One day my mom and I were talking about books. We both have a passion for them (and at our last count, had over 5,000 in our house), and enjoy reading. Somehow we got on the subject of how few books about home life during World War one there were. Even books about the war for children are shockingly few compared with the second world war. I had been wanting something to write, and Mom says, "Write a children's book about home life during World War 1."
I wasn't sure I could, but it sounded like fun to at least try, so I started in. Little did I know what I was in for.
I created the characters and started reading.
The more I read, the more stories I wanted to put in my book.:) If I had put them all in, I'd still be writing. As it was, I had to decide what would really fit in my book and still be realistic.
The longer I wrote, the more I got to know my characters. That was fun. I had heard that writers just let their characters do what they want a lot of the time. I had laughed at the idea then, but came to fine out it is so true. Many a time I would start writing an episode that I thought would end one way, but my characters had to do it their own way. And one of them in particular would not do as I directed. I was putting him in the navy, but no, he absolutey refused to stay there. I finally had to give up and let him to go the front lines.
Little did I dream when I started that it would take me five years to write it! It was rather hard for me to end the book since I had become so attached to my characters. I felt like I really knew them and wanted to continue watching them grow up. Perhaps I'll write a second book about them.
