I think it was Stephen King who said his writing process begins with “what if?” I apologize if I’m misquoting the King or if he didn’t say that at all. I just know I heard it somewhere in some writing workshop and my mind has always given him the credit. I’m not a horror writer, but the “what if” question is an excellent place for any story to start, no matter what the genre is. It’s provided me with a file folder full of story ideas, and I’m looking forward to producing a book from every single one of them.
Take Cedar Ridge, for example. What if…a pampered city girl found herself dumped in a tiny nowhere town in Wyoming? What if…a down-home rancher with no time for trifling or romance somehow ends up providing her with a place to stay? What if…a few more twists were tossed into the mix to raise the stakes for both of them? Asking the question and answering it is almost like magic.
That’s not to say the story is writing itself. Some days it flows better than others, and sometimes the characters don’t cooperate with the vision I have for a scene or even the overall story. After a developmental edit, an aunt named Dottie became Faith, the rancher’s mother. A couple of secondary characters got pushed out of the story (though they may make cameo appearances later on, if necessary). And the heroine’s erstwhile fiancé became much more of a villain than I’d previously thought he was. The story is getting there, though. It’s coming into its own and—dare I hope?—it’s turning into a novel I’d love to read. At least I know for sure it was Toni Morrison who said that: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
So, those are the two things I’m doing:
- Asking, “What if?”
- Writing the books that answer that question.
And I’m delighted to have you along for the ride!
