Talk to any writer, and you’re going to get some interesting stories about when their fictional world intrudes on reality. Pretty much inevitable when someone lives in their imagination.
I was no different when writing Stray Drop. Aside from the times when I heard something interesting in class and launched into a daydream about how it could apply to Abigail–and completely overlooking those occasions when I’d get out a notebook and let people think I was taking notes on class when really I was jotting down story ideas–I kept my friends regularly entertained with my double-think.
One of the things I did when writing this was not use contractions. (See the Language section for details.) Which meant that I had to train my brain to think this way, ’cause lemme tell you, it isn’t natural for me. It was like there was a censor between brain and fingers. I would think “I don’t know” which earned an “Ah! No! It’s ‘I know not.’”
Thing is, I couldn’t turn this censor off. So I’d be talking or in class and I’d stumble over my words because I was trying to take out the contractions, then putting them back in.
A few other tidbits . . .
The first version was a little steamier in a few sections. My dad, being ever-so-supportive, read the book as soon as galleys were available, which was when we all went on vacation together. We could all tell when he got to those parts–got to watch his ears turn red.
One of the highest compliments I received was when an elderly lady from my church bought the book. Then called my mom up and said, “I need another copy. My niece is having surgery and needs reading material, but no way am I lending her mine!”
We belong to a really small denomination, where everybody knows everybody. Except for my church, which is new. My parents went to their first conference meeting in the summer of ’09 and were really touched when a line of people queued up to meet them. Then the woman next in line came up, gave them hugs and said, “You’re Roseanna’s parents! I can’t believe it! I love her book!” Made my day. =)
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