PhotobucketFirst off, I want to thank you all for your congrats. This has been a wild few weeks, for sure. And, since Therese Fowler removed her supergirl mask in comments, I’d like to say a public thanks to her, too–my willing pre-publication blurber. Thanks, Therese! You’re the best of the best!

Okay, on to today’s post…

A funny thing happened shortly after I landed my fabulous agent: I imagined a new story. Just like that. I could see her–my quirky protagonist with her dark aura and strange quest. I fell in fast love and just knew it: this would be the next story I’d write.

The idea didn’t come entirely out of the blue. Once upon a time, I considered writing a follow up to Unbounded and wrote about 200 pages of a script. I dusted it off recently and looked at it with fresh eyes. Not right. Too much a mess to inspire anything but the call from my recycling bin. But a few CPs reminded me of a scene that lay somewhere in the rubble–set in the mountains of West Virginia. Full of atmosphere, a little creepy, mysterious. I re-read it and felt a shot of ice through my bones. This was the setting of my next story.

My protagonist came alive shortly after that–a physically damaged girl with ethereal yearnings that send her and her sister on the strangest of all quests. Along the way, they’ll meet others, affect them. They’ll all be changed.

Story bones are so important. What’s your theme? How can you spindle it out, focus it in? Where does your character begin? What is her journey, her arc? Ironically, digging for story bones links back to my beginnings at a writer–my time as a researcher. Here’s where you find the gold…

One of the very first lessons I learned as a research associate at Prevention Magazine was to dig. Hard. Deep. Wide. Examine those big heaps of dirt knowing most of it would be devoid of anything remarkable. But not all of it. There’d be glimmering particles, too, buried treasure; squirming little bits alive with promise. Details to enhance your topic and make your spin unique. Far more unique then if you’d done a shallow, focused dig that would lead you to uncover the same tired nuggets everyone else has found.

In my experience, this holds true for fiction research as well. Go deep and you’ll find gems that will enrich a story and root it in authenticity and humanity. Go shallow, and your work might remain boxed.

When researching Unbounded, I visited Castine, Maine–one of the three central locales in my story. While there, I went for a ride on the Penobscot Bay with the local storyteller (and a real character!). I went on a whale watch, then hung out at the local oceanside stand, The Breeze. I spoke with the locals, walked the hills, learned about Castine’s drummer boy ghost. For research into Rome, Italy, I read three books, bought a street map and interviewed a fabu expert. I had to dive into Asian culture as well, and I learned as much as I could about an ancient sword that plays such a large role in the story–through books and websites and message boards and interviews. I read a lot about the strange behaviors sometimes seen in twins. After the deep dig, I sat around with my shiny finds. Which could be used to enhance the story theme of acceptance? Which could be used to draw out the journey of the character? Using the drummer boy ghost was a no brainer. I found perfect locales in Rome. The sword was associated with scads of fitting legends; several of them had to be left on the cutting room floor.

I’m using the same technique with book two. I’ve ordered books on West Virginia, including a book of ghost stories and another of West Virginia poetry. I now have in my possession a 3-DVD set called The Appalachians. Later, I’ll buy a map and explore the land using Google Earth. I’ll travel there, too, to see what I see, because ideas are everywhere.

I can’t wait to better understand this story, adding real muscle to the story bones I believe are strong and unique.

How about you? What’s your process when you first begin a new story? What drives you? How does a story come to you? As a whole, or in bits and pieces along the way?

Write on, all!

Photo courtesy Flickr’s fabu Lá caitlin

Therese Walsh co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006. Her debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, sold to Random House in a two-book deal in 2008, was named one of January Magazine’s Best Books of 2009, and was a Target Breakout Book in 2010. She's never been published with a lit magazine, but LOST's Carlton Cuse liked her haiku best on Twitter, and that made her pretty happy.
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