"There's a story behind THAT story."

The Ghost of Whispering Willow

At some point or another, I am certain everyone has heard the words “There’s a story behind THAT story.” Well, it just so happens that I’m about to use those words too, because there is a story behind my story, The Ghost of Whispering Willow.

I remember the day that my daughter and her friends sat at the
foot of my desk and asked if I would write them a scary story.  I had just finished the second installment of the mischief series A Fairy Match in the Mushroom Patch, and I had no idea what I was going to write next. They had another request, too, and this one wasn’t as easy to fulfill as I thought that it would be.  The request seemed simple enough “Please put us in the story,” but it wasn’t simple at all.

As writers, creators of a piece of work, our characters often lead us down a path that we did not foresee. They tend to leap of the page and take on a life of their own. The request that the girls made became quite a challenge. Fleshing out my characters helped; giving them the traits that the kids truly had, brown hair, red hair, brown eyes etc., but it was the personality traits that became an issue.

The character, girls, in my story, Kendall, Ally, and Krista, are real kids. I wrote the story with them specifically in mind and at times I had to reel the characters in, as they started to scatter in a direction that I knew my girls wouldn’t dream of going. Kendall was by far the easiest character to bring to life, because just like the real Kendall, she is beautiful, sweet and kind by nature.

Ally, well she really is a beautiful little redhead, but likely a tad stronger in personality than I portrayed. The Ally in my ghost story is strong and independent, but the real Ally, well, she’s definitely stronger. My daughter Krista, she loves soccer. She was the hardest to portray throughout the story, and my character tends to be a tad gentler than my daughter. Soccer (for now) is her life, but I’m certain that will change.  The story developed and at times I was taken by surprise by the chapters that I wrote, I love it when that happens.

As I wrote my ghost story with their little faces in mine, I wondered if they would ever realize what it took to bring the storyline together in such a way. Kids are kids, they may read the book and toss it aside, I don’t know, but I hope not.  But if they actually take a second and realize that they are characters in a book, I hope it means something to them. It definitely means something to me. I wrote a story, I think a beautiful story, for three beautiful girls. “There’s a story behind THAT story. The Ghost of Whispering Willow.”