The Character Implications of Scrabble
In You Should Have Known I set out to write a morally complicated story. At its heart was the question: what might someone do if they thought they wouldn’t suffer the consequences? What if it was framed as an honorable act --securing justice for someone they loved? A karmic necessity?
The above question makes me think, perhaps incongruously, of some long-ago family Scrabble games. (As I mentioned in the last newsletter, I have a magpie mind, drawn down tangential pathways as if to various shiny objects. Bear with me on this.)
In those long ago games my father --with an expression of total innocence—would put down a word that was completely made up. For those who don’t play Scrabble, this is the equivalent of bluffing in a poker game. Just as in poker, such a move might be challenged. If the word turns out to not be allowed by ‘the Bible’, aka the official Scrabble dictionary, the person who played it loses the points and has to forfeit a turn. However, if it is an allowable word, the challenger loses a turn. This is not as simple as it seems. In a game that recognizes words like sthenia (a condition of abnormal strength) or kex (the dry stalk of a hollow-stemmed plant), sometimes a wild guess can pay off.
So a challenge requires educated guesswork, but also, of course, a calculation of risk.
And here is where it gets interesting, or at least, relevant to my earlier question.
Imagine the following scenario: Player A (let’s just call him my father) is winning. Player B (let’s just say it is my husband) is close behind. Player C (okay, me) is also within striking distance of the lead, while Player D (in this scenario, my mother) is a bit further back. Player A, my father, lays down tiles spelling something along the lines of “zlopscoop” and leans back, not meeting anyone’s eyes. Player B looks around the table for allies, including his mother-in-law, and proceeds to try to convince her to challenge the word, on the logic that, in the off chance that zlopscoop was an allowable word and she lost a turn, since she was the farthest behind it would make no difference in the outcome of the game. But she will have none of it, maintaining that if Player B wants to challenge it, he should be the one to do so. So Player B then turns to me, with a slightly different rationale. “We need to stop Player A.”
In response to this pressure, I might explain that since I need both he and my father to get out of my way, it is fine with me if either/both lose a turn.
Now, to be clear, I don’t think about bluffing in Scrabble in moral terms.
But for a novelist, this dynamic is fascinating. It not only brings up the question of consequences, it reveals things about character. My mother never deliberately played anything she knew was not a word. It upset a kind of bedrock propriety in her. Although she understood the concept of a bluff, to her you were supposed to play with real words, and passing off something you are pretty darn sure is not a word went against her grain, as somehow shady and below board. My father however, took a ‘why not give it a try’ attitude, even laying down something ridiculous like “zlopscoop”. And my husband? He too, thinks of it as a part of the game, but is quite serious in his approach: bluffing, pushing, and taking the risk...and sometimes attempting to convince someone else outsource that risk.
While I was writing Frannie I kept coming back to these and similar situations-- because of what they reveal around rules and rule-breaking, around persuasion, and a conception of what is and what isn’t properly part of the game (or, life.) For Frannie, taking on a risk for someone else can make an immoral act feel downright heroic. But, just as I knew my husband’s pose as my ally was really just a ruse to take down my father, Frannie knows, deep in her heart, that she’s created a disaster.
And there you have it: a small, weird, meandering example of what it is like to live in my head, and how plot and character ideas show up in the unlikeliest of places.
Updates
These programs are partially funded by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
BOOK EVENTS AND READINGS
April 4, 6pm
An Evening With Three Authors: Jess Lourey, Rebecca Keller and Cara Black
Once Upon A Crime bookstore
604 West 26th Street, Mpls, MN
https://onceuponacrimebooks.indielite.org/event/cara-black-night-flight-paris-rebecca-keller-you-should-have-known-jess-lourey
April 6, 7pm
Authors on Tap: Rebecca Keller and Tracy Clark
Exile In Bookville
10 S. Michigan Ave, 2nd floor of the historic Fine Arts Building
https://exileinbookville.com/events/20230406
EXHIBITIONS
April 1- May 7, Opening reception April 15 1-5 pm
All the Water that Ever Was, Now Is
Evanston Art Center
1717 Central St, Evanston, IL
https://www.evanstonartcenter.org/exhibitions/rebecca-keller
PODCASTS
In the coming months I’m going to be a guest on several podcasts, (details to follow as drop dates become finalized). These include:
A Bookable Space with Yvonne Battle-Felton
A Bookable Space is your audio literary salon. Each episode features writers delivering three engaging readings and answering three interesting questions. Hosted by Yvonne Battle-Felton, author of Remembered. Here's the link for the show: https://shows.acast.com/bookable-space
or:
Carter Wilson's Making It Up
In this conversation series USA today best selling author talks with writers of all backgrounds in order to find out why they do what they do...childhood influences, roots of creativity, luck and loss, tools of the craft, and the highs and lows of publishing. At the end of the conversation, a random sentence from a random book is used it to create an impromptu short story. https://carterwilson.com/making-it-up/
Kris Clink's The Writing Table A podcast for writers and book lovers. Whether you're a newbie-author or a reader, pull up a chair and learn from established authors, publicists, bloggers, and creatives. There is always room at the writing table.
ARTICLES
Look for upcoming articles in Writer’s Digest on “How to Keep Readers Connected When Your Protagonist Does Something Reprehensible” and in CrimeReads (sister publication of LitHub) on a special reading list roundup. Details coming soon!