Why It Took 14 Years to Write Rescue

Okay, so it didn’t take me LITERALLY 14 years in front of my computer to write this novel. But it has taken 14 years from my initial idea for it to get to a point where I could write it into an actual book. I had the idea around 2008-ish, and after a few false starts, I set it aside for a different project. Then, there was 13 years or so where the idea was only vaguely in my brain, mostly shoved into the back of it lol. All of a sudden this year, it came back to me with a vengeance lol.

Inspiration

Fourteen years ago, I read a book with a bunch of short stories about bonds with animals. I thought the whole book was about actual animal communication, but now that I’m thinking about it, it may have only been a section of the stories in the book. I also can NOT for the life of me remember the title of it, and I no longer have the book. I needed to downsize several years ago, and I had found the book so fascinating, I thought I’d pass it along to someone else who might get as much enjoyment out of it as I did. Who knew I’d be struggling to remember what it was called now?

I remember reading about animal communicators and thinking it was amazing. I’d heard of mediums who could talk to spirits and things, but it never occurred to me that people could really talk to animals. I started wondering what it would be like, especially since I had a horse of my own at the time, and frequently wondered what it would be like to talk to her. Admittedly, since she was a chestnut mare, whatever she had to say may not have been very nice…

After thinking about these things a little bit, I got thinking about a new question: what if an animal communicator saw a crime take place through a horse’s eyes? Then a story formed about a woman who could talk to horses, finding an abandoned mare who showed her a child locked in a stall. She tries to go to the police, who laugh her out of the station. Except for one police officer, who is intrigued & wants to help her. And they fall in love…

Character Development

I started and re-started writing Rescue several times all those years ago, but I had trouble getting anywhere with it. I didn't feel like I was really clicking with the main character, and I had trouble figuring out exactly where to go with the story. I thought if I made a really detailed character sketch for each of my main characters, that might help me write the book better. So I really poked around the MC's past, and what her childhood was like as a kid who could communicate with animals, particularly horses...

And ended up with a whole new story. My brain told me it was a complete story, that it would practically write itself. And I did end up writing it pretty quickly, although it took more thinking about than my brain wanted to admit lol. I ended up writing a young adult novel about her as a teenager, whose ability is exploited by her abusive father. It never went any farther than a first draft, but it does have potential, so I may go back to it at some point.

Rescue 2.0

I more or less forgot about the story after that. With two horses, a dog, and then a baby, I didn't have much time to write anyway. But a few years ago, I started feeling like something was missing in my life. I needed to get back to writing. I worked on a few other projects, and this winter, I was planning on starting a series. I was plotting out the first few books, and I got The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne, hoping to use it to help me plot the books…

Instead, I randomly remembered my original idea for Rescue, and started outlining it instead, although with some big changes. Once again, my brain tricked me into thinking I had a completely developed story, so I immediately started working on it instead. It hasn’t been what I expected at all, but in the best way. Halfway through the book, I suddenly realized my villain isn’t exactly THE villain of the story. They definitely have a serious hand in the villainy lol, but they’re not the primary bad guy. Three-quarters of the way through, I discovered a few more secrets about the characters (one which I guess may tie the original villian with the actual villian for worst character in the book...)

This time around, the book flowed better. It's unexpectedly kind of funny...and I realized one day as I was writing that the story came more easily this time because I related more to my main character (sadly, I'm not an animal communicator myself). Then I realized I connected with Paige because her life is as ridiculous as mine sometimes feels!

I'm getting closer to being done- hopefully I'll have this shitty first draft finished mid-July. I can't wait to get it finished so I can start editing it...hopefully that won't take me another 14 years ;)

Have you ever had a project that took a lot longer to complete than you expected? I'd love to hear about it- you can leave a comment below, or on my Facebook or Instagram!