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Where Do ideas Come From?
Ideas surround us everyday. They bump up against each other vying for dominance in the many decisions and tasks we have to perform. I get ideas while reading, watching TV, hearing snatches of conversation in a restaurant, the checkout line in the grocery store or doing research. After a while my mind sees plots in the simplest exercises.
Whispers of Love
The idea for my first book, Whispers of Love, came from a question. You'll find authors often asking themselves What If... during the initial stages of beginning a book. The question that spawned Whispers of Love was, "If you could change everything about yourself, would someone who really loved you know who you are?"
It's not a simple question. Most of us don't have the means or the motivation to carry out such a test. In the case of Robyn Richards it wasn't a test. It was a way of life. First I put her in the Witness Protection Program, changed her physical appearance, her voice, her occupation, her name and permanent address. Everyone who knew her thought she was dead. Would the man she loved and who loved her, find her? Would he recognize her? Order Whispers of Love
Clara's Promise
Clara's Promise is a historical romance set in 1899 in Montana. The idea for this came from an inner need to tell a story I wanted to read; one about how real African-Americans lived in the "old West." So often African-American novels are set in the Civil War South or during the Reconstruction Period. I wanted a story without these elements. During my research of Blacks in the West during the 1800's I came across some interesting bits of Black history which added to my knowledge of our heritage. I wanted to give these to the world. Thus, Clara's Promise was born.
Clara is a school teacher seeking a new start. Many people went West in the 1800's to start over, find their fortunes, some even to disappear and begin anew. Clara is among these. She finds not only Americans in her new surroundings, but Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, and Englanders. Life in the old west, where the elements must be battled and harnessed, was not easy, but Clara finds a more acceptable existence until her past begins to plague her and hampers her future. Clara discovers she cannot run away from herself and to have a new life, she must resolve the old one. Order Clara's Promise
Holiday Cheer
Holiday Cheer is a collection of novellas by three Arabesque authors. My story, Invitation to Love, is a romantic suspense set during the Christmas season. The idea for this came from my years of living in Washington, D.C. and from the calligraphy set I bought and taught myself to use. The characters, Elizabeth and James, appeared in my brain as two people who wanted a second chance at happiness. Order Holiday Cheer
White Diamonds
The idea for White Diamonds is probably the hardest to put into words. The germ of it came to me while I read another. That book's plot was nothing like mine other than both our goals was to save the world; theirs from a modern day plague and mine from the "big Brother" syndrome of government autonomy. White Diamonds began as a simple communication project then the "what" questions formed in my mind and suddenly I had a high-powered, techno-thriller going.
This is the case when the author becomes a medium for her characters. Sandra and Wyatt took over the story and it was all I could do to type fast enough to get their words and actions down on paper. Order White Diamonds
Legacy
For three years I had a brooding lawyer perched on a mountain in Maryland and no idea how to get him off. I knew Michael, the hero of Legacy, was a traumatized lawyer. I even knew the trauma which sent him into his "hermit" status. What I didn't know was how to get him down.
Then on a purely innocent Sunday my son, studying about the Revolutionary War in his elementary school class, asked if we could go and see the Liberty Bell sometime. As we lived on twenty-five miles from the Philadelphia city limit we jumped in the car for a day trip. While in Philly we walked down to the river (Delaware River) to look at the ships. When I turned back and looked at the city, I saw Erika and Carlton, the heroine and her adopted father, Carlton. Suddenly I knew she would be the one to get Michael off the mountain and Carlton would supply the motivation for him to leave his self-imposed sanctuary. Order Legacy
I Do! Anthology
The Engagement is the name of the novella I wrote in this collection of three stories for Valentine's Day. The idea surrounds a real-life contest sponsored by the Rainbow Room Restaurant in New York City. They held an essay contest where you send in 100 words or less telling why you'd like to get married on Valentine's Day in the Rainbow Room. My couple win the contest and then one of them doesn't want to get married after being engaged for a long period of time?
Serena and Peter had every intention of getting married right after college, but their careers got in the way. Now they are comfortable in life, been engaged for fourteen years and suddenly have second thoughts about spending their lives together as a married couple. Order I Do! Anthology
Mirror Image
I believe the brain remembers everything we've ever seen or read. It records it somewhere in the folds and creases of our subsconcious. Retrieving it at will may be difficult or impossible at times. When I thought of impossible, the Alzheimer's victims came to mind and there was the germ of the plot for Mirror Image. At the "what if..." stage of this book I also remembered the many cardboard cutouts of famous people that are used to sell photos. (I've had mind done with Tom Selleck.) Then I wondered what a person's life would be like if she looked like someone famous. There, standing in the wings, was Aurora Alexander who looked so much like (but is not related to) a famous talk show hostess that she'd been mistook for the hostess even by the hero. Order Mirror Image
Winter Nights
Coming December 1998
Winter Nights is another anthology of holiday stories that center around Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Years. In this outing the book is being released as a hardcover. My story, The Kwanzaa Angel, brings two people together who have a past that makes them enemies even though they love each other. Our characters come from a small town in New Jersey. When he dumps the heroine at the senior prom she has to stay in town and take all the ridicule while he goes off to college and life in New York. Returning to the small town the day after Christmas they run into each other and old tongues begin to wag anew.
This idea came from a piece of conversation I overhead in the checkout line. A couple of guys were discussing an on-again/off-again relationship in which the central character (not present in the store) was about to marry a woman he'd done something wrong to. I wasn't there to find out what he'd done wrong, but they obviously worked it out. As do Raimi and Erin in The Kwanzaa Angel. Order Winter Nights (December 1998)
Opposites Attract
Coming March 1999
I got this idea years ago when mergers were the top of the news. Mergers continue to build more and more associations between businesses. My idea took the form of "what does this joining of two conglomerates do to the people who work for them." I was involved in a merger myself of two giant pharmaceutical concerns. I survived the cutbacks, layoffs, and terminations. I remember the feelings that didn't just affect the people being terminated; but that almost grieving feeling the ones left behind had.
In Opposites Attract I have a fiercely loyal MIS Director and the consultant who's been hired to help put these two square pegs fit into a round hole. Order Opposites Attract (March 1999)
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