I absolutely love writing the first chapter of a book. It always feels like coming home to me after I’ve done all the research, logged all the plotting, and gotten acquainted with the new characters for that book. The first chapter is when all of those things start to come to life on the page.
When I was doing the research for Motorhomes, Maps, & Murder I knew I needed to incorporate something from the Daniel Boone National Forest that was a true life event. Every year they have a re-enactment called The Battle at Camp Wildcat, not to get into too much of the civil war, but the outcome was the Union had won and it was actually one of their first wins.
I knew I didn’t want to bring the war into it, but I knew it would be interesting if someone had actually gotten killed during the re-enactment when they were supposed to be pretending to be dead. OH…then I played the what if game. What if more people were actually dead? Oh…what if the person who they thought did the killing was also dead? Hmmmm…
Anyways, I hope you’re enjoying listening to me read the first chapter of Motorhomes, Maps, & Murder.
Tonya, you are a delight! Your books, especially the campground stories which are my favorites, are wonderful escapes! During this pandemic, escape has been important! Keep up the good work! By the way, I love to hear and watch you read!