I grew up on the east coast of the United States—which is where I still live—but for a twelve year period, I was a Californian through and through. I lived in San Diego, where I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, worked as a clinical social worker, and started my writing career. I adored California, but the east coast was always calling me home. The wonderful thing about writing is that you can live in one place and almost live in another by setting a book there. The setting for Fire and Rain was borne of a bout of California homesickness.
You can’t live in the southern part of California for long without experiencing drought and fire. I recall waking up some mornings with my house surrounded by red air and ash falling from the sky like snow. Remembering those mornings, I decided that drought and fire would form the backdrop for my story. Research for Fire and Rain began with a trip to San Diego County, of course! I stayed with my best friend, Cher, and we walked her property while I took notes about the flora she described and drank in the dry heat I’d nearly forgotten about during my years In Virginia, where I was living at the time.
I decided to focus the story on a man who had the ability to save the town, but who also had secrets to protect. To heighten the conflict, I brought in Carmen, a woman who was losing a career that could only be saved if she uncovered those secrets. Mia and Chris, with the difficult turns their lives had taken, added complications of their own.
Every writer finds herself visiting the same themes over and over again, whether she means to or not. I’m no exception. My stories tend to deal with forgiveness and sacrifice, often among people I’ve thrown together in tight quarters. Fire and Rain certainly covers all those bases. By creating Carmen’s house and her three small rental cottages, I forced four people, all of whom had their own reasons for wanting to be alone, to interact with one another. They hid their secrets, nursed their wounds, and fell in love. They forgave and they sacrificed. Carmen, for example, learned to forgive Chris and ultimately sacrificed her own career goals for the sake of Jeff’s welfare. There are other examples where these themes played out in the story, but I won’t go into them here. Instead, I’ll tell you more about the research that went into the story.
How was I going to make it rain? I had a long conversation with a guy at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado as I tried to figure out how Jeff could pull off his miracle. The guy I spoke with gave me enough information to make my brain hurt, but the bottom line was that I was looking for the impossible. So I had to invent the “trans-hydrators” myself, and the machinery and the way it works is as much a mystery to me as it is to the townspeople of Valle Rosa.
I knew I wanted Jeff to be a larger-than-life character, someone whose light was hard to hide even though he tried his best not to draw attention to himself. I decided to make him a real problem solver, a man who couldn’t help but be noticed. I found a Readers’ Digest book titled Practical Problem Solver. In the pages of that book, I learned ‘how to catch a mouse in an umbrella’, ‘how to pick up broken glass with a slice of bread’ and a few other Jeff-isms. Remember all this research was done without the Internet! I’m not sure I’d know how to begin today.
Mia was a challenging character to create. Having worked as a medical social worker, I knew all too well that breast cancer doesn’t care whether you’re young or old and the toll it can take on a woman as she’s just beginning her life adds an extra dose of cruelty to an already cruel disease. I interviewed a couple of women who were kind enough to talk with me about the emotional devastation they endured as they fought their cancer. I wanted Mia to have a gift, though, something she could lose herself in as she healed, so that is why I made her an artist. To complete my research on her, I visited a local sculptor who helped me understand not only how Mia would make her creations but how her art could feed and sustain her as well.
To understand Carmen’s world a bit better, I wrangled an invitation to sit in the newsroom of a Washington, DC television station both before and during a broadcast to observe what went on behind the scenes. It never fails to amaze me how generous people can be when I ask for help with my research.
Finally, a word about the dedication in the beginning of this book. While I was writing the story, my twenty-year marriage fell apart in one of those sudden, shocking, soul-searing ways you hear about but can barely believe. The man I’d considered my best friend was gone, but my women friends—wow. They rallied around me, each offering her own brand of support. They taught me so many lessons about friendship and I am forever grateful to all of them. Without them, I never would have been able to finish this book.
Thanks for reading this peek into the creation of Fire and Rain. Except for some very minor changes, this e-book version is identical to the original print novel. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.
—Diane Chamberlain, 2011