When I
started writing, I didn’t want to include diaries in my stories about old
crimes. It seemed too cliché to use them. Instead, I used things like old
letters, photographs and word-of-mouth. I have those things. My grandmother was
a pen pal to a few soldiers during World War I. She kept all the letters. She
also left me a huge trunk filled with old photographs. We had several
conversations about what things were like for her as a child and the things
that changed her life. When she was fourteen or fifteen, she was in an
industrial accident and lost her arm below the elbow. That was definitely
life-changing, but she dealt with it. The letters and our conversations were
quite revealing. We talked about what things were like in Old Los Angeles. I
won’t bore you with more, but you get the idea.
I figured I
could get by without the use of diaries and journals for information in my
mysteries.
How wrong I
was. Well, using things other than diaries was fine, but diaries were a large
part of people’s lives. They chronicled what was going on, even if it was
simply to write about what they had for dinner on a particular night. In among
the references to meatloaf, there are often little jewels of knowledge. There
are insights into what life was like during certain periods of time. They’re
also a good way to learn the slang used at the time the diary was written.
I’m not sure
if diaries are used as often today as they used to be. With the Internet, I
guess people use other means for keeping track of their lives. If we were to
suddenly lose the use of the Internet, a lot of memories would be lost forever.
The written word will last forever, assuming the diaries aren’t thrown away
like mine were. Mine were just too corny to live.
Diaries and
journals have existed in one form or another all through history. Think Dead
Sea Scrolls. They’ve chronicled ocean voyages, trips across the country in
wagons, people’s reactions to historic events, and some have even been known to
hold deep, dark secrets.
So was I a
diary snob? I guess I was. What brought me out of this was my cousin finding
many diaries that one of my grandmother’s had kept. Many years ago I found one
lonely little diary that my other grandmother wrote in, and one that my mother
had kept her thoughts in when she was a teenager.
Now I’m
working on Gin Mill Grill and I’ve introduced some old diaries. Since this
story is based on a crime from the 1930s that needs to be solved today, and
most of the characters are either dead or very, very old now, the diaries may
be invaluable. Honestly? I haven’t decided just how they’ll play into the
story, but in one way or another they will have a part.
I’ve
mentioned this before, but one of my own personal mysteries is a photo I found
in that big trunk I mentioned. In among the old family photos dating back into
the 1800s, I found a picture of a firing squad doing what they do. You can even
see smoke coming out of the rifles. This is not a photo you’d expect to find
with pictures of great-great-great-grandma. I sent it to a Naval historian who
had a few ideas, but I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure what was going on.
My grandfather (much older than my grandmother), was in the Navy from
1904-1907. I have a photo album with pictures he took around the world, and the
firing squad photo looks very similar to the quality and type of pictures he
took. I wish he’d kept a diary.
So, while I
started out with letters, photos and word-of-mouth (meaning memories), I’ve now
added diaries and journals.
Is there
something that you think is too cliché? Are you a snob about something used in
mysteries? As for me, I need to keep an open mind.
Until next
time, read some of those old diaries stashed away in boxes in the attic or
garage. You just mind find something interesting.
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