When a Story Takes on a Life of its Own

When I sit down to write a story, generally I have an impression, a direction. Something inspires me and I run with it. Sometimes the conflict is obvious, sometimes not so much. Sometimes I have to take time out to map the story to make sure I don't run off into nowhere, writing something boring.

For the sequel to Mist on the Meadow, I have my map. I know where I want to take it, what questions I need to answer from the first in the series. This series is a continuing saga--a trilogy--from the first book, where Marissa finds out she's "special," to what that means, to what she can do with it. Each book will take us to the ultimate conclusion, which is basically "what does she need her special skills for?" And each book will focus on a different character in their circle.

I've made good progress in the second installment, and thought I had the story headed the right direction, when suddenly Wolf and Marissa hijacked it. This isn't their story (although they are critical to the plot). And I found out something about the characters that I didn't know before. The story has taken on a life of its own and the characters are showing me things I didn't expect.

Plot twist!

First thing I have to do is wrestle control back from Wolf and Marissa. This isn't their story, but they did show me what I needed to know to move forward. So now I have to go back and pick up the broken parts, where they kicked this story's main character to the side, and have her assert her control. And it makes for better conflict.

This is the point when I'm writing that I'm frustrated and thrilled, both at the same time. Frustrated, because things aren't turning out the way I planned, thrilled, because the characters have taken on a life of their own. Looking back, I see a trend. I'm about a quarter of the way into the story. This same thing happened with Heart for Rent, where something I planned took on a whole new meaning. I planned the stranger in the park, but by the time I wrote him, he turned into someone else. It threw me for a loop, and in that book, it complicated my process.

As I write this book, I'm excited by the turn of events. Sometimes the best things are the things you least expect. If the characters can surprise me, the author, hopefully they can surprise the reader, as well. And that makes the book more interesting to read! Mist on the Meadow has been a fun series to write - combining my love of romance with my love of the supernatural and creating my own German Fairy Tale.

Back to it. Time to politely tell Wolf and Marissa to step back and let the other character have her book, while at the same time thanking them for showing me something I didn't know before.

In case you thought I was slacking off on the writing stuff

My editor has finished her first pass on Rekindling and I am busily working out the kinks. And in case you think I've been doing NOTHING during the editor's perusal, NOT SO.

I'm putting down the sequel to Mist on the Meadow, which I am tentatively calling "Gathering Mist." For those of you who have read MOTM, you'll know that it includes that paranormal element along with suspense, not to mention the German folklore piece. Now that you've met Marissa and know about her special talents, you're going to find out what she's going to use them for, along with answering the question, "what's up with Wolf?" The suspense will escalate as they move through this second book in the series, resolving the crisis at hand only to be staring at an event bigger crisis in the third installment (but I'm getting ahead of myself).

In spite of taking some time away from my computer, as you've seen in my recent posts, I continue to hone my craft, mostly because there's always a story buzzing around inside my head. The "down time" is essential to focus -- Rekindling is taking a little longer because I haven't had the "refresh and restore" time. Now that I've given myself that time, I'm ready to tackle my edits and take what I believe is a good story and make it much better (giving a nod to my patient editor who probably thinks I write like a schmo). Even with a straight line while I was writing, even with defined characters, I second-guessed myself too often (lack of down time results in angst and indecision) and the story suffered for it. I'm ready with the lemon Pledge now.

Gathering Mist is spilling onto the page like a broken water main, so after I've switched focus to address the final edits to Rekindling, the long-awaited sequel to Mist on the Meadow shouldn't be far behind.

(Vintage) Book Stores

Nestled down along the river in the city where I live there is a bookstore where they sell used and vintage books. Very simply named. Tucked back on a street people have to use intentionally. I stopped in for a visit the other day.

Appleton's Fourth Reader

The front of the store is mainly a children's section, and ducking into the first room (it is divided into rooms) the first thing that caught my eye (at my eye level, anyway) was a series of Tarzan, the Ape Man books. In hard covers. To which I found myself whispering, "Cool!" Each room was a new discovery, not only of current books (they had an impressive Lee Child selection) but of old, out of print books. With hard covers. Do they even make books with hard covers anymore? And I started to think. Nostalgia set in. I have a collection of hard cover books, not nearly of the same vintage, but I also have my grandmother's primer - Now that's a vintage book. What are we leaving for our children?

My kids read Goosebumps and Bailey Street School Kids (which they had in this bookstore), all of which were released in paperback. A large portion of my bookshelves holds paperback copies, some of which are not withstanding the ravages of time as well as others. I just can't imagine my kids walking up to that bookshelf one day and saying, "Wow, remember when books were made like this?" About paperbacks.

Running off on a tangent for a moment (to make a point, of course). I used to watch Night Gallery, and One Step Beyond, and The Sixth Sense, and The Twilight Zone. There was an episode where Burgess Meredith (an old actor, for those of you too young to recognize the name) was a very myopic man living with a henpecking wife. All he wanted to do was read his books, but his wife kept nagging him to take out the garbage or do everyday life kind of things. And then (remember that many of these shows were set in the 50's, which I'll take a second to note predates me) someone drops a bomb. Literally. The earth is destroyed and Old Burge finds he's the only one who survived the cataclysm. So as he stumbles through the rubble that was once his town, he finds the library. And a mountain of books. All alone in a world with nothing but books to keep him company. And he's ecstatic! Until . . . (this is the Twilight Zone after all), he drops his glasses and inadvertently steps on them. Blind without them, he's now stuck in a world where he can't see, surrounded by the things he loves most and unable to read. Utopia turns into hell with one careless step.

Bringing this all together folks. Walking into that bookstore, I thought about that TV show. About the comforting feeling of finding an old book that I might have read once upon a time. What a cool bookstore! And now? If the bomb drops? With our book collections becoming more and more electronic, we will become like Burgess Meredith. Kindle or Nook in hand, but after a cataclysm and potentially without electricity, that book collection will be rendered unreadable.

Yeah, that's just the way my mind works sometimes. Kinda scary, isn't it? And that's why I continue to buy "real" books from time to time. Generally only the ones I really loved and would read again and again (and yes, my bookshelves are full). Even as paperbacks instead of hard covers, sometimes there's nothing like the feel of a real book in your hand.

"Blessings on thee little man . . " - John G. Whittier

Time to Unwind - Wisconsin

Last week, the Big Guy and I did a tour of Wisconsin. Well, half of Wisconsin (it's a big state, after all). Because of our proximity, Wisconsin tends to be a "go-to." We both have family there and the scenery can be spectacular.

Dopey quote of the day: when I visited the Scottish Highlands, I took a walk through the Birks of Aberfeldy. The first thing out of my mouth? "This is just like Wisconsin!" And in many ways it was. The Birks. Not the country.

So without further ado, I leave you with a pictorial post today. We started in Green Bay (do I really need to post a picture of Lambeau Field?) . . .

To Peninsula State Park, Fish Creek (Door County) with views of Green Bay






To a lighthouse tour that took us to Cana Island


To Cove Point County Park (on the Lake Michigan side)

West to visit family before we took a frivolous ride on the Merrimac Ferry across Lake Wisconsin, the water portion of Highway 113 (because we could).