The Fictional World of Writing

This morning, I woke up in the dark. Just as I do most mornings. Silence permeates my home except for the sound of a light rain clattering against the window pane.

The “21 Tattoos Series” “Book Four,” my characters have awakened me with their demands. The moment I pour my coffee, I open my laptop. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve renamed the file, only to realize that none of the titles fit. The book refuses to be named, and I’ve decided to let it remain untitled until it’s ready to speak for itself.

Every morning is a ritual: get up, put on my robe, pour my coffee, walk to the living room, sit in my recliner, put my laptop on my lap, scan my emails, or just start to write. The narrative builds with my characters all vying for position in the next story, perhaps because the weight of three previous books is now pressing down on the fourth. The familiar faces — Derek, Kendal, Father Mike, Tyler, Terry Ford with his military past — have grown much heavier with backstory, more stubborn in their resistance to authorial control.

I spend hours reading old drafts of each book in the 21 Tattoos Series, tracing the evolution of a character’s voice, noticing the subtle changes in their syntax and the way they’ve learned, over hundreds of pages, to mourn their own mistakes. Sometimes I sort through whole chapters, slicing them into paragraphs and rearranging them on my laptop computer like cards in a tarot spread. I…