Learning Lessons From the Red Witch by Wil Hough
Lessons I Gleaned from Wake of the Red Witch by Garland Roark
Little, Brown, and Company – Boston
Every once in a while in this plastic world with its break neck pace, I come across something that makes me sit back and chew every bite a hundred times before swallowing. In this case, it was a classic novel written back in 1946, Wake of the Red Witch, which I discovered in an antique mall. It is a perfect example of why we should never discard the classics. It’s not just about the masterful twists of plot. Modern novelists are just as adept at such things. No, what sets apart the classics in general and Wake of the Red Witch in particular is how careful development of character serves as the engine for such plot complications. Without such development, readers have no opportunity to identify with an author’s character. And if we do not care what happens, we quickly lose interest and put the book down. OUCH!
So then, the next question has to do with HOW to proceed with such development. Too often authors simply TELL us what they deem we need to know. Sometimes this style works. More often it proves tedious. In Wake of the Red Witch, the author SHOWS us what we need to learn about each of the main characters. The result is, rather than caring only about Sam Rosen, the hero of the story, we end up invested in all of the characters, protagonists, antagonists and those with feet on both sides of the issues. How enervating!
Initially, we find Captain Ralls and First Mate Sam Rosen piloting a worn and weary sloop, The Quean of Melbourne, and its crew through treacherous reefs into a serene tropical lagoon where they find another ship already at anchor. Gradually, the lagoon reveals itself, has been set up as a trap every bit as menacing as the clamp of a giant clam shell upon the foot of a careless diver. The ruthless character of Mijnheer Mayrant Sidneye, the “devil in a wheelchair,” is quickly revealed. But wait! Is he really so evil? Are our heroes so pure? Are they all just simply victims of circumstance? And, what about that hungry giant octopus? Can’t we all just get along?
It is at this point that the author takes fully half the book in flashback to SHOW how each of the characters came to be. I was left wondering just who to root for. Added to this mix is the craftily enchanting Miss Teleia who may or may not be playing all ends against the middle. Who will win out? Who will plumb the ominous depths for that pearl of great value? When they do, will they be able to keep control of the treasure not to mention their own lives? We are kept in suspense until the very end.
As if such perfect balance of plot and characterization were not enough, the author reached out with such a poetic touch that I could literally smell the lush vegetation, taste the exotic dishes, ride the swell of the ocean, feel the thrum of native drums. With all this taken in counterpoint to the raw nature of the sailors involved, Wake of the Red Witch proves to be so much more than a salty yarn to savor. Garland Roark has crafted a tome from which we can all learn how to improve our own craft.
Rose & Thorn Senior Contributing Author Wil Hough, an avid reader all his life, only began his writing life 13 years ago at the age of 50 when his Irish mother passed on and bequethed her muse to him "thus having the final say in the matter. She still provides me with plot lines in the wee small hours of the morning"
Sounds like a great book!
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Did this novel provide the basis for the John Wayne movie of the same title?
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Thank you, Wil! well done
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