Home My Books About Me Contact Me Free Downloads
Things of Interest Smile! Videos Trailers Contests Message Board Blog
Readers often ask where the idea comes from for a particular book. What was the inspiration? For me, that's often a hard question for an author to answer. Ideas comes from everywhere and nowhere at all. A character pops into my head and shouts, "Hey, I have something to say!" And I write it. The voices in my head typically have more control than I do.
Some of my books have a more earthly, easily explained inspiration. Here are the backstories for my two Michael Sykora novels, No Justice and Beyond Salvation:
The story behind the novel No Justice:
Some time ago, I served on a jury for the murder trial of a man accused of raping and murdering his girlfriend. While I had known that our justice system had flaws, this was a close-up view of those injustices behind our justice system. We, the jury, were not allowed to hear anything about the plaintiff's past. His life was a locked box. The victim, however, had no such privacy. The defense attorney gleefully flaunted the victim's past, including her sexual history from as far back as her teen years. I will never forget the look of anguish on her parents' faces.
The defense did a great job of spinning the tale and making the victim out to be less than virtuous. After a week of this, when we were sent to deliberate, only two of the twelve jurors initially voted for murder one. I was one of them. The other ten wanted involuntary manslaughter, citing her behavior and his cocaine use as "excuses". I should mention here that the man had left his dead girlfriend in his bed, while he went out and partied with friends all night. Also, according to witnesses, he was quite sober at the time of the murder.
The other juror and I fought for, and eventually won, a murder one conviction. Before we left the courthouse, the judge spoke to us privately. She congratulated and thanked us for the conviction. At that time, she was able to tell us what had been carefully kept from us throughout the trial; the man we'd just convicted had a long history of abusing women. He'd already been convicted of several assaults and one rape. An involuntary manslaughter charge would have been little more than a slap on the wrist. He'd have been out in no time, free to rape and murder yet another woman.
My husband and I were discussing this one day; that case specifically and the justice system in general. That's when the character Michael Sykora was born. In many ways, Sykora is my husband's alter ego. (But, to be clear, my husband does not moonlight as a hit man!)
As for the specific plot, that developed from a combination of the characters' voices and the conversation with my husband. I don’t write from an outline. I start with a character and a vague idea. Then I listen and follow where that leads me. About midway through writing No Justice, I realized that I had way too many plots and subplots going on. At that point, I knew that Michael Sykora had too much to say. He wasn’t happy with one book. I stripped down that initial manuscript and told the story of where I thought the series needed to begin.
The story behind the novel Beyond Salvation:
Homelessness is a huge problem in the U.S. Every age range, from children to the very old, exist in a separate and hidden world on our streets. In No Justice, the first book in my Michael Sykora series, two homeless teens made a brief appearance when they helped Nicki out of a difficult jam. I wanted to bring them back and let them tell their story. That's when Sara popped into my head and led the way.
Sara is a teenage runaway, friends with the two boys, and missing. The problem with runaways is, when they disappear from the streets, no one but their few friends on those same streets notices. Often there is nowhere to turn for help. Michael Sykora works within that lost world and sets out to find Sara.
To be honest, when I began writing this book, I had no idea what had happened to Sara. I began with only that vague premise. As I explored the reasons behind Sara and her friends winding up on the streets, I was led to the few options they might have to reach out for help. Sadly, there will always be people who prey on those who are desperate. Cults are one of the biggest offenders, often masking themselves as Churches and various sanctuaries of hope. Sara stumbled upon one of these.
As I was writing this book, I wasn't looking to give a lesson in morality or write a societal thesis. I simply wanted to give these lost people, the characters in my head, a voice. I hope that I achieved that and managed to entertain at the same time.
The story behind the novel Into The Light:
Readers often want to know where a particular story idea came from. You’d think that would be an easy question for a writer to answer. The truth is, that question often stumps me. Sometimes I don’t know. The convoluted process that brings a sliver of an idea to life can be difficult to describe, even when I’m sure of the path. Well, as sure as I can be when characters rule my mind.
My novel Into The Light followed one of these crooked paths from vague idea to finished product. This one began with a dream my father had. He was telling me how real the dream seemed and that he thought it would make a great plot for a book or movie. In his dream, a homicide detective could see and hear ghosts and they helped him to solve murders. I filed the information in the back of my brain (which is a crowded place) but didn’t have an immediate sense of what to do with it. For me, writing has to start with a character and that character has to speak to me. No homicide detective popped into my head asking for the lead part in this story.
At the time, I was working on a different book. Those characters, however, had stalled. They weren’t happy with the direction of the plot or the box I was attempting to fit them in. Consequently, I did a lot of sitting and thinking. Now, to the nonwriters of the world, this looks a lot like I’m staring into space, doing nothing at all. On the contrary, this is the most important stage of creation. While I appear to be basking in silent oblivion, the characters are speaking to me. Usually these are the characters whose story I’m working on. They tell me who they are and show me where they need to go.
Occasionally, a new character pops into my head with an entirely new story to tell. This is the tricky part. I don’t know where these new characters come from. I would like to take the credit for creating them. But I don’t. They come to me, fully formed, with personalities of their own. Early in my writing career, I’d try to shape them to suit my needs. They rebel. They squirm and stamp their feet. Under no circumstances will they bend to my will. I’ve learned. Now I’m a silent partner in their journey.
This is what happened with Max Paddington and my novel Into The Light. While I was sitting in the quiet, trying to work out why the characters in my work-in-progress were stumbling, Max popped into my head and introduced himself. The first paragraph of what is now the book came to me. I quickly learned that Max was a ghost and the story belonged to him.
I typed that first paragraph along with a few notes, and filed that with my other random thoughts, ideas, and unfinished projects. Then I tried to get back to my work-in-progress.
Max would have none of that. He simply would not leave me alone. He crowded the other characters out and they stopped speaking. His story needed to come first, whether I wanted it to or not. So I put away the book I’d been writing and began Max’s story.
When I write, I don’t outline. I start with an idea, rarely anything more. I sit and type. I’m often as surprised by what happens as readers are. With Into The Light, I quickly wrote the first few pages. I knew that Max would die right away and that his ghost would be looking for his killer. Since Max was a ghost, I thought it would be best to give the role of main character to Joe Cavelli, the private investigator and only person who could hear Max. I spent a couple of days trying to make that work. Remember what I said about characters refusing to bend to my will? That was Max all the way. In fact, I’ve never had such a stubborn character!
Max insisted on the lead role in this book. He had a lot to say. His character lived only in my head but felt as real as most people I know. I didn’t create him. Not consciously, at least. I didn’t decide what he looked like or what had happened in his life. He told me all of that. He came to me with a name and a purpose. My job was to step out of the way and follow him.
And that brings me back to the question readers ask me: Where did this story idea come from? The easy answer is a dream that my father had. That would be true, in the most basic sense. That dream sparked a cascade of thoughts that somehow created Max. Then again, those thoughts, wherever they were and however they played out, were not on a conscious level. I didn’t set out to write a book about a ghost. At the time, I was writing about a hit man. I was stumped, no more happy with those characters than they were with me. That gave Max room to flourish.
Into The Light is not about a homicide detective. It’s not really even about solving a murder. While those things do live in Max’s story, they are not where his story begins or ends. His story comes from a place I can’t describe. I can go there and visit, though I can’t tell you how to get there.
The best answer I can give as to where any story idea comes from is - everywhere.