Life's a Circus

So, I guess I should tell you about my book. This will be my fourth year doing Nano; the first two years resulted in published books (see my links to the right), the third one sits dusty and unfinished on my hard drive. The story is good, I'm just not interested in doing anything with it at the moment. Maybe some year or other I'll get back to it.

This year's Nano will be my most-planned writing attempt ever. I became inspired in July when I spent five days in Wisconsin at Circus World Museum. Not only was I somewhat immersed in the history of circus, I got some first-hand experience living in a place where performances were central to all activities. I also got to meet and interact with real circus people, albiet not exactly in a circus environment, and learned quite a bit. When I came back, I started doing some minimal research in anticipation of using the circus as a backdrop for my next romance novel.

Little did I know that this was going to be no romance novel, and furthermore, my "minimal" research turned into stacks of interviews with circus folk, a pile of books on circus old and new, and a bunch of character notes. I have been grabbed and grabbed hard by the whole idea of circus; it went from mild interest to an obsession in matter of days.

My hubby, who is Circus, finds this all so very amusing. We've been married for seven years, and he has always been somewhat dazed by my lack of fascination for circus and performing. While I do perform myself (tarot, clowning, and wedding officiant), I don't take it to heart the way he does. And I was never much interested in reading about circus, or watching every single movie about circus, or otherwise becoming overly involved. So it amuses him that suddenly I can't get enough of it.

Last year I read Mary Wise's book, Girl Clown, and Daryl Ponicsan's book, The Ringmaster. Both were written about the same circus, but had very differing stories. Both were fiction but based on the same summer with the same circus and the same characters. Mary's book was entertaining; Daryl's book was frightening and disturbing. After that, I thought I'd never find an interest in circus; Daryl's book haunted me for quite some months.

This summer I've read Mud Show by Fred Prowledge, a fascinating look at daily circus. I'm currently reading The New American Circus. I have a couple other books to go through before November, but mostly, my book research is complete. I have collected several articles about modern circus; in one I learned that Bello Noch, the star clown of Ringling's Red Unit, makes $600,000 a year. Not bad for a clown.

My story will feature Tino, a clown/aerialist who stars in a tented show (similar to Big Apple, Pickle Family, or Circus Flora circuses) and Emma, the female main character who joins the circus as a school teacher. Her experiences learning about circus, traveling with the circus, and surviving a major meteorological crisis will tell the story not only of the circus, but how someone not born into circus can become circus. To some who will read my book, this last bit is sacrilege; you can't be circus unless you were born into it. But modern circus isn't like that; you can become circus through your own hard work, dedication, and a willingness to "do it all." As they say in the circus, you have to become "generally useful." Everyone does everything; the caste system that existed (and still exists) in the mud shows that traveled the country is becoming less firm with the passage of time. It is not all that unusual now to have someone raised middle-class with a bachelor's in business or some other mundane area end up working circus as a performer.

While my main female character will not become a performer, she will become "circus."

Tomorrow, I'l talk about the interesting interviews I've had, and the one admontion I've received from virtually every person I've interviewed in preparation for this book. Stay tuned!