I might go work on my other novel Hard To Cross for a few days while I finish setting up the rest of the plot lines for the remaining chapters in Haven House.
When I return at the end of the month, hopefully, I will have more progress to report on both.
A CONVERSATION WITH MY
CHARACTER
Needing
to know more about my protagonist and who she was, I decided to sit down and
have a conversation with her.
“Jill,
in order to write a great story, I need to know who you are, what you like, and
what it is that you want the most?”
“So
that’s why you’ve been digging into my private life? What do you want to know?”
I
didn’t want to frighten Jill off. I
would begin with something easy and take it from there.
“Let’s
start with what it is that you want most to happen.”
Jill
put her hand on her forehead like she needed to consider the question. “I want to know the real reason for the
secrets hidden beneath the house.”
“Is
there anything you’re afraid of when you go down there?”
“Yes. There is one section that I haven’t been able
to reach. I am terrified about what I
will find at the end.”
I
decided to go to a place that might be more pleasant for my character.
“Jill,
what is your most treasured childhood memory?”
“That
would be the day I spent with my mother.
We went to the beach and had a picnic.
She walked with me along the edge of the water because I didn’t know how
to swim yet. When she put me to bed that
night, my mother kissed me on the cheek and told me she loved me.”
That’s
good to know for when I do some of her backstories. Now to get to something more useful to keep
my readers interested. “Jill, when you
discovered what was under your house, how did it make you feel?”
Jill
got up and walked over to the window, looking out for a few minutes before
answering. “It was thrilling and
frightening at the same time. I had no
idea where it would take me, and the areas were so dark. I am afraid of the dark, you know.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that. What happened to make you afraid of the
dark? Did something happen to cause that
feeling?”
Jill
acted like she didn’t want to go there and just shrugged her shoulders,
indicating she didn’t want to go there.
“Jill,
it may be important to know the reason because it may be imperative to how you
react at times. I would really like to
know?”
“Okay. The night my mother died, we had a terrible
thunderstorm. The lights went out, and
it got really, really dark. I screamed
for my parents, but no one came. Not my
mother and not my father. I hid under my
bed until the next morning, when my Dad came and made me come out. Since then, if the room or area is dark, you
know, like black dark, I start to shake.”
I
could see that just thinking about it caused her to start shaking. Better take it somewhere else for a
time. What do I want to know most about
Jill? Maybe we can discuss her time
growing up with only her father.
“Jill. After your mother died, you and your father
stayed in the house. What was it like to
be brought up by just your father? Did
the two of you do a lot of things together?
Do you have special memories from that time?”
“Whoa! Slow down.
One question at a time. Yes, Dad
told me when I got older that he couldn’t leave the house because all of his
memories with Mom were there. Most of
the days I went to school, and he went to work.
At night he would help me with my homework and then watch tv until it
was my bedtime.”
“So
you had a pretty normal life then. Tell
me about the library?”
Jill
shook her head no. I had to insist as it
was essential to the story I was writing.
I had to find a way to pull it out of her.
“Jill,
let’s do this together. I know that
after your mother died, the door was locked until just two months ago. Was there a reason for that? Did your father think it was a danger to
you?”
After
a few minutes, Jill gave in. “When Dad
finally unlocked the library door, he told me it was my mother’s library, and
he never went in there with her. He said
my mother always insisted that she needed a private place of her own, so he let
it be. When she died, he just locked the
door. Maybe it reminded him too much of
all the time she spent in there away from him.”
Now
I’m getting somewhere. I need more,
though. “Did your father tell you why he
finally unlocked the library door and let you go in?”
“He
knew I always was reading and that the library contained many books, so told me
that could now be my private place.”
I will see you all back here at the end of August.
Stay Safe and Wear a Mask!
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