Behind the Scenes of 3rd Time's the Charm.

Where do you get your ideas? Almost every writer has heard this question in all its myriad of forms, and we do our best to answer. But people often aren't satisfied with our response. Because, each author is different, each story is different, and each spark for a story is different. At least for me.

Some writers are able to able to work with vast constructs right from the start. Entire scenes have played out in their heads, character arcs expand in their dreams, and sometimes, the entire three acts snap into existence before they even start. I'm not one of those lucky folks. 

I begin with a tiny spark of an idea. A glimmer. A barely-seen shadow. My interest is teased and I tug lightly on the thread. Not too hard, I don't want it to snap. But if I follow, it will lead. My novella, 3rd Time's the Charm, published by JMS Books, LLC, came from such a spark. A silly one, when I think about it. But, from silliness to full-blown story, who am I to complain? 

One snowy, Michigan winter Mr. Munder came down with a truly horrendous cold. One that was bad enough I could bully him into the urgent care. We sat there for a few hours, amid the other hacking and coughing patients, and with nothing else to do (even before Covid I wouldn't touch a magazine in a clinic's waiting room to save my life), I people-watched.

I studied the staff behind the desks, the worried parents around me, and the never-ending stream of patients. Somewhere in the midst of all that chaos, there was a young doctor who walked through the waiting room for a brief second.  That was all it took. Somehow, in the period of time it took this doctor to exit one door and enter another, Dr. Nick Davros was created. The rest of his story came a bit later, but the tiny flicker, that spark, was the beginning. Did I do him justice? Well, only you, as the reader, can decide.

3RD TIME'S THE CHARM

Novella ebook available from JMS Books, Amazon, and your favorite online bookstore