I gave Henry Harrier a limp. It shows a limitation in his character that he overcomes when he gets on the chase. Orlando Cole, his inspiration, does not have a limp but he definitely is single minded in pursuit of whatever.
When a writer creates a character, they have to build walls that he or she must break through or which affect his or her path to whatever the character wants to achieve. How he or she overcomes them or how they defeat them is the stuff of story.
What do you think about the setting? I'd like to know. Post a comment.
Writing is, to me, an entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial ideas are the life's blood of my writing. For my entrepreneurial course, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. For entrepreneurial real estate, go to and click on www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog
Monday, January 19, 2009
Henry Harrier's Limp
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Orlando Cole at 100 Years
In February, Orlando, model for Henry Harrier, will be half-way through his 101st year of life. He's still alive and kicking in his retirement center. He'll soon be moving down to the assisted living center because he really has too many issues to continue to live totally on his own. As he says, "When you're 100, something has to go."
My wife and I have dinner with him 2-3 times a week. It's an honor to have know him. He's been an institution in American classical music since he graduated from the Curtis Institute in the early 1930s. On top of having experienced American history for more than a century now. He was alive when electricity was new, the car was still new, before computers, before radio, television, Spam even. As the cellist of the Curtis String Quartet for 50 years, he and his three partners literally invented the professional string quartet. Certainly they were part of a trend that made chamber music a very big business, one bringing joy to millions of people, and good living to those lucky enough to find their way through it.
What do you think? I'd like to know. Post a comment.
Writing is, to me, an entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial ideas are the life's blood of my writing. For my entrepreneurial course, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. For entrepreneurial real estate, go to and click on www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Henry Harrier's Character, Part 1--Strength
Henry, as I noted early in the history of this blog, is a composite character: part Henri Poirot from Agathe Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, part Sherlock Holmes from Arthur Conan Doyle's many stories I read as a child and then have reread every so often since, Orlando Cole, my 100-year old father-in-law, who was the cellist of the Curtis String Quartet for 50 years, and part George Smiley, from the John LeCare spy series.
Also as I said before, the book owes a lot to the afore-mentioned Agathe Christie mystery and Smiley's People. In fact, literary agent once rejected the manuscript calling it "too Agathe." I guess we know where she was coming from. Apparently, to her "Agathe" was an adjective.
It's clear from his first appearance in the book he is a very strong character. Presumptuous even. On page 4, Will comments, quoting, "My first mistake had been the courtesy call to Henry.
'You'll of course be staying with me while you're in the area,' he said. 'And you'll use my car to get around.'You see what Will has to deal with.
I said, 'Thanks, but my company's made all the arrangements already.'
'Then they can unmake them.'
'Really, no. It's been take care of.'
'I know it has,' he said. 'By me--.'
'But Hen--.'
'I'll hear nothing more about it.'
What do you think of this? What are your ideas? I'd like to know. Post a comment.
Writing is, to me, an entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial ideas are the life's blood of my writing and real estate practice. For entrepreneurial ideas go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Orlando Cole's 100th Birthday
Orlando Cole, the model for Henry Harrier, just had a celebration at the Curtis Institute in his honor. The man has trained 3 generations of American professional cellists. They populate virtually every American symphony orchestra as well as European, and Lynn Harrel, who's had a very successful solo career, was his student.
He was a founding member of the Curtis String Quartet which lasted for 50 years and was the first American trained string quartet to tour Europe. I played with him informally in family chamber groups for a few years before he, unhappy with his declining physical skills, decided to stop playing in public. When asked about his decision, he'd say, "By the time I got warmed up, I'd be worn out."
At the celebration, two of his students played Gian Carlo Menoti's Suite for Two Cellos and Piano. You may remember Menoti. They used to televise Amahl and the Night Visitors every Christmas when I was a boy. Thankfully they gave up on it after a few years.
There was a reception afterward, and then Deb and I went out to dinner with him and Deb's brother and sister-in-law who had driven down from New York City for the occasion.
Christmas is coming pretty soon. Got a family member or friend who likes mysteries or classical music, have them order a copy right from this blog.
Writing is for me an entrepreneurial activity. If you like what I say, post a comment. Or, subscribe to my blog and have entries sent to you every day. For my entrepreneurship blog, go to hatman2.blogspot.com and for entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog.
Synopsis:
Ian Kearney, the director of the Kearney Music School, an elite musical training school in Philadelphia, dies after a fall from a balcony during a recital. World-famous cellist, Henry Harrier, recently forced from the faculty, returns to investigate Ian's death when his prized former student is arrested. Henry shows through his brilliant and single-minded pursuit of the truth that, as usual, they have it all wrong. This Sherlock Holmes-type mystery leads the reader through the world of classical music and lays bare the conflicts which dominate the lives of talented adolescents when placed under the pressure of studying for a demanding, stressful, and often elusive career as a classical music performer. Henry Harrier is part John Le Carre's George Smiley, part Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, and part Orlando Cole the beloved teacher, renowned chamber musician, and until his own retirement, the premier cellist of the Curtis Institute.Author Profile:
Tim was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on January 30, 1946. In 1951 he moved with his family to Schenectady, New York, where he lived through high school. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, from 1964 to 1968. He graduated in 1968 with a B.A. in history and philosophy. He received his Ph. D. in history in U.S. history in 1980 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison after spending 2.5 years in the U. S. Army. Most of his army service was completed in Wuerzburg, Germany, from 1969-1971. In 1972 he returned to Madison to complete his doctoral study. His dissertation, Those Who Moved; Internal Migrants in American 1607-1840, combined the statistical analysis of genealogical and biographical data with the study of traditional literary diaries, letters, and journals.Tim was a market and survey research consultant from 1983 to 2000 and a smoking cessation researcher from 2000 to 2003. His consulting practice focused primarily on conducting community health needs assessment. He authored hundreds of market research reports and published a number of his assessments in Community Health Needs Assessment published by McGraw Hill in 1996 and in a revised volume published in 1999. In 2000 he joined the staff of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he conducted smoking cessation research. He published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and spoke at national smoking cessation conferences.
In 2003 he moved to Philadelphia and earned his real estate license. He now practices real estate, works on publishing his novels, and studies and teaches entrepreneurship.Tim has written a dozen novel-length stories, a volume of short stories, and about a 3-foot stack of pages poetry. He is currently working on earning his 4th million in real estate sales, publishing his novels, and working on an entrepreneurish handbook as a support for his students.
Tim is a trained violist and an experienced string quartet player. He is an avid listener to classical music and regularly attends classical music concerts. He has two grown children by his first wife and a stepdaughter with his second wife. He likes to cook, read, write, entertain, develop relationships, and help other people. Formerly Tim used to travel frequently. He doesn't so much anymore. Now he regards the combination of real estate practice, writing and publishing, and the teaching and studying of entrepreneurship as enough of a trip.
