Last week I sent my completed manuscript for THE INTRUSION to my editor. This will be published book number 3 for me once I finish the complete process. I’ve been working on the next book in the Reece Culver series, FLIGHT, off and on all Spring and have been making good progress on that. The next step for this new book is to spend some time on the outline so I have a good roadmap for where the story will go all the way to the end. When I’m writing thrillers I often free write the first 10 chapters based on an idea for the book, and then when I have a good start done I’ll sit down and jot down the rest of the scenes all the way to the end.
Lately, I’ve also been kicking around an idea for a new book or novella in the Young Adult (YA) genre. Back in 2017 and 2018, I sold several YA Chat Fiction stories to two international companies. One was in France and the other based in Italy. What was neat about that was that both of those companies came to me wanting to hire me to write for them.
Recently I read several articles about parts of Denver that were being renovated. The city has seen major growth over the past ten years. One article mentioned gentrification and how the character of poor urban areas is changed over time when developers come into a neighborhood to buy up properties, tear them down, and build new homes and condos. During this process, many of the original inhabitants are often displaced.
If you live in Denver you’ve seen this going on in the LoDo area for years. What was once an area covered by warehouses is full of apartment buildings, condos, and trendy new restaurants.
I thought on this for a few days and wondered what it would be like to live in a neighborhood in an urban setting and see this type of thing happening. How would you feel if your favorite park was threatened by development? What would the conversations be about at large family dinners? Would there be a way that the inhabitants of a community could change their destiny by taking targeted actions?
I started thinking about a story with the main character named Toby. He’s a young kid with a large extended family. Toby lives with his grandmother, Nana, and us Uncle Nelson. (At some point in the story I’ll have to figure out where his parents are or what happened to them.) Toby has lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles and he walks to school five days a week. He’s a thinker and he is very intelligent. His uncle is a hard worker and Toby spends lots of time with him watching sports and cruising around in his Ford pickup.
Toby becomes interested in computers and gets the librarian in his elementary school to show him how to use one of the few computers available to him.
It’s still coming together, but it will be a David vs. Goliath type of story with a happy ending.
As I flesh out the basic beginning outline of this new book I ask myself questions.
Maybe in the story, Toby uses his newly learned skills to influence his aunts and uncles so that they can have a say in the development of their neighborhood rather than leaving those decisions to outsiders.
What if Toby teaches the older adults a skill?
What if in the end when the stakes are high the large family pools their resources?
What if years later after Toby grows up and becomes a successful businessman will he become a Goliath type or will he stay true to the ideals of his youth?