We are delighted to welcome author Channing Whitaker to Omnimystery News today.
Channing's new supernatural mystery is Until the Sun Rises (Dark Oak Mysteries; March 2015 trade paperback and ebook formats) and his guest post for us today is titled, "The Seed of a Story".
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Photo provided courtesy of
Channing Whitaker; Photo credit Dave Muller.
It's a none-to-uncommon question for authors, "where did you get the idea for your book?" But it's not always an easy question to answer. I wonder if we can do a little better?
For me, I have many ideas swimming around in my head. Sometimes it's a character, but I'm not sure where I'll use them. Other times it's a setting, a plot twist, or just a moment of intensity all without corresponding context. Once in a while, with a little luck, a bunch of these ideas come together and form something bigger, a foundation. Who's to say which of that cluster was first, or even where it came from?
With my recently released novel, Until the Sun Rises — One Night in Drake Mansion, I similarly can't put my finger on any single element as having spawned the rest of my tangled web. However, I can recall the very first scene from the story I began developing.
The majority of the novel is set in the present, but a portion takes place in the past. The first past section involves a mysterious, secret, and very thematically dark magic show which adds to the mystery set in the present with a parallel mystery to unfold in the past. Essentially, it's a tangential story line, a secondary mystery that draws the reader to learn about certain characters pertaining to the primary mystery and plot. It adds character depth, intrigue, and plot layers. Of course the two plotlines intersect explosively, but it's interesting in retrospect for the secondary plotline to have been the genesis of the main story, converse to what one might expect.
This magic show moment and its characters were first. From there, I created scenes to give readers background on the characters, to get you acquainted. Next, I developed plot that puts the characters into that moment. After that, I developed additional scenes to give that moment direct consequence, and more to show readers what those characters do after that moment, how it impacted them. With this thread woven, I stepped back and asked, "how can I make this even deeper, even more consequential, intriguing, captivating?" The answer came with adding what eventually became the primary plotline, which underwent it's own similar development.
Returning to the question, "where did you get the idea?" It feels like I just had that first moment in my head. Did I see a weird magic show that made it dawn on me? Not that I recall? Did I base the characters on something I saw, read, or heard? I don't think so. In fact, I believe I invented the scene and the character specifically because I'd never seen anything like that scene before. The rest was created to give others a chance to find it as interesting as I did.
Perhaps in the future I'll read an article and it will directly inspire a new story. Certainly that occurs with non-fiction, and I can imagine the same for fiction — where a real life story inspires a similar, but even more intriguing scenario. That just hasn't been my experience. In the mean time, perhaps a better go-to question for authors is, "what part of your story did you explore first?" This might cut to the desired incite into the creative process even faster.
Authors, what part of your story did you explore first?
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Born in Centerville, Iowa, Channing studied cinema, screenwriting, literature, and mathematics at the University of Iowa. He went on to work in the production of television news, independent films, and commercial videos as well as to write for websites, corporate media, and advertising. His nearly 10-year career in writing has taken Channing from Iowa, to Texas, Alaska, and currently to Oklahoma. In that time, Channing has also written and directed over 50 short films. The publication of his debut novel Until the Sun Rises: One Night in Drake Mansion, comes in tandem with the production of his first feature screenplay "KILD TV," also in the mystery/thriller genre, already filmed, and slated for a 2015 release.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at ChanningWhitaker.com and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook.
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Until the Sun Rises by Channing Whitaker
A Novel of Supernatural Suspense
Publisher: Dark Oak Mysteries
Eighty years ago, a wealthy Midwest family returned home from a magic show, after which neither they, nor the magician, Malvern Kamrar, were ever heard from again. When several bystanders died in their mansion, the house was sealed.
After nearly a century of rumors and haunted stories, for a live TV event the mansion will be opened, allowing five contestants to spend one night and win their share of a million dollars. The contestants: a psychic, a high-tech ghost hunter, a Hollywood scream queen, a local woman, and a skeptic, fuel excitement as each tries to solve the mystery.
Upon entering, the journal of the family patriarch, Vinton Drake, is discovered, illuminating the mystery, rooted all the way back to Vinton's service as a medic in WWI, when he first met the magician. Departing from the familiar haunted house tale, this story explores the very nature of belief in the supernatural, with consequences more frightening than any ghost story.
Intensity sours when the contestants discover their lives, and thousands more, are in genuine peril. Is the mansion haunted? What fate befell Malvern and the Drake family? And will the contestants uncover the truth in time to save themselves?
— Until the Sun Rises by Channing Whitaker
