I’ve been reading and researching a lot lately, trying to get my mind right for the novel I want to write.  Of course, if you ask me what it’s about, I can’t rightly tell you.  I have three already started and one that is niggling around in my head, but it isn’t concrete enough to start to flow from my fingertips yet.

I just finished reading “How to Buy a Love of Reading” – it’s been on my Kindle for years, reading it made me realize how little I know about novel writing, hell, I don’t even recognize all the parts and their definitions.  I am not a “creative writer”, I am just a voice, I want to write with a true voice, a voice others can relate to.  What I need help with first is character development….that’s where you come in.

Would you tell me your story?  Everyone has one, whether you are 15 or 50 or 85…each of us has a story. My favorite question to ask when I talk to someone is not, what do you do? It’s What is Your Story?  I’m writing mine every day, but I think I have figured out the central theme.  My theme is change.  I can pinpoint at least four times in my life in which an action I took changed my life dramatically, in my case, it was always for the better.  So as I spend a little time crafting my story to tell, would you tell me yours?

Some of my friends are going to get tagged on Facebook – I particularly like strong, independent women, and I know a bunch of them.  I think of them as “Women who get S**T Done!”  This is a private lesson, not for public consumption or publication, I just need inside some of your heads to help me figure out how others think.  I hate looking at the world from only my limited experience.

A little history, a little backstory about who  you are, how you came to be that person, what decision or action in your life brought you to where you are?  Is there a fear that keeps you rooted to your origins, or a fear you have already faced and defeated? Don’t worry about how it is told, think of it as a conversation.

If you want, send it by email to shelleyontheroad@yahoo.com, or post in the comments.  Be true to yourself, I want to use these “characters” to fill my books with real, yet imagined people.  I want to combine your qualities with others so no one will recognize you, unless of course, you are fabulous – and then who wouldn’t want to be recognized!