It's easy to pocket a lot of stuff in this world. Jewelry? Paintings? Cars, even? Traditional thievery has been covered in many a great movie and book.
But an entire swimming pool? Harder to take in the dead of night. Even harder when the people you're taking it from know your plan.
I wanted The Wilfair Hotel to pinch something important from its smaller neighbor the Motel Fairwil. And I wanted the article in question to be something that isn't traditionally stolen.
The thing with a pool is, even if it is stolen, it has to remain exactly where it has always been.
That intrigued me, a stolen thing that can't be moved. Things that are taken but stay in place is one Wilfair theme.
And whether the pool is being taken, given, stolen, or borrowed may be open to interpretation. Fair Finley, the series lead, calls it stealing. And she's the thief.
Stealing a Swimming Pool Is Hard
The Stuff of Wilfair
I'm not a stuff person, generally, but I like stories that include particular items and revisit those items for different reasons. Call them a tale's physical hallmarks.
So when I wrote Wilfair and Redwoodian I included a few things I could revisit. Like a snood. A four-color pen. Tar. Dips.
I've compiled those items for both books but the lists will definitely contain spoilers if you haven't read one or both. If you don't intend to read the books, click away. If you have read the books, click away.
The Stuff of Wilfair
The Stuff of Redwoodian
About the Wilfair Series
A (possibly) magical motel, a (potentially) haunted hotel, and the young (and infatuated) competitors running each are at the heart of Wilfair.
Hotel heiress Fair Finley is a week shy of her twentieth birthday, eats frosting for breakfast, and dresses like long-gone film goddesses. She isn't yet the seasoned leader her hotel magnate parents want her to be, due to the fact she's prone to pleasing people who often don't deserve to be pleased.
Fair's first problem? She inherited The Wilfair Hotel long before she was ready to oversee it. But her major headache? The famous Los Angeles landmark she owns famously lacks a swimming pool. The motel next door has one, but the handsome cousins who own the property won't let the young executive steal it; they're rather fond of Fair, she thinks, maybe, possibly, sort of, and she's a little mad at, and mad about, them. And stealing 24,500 gallons of water from someone you like is complicated, messy, and nearly impossible.
Further flying up Fair’s ointment? A hotel ghost that suddenly isn’t acting like itself, friendly movie stars with memorable forearms, and physical places showing up where they shouldn’t be.
The title is inspired by a real Los Angeles intersection. Here's a map.
Club Sandwich
A motel diner staple.
One of the guys in Wilfair is very good at making 'em. I mean, very, very good. Astonishingly good. Kind of brings a dampening to the brow.
© Keko64 | Dreamstime.com
Motel Couch
I must say this isn't *quite* the color of the Motel Fairwil's lobby couch, but it is close. It is certainly as shiny and vinyl-y as the Fairwil couch, though.
