Life in Layers

Before I wrote "The Tin Box", I didn't have a clue as to how to go about writing a novel.  I was under the impression that you started out with an idea of how it was going to go, you started writing and then you wrote until you got to the end . . . not so. 

In real life, that's how it’s done.  You start out with a plan, you move forward, and you keep going until the end.  But when you are writing, you can go back for do-overs.  Imagine what it would be like if at 40 you could say, "Gee, it would have been good if I had gone to law school when I was 22." and then you go back to being 22, go to law school, and change your present/future.  Unfortunately, that isn't the way life works.  But when you are writing, it's exactly how it works. 

You’re writing a novel and you get to chapter 40 and say, "Gee, it would have been good if I had my character go to law school in Chapter 22." and then you do go back to chapter 22 and send your character to law school.  That one change sets a whole avalanche of changes in the following chapters.  But that isn't the only way novels are written in layers.

There are layers of depth in novels.  There is a surface story, there is an underlying message to the story, there are themes and motifs, there may be elements of suspense and intrigue, there may be a backstory, and there may be some history woven in to the story where historical research is necessary.  All of these pieces come together as layers in a novel.  You work on developing one and then go back and build in another, and another, and another. 

 Finally, the characters develop in layers.  Their personalities evolve as the story is told and what was a simple character at the beginning of the story ends up being a multi-dimensional character by the end.  An author has to go back and build those elements into the earlier development of the character so that the character can appear to be complex from the beginning.

When all the layers finally come together and the individual threads weave into a story, sometimes even the author is surprised by how it all turns out!

A New Year

Another year gone, a new year to look forward to, a year closer to timing being right for self-publishing.  It's funny how no matter how often life changes, no matter how much you anticipate that change will come, it still surprises you when it does. 

This year my daughter will graduate from college and my son will enter his last year of high school.  My daughter will move across the country, somewhere, to start her life as a graduate student.  My son will have a driver's license and, with mixed emotions, I will welcome his independence.

As my role in their lives changes, I will look toward my books to fill the emptiness that is left behind.  This is what I had planned for, this is what I have anticipated, but whether if I am ready and capable of successfully exploring and navigating this next chapter of my life is still yet to be seen. 

The first novel is finished and I am well on my way to writing the first sequel, which I have determined will go back in time and focus on the previous lives of my characters.  The lives that, perhaps, did not go as planned.  I look forward to seeing the twists and turns that develop as their journeys unfold.  What will they take with them into their next lives?  What will they have learned from their fortunes and misfortunes? 

Once the first sequel is finished, I will focus on the second sequel.  The second sequel will follow the original characters into the 1970s.  As they change from children to adults, my characters, like my own children, will go off to have lives of their own. 

It will be time to start the process of publishing and sharing my characters with the world.  Whether if they will be prepared to stand on their own and to reach successes of their own, will be determined by readers, like you.  But whatever their fate, my characters will have come to life through me.  I will have created them and that will always fill my heart with the pride of accomplishment. 

In the years to come, as both my children and my characters move on, so will I.  I hope I will create more characters and more adventures!  Given enough time, I will explore and navigate many journeys.  Along the way, I hope to touch many lives, and perhaps, even touch them for the better.