Greetings,
As many of you know, 2017 had its ups and downs. Unfortunately, it came to a close on a bit of a sad note, as on December 28, we lost one of the world's best writers and one of my personal favorites, Sue Grafton.
I know I'm a bit late talking about this, but I wanted it to sink in. And I'm not going to go into some long, biographical rundown on her life here. There are plenty of other places where you can read those. I just wanted to say a few, quick words about my own experience as one of her readers.
I discovered her books while I was in the library looking for some good mysteries. I picked up the first in her "Alphabet Series", "A" Is For Alibi, featuring her private investigator lead character, Kinsey Millhone. I immediately loved these books and especially Kinsey. She was everything that a strong, female lead should be. In other words, she was real. I see so much talk about people wanting those aforementioned "strong, female leads", but sometimes I think what they want is a Mary Sue type. I do not like those. I want a character who feels like an actual person. And Kinsey was exactly that. She was smart, but didn't get everything right. She could take care of herself, but also could ask for help. She was loved by some, not so much by others. She wasn't perfect and she wasn't a blank slate. She had actual flaws and an actual personality. Again, she was real. And I would tell anyone who wants to write a great and proper female lead for a book to go to this series for some lessons. Because Kinsey was something special.
And Sue Grafton was special, too. She had a way of pulling you into these stories, getting you involved with the world and caring a lot about the characters. Though many writers can pull that off, sometimes we can forget what a gift it is to be able to do it and do it for so long. Well, Sue could do it. She had that gift and she was a gift to us.
While the saddest thing about her death is just that, of course, many of us who have traveled through the alphabet with her and Kinsey are heartbroken to learn that her last book, "Y" Is For Yesterday, will be the last one, prompting many people to adopt the phrase, "The Alphabet Ends With 'Y'". I think she was planning to release the Z book in a couple of years, but she hadn't even started it yet, so there was no manuscript and her family will not hire a ghostwriter. At first I was sad about this, but I realized that, all things considered, it is for the best.
I had always been someone who hoped for a Kinsey movie or a TV series, and I didn't know that, apparently, Sue did not want anything like that. And she would not have wanted a ghostwriter either. I think she didn't want anyone writing about Kinsey but her. I agree. Sometimes characters and their writers become extremely connected, and this is certainly no exception. These two were practically one and the same. So, when I really think about it, I wouldn't want anyone else writing her anyway.
Still, I feel like, in a way, there is a final book. Not the "Z" Is For _____ book we had wanted, but something less tangible. I think Sue Grafton's final book, her final chapter, will come from everyone who knew and loved here. It will be filled with the stories about her told by her friends and family, the stories that we, the readers, will tell about our experiences with her as a writer. And every time one of us tells a new reader to pick up one of her books, another page will be added. That is how we will help her legacy to live on.
So, in closing, I will miss Sue Grafton and what she may have written, but I will hold on to all the stories she did give us. I will be entertained by them and learn from them, just as she wanted. Just as she succeeded in doing.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
