This week, I experienced one of the coolest things that come from being a writer: meeting a fan and signing their copies of my books.
A few weeks ago when we went to Ohio, we had a friend, Heidi, watch the animals and check on the house for us. She got to feeling poorly, so she called another mutual friend, Kayleigh, to help her. They both raided our bookshelves because we had a bunch of books they wanted to read.
Those included The Sad Girl and Discoveries. I think Heidi had read one, but Kayleigh had never read either one and may not have known I was a writer.
I heard via my kids that Kayleigh really liked both books and was going to buy copies of her own. I let it be known that I’d sign them if she wanted. When the kids told her, she said, “Really?” and giggled, they said. She came over Monday night, had dinner with us, and I signed both of her copies. When she asked about a third book, I told her she was going to have to wait a bit because I was working on Ghost. She seemed okay with the idea.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of interacting with fans of my writing. It’s such an incredible boost when someone tells you they read something you created, and they really liked it. Kayleigh and I had a great conversation about the characters and their trauma response. I mentioned that several people wanted to hear more about various characters; she agreed, but she surprised me with who she was interested in: Cyndi Tapley.
Usually, people want to hear about Marco because he’s Danny’s friend or Jim Unger because he’s the former SEAL. One reviewer said they wanted to know more about Geoff Wilson, the guy at the embassy with the younger sister. But Kayleigh wanted to learn more about the girl who was arguably the most seriously injured of the original five.
I honestly haven’t given her much thought. I know she was horribly emotionally injured, and I know she survived what happened in Discoveries. She isn’t even mentioned in In Plain Sight, though neither are any of the others. If I wrote about her, I’d have to do a lot of research into the emotional aspect of what she went through. I’d also have to be very careful to not let her story turn into a trope-filled Mary-Sue kind of thing where she’s been miraculously healed of her trauma. It’s an interesting thought experiment though.
I’ve considered off and on writing about several of the characters in the Sad Girl universe. Marco has an interesting development in Discoveries that could spawn a book, or at least a novella. Likewise, at least one of the characters in In Plain Sight could get their own story. Sherre Parks, one of the original five girls, I think would be a good strong character. I could easily use her story to bring the universe into the modern day from 2012.
I never planned on creating this whole universe when I first wrote The Sad Girl. In my mind twelve years ago, it was just a one-off. I wasn’t sure what I was going to write after it, either. I suppose I should get a better idea of what I want to do with this, eh?
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share a thought in the comments. Sign up for my infrequent newsletter here. Find some of my other writing at The Good Men Project, too. Subscribe to the blog via the link in the right sidebar so you never miss an update here, either. You can also add my RSS feed to your favorite reader.
Share your thoughts!