled: Montana & Yellowstone<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So, I wrote what I referred to as my \u201cMon\u00adtana nov\u00adel.\u201d Then, for most of May 2002, I went out to Mon\u00adtana, rent\u00aded a car and drove 3,000 miles\u2014all through Mon\u00adtana, see\u00ading Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone, Glac\u00adi\u00ader and the Nation\u00adal Bison Range; and through Wyoming and Ida\u00adho. I camped out, hiked, and, in the evenings, bought drinks for the natives at what\u00adev\u00ader remote road\u00adhouse I end\u00aded up.<\/p>\n

One night, in a dive out\u00adside of Vir\u00adginia City, Mon\u00adtana, I met a group of Native Amer\u00adi\u00adcans. It turned out they were ranch hands, most of them, and I asked them how the then-recent rein\u00adtro\u00adduc\u00adtion of wolves to Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone had affect\u00aded ranch\u00ades in the area.<\/p>\n

The leader of the group, a clas\u00adsi\u00adcal\u00adly good-look\u00ading Native Amer\u00adi\u00adcan with long, shim\u00admer\u00ading dark hair, turned to me in his barstool and said, \u201cWolves don\u2019t both\u00ader us none. See, \u2019round here, we got the three S\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThree S\u2019s?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShoot, shov\u00adel and shut up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\nI laughed, and all his bud\u00addies laughed, and I bought them anoth\u00ader round. In fact, I bought those guys so many rounds of drinks that they promised if I stuck around, the next evening they\u2019d induct me into their tribe and give me an Indi\u00adan name. Alas, I had reser\u00adva\u00adtions at Old Faith\u00adful Inn in Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone the next after\u00adnoon, so I had to leave that night, but I always won\u00addered what name they might have giv\u00aden me.<\/p>\n

This expe\u00adri\u00adence with the Native Amer\u00adi\u00adcans made a deep impres\u00adsion on me, and a cou\u00adple of years lat\u00ader, when I trans\u00adformed the Mon\u00adtana nov\u00adel into what became the mys\u00adtery The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, I made a neigh\u00adbor\u00ading Indi\u00adan tribe one of the groups of sus\u00adpects.<\/p>\n

After leav\u00ading Vir\u00adginia City, I went to Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone and stayed there for a week, in the hotels or at camp\u00adgrounds. Lat\u00ader on, when I wrote the mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel, I had Dako\u00adta and Svet\u00adlana fol\u00adlow one of the sus\u00adpects (beau\u00adti\u00adful blonde Heather Van Every, my homage to Han\u00adna Van Hast\u00adings) to Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone, where they stayed at the Old Faith\u00adful Inn. My descrip\u00adtions in The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> of the Old Faith\u00adful geyser, the inn inte\u00adri\u00ador, the herd of elk on the grass in front of the park admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion build\u00ading, the sleepy town of Gar\u00addiner, Mon\u00adtana bor\u00adder\u00ading the north side of the park\u2014all of it came from that vis\u00adit to Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone.<\/p>\n

<\/a>But even before I got to Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone, I had been mus\u00ading about the mak\u00adings of a mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel while tour\u00ading ghost towns through\u00adout Mon\u00adtana. And the sec\u00adond I walked down the main drag of one of them\u2014Bannack, Mon\u00adtana, once a pros\u00adper\u00adous sil\u00adver town\u2014and I saw the old saloon, the jail, the hotel, sev\u00ader\u00adal store\u00adfronts and, up on a hill over\u00adlook\u00ading the town, a gal\u00adlows and a boot hill grave\u00adyard, I asked myself, \u201cWhat if some eccen\u00adtric rich per\u00adson cre\u00adat\u00aded a mock Old West town, pop\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded it with actors, and peo\u00adple could go there for vaca\u00adtions to escape the rig\u00adors of mod\u00adern life? What if the place had its own rail\u00adroad, and it was a time por\u00adtal back into 1885? What if there was no elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty, one tele\u00adphone, et cetera? And what if the rich own\u00ader of the place died under mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous cir\u00adcum\u00adstances and a pri\u00advate detec\u00adtive from the East was called in to inves\u00adti\u00adgate?\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point I didn\u2019t know that I would start writ\u00ading a mys\u00adtery series. I didn\u2019t even have a name for my would-be detec\u00adtive. All I had were some inter\u00adest\u00ading set\u00adtings for a mys\u00adtery.<\/p>\n

Gatsby Meets \u201cThe Man with No Name\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When I returned to New York, I typed up my hours of audio notes dic\u00adtat\u00aded to tape recorder while dri\u00adving through Mon\u00adtana, and then I for\u00adgot about the idea for over a year.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of my sev\u00ader\u00adance agree\u00adment, I was con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00ading to receive my full salary for a year (along with unem\u00adploy\u00adment insur\u00adance; Lou, him\u00adself recent\u00adly lib\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded from Mer\u00adrill, referred to this state of finan\u00adcial grace as \u201cthe dou\u00adble-dip\u201d).<\/p>\n

But I wasn\u2019t ready to be a full-time nov\u00adel\u00adist every day, all day long\u2014yet. I took a job as an adjunct lec\u00adtur\u00ader at Baruch Col\u00adlege, teach\u00ading Fresh\u00adman Com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion, Intro\u00adduc\u00adtion to Lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture and Busi\u00adness Writ\u00ading cours\u00ades. I had dis\u00adcov\u00adered what I called \u201cYeti\u201d because its rar\u00adi\u00adty had made oth\u00aders ques\u00adtion its very existence\u2014the elu\u00adsive \u201ctriple-dip\u201d: full salary from old job, unem\u00adploy\u00adment insur\u00adance, and some income from a part-time job.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the back\u00adsto\u00adry behind the first nov\u00adel in the Dako\u00adta series, A Real Piece of Work<\/em> (ARPoW<\/em>), and how I began writ\u00ading that book ear\u00adly in 2003. Well, by the sum\u00admer of 2003, fin\u00adished with the first draft of ARPoW<\/em>, I pulled out the old \u201cMon\u00adtana nov\u00adel\u201d and my Mon\u00adtana trip notes and launched imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly into the nov\u00adel that became The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ear\u00adly on in the writ\u00ading of it, I decid\u00aded I want\u00aded to pay homage to two works I deeply admired: movie West\u00aderns, of which I was an avid afi\u00adciona\u00addo, and F. Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s mas\u00adter\u00adpiece The Great Gats\u00adby<\/em>. I want\u00aded the first part of the nov\u00adel to evoke Gats\u00adby<\/em>, with its Long Island North Shore locales and its refined, ele\u00adgant sen\u00adtences; and I want\u00aded the sec\u00adond half of the nov\u00adel, which took place large\u00adly in Mon\u00adtana, to evoke clas\u00adsic west\u00aderns I admired.<\/p>\n

I con\u00adstruct\u00aded the case such that Dako\u00adta and Svet\u00adlana are hired by the sis\u00adter of the killed resort own\u00ader, and they even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly have to go under\u00adcov\u00ader in the mock Old West town.<\/p>\n

A bit of Han\u00adna Van Hast\u00adings lives on in the book, through the attrac\u00adtive blonde sus\u00adpect Heather Van Every. The Native Amer\u00adi\u00adcans I drank with in Mon\u00adtana appear as sus\u00adpects, too. The Mon\u00adtana set\u00adting plays a major role in the nov\u00adel, and I was pleased to hear from a cou\u00adple Dako\u00adta readers\u2014Montana natives\u2014a few years ago, who told me I\u2019d per\u00adfect\u00adly cap\u00adtured the Mon\u00adtana zeit\u00adgeist. I was con\u00adfi\u00addent I had, but ever since I was a news\u00adpa\u00adper reporter, I\u2019ve prid\u00aded myself on \u201cget\u00adting it right\u201d: mak\u00ading read\u00aders with inside knowl\u00adedge of a place or a pro\u00adfes\u00adsion nod and smile to them\u00adselves in the mid\u00addle of read\u00ading.<\/p>\n

The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> is, in my opin\u00adion, a much more intri\u00adcate work than the first nov\u00adel in the series, A Real Piece of Work<\/em>. The way I\u2019ve described the dif\u00adfer\u00adence between the two books to read\u00aders and aspir\u00ading mys\u00adtery writ\u00aders is this: In ARPoW<\/em>, Dako\u00adta and Svet\u00adlana fol\u00adlow a trail of bread crumbs through a per\u00adilous, enchant\u00aded for\u00adest; in TRAD<\/em>, they have to nav\u00adi\u00adgate an intri\u00adcate 3D spi\u00adder web.<\/p>\n

Well, that con\u00adcludes the back\u00adsto\u00adry of The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And in a few weeks, I\u2019ll write about the back\u00adsto\u00adry of the longest Dako\u00adta mys\u00adtery thus far, A Truth Stranger Than Fic\u00adtion<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, in Part 1 of the sto\u00adry behind The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent, I described my expe\u00adri\u00adences dur\u00ading 9\/11 in Man\u00adhat\u00adtan and the months fol\u00adlow\u00ading, and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,145,3,4,19,29,459,36,77,7,76,68,11,12,32,13,14,233],"tags":[242,124,120,467,94,462,98,99,131,123,464,460,133,134,96,95,155,156,150,461,243,463,456,465,466],"class_list":["post-8094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-real-piece-of-work","category-a-truth-stranger-than-fiction","category-craft","category-favebooks","category-fiction","category-film-tv","category-montana","category-mystery-writing","category-novels","category-personal","category-process","category-rewriting","category-dakota-stevens-mysteries-series","category-the-rich-are-different","category-travel","category-writers","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","tag-a-real-piece-of-work","tag-amazon","tag-authors","tag-bison","tag-chris-orcutt","tag-clint-eastwood","tag-dakota-stevens","tag-dakota-stevens-mystery-series","tag-fiction-2","tag-fitzgerald","tag-idaho","tag-montana","tag-mysteries","tag-mystery","tag-novelist","tag-novels-2","tag-orcutt","tag-process","tag-svetlana-krush","tag-the-great-gatsby","tag-the-rich-are-different","tag-the-west","tag-westerns","tag-yellowstone","tag-yellowstone-national-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8094"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8117,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8094\/revisions\/8117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}