Making of Bones in the Wash, Part 1

by | Feb 28, 2014 | Bones in the Wash

Ideas to Pages

As I’ve been shamelessly promoting Bones in the Wash — did I mention you can read the first three chapters at bonesinthewash.com? — several people have asked me how it came to be. Here’s how:

New Mexico: Not Really New, Not Really Mexico: Without knowing it, I planted the seed when I drove with a friend from Berkeley to Albuquerque to visit his cousin. We hiked in the slot canyons in Bandelier National Monument, which became the setting for a pivotal flash flood scene, and I came home with two red chili ristras from Old Town Albuquerque.

Wisconsin 2004 — It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing: We vote for president in fifty states, but because of the Electoral College, only about a dozen matter. So in 2004, when I had the chance to work for John Kerry in Milwaukee, I jumped on it. The work was tedious — endless door-knocking and phone-banking — but I had committed to a colleague that I would write a blog every night, so I kept my eyes and ears open for interesting things to write about. I recall thinking that a presidential campaign would be a good setting for a novel. (Not necessarily Milwaukee.) 

Wasted + NaNoWriMo: In 2006, I finished my first novel, Wasted, a “green noir” murder mystery set in the gritty world of garbage and recycling in Berkeley. Many rewrites later, I contacted seventy agents. Eight nibbled. Two asked for the entire manuscript. One seemed on the verge of saying yes, but didn’t. 

As I collected rejection letters, I learned about National Novel Writing Month, and, in November 2007, wrote the “required” 50,000 words — the beginnings of Turquoise Trail, set in New Mexico during the 2004 presidential campaign. 

I wrote every day, without a clear idea of where I was going, and that first draft was closer to a soap opera than a political thriller. With the exception of one inspired scene, none of the prose from this 50,000-word “brain dump” ended up in Bones in the Wash. But five important characters did, as did several plot threads. I also knew what kind of book I wanted to write — fun, full of drama, and about real people facing real problems.  

The Year of Barack Obama: I become a hard-core political junkie in 2008, following the primary campaigns on DailyKos, Huffington Post, and elsewhere. I didn’t see it as research. I inhaled it. That fall, I went to Albuquerque — with two goals: help Obama win, and soak up enough local culture to write a credible novel set there. When I returned, I took my draft, set in 2004, moved it to 2008, and rewrote it five, ten, fifteen times. 

See Part 2: First Draft to Publication