The Voice in my Head...

For  a few weeks now, I've been scribbling down notes and ideas for a new novel--playing with scenarios inside my head--but this week I decided it was time to commit some of them to computer screen, and so far I've got about 1860 words committed to the page.

What has been the most surprising to me is the ease with which a new character has taken over my thoughts. Emily has moved out, and Eleanor has taken her place!

I never planned to have another heroine with a name that starts with "E" (her sister's name does, too) but Eleanor popped into my head one day (confirmed in several odd little ways), bringing with her name a history and personality that I just couldn't escape. She was willing to stay and share her story with me, she said, but I had to take her just as she was--name, family, and all.

(So far it seems her story is worth telling, so I guess I can accept her terms.)

She seems to be claiming that she's from the East Coast, in spite of the fact that I wanted her to live on the West. Again, I'm thinking she'll get her way on this, too. (She seems to be allowing me to choose the town she lives in, though. She's been surprisingly silent on that).

She's also made it clear that she's the daughter of a British-born college professor and is university-educated herself--and that the year the story begins is 1934. She hasn't told me her age yet, but I think I'm getting close to finding that out. (Hopefully she'll tell me if I'm right)

Oh... and her mother has spent the last 15 years in a mental institution--although Eleanor had been told she was dead.

There will be mysteries to solve, time-travel, and she'll have a life-changing decision to make in the end.

Hmmm...

I can't wait to hear what else she

has to say!