Author Insight: An Unexpected Light
The inspiration for this story came from two very different sources. The idea of a girl sold into slavery and her encounter with a sea rat actually comes from a story I remember working on during many of the creative writing classes taught by my friend and mentor Steve Charak. I never knew exactly where the story was going, but with Steve’s encouragement I always managed to add several new pages during each of our writing sessions. Some of my fondest memories are sitting by a window in the now gone Four Seasons Bookstore in Olympia and writing on that story.
I chose to revisit the idea because of a lecture I heard at the 2010 Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. The speaker had discussed, among other things, the phenomenon of romantic fiction readers. Regardless of any trends or bestsellers in other genres, romance seems to have always had a very secure fan-base. The speaker, who himself was a very successful author of thrillers, suggested that writers from all genres should attempt in some way to branch into this field. I dutifully wracked my brain for any stories I had that seemed centered on a romantic idea as opposed to a fanciful idea. The closest I could think of was the old story from my Steve Charak days, and I used it as an experiment to write a story somewhat different to what I was accustomed to.
I’m still not sure how I feel about this story. I left it open-ended in case I wanted to continue it, but I’m still debating it. If nothing else, I am glad I took the opportunity to experiment with another genre and push myself creatively.