I've been thinking about the past seven months and my time writing Find Us in the Shivering. It started with a weird idea of a guy in the desert, his car breaking down, and a talking bipedal coyote. From there, the story shaped into something weirder and weirder until I realized this is a great world to explore, full of colorful characters with a great deal of secrets, conflicts, and agendas.
Element by element, I discovered these strange things that I pulled from experiences living in the Mojave Desert my whole life. Jackelopes, snipes, mines, wind storms, etc. All of these things I knew I could draw from and twist to fit this secluded space and serve as a means for intrigue.
I've been writing for decades now but this is the first story I've officially "published" and put out to the public. I wanted to share some thoughts because I want to treat it as a creative exercise that may or may not be helpful to others. Nonetheless, it will be good for me.
How did the story surprise me? In more ways than I can to be honest about, but I think the most surprising aspect was the fact that I wrote something years ago that was a sort of inspiration to the "Shivering" itself. I started the scene with an unnamed character who woke up early in the morning, went about his morning routine as if getting ready for work and while it seemed very mundane, there was a sense of dread as he prepared for the day to come. He drives out into the middle of a desert and once he reaches his destination, he hears the whispering voices coming from a cave. It taunts him, reminding him of his fears and horrible things he's seen and done (he was a Vietnam war veteran) and you realize by the end of the story he's been tasked to guard the cave and that's his sole job.
It was a simple idea but I didn't know if it would come to be anything more than an opening scene or simple story. Well, as I wrote Find Us in the Shivering, I remembered that story and found that I could use it and expand upon it. So really, the surprise is that as a writer, I wrote something years ago that was what I thought was nothing and it actually served a purpose down the road.
What did I learn about myself from the story? I learned that I could let go of my "preference" for writing deeper, more complex fantasy and create something "simpler" and small scale but still explore elements of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. I also found that I can excel at writing these very short chapters and combine them to create a longer narrative that actually became the first leg of an anthology series.
Where do you go from here with the story? As I said, this is the first part of an anthology series. At the time, I see this being a five part story, focusing on different characters and timelines of this world. The connections between these stories will be evident and something I am excited to play with. I look at them as seasons of a tv series like Fargo (Noah Hawley). As of now, I am writing the next "season" or second part and it will follow Sylvy (our favorite veterinarian/butcher) when she was younger. It's set twenty years before Josh's story but I do promise there is a Josh connection and you will learn of his fate. There will be some time before this is released but Jared and I have some other ideas to put out there for Shivering related projects. More info to follow.
In all, this story has propelled me to explore cracks in my writing that I ignored in the past. I'm excited to continue and see where it goes. I appreciate all the support and definitely keep an eye out for updates along with other posts.
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