Well, it isn’t long before I leave for the airport for this brainstorming retreat. Psst. Can I tell you a secret? I haven’t a clue about the story I want to brainstorm. Well, I want it to have something to do with Christmas. Maybe lightning will strike while I’m on the airplane. Strike my brain, not the plane!
I would feel worse about this, except that two years ago, I arrived at the retreat and I said, “I want to write a WWII novel about four women who work on an airbase.” Within an hour I had all kinds of ideas. Some I could use. Some I couldn’t. But boy, were the juices flowing. That book, of course, is this year’s release, The Victory Club.
Did the final result resemble what was talked about around that large table in a dining room while it rained cats and dogs outside? Mmm. Yes and no. An author takes her ideas from lots of places, but then she has to make the story her own. As she discovers who her characters are, they take over and begin to go in the directions they want to go. Not that the author, as creator, can’t rein them in and make them behave. Sometimes we have to do that, too.
Well, time to go. Later…
-rlh-
