I mentioned a plane named Betty in my first post, which is not exactly accurate. What Betty is as a vintage Grumman Widgeon, a seaplane of sorts with the rather cumbersome moniker of 'flyingboat'.   And at one point in the not too distant past, Betty was one of our editor's favorite characters in a suspense novel about a pilot who lives in Key West and uses his beloved flyingboat to help the island's local when they get into trouble. (For a fee of course, as our hero is in a bit of a financial pickle as the book starts.)

One problem here was that the plane, at least at one point, may well have actually  been more interesting and likable than its pilot. (That might sound crazy but in the hands of this capable writer and his passion for aviation, Betty really came alive on the page in a way that's hard to describe but just sort of irresistible.) The problem is that the pilot is the star of the book and projected series, and here Betty was stealing his thunder. The author got revenge by planning a planecrash in book # 2, but there was  clearly a challenge to be dealt with in book #1. What we had was a character who for all his laid-back charm (this book is set in Key West, mind you) and shadowy past wasn't quite compelling enough to come across as deserving his own series.  At least that was the perception, and I don't think it was without merit.

There are two issues here that I find really interesting in connection to the consideration  of writing craft.  The first stems from the author's use of first person narration and some of the difficult decisions a writer has to make when writing in that form. The second involves the concept  of cultivating mystery through selective omission and some of the challenges of that strategy.

This author has ended up doing a great job getting a handle on both, but there was a good deal of trial and error along the way that to my thinking brought  some worthwhile valuable principles into sharper focus.