Surprise at High Altitude started when I was stopped at a red light and opened a tin of Altoids and noticed how similar they looked to aspirin tablets. What if a person had a headache and they only had the curiously strong mints in her purse? By the time I crossed through the intersection, I remembered a contract job I had at an insurance company in downtown St. Paul and the people I encountered. It amazes me how a little daydream at a stop light could turn into a story with fictitious characters doing interesting and sometimes dangerous things.
Counting the Days came after reading a short story written in epistolary format. I asked myself would it be possible to tell a story in letter form, but only show the letters from one person. Would the reader be able to fill in the blanks? From comments I’ve received from readers, it’s a thumbs up.
Too Much Gin happened as a result of a sentence coming to my consciousness during a meditation. “I think I’m in trouble.”
Me: Who are you?
Answer: Tess
Me: Interesting name.
Answer: It’s for Tessora
Me: That’s an odd name. What’s your last name?
Answer: Morgasmer
Hearing that answer made me chuckle and threw me out of the meditative mood. And since the name was so weird, I had to find out more. Thanks to an active imagination and asking more questions, I put a story together.
The idea for The Fire at The Bent Fork Café took longer to develop. Over the years I’ve written character sketches whenever I’ve come across something interesting or unusual. Then at a meeting of the Northern Lights Writers, a conversation started about creating an anthology. My mouth engaged ahead of my brain and said, “I could write a story.” I was already working on a Janet Darcy mystery and didn’t need another distraction—something I’m prone to do. But in speaking I put a challenge on myself. What I could “dream up” in a reasonable amount of time? For inspiration I went to my character file and picked a few interesting characters and plopped them in tough situations.