Being Consistent

You never know that your readers are going to like or dislike. One of the problems any writer has is being consistent with readers. I have found that is very difficult. I have had some readers write me how they loved Tanglewood Road and disliked The Possessor. Others write how much they like The Possessor. As an author, you write what you feel and that may not be consistent with what you've written in the past. On the other side of the coin, I may think people will love one book over another and be dead wrong! So, as I continue to refine my skills, do I want to be consistent? Yes...but I don't want to end up hating what i write in the process.  I am about to finish my next book and I have no idea where it will end up with my readers. I do know that another novel is forming in my mind... but more on that later.

What is real?

It is not rare for someone to come up to me and ask if my novels are based on events in my life. Are they real? Let's take a look at my latest novel, Out of the Darkness, and you decide. Let's take three unrelated observations and then put them together to develop a character and an event for the novel.

1-I have always been amazed at people who sacrifice their lives to take care of others. My cousin John came home after World War II and took care of his parents. He never married. I've seen people of all ages give of themselves for their families and loved ones.

2-A friend of mine is extremely close to her young daughter. They express their love for one another very willingly and they have grown together as mother and daughter. I find their relationship very unique.

3-A friend  told me that when her husband died, she took his ashes back to Nova Scotia and Alaska to scattered them where he had the fondest memories. Of course, I thought what a wonderful story idea.

Now, let's put them all together.

After I finished The Possessor, I was looking for a new character to write about. As I was perusing Facebook one day, I came across my friend expressing her excitement about something her daughter had accomplished.  The daughter responded in a short time to her mother. The daughter is an only child and I thought how devastated either one would be if something happened to the other.

A character started forming in my head.

I had to bring some of my own experiences with my wife into the picture. I had first hand knowledge how a person facing death feels because of her. Sarah Jane Senn is the mother who must tell her daughter she is dying. The daughter, Ruth Ann, has devoted her life to taking care of her mother. Sarah Jane tells her daughter not to mourn her passing. It is time for Ruth Ann to come out of the darkness and into the light so she can have a life of her own.

I now had a character and a compelling event. Now what?

Sarah Jane is a very wise woman and she realizes that her death is going to be very hard on her husband, Rooney, and Ruth Ann, so she devises a plan to help them with the closure with her death. She doesn't want a funeral, but wants her family to scatter her ashes in three places. Two are places she's always wanted to visit but couldn't because of her illness. The last place is in her front yard between the two towering oak trees so she can feel the morning sun.

Three unrelated observations in my life were combined to begin my novel. I have my character, a compelling event in the death of Sarah Jane, and scattering her ashes will be the catalyst of the novel. From these simple beginnings, I developed other characters. Are they real? What's really important is that they are real to you.

Out of the Darkness is a thriller.