The Bomber Jacket from First Page to Finally, Published!
First Draft – Starts and Stops and Another Trip to Scotland
When did I write the first draft of the Bomber Jacket? That’s a good question.
As I said previously, I started writing the novel in 2005, the year after our second trip to Scotland, but came to a screeching halt when I got to the last page of chapter three. I had realized I needed to do a whole lot of work before plunging ahead: plotting, historical research, extensive character development, backstory, and writing key scenes.
A recent search of my computer turned up a file containing the first five chapters, 88 pages, dated November 1, 2011. Apparently, it took me six years for all of the plotting, research, and character development of the five main characters: Beth, Robbie, Colin, Henry and Gretchen, and three key minor characters: Naomi, Fiona, and Iain.
The first draft was spurred on by my third trip to Scotland in May of 2011. This time my husband and I took our 11-year-old granddaughter, Zoe. On that 14-day trip, among the many things we did was explore the University of Edinburgh, which Beth attended during her semester abroad in 1997, and toured Holyrood Palace and the Abby ruins next to it, both which make important appearances in the story. Zoe became very enamored with Mary Queen of Scots.
We also made a very somber and sobering visit to The Scottish National War Memorial on the grounds of Edinburgh Castle. The Memorial was originally opened in 1927 to honor the Scots who never returned home from World War I—one in five of them. It’s a beautiful hall in which sculpture and stained glass depict moving scenes from the war.
Zoe and I paged through the Rolls of Honor which list every Scottish service person and civilian who gave their lives fighting on Scotland’s behalf during World War I, World War II and in every conflict since then. Each entry lists the individual’s name, rank, year and place of death, and decorations they received.
She and I had an intense conversation afterwards in a tea shop over our favorite afternoon treat, “cream tea”—tea with scones, butter, and jam—about the plot and characters of the novel, about which she had strong ideas from her 11-year-old perspective. And we explored a plot for a story she thought about writing.
On that journey I once again soaked up the stunning beauty, fraught history, and the sense of mystical connection I felt to this ancient land. Our travels started in Glascow, took us northwest to Inverary, then to Onich (near Glencoe), where we stayed in our first rented cottage. Zoe especially enjoyed Inverary Castle, residence of the 12th Duke of Argyle and his young family. She had requested we not see too many “wrecked castles.” and this was the perfect “intact castle.” Her grandfather loved teasing her that she should make the acquaintance of the duke’s young son. Maybe she could be a future Duchess! To which she replied, with not a little horror, “Ooo, PopPop, he’s only 8 years old!”—the age of her little brother, Owen, a baby to her.
Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, was another delightful stop with its towering peak rising above small lochs and glacial valleys. On the day we visited, teams were competing in the charity Three Peaks Challenge which involved climbing the highest mountain in Scotland (Ben Nevis), England (Scafell Pike), and Wales (Snowdon)—23 miles of hiking/climbing and 462 miles of driving—all within 24 hours.
Several days later, while watching the evening news in our cottage, we learned that one of the teams was disqualified because they climbed the wrong mountain—Stob Ban instead of Ben Nevis, more than three miles away—thinking it looked the same. From there they headed to the Lake District in England to tackle Scafell Pike and three of the six were injured and two others got lost. They didn’t bother going to Wales. The most touching part of the story was they still managed to raise £10,000 for a leukemia charity in memory of their friend Wayne Wilson, who died from the disease in January 2011, at just 26 years of age.
After four days at our first cottage, we drove east to the lovely market village of Aberfeldy on the River Tay to our second rental. Palaces, giant trees, a distillery, castle ruins, famous cities (St. Andrew’s, Perth), were among the sites and experiences we took in. The most amazing was the Scottish Crannog Centre, home to a replica of a 2,500-year-old Iron-age dwelling once situated among seventeen others on Loch Tay.
A special treat was our stop in Perth to visit Mark and Sarah, two youngsters near her age whom Zoe had befriended during their summer visits to their American grandmother, who lived just up the street from Zoe’s family. Their mother and I bonded over our World War II fiction novels we were writing.
The last three days were spent in Edinburgh before an overnight stay at the Glascow Airport hotel to catch our early morning flight home. I insisted we get up at 4:45 a.m. for a 5 a.m. shuttle, to discover check-in didn’t begin until 6 a.m. and our flight was not at 7 a.m., but at 9. Zoe still rolls her eyes when she recalls that unintentionally memorable way to end our unforgettable adventure.
As for the first draft of The Bomber Jacket, I completed the 181 pages/10 chapters of Part 1 by April of 2012 and the 3 chapters of Part 3 by October 2014. Obviously, somewhere in between then, I wrote Part 2 (303 pages/19 chapters), but the only version I have is dated October 1, 2015, so that one must be a second draft.
Needless to say, I have dozens of versions of scenes, chapters, and the three parts of the novel on my computer, so it’s a little hard to have a clear timeline. All I know is by the end of 2015, I had a complete draft of the book, 36 chapters over 605 pages.
Whew! It was time for another draft and a good editor.
