Three Months ago, at the beginning of summer, I received an agent request for the full manuscript of my historical fiction novel, A Fine Suddenness. I am told that 3 months is about the time I might begin to expect to hear back from the agent, and so today I am checking my email even more regularly than usual, and I am thinking about the origins of the manuscript.
My Journal
It began in May of 2011 with the glimmer of a character suggested by a signature of ownership in an old red leather-bound book a friend gifted me: The Conqueror, by Gertrude Atherton. My friend Lynn is a librarian, a teacher of history, a seller of used books, and a maker of reclaimed book journals. You can check out her business at brownbagbooks.biz. This book was one of her rescued book journals. The cover was intact, rebound into a smallish wire bound blank journal.
The original inscription inside was simple: Mary Miller 1903. Who was this lady, I wondered? She must have loved her books, I thought, to have signed her name and the year of acquisition on the inside cover, a habit I also have. I usually add the place I acquired the book also, but Mary Miller did not do so. A quick search told me that Gertrude Atherton was a San Francisco author, and The Conqueror had been published in 1902, was about Alexander Hamilton, and was widely acclaimed.
I immediately began writing in Mary’s book-turned-journal, taking on an imagined persona of the unknown lady. It began: “May 8, 1903. Lake Arrowhead, California. I am proposing to tell you a story which I am quite sure you will doubt . . .” Rather quickly it took on the overtones of a ghost story, and I named Mary’s father, described his field of study and stated that her mother had died of influenza when she was a child. All of that came to me very spontaneously. Also, Mary’s husband was dead, but she had a vision of him. So, A Fine Suddenness began as a ghost story. And in some ways perhaps that is what it still is, but not in the way it began.
Eventually, the real Mary Miller, whoever that lady was, disappeared from my mind and became instead a woman who lived in Lake Arrowhead, California during the 1940s—70 years before I read her inscription rather than the actual 108 years. Once I placed Mary in a new time and most certainly a different place than the real Mary had lived, I began to conjure what life was like during World War II on the mountain we shared, not in time, but in place.
All of that pondering gradually grew into a scene of Mary in her yard among her roses, the trees towering in the background. And so, she became real to me, and I wrote her story. She is completely fictional, other than the sense I got from seeing her name, and from the beautiful red and gold embossed cover of a book.
She, I hope, would make her namesake, the real Mary Miller, proud.
LakeArrowheadLadyWriter 
sounds wonderful! Hope to read it!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I would love that! Fingers crossed it finds its way to print. 🥰
LikeLike
That sounds beautiful!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Amber! You are beautiful!!!
LikeLike
The agent request sounds very exciting, but what does that mean exactly? Clue me in🤔
>
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi, Mary! Queries to agents are the traditional path to publishing. Writers spend a lot of time researching literary agents and sending letters to them that briefly describe their manuscripts. Agents are besieged with queries and comb through them. I have sent out nearly 100 queries. To get a request for the full manuscript based on the query letter is very exciting. I’m grateful!
LikeLike
I was drawn in the minute I started reading your post! I would love to read it when it is published!! I am also intrigued by the way in which you came to write it! So fascinating!! Thank you so much for sharing, and congratulations as it goes to print!!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, Anita! Your support and interest are so appreciated! It means so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good luck with your book. It sounds fascinating.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much! I appreciate you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lori, Your story reminded me of Ghost Stories from Bracken Fern/Tudor House. When I first moved to Lake Arrowhead I worked at the a B&B (Bracken Fern) across from an old hotel that Bugsy Segal used to own back in the early 1900s.
Letters were found written by young Hollywood hopefuls who were lured to the mountain to be “discovered” by directors only to forced into prostitution. Bugsy “owned” the one dirt road to the mountain resort. There are underground tunnels.
And lots of ghost stories. I was often there alone hearing footsteps when no one was there. My daughter and I saw a woman walk the halls and she disappeared. Guests spoke of noises in the noise, things moving, etc.
Good luck in your queries. I, too use AI generated images on my blog.
Here is a link.
https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/ghost-adventures/photos/ghost-adventures-bracken-fern-manor-tudor-house-pictures
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi, Gloria! I had heard tiny bits about the Tudor House but not nearly that much! Sad and fascinating! Funny that you worked there when you first moved to the mountain and when I first lived there I worked at The Storybook Inn. And then eventually we wound up at wonderful MPH together. 🥰 Thanks for the link; I will do some research!
LikeLike
What a cool journal! I hope you hear back about your manuscript soon.🤞
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Priscilla! And yes, Brown Bag Books journals are so cool! I have some really great ones from there- including Trixie Belden mysteries, which were some of my childhood favorites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great story idea! I hope that agent is smart and picks you up!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks so much, Marie! The research and the story have been so absorbing for so long. I miss being in the midst of Mary’s life!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my goodness, Lori. I love all of this. Best wishes to you. Keep us posted! 🥰
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks so much, Vicki! It’s so heartwarming to hear from you! I will definitely keep everyone posted!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful! 🥰
LikeLiked by 1 person
that’s wonderful news! wishing you the very best, dear!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, da-AL! You are so kind and I appreciate you more than you know!
LikeLiked by 1 person
One of us needs to get a great agent so we can recommend the other of us to them ♥️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! Good thinking!😻
LikeLiked by 1 person
The waiting game is tough. Hoping you receive a thumbs up!
LikeLiked by 2 people