Colorful construction paper and black markers kept me straight
My granddaughter peeks out at me through protective bars on a playground in Flagstaff, Arizona. We have only a partial view of her.
It’s a little metaphor for this essay about writing a chapter in my book when four characters clash in a meetup.
Two of the people are highly regarded, successful Parisian art dealers, one is Jo van Gogh (my main character), and the last is her brother, Dries (short for Andries). My book, Saving Vincent, is based on the true story of how Jo saved Vincent’s paintings and Vincent’s legacy from being lost. This chapter is still relatively early in the book.
Jo’s called the meeting and travelled to Paris to confront the art dealers over pricing shenanigans when selling her brother-in-law Vincent van Gogh’s work. Limp-noodle brother Dries is supposed to be her backup.
The confrontation is important. It sets up a no-win crucible for Jo where she’ll be forced to make a costly choice.
The Craft of Prepping for Conflict
To write this scene, I take out several thick sheets of blue construction paper and on each one draw three vertical lines with a fat black marker, creating four columns. (Why blue? It’s my favorite color.)
Across the top I write each character’s name: Jo, Dries, Raulf (her fictitious antagonist*) and Ambroise Vollard who was an influential art dealer. (*Readers of this newsletter will recall that I created Raulf as an aggregate of the art-world opposition Jo faced.)
On a separate bright yellow (cheerful!) sheet of paper I jot down reminders of what each person believes and wants. This will serve as a way to keep myself grounded in each character’s point of view.
Jo believes Vincent’s art is valuable and is optimistic that the art dealers will collaborate since there’s interest in Vincent’s work in the Paris market. Remember Vincent was pretty much an unknown at the time, although she has created a lot of curiosity about him through the press.
Raulf believes Jo is an irritant because she’s disregarded his past advice and ignored his objections to Vincent’s art. Plus, he’s discovered a personal reason to hate Vincent. He believes Jo tricked him into helping her earlier and he doesn’t want Vollard to know this.
Dries is a whus and would like to support his sister but, in the end, knows he can’t stand up to bullies. He desperately hopes to survive the meeting unscathed.
Meanwhile, Ambroise Vollard has proven to be an astute competitor in Paris’ cut-throat art-dealing world and has an eye for art as well as emerging trends. Vincent’s work has begun to sell, but Jo made a mistake earlier by missing an important shipment of paintings. No reason for him to treat Jo seriously.
With the yellow grounding sheet in my left hand, I pick up a thin black marker in my right. My goal is to record how each character reacts to one other by writing dialogue charged with what each individual believes and wants on the blue sheet.
On more thing before I begin though: In addition to what each one wants, I bear in mind social expectations, relationships and turf. The art dealers are in an art gallery—their domain. While in alliance here, they are competitors. As a Dutchman in Paris, Dries is used to being “othered” and to keep his head down. He doesn’t know the art world and doesn’t want to be there.
That leaves Jo. Remember women don’t belong in commerce. It’s believed that women’s roles in society are to be second citizens, marry and bear children, do charitable works. Jo being a widow is no advantage. Attitudinally, women are believed to be weak, too sensitive, etc.—no threat.
And it isn’t that Jo doesn’t know about these attitudes, but she feels she has more in common with these guys than they realize. She is hellbent on protecting pricing for Vincent’s artwork, and deeply believes in the inherent value of Vincent’s art. These guys love art too and now that they’re noticing Vincent, Jo is confident the pricing snafus are all a misunderstanding. She’s prepared! In fact, she’s practiced a little collaborative speech to give them on the long train ride from Amsterdam to Paris.
The Scene Revs Up
And so I begin to pace. Jo and Dries enter the gallery. Jo’s surprised to see Raulf, (she’d sent a request to meet only to Vollard). Already outnumbered. I note her flutter of caution. The men perfunctorily bend over Jo’s hand, but grip Dries’ palm in sharp handshakes. Ask him a question. He stumbles.
As I jot down a character’s line, I record the reactions/responses from the other three. The first blue construction paper sheet fills up quickly with scribbly horizontal notes line by line. Jo intervenes—Vollard cuts her off, attacks Dries. He stutters. Jo interrupts, Raulf deflects. Vollard swings at Dries. Raulf doubles down. Jo butts in! Dries folds. Jo objects! Vollard attacks! Jo retorts!
This is very fun.
But it’s complex, for no character knows what the other is thinking. Each has only a partial view.
Each time before beginning a new line, I glance at the yellow sheet, checking in with what each character believes and wants before jotting her/his reaction/response. I pace the floor. It’s difficult to hold four people in mind in the same scene. I lean over the desk. Scribble, strike out, scribble again. Pace again. The characters take over. Shoving, pushing, defending, ignoring, insisting.
I scrawl, scrabbling to keep up.
It’s the author craziness when characters take on lives of their own, elbowing and clawing to get their words on the page.
My favorite line comes after Raulf incredulously claims Jo wants the high-brow Vollard to be Vincent’s sponsor, a coveted role for both art dealer and artist in which an art dealer chooses to take the risk/reward position to be primary backer of an artist’s work. (Famously, the art dealer Paul Durant-Ruel made a lot of money sponsoring Claude Monet before Monet became famous. Because of Ruel, Monet was one of the few Impressionist painters to become wealthy in his own lifetime.)
Jo’s response to Raul’s accusation will pivot the scene:
“No,” Jo shook her head. A part of her noted with satisfaction that finally both men were speaking to her. Dries had taken a half step back. “I own the bulk of Vincent’s considerable work. The point is that I am his sponsor.”Vollard and Raulf burst into laughter.
Ah, you know it. Things go downhill from there, until Jo’s pushed too far.
By the end of drafting this crucial chapter I have filled pages of scribbled phrases, rejoinders, actions, pleas. I will need to decipher and type them into the manuscript.
Eventually, tighten the draft in revision. But first, I flop into my desk chair.
It’s fiction, but I’m exhausted.
I danced the knife’s edge with each character, especially Jo. And it all came from what the characters had chosen to believe, and then how they chose to react to stimulus from each other, whether body language, or a feeling or words.
Phew!
No wonder I’m sweaty.
The Parallel between Fiction and Reality
Fast forward to today, a good couple of years since I first drafted that chapter. It’s come to mind because Election Day is November 5, the day this newsletter is posting.
What’s at stake isn’t four characters doing a meetup, but about 161 million of us registered voters with diverse beliefs and desires who will make choices that shape the future.
It’s powerful: Individual choice.
It's important: Understanding different perspectives exist for we each can only ever have a partial view.
Long ago, I crafted a belief statement about my author world:
In everything I do I believe in pushing the edges of limitation. In everything I do I believe in connection.
I can’t read tea leaves like I did as author of my book, but I can send an intention into the universe for hope that our civilization chooses to honor individual choice, to respect that we live in community with each other and hopefully to realize that it’s our joint efforts that will bring about progress toward greater freedoms and understanding.
I’ll admit it. I’m partial to that.
Warmly,
P.S. My book, Saving Vincent, A Novel of Jo van Gogh, will publish in April 2025. To preorder through the bookseller of your choice, please click here.
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