Oh, oh! The Visit Has Happened.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO TAKE A WRITER BREAK, I'M HIT BY 'THE VISIT'.

You can see from the previous posts that it has been a busy few months in my writing life. I spent September editing 'Beautiful Freaks' and October preparing its launch, the editing, the proofreading and  promotions, as well as starting to plan for NaNoWriMo, which took up all of November. At the same time, I've been working along side Little Bird Publishing House reading a whole range of amazing short stories written by fellow YA writers for the first volume of their anthology series, 'Dark Heart'.

It's been incredibly interesting being on the other end of the submission process and also editing some of the works. Editing other writers' stories certainly makes you much more conscious of your own writing habits. It's a process that I'd encourage all other writers to have a go at; it's been one of the most intensive learning processes.

We've selected seven wonderful stories from a submission pool of around sixty; an overwhelming response, which is why it has taken a little longer to finally choose the seven that shall make up volume one.

So with the end of that process in sight, the end of NaNoWriMo, I've been looking forward to trying to carve out a period of rest - haha - the muse, it would appear, has other ideas.

It started three nights ago, with the arrival of the visions and the visit. It's happened to me twice now, so it's getting a little less freaky-call-the-psychiatrist-there-are-strange-people-in-my-head and more, 'oh, here we go again'! So what exactly do  I mean by 'the visit'?

The visit is when a character or a pair of characters comes to call on my imagination. They literally turn up and sort of 'stalk' me; hiding in the shadows of setting visions. At the moment they are still shy - either that or they are biding their time. I know that her name is Sophia, Sophia Rose and his name is Jeremiah Chase. There is a relationship between them, but it's complex and I haven't worked it out. They never stand together, they don't seem to be  a couple but there's a bond between them -  a serious tension and I'm looking forward to exploring it more.

Sophia has attitude. I can tell by the way that she stands, leaning against a tree with her arms folded and  her unblinking stare. I'm not sure yet if we are actually going to get along; if she's going to let me in. Jeremiah on the other hand is much more open. His hands are on his hips. He's wearing a white cotton shirt and a pair of black trouser braces connected to dark grey jeans. He's handsome. Blonde and rugged. Blue eyes. He's certainly not my usual type, so it's going to be interesting getting to know him. I'm already feeling a little giddy in his presence.

The visions are like a camera shutter falling on a scene. The setting comes out of the darkness and then goes again almost instantly - not long enough for details but nevertheless, they create an impact.

There are ancient woods  (no surprise for my fans there), an old English village, a churchyard and a very old English manor house.

It's going to be a story based around English folklores and it's going to be hot. This is pretty much all I know  - as for the rest, it's a complete mystery. Oh, I do know that Jeremiah Chase comes from the states. He is nephew to a crazy old English lady. Her ancestors, a deeply religious family of preacher brothers moved to Boston USA in the mid 1700's. (They happened to take a visit to a little town called Salem around the year 1754.) It is from this lineage that Jeremiah comes from. I'm getting so excited just writing these 'facts' down. Up until now they've just been floating around.

I'm hoping that Jeremiah and Sophia are both content to sort of hang around for a while - that things don't all kick off before I've had a chance to do some of the boring stuff. We will see. It's all a little bit like witchcraft - I'm preparing to be bewitched. (There's a bit of a clue there *wink*)