I received this letter from Charlotte in Sweden the other day, and was given permission to post it here.  It is EXACTLY what I am hoping to get as comments from readers of Mayden! Listen to HER courage, then read her question and my answer. 

Hej Robin!

This is Sweden/Stockholm calling! I am following the adventure of your Mayden Chronicles…and I soak up every wise word you have on the subject of process and creativity/writing. I grew up with an full-time artist mom, which was magical in itself, but since I decided that she was such a wonderful artist, I would never dream to think of myself as one. Painting was out of the question, but writing…?

Now – four children later, at the age of 45, I will at least TRY to give in to the creative force. To my heart. And I do mixed media collage art now, but writing is still a high stake for me, which is why I have to be brave enough to just do it. I have never seen myself as a writer of fiction, that is why I want to explore if my belief is right! So my question to you is- when you started out writing this story, did you have a loose idea of a storyline/ending? Just to keep you navigating from one scene to another? Or did you just make up a theme you wanted to explore (everyday magic?) and took it from there?

The reason why I ask is because I did sit down and wrote 3000 words of fantasy, and it felt like writing down what I saw/felt happened. But then I have came to a halt, haven’t written since. I don’t know my characters enough – yet – and I don’t know If I have to know where they are heading? There are all kind of “do and don’ts” out there when it comes to writing – do you let go and let things unfold as you write? Love to hear more about YOUR process. I am just glad you have the guts to share your journey AND your knowledge. From my heart to yours..thanks/ Charlotte

Dear Charlotte…
Whew, those are big and important questions.  It took about 20 years of writing for me to get to the answers, and I am still in evolution with each new book/story, but here’s a start…and keep reading to learn more. I’ll share the process as I write it…the best way to learn.

First, I don’t have an ending in mind for Mayden. Sometimes I do for a story…the ending comes first. But this time, it was the characters that started me off.  I don’t even know exactly what will happen today when I write Chapter 3 (yes, I will do it today)–though I do know it will very soon be time for us to get to the land where Bea, Anna’s twin sister, lives, and run into her very hot but unruly grandson, Jake. So that will be happening in Chapter 4 right off the bat, and Chapter three will help us better know Mayden and Anna, and get that next step set up. 

Because this will be a series of books, and not just one, I have only a vague idea of where I want it to “end.”  That feels like it could be years away.  Though for this book within the series, I do know what “problems” I want to solve, how Mayden can grow and the story can have a sense of completion, and what I want to “set up” to create a lure to the next book. 

The theme of magic is very important, because I love the magical traditions of the world.  Harry Potter was fantasy, but there were a lot of real traditions behind it.  And Twilight’s werewolf’s are long held mythologies. Both of these themes have real punch because of the history behind them. So bringing the historical magic and adding what I know about how people still create it today is a passion of mine.  I ask myself… How real and applicable to life today can it get?  Yet if the characters shapeshift into animals… how can anyone believe that?  So that theme and question will bear out in the story itself, and the story will answer the question in its own time. In this way, I have to trust the story and characters to not leave me hanging!

In your case, the writing came to a halt. That could mean many things, but most likely it is one of two things.  The story no longer has anything more to say… or you got in the way of it being said.  Only you know which one is true, and there is no shame in getting in your own way…we all do, until we don’t.  Strange as it seems, our own stories can scare us.  Every writer I know says this is true, and it took me 11 years to write my latest novel (it was started before my last two were, and is yet to be published though those are already out there).  We can also be afraid of own success–being as successful (or more!) as your artist mother can surely be a halting factor.  But you were put here to challenge that fear, in my way of thinking anyway. 

So if you stopped writing, tune in again and ask what wants to happen next?  Don’t think about what happens last… work with what you have.  And if nothing comes, ask if there is another story in you that will co-create a written story. 

Would love to hear from others of you on what is stirring in the rest of you readers (be you writers or not!)…