Danny January: Blog

I just watched the first of 6 episodes of Rucker's Reno. Reno as in renovation. Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish fame, is a native Charlestonian. He bought an old mansion on Broad St. on the peninsula, and renovated it. The whole thing was filmed and you can watch it on Freeze - Amazon Prime. There's a lot of Charleston history and scenery so for those of you that like the locale in Feasting and Summertime, here's a chance to get an inside look at the town by one of its most famous. What could be more Charleston than Darius Rucker eating Shrimp and Grits in his newly remodeled kitchen? Nothing.

I just returned from my first horseback safari since I started writing Feasting With a Silver Spoon.
First of all, September is a great time for good riding and great animal viewing. I highly recommend it and if you're interested, I'll pass on tips.
Guides and interns on this trip were from Capetown, Johannesburg, and the UK. Guests were from the UK, Belgium, France, the US, and Germany. What a variety of dialects.
We had a discussion about it one afternoon after our second ride of the day. Tennis shoes in the US, Trainers in the UK, Tackies in South Africa, and Runners in Canada. Same shoes - just different names. Anyone have any other fun examples of this?

As I write about Aquaman's junior year, I realize how limited my writing ability is. It's very difficult for me to capture various dialects and accents. I tried with Timex. It was very difficult and I think I did a terrible job but he was so unique, I had to give it a shot.

Writing Summertime, I tried to convey how much conversation that summer was in Spanish without bogging things down for the reader. Some of the people in the narrative had wonderful, unique accents that I simply can't capture.

Dane is a Yankee and so are a couple of other characters you haven't met yet. They talk fast, leave off word endings, leave the 'R' off lots of words and add it to other words. I don't like the accent but I can tolerate it. On the other hand, Doctors Calhoun and Legare both have wonderful, rich southern accents that sound so natural to me. I wish I could convey them to you but it's next to impossible.

I'm in awe of Mark Twain, who did an amazing job of capturing the subtle differences in dialect as Huck Finn traveled down the Big Muddy. I wish I had that gift.

I don't. Sorry.

This summer, we'll be returning to Africa for a horseback safari and taking some new folks for the first time. They are proficient riders and excited about the trip but concerned about all the wild critters. I doubt that I'll get that far into this story but their feelings about it mirrored mine before I went for the first time. I'm curious if any of my readers have gone on a vacation like this or what your thoughts are.

Many of my stories are based on real people and real events. Sometimes I’ve embellished and sometimes I’ve embellished a great deal. Every now and then I have someone ask about a particular character in my stories.

No one has elicited more questions than Elsa (from Maja’s Mom). I never met the real-life Maja. It’s an as-told-by story that I chose to write in the first person. I’ve asked some of the same questions. My friend tells me that Maja is a wonderful person and an amazing mom. He also said her ex husband was abusive and he’s either still in prison or on parole and we don’t know which. Elsa sold her home and cut ties with everyone she knew in the Charleston area. We’re speculating that it is a fear-based issue. People (women, in most cases) who have suffered from physical abuse and survived, don’t always do what you or I would consider rationale. Instead, they are operating in survival mode. In this case, that fear is likely compounded by her concern for her daughter. Recently, my friend found her with the help of a private investigator. They’ve been in contact and he is balancing respecting her privacy and pursuing a relationship. I’ve asked him about it – if it was worth it. He assures me it is. I haven’t pushed him for any more than that.
Perhaps, one day, I'll have the opportunity to write a happy sequel.