Suspension of disbelief
As I continue to write book 4 in the Portia Adams Adventures I find myself once again walking that line of believability. You know that line right? You’ve seen what happens when a writer crosses it – when you as a loyal audience member are unable to follow them across that line because it’s just not believable anymore.
Some of my most memorable moments in stories I loved are those where I lost confidence in the author and that is an awful feeling, one I never want to bring about in my dear fans.
How lovely is this?!
So what brought about this latest bout of tight-rope writing? I want Portia to have a car. And not just any car. A 1910 Rolls Royce as recommended by my friend Louis Robinson. Now by the time she gets her hands on it is 20 years old, so the cost is not the worry. And women were driving in the 1930s, not a huge number, but there were women behind the wheel (I know this because in my research I find newspaper articles in London reporting accidents with women drivers).
I think Portia is going to ‘win’ the Rolls as part of the solution of a case, at least that’s where I’m heading right now in this third casebook in book 4. What do you think? Classy enough for our cunning detective?