Victorian Christmases are beautiful, full of tradition, and multi-faceted in celebration. In fact, many authors of both books and scripts would love to put a gorgeous Christmas scene into their book. So why isn’t there one in Anatomy of a Darkened Heart?
You’ll notice that I used the words “beautiful” and “gorgeous” to describe the way Victorian Christmases are depicted, and that’s one reason why it wouldn’t fit into AoDH. A holiday with such deep religious meaning could work well, but it could also be very forced. AoDH focuses heavily on psychological tension and manipulation, and including a Christmas scene would be just as difficult as including a birthday scene – neither would make much sense because they are celebrations of life. They are essentially the opposite of AoDH’s theme.
I thought about Christmas and birthday scenes, rethought, tried to write one, hated it, and threw it out. It just didn’t suit the book as a whole. One of the most important things a writer can do is double and triple check that every scene in the book is necessary, and a holiday or birthday scene just wasn’t. It was awkward, stilted, and even though I wanted to put it in, the book rejected it.
What is an author to do when the book and the characters within it say, “NO!” When you’re dealing with characters like Elizabeth and Abigail, you listen.