The Waffle House
by Bethany Maines
So, I forgot that I was supposed to blog today and instead used
my few minutes of writing time to write a scene where two of my characters go to
a Waffle House. But as a west coast resident,
I’ve never actually been to a Waffle House.
As a result, I spent way too much time looking at the Waffle House menu
on line and now I want hashbrowns and waffles.
Sometimes we hear authors say that their characters speak to them. My characters wouldn’t deign to do that. They’re too busy talking to each other. And
honestly, if I left them to their own devices they would talk until my fingers
cramped up from trying to transcribe. I
frequently have to cut off the conversations so that the story goes somewhere. That’s part of the editing process, but these
conversations are excellent at helping me understand the characters. When I discover what they find funny, what
they hate, what annoys them, and what their hard line stance is on Christmas
decorations after New Years, I can plunk them down in any situation and know
how they’ll react. Which is how I know
that Jackson Deveraux would be quite happy at the Waffle House, but that he would
be shocked that his hoity toity grandmother Eleanor Deveraux knows to order Waffle
House hashbrowns scattered, smothered, and covered, but not chunked. The Deveraux family is full of secrets and
surprises, but when I started writing about them I never would have thought
that hashbrowns would be one of the surprises. The
Deveraux family, from my Deveraux Legacy, has become one of my favorite group of
characters. They’re a very fractured
family that is struggling toward reconciliation while attempting to overcome the
periodic interruption of mercenaries, bank robbers, and greedy CEOs.
If you want to find out what the Deveraux family thinks
about Christmas décor you can check out book 1, The Second Shot, and
pre-order book 2, The
Cinderella Secret (both currently ¢.99).
Or you can…
Enter to win a paperback copy of The Cinderella Secret on
Goodreads!
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Cinderella Secret
by Bethany Maines
Giveaway ends October 17, 2020.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Or you can join the Bethany Maines / Blue Zephyr Press Newsletter mailing list and get a free copy of the prequel novella, The Lost Heir in October!
Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.
I get mine smothered, covered, diced, and capped with two eggs OM, and wheat toast. There're 20 Awful Waffles (Waffle Houses) within a 20-mile distance from my house in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The one near the round Holiday Inn on the Ashley River has the best view but I'm not certain it has reopened yet after undergoing renovations. The one near Charleston Southern University has the best cook (crispy, perfect, hash browns). 😀
I seriously got done staring at the menu and had some sort of Homer Simpson drool moment. Hashhhhhhhhbrowns.
When my small-town-boy/husband and I moved to the big city, he lamented that there wasn't a Waffle House nearby. We drove far one morning to have breakfast at one on the outskirts of town, just so he could get a taste again. Comfort food.
The west coast is completely devoid of Waffle Houses. But I know the feeling if I can find a place that does good country-fried steak… I'm willing to drive.
Are Waffle Houses always located near Holiday Inns? The one across from the hotel I stayed in when I was consulting with a school over a three year period told me I was their only customer who requested egg whites! Like Grandmother Deveraux, I knew exactly what I wanted.
Dying.