The works of Christian fiction that I hold in high regard take me on a deeply personal journey and show the hero’s dilemma as though it were my own. We can identify with artfully crafted characters confronting sin, what sin does to all of us and the world. Sin need not be spectacular to be devastating. For a modern fourteen-year-old American boy, the personal experience of grappling with his own sinful self need not descend to the depths of a Rodion Raskolnikov, but it must be heartfelt, unexpected, and inescapable.
The ensemble cast of young teens and adult mentors, with the busy schedule and myriad of activities offered at Dalriada, present a layered challenge for Scott, hero of KIND OF PLAID, who suffers from his own thoughts and actions. He’s in good company: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” His uncertainty as to what to think, what to do, how to behave is shallower than a classic literary hero but he’s an American kid, living in 1999, under the general anxiety of Y2K, within a culture that is accelerating the long, slow slide away from Christian beliefs and Western values. How bad does it have to get for him to feel overwhelmed? Not very. Suburban angst is still angst, guilt over mindless vandalism is still guilt, and contrition doesn’t come cheap.
As I hacked away half of the original length and started restructuring from scratch, I did not have a working title for the novel, but a couple of images kept presenting themselves until they merged into KIND OF PLAID.
The first was the image of the tartan, or plaid to most Americans. They are not the same, but “plaid” is common usage here in the U.S. While the precise definitions of the two can be disputed, the major difference appears to be that a tartan is a recognized pattern that represents a Scottish clan, so it has historical significance, and a plaid is any criss-cross pattern, including checks (or checques), that are not tartans. It is the Argylls’ Scottish origin, and Scott’s acceptance into the group of kids at Dalriada, that elevates the imagery of “plaid” to that of a true tartan. He now belongs to a clan and must live by the rules and the rules seem to be 1) find your true self, 2) honor the clan and its members, 3) strive to be your better self.
The second image that contributed to the title KIND OF PLAID was the recurrence of Kind of Blue, the iconic jazz album by Miles Davis and his first quintet (technically a sextet because the album featured pianists Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans). This classic is Scott’s first foray into jazz, his introduction into “serious” music for that matter (not rock and not country, and not commercial jingles) and it became associated with Scott’s sessions of introspection during the story. One of the things that makes Kind of Blue a milestone in jazz history is its use of modality, which to a non-musician like me, makes the level of musicianship breathtaking, and seemed a metaphor for how the personalities of the kids in the story intertwine, alternately playing solo and providing support, but returning to a common chord. After a couple listens, Scott found Kind of Blue to be a musical touchstone for his Dalriada experience.
In my mind these two different images eventually merged into KIND OF PLAID.
The setting of 1999, the year of Y2K and anticipation of the New Millennium, was a later change and reflects a sense that the world is drifting into chaos, very palpable in 1999 and more emphatic today. It also provided a sense of moral cover for Xander’s plan to settle a score between his grandfather and Henry Argyll.
Xander’s sense of justice is largely driven by pride and the score is to be settled during the presumed chaos of a Y2K catastrophe. He knows nothing of the facts of what happened to cause the rift between the two families, but it has become a flashpoint for his underlying rage against his divorced parents, his stepparents, and the aimlessness of his life. The underlying hint that Y2K could actually bring civilization to its knees only serves to make Xander’s malice more real to Scott.
What Then? 