What was the most fun scene you ever wrote?
by Rebecca Cantrell
Most scenesâwith the exception of those that are frightening or that reflect some horrible historical eventâare fun to write. I love putting my characters in a tight spot and watching them get out of it. I relish describing a place that hasnât existed for seventy years until I can feel it and see it and smell it and hear it. I enjoy tearing through complex action scenes and the questions I need to answer (how far off the ground is a zeppelinâs gondola windows when it docks?). But mostly I love witty dialogue and the unexpected. Since the Hannah Vogel books are set just before and during the Nazisâ rise to power, they are not filled with laugh a minute gags, but some of the characters continue to be funny even in the darkest of moments.
In A Trace of Smoke my favorite bits were when Hannah was thinking about her brother. He was a funny guy. When I took him out of the book, I gave some of his best lines to other characters just so readers could get a feel for a man who was brave enough to walk the late night streets of Berlin with nothing but a red silk dress, wit, and bravado. Hannah has some of that famous Berlin sarcasm herself, and she seems intent on getting funnier in each book.
In A Night of Long Knives some of the funniest lines went to British spy Sefton Delmer, who was based on a pretty darn witty historical character. He had unflappable British cool down pat, but Hannah holds her own. I just finished A Game of Lies and Hannahâs funniest moments are when I got her stoned on opium (it was prescribed as a painkiller, just to keep her reputation clear). In her normal state she would never dance around a restaurant to imaginary music, flirt with the croupier, hike up her dress to show off her bruise, orâŠwell, I canât say, but man was I surprised.
And surprises are good. Surprises and fun enrich reading, writing, and life.
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