As a novice author this is basically what I’ve been doing in my novel!
I started out with few simple ideas that seemed a good place to begin a story. To my delight these random thoughts have manifest themselves after careful nurturing into a cohesive story that has grown and which I believe has developed to maturity. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to explore ideas that I would not have had an opportunity to visit as myself.
Recently I assumed the mantel of my character and walked myself step by step through a traumatic scene, it's a real challenge for me as I’m conscious that I need to create and deliver tension, every step of the way. How to strangle somebody is not a skill that I had ever contemplated I would need to know, well not before this story developed.
But judging by Jeff’s physical reaction on Saturday morning when I stopped reading this passage - I know I have one satisfied listener (& maybe potential reader!) One sentence had stuck in his mind and several hours later in the coffee shop he said how surprised he'd been because it was a good twist, he had expected my character to be a man! I know that I have set out portraying Alicia as a down trodden wife and less than she was as a career women, but she will get there in the end, do the right thing, be brave. All I need is my reader to follow me on her journey.
My aim is simple: I want my reader to be engrossed in my story, enthralled by the action and unable to put my book down. So I’m not asking for too much here am I? *I say this tongue in cheek!*
Yet, I know I must allow my reader the courtesy of using their own imagination to fine tune the detail whilst stimulating their curiosity, not too demanding here either? *lol*
Consequently I’m juggling with ideas constantly to check that I have the best fit. And when the action and plot drop into place as I write, I sense that all's well I start to feel confident that I'm on an incredible journey that I’d love to share with readers. So if and when my novel is published I wonder, will I be a one-night-stand or much, much more? I do hope it’s the latter.
Of one thing I’m quite certain: I would not have missed this opportunity because so far it has been a fantastic ride as well as rewarding in a way that I could not have anticipated. Now I hope that my future readers will feel the same as I do, and enjoy my characters, live along side them for the duration of my story.
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