The Junk Drawer of My Mind

My brain is remarkably similar to the junk drawer we all seem to have at home. Things get thrown in there that probably should have been jettisoned a long time ago. But it's really hard to let go of these little bits of interesting trivia, or things labeled "real possibilities", so I jam them into a space that’s already packed with tons of other half-baked ideas.

At other times it seems like my brain is more akin to row after row of overstuffed file cabinets. Nothing is organized. It's just stuffed into a random drawer that's already bulging with other randomness, making it impossible to retrieve something when I specifically want it. But I know it's there. Somewhere. Because it was much too good to throw away.

On other days I'm convinced my brain is just this wide open space, with zero gravity, and all these stray thoughts float around and bounce off the information and data I've collected over the years. Somehow, magically, these odd bits accidentally bumping into each other turn into a story idea.

The Curse of True Love series is a good example. A long time ago I had scribbled something about Aphrodite and Ares having some sort of vague competition, but I never did anything with it. And then a few years ago, the Avon blog had a writing prompt about a heroine getting into her carriage after a ball, and we had to say who was there with her, and why. I had the heroine mad at the hero for being late to their wedding, and as a throwaway line of dialogue, she mentions how he had caused a scandal when he arrived at the church with ladies of the evening accompanying him. It was fun, and it made me laugh, but I truly thought I was done with that story.

I was busy with another book at the time, a Regency historical, where the characters are cursed to fall for their one true love--with numerous complications, obviously. But it wasn't quite working. One day my brain must have been moving file cabinets around, because all of a sudden it yanked a scrap from one of those bulging drawers with a loud "Aha!".

What if Aphrodite and Ares were the source of this curse?

Well. That definitely had possibilities. I plopped down on the couch and began typing with inhuman speed while my brain spilled everything it knew, or thought it knew. I even sketched out the remaining stories in the series, with titles and character names and potential plots. It was going really well, and I was very happy with this new version of things.

Except. . .

That idea of the hero being late for his wedding kept popping up, like the pesky critter in Whack-a-Mole. I continually batted it away, pushing it aside, insisting it leave me alone. But I'm pretty sure you figured out who won this battle.

It made perfect sense to have Aphrodite and Ares commence their mayhem with this hero who was late for his wedding.

So now you know how Lord Rakehell's Love came into being. It is a mélange of seemingly unrelated things crashing around in my brain until I was forced to admit it was a story I couldn't wait to write.

I hope you'll enjoy Simon and Georgiana's story, which should be releasing around September 1st. You'll also get to meet the hero and heroine of Lord Wastrel, the next book in the series, which would have been the first book if Lord Rakehell's Love hadn't jumped to the front of the line.

Now I'm off to see what everyone is up to, because apparently there's another character who has some crazy ideas that don't fit with what I've planned thus far. I've really got to get some locks on those file drawers soon. . .

Comments

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What exciting news that we're finally going to be able to snatch up Lord Rakehell's Love. I'm doing the happy dance! :)

Great comparison between your mind and the junk drawer, LOL. I guess mine is like that too. I loved hearing how all those random pieces fit together to give birth to this series. I'm SOLD!!

Posted by: Mae Clair | August 22, 2013 at 08:48 AM