Origins Part Three

Did you read Origins Part One?  How About Origins Part Two?

No?

Well go ahead and read it, we'll wait.  Take your time, we're in no hurry.

So you're back for more right?  You would like to know where more of the stories from in By The Bay came from right?  Did it stem from something that happened to them or was it just a creative idea?

Well wonder no more!  Our wonderful author, Jenny Sparks, came up with a great idea.  Why not share how we came up with our stories.  

So, over the course of the month we will share our authors thoughts with you.

I hope you enjoy installment number three!



Herbie Meets His Match by Mike Owens

Herbie is absolutely, positively not autobiographical. He and I could not be less alike. He's been in my head for years, since, back in my working days, I had to look for a document in my boss's desk. He was out of town, and I had his secretary watching over me so I didn't disturb anything. Inside his desk drawer everything was aligned perfectly. Pencils all sharpened (yes, we used pencils back then), index cards stacked together, etc, etc. How could anyone be so orderly? So, my old chief is the model for Herbie, and there's no chance that he will ever read this. 

Sniper Sisters by Jayne Ormerod

“The Sniper Sisters” was the first short story I ever wrote once I donned my “writer” hat.  That was about 15 years ago.  The story was originally set in the Hilton Village area of Newport News, which I made many trips through taking my son to soccer practice.  I’ve always loved that story but had never been able to find a publishing outlet.  When the opportunity to submit to By the Bay came about, I simply changed the location.  It works much better in East Beach than Newport News.

Secrets by Jayne Ormerod

In order to get members of our writers guild writing, each month we are given a starter sentence and we complete the idea and share our musings.  “The worst secret of my life was on the ten o’clock news” was one of those.  It inspired me to think about what kind of secret that would be and what exposure might mean. The stakes had to be extremely high, so I played “what’s the worst that can happen” to my characters and before long, Stella Gardner’s life-long secret was revealed.