Where did this come from?

I’m always surprised (and I shouldn’t be) when a character knocks at the door of my mind, or when a writing project claims my attention. I’m even more surprised when a project that I had put to sleep long time ago seems to be quite awake and ready to talk to me and evolve into a different form.

Let me tell you what happened. Many years ago, I wrote a biographical screenplay on Mark Twain’s life. It was based on sound research. Needless to say, I did numberless rewrites over a period of several years. I also attended groups, classes and pitched at a few events. I got suggestions from experts. Nothing really helped in making my project more commercially viable. And that’s the problem. Some projects—mainly cinematic projects—don’t get produced. There are many reasons for that. One of those reasons is the monetary cost involved in producing such projects. That is particularly true for biographies. Another reason might be my inability to cut out entire parts of the project and make it marketable. That one project ended up in a corner of my office and in another corner of my computer.

Suddenly, with no good reason, one of the characters presented itself to my mind. It was not a main character in the script and, yet, it had a powerful voice—a deeply tragic voice. She was a witness to the most painful and deep events in Mark Twain’s life. She was a servant to the Clemens family. I heard her voice and transcribed what she was telling me. It was like a spirit talking to me from the other side. I realized that the entire project had to change its audience. From script to novel. Stay tuned.