We'd like to welcome author Laura Bickle to the
Dark Nest today.
Laura is the author of the Anya Kalinczyk series.
Roots of a Story
by Laura Bickle
Growing a story is a lot like
nurturing flowers. It takes a lot of care and patience. For a long while, it
seems like nothing is happening. It's a lot of frustration with no immediate
reward. Watching, waiting.
And then, one day...something
blooms.
For me, a book begins with a
kernel of an idea, like a tiny, withered bulb. It doesn't look like much of anything
at the idea stage. I scribble the shriveled idea down in a journal, giving it
plenty of white space to grow. I check up on it every so often, revisiting it
to water with additional thoughts. A
story is very much a "What if ?" question at this point. "What
if a fire elemental belonged to an arson investigator?" "What if the
descendents of the Oracle of Delphi survived into the modern day?"
"What if a criminal profiler secretly used Tarot cards to solve
crimes?"
At this stage, the project
could grow or go into hibernation. I'm not sure. It's very much like the bulbs
I buy every so often from the hardware store. Sometimes, they sprout. Other
times, they're musty or moldy. And there is no hope for a moldy idea.
