The Strange World of Story Formation: Guardian Angel

So one of the reasons I wanted to keep this journal was to be able to record how some of my stories progress, especially in the beginning, because as often happens after I work on something for an extended period of time, I forget how I ever came up with the idea, or how it ever developed into what it was currently, because I do remember it turns out nothing like it began, just can't remember how.  Heh.

For instance, the idea I've been talking about quite a bit lately, Lady in Black – which btw I've decided to officially name Guardian Angel – was originally inspired by a song…"She Talks to Angels" by the Black Crowes.  I knew only that I wanted it to star a woman who always wore black, had black hair, wore lots of eye makeup, and carried a locket of hair around her neck (like the woman in the song).  The rest of it was a mystery.  Later on, after forgetting about the idea entirely for a year or so, I for some reason began to hypothesize what I thought the Earth would be like in a hundred years or so, and how I thought humanity would really handle space flight if it became normal and affordable.  This was influenced I'm sure by the game Mass Effect and a few episodes of the History channels Universe show, which seeded several scifi ideas. 

I then decided to lump those ideas together with the long-forgotten lady in black idea.  My main character now had a setting in which to live, whoohoo!  The thing I can't remember is where the hell I came up with the idea for one of the other characters, Elly Weaver.  I guess I just wanted someone opposite of Lynn (the lady in black)… I thought it would be fun to have Elly stuck on the ship with Lynn, in an environment that was totally foreign to her, with a woman who had nothing in common with her, and see what happened.  It was going to kind of be a chick-lit story set in space…. until…..

Lane Shelby came along.  *sigh*  He ruined everything.  He came from somewhere where I read the name "Lane", it was supposed to be a last name, but I thought it worked better for  a first name.  I then asked my lovely husband for a last name, because Jason is THE BEST EVER at coming up with kick ass names.  He was the one who invented the name Veeren Siege, the bounty hunter in Betrayed meant to be a minimal character, but who developed into such an awesome character (largely because of his awesome name) that I made him a big part.  Jason also came up with the handle Barrot Darenger, the vampire-hunter in Cheetah on the Roof, who I have also now fallen in love with.  And so it was the same with Lane Shelby.  I almost immediately loved him, and wanted to make him a part of Guardian Angel.

Except he had someone chasing him.  But who?  And why?  And what did Elly and Lynn have to do with anything???

Enter an idea that's been sitting in the back of my head for a very, very long time.  Something I originally intended to use in a Firefly fanfic that just never got off the ground, something inspired by my work in the lab.  (And something that then took the book out of the chick-lit genre…)  That took care of the why.  As far as the who, I remembered in the song it mentioned this woman "talked to angels".  The "angels" then solved several of my questions: who was after Lane, who was after Lynn, where Lynn came from, and why she had that locket of hair around her neck.  Oh, and why Elly was trapped on the ship with Lynn, of course.  😉

Everything is pretty much settled now, and laid out, and I've got a general outline in my head of what I want to happen.  Of course unexpected things do still happen while I'm writing, but that's the fun part.  I love to see where the story goes all by itself.  😀 

It's kind of fun to remember how a story happened, and how things eventually pieced together.  So weird how it all works out.  I'll have to do this "idea creation history" for each of my ideas…. it's just so strange to see where it comes from!!!