There’s a Story Behind the Story I Wrote

Story Of My HeArt Pure Fiction Challenge

I have not written much fiction outside of my book The Queen’s Awakening: Retribution and my serialized novel on Medium and Simily called Matchmakers.

I’m proud of both, but Matchmakers has the edge when it comes to being special to me and for four specific reasons:

• It’s a story that challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone
• I have a chance to try on multiple hats interchangeably
• I remember the day that I had the moment of eureka
• I have fond memories of how I helped this story come to fruition

Comfort Zone

Matchmakers forced me to face my fears and made me write something that I knew would make me uncomfortable: Sex.

Yup! I wrote my first sex scene. I gloss over an intimate scene in my follow-on book, Queen’s Awakening: Vengeance. However, you know two characters get it on, despite not going into explicit detail. With Matchmakers, I didn’t just take one step further; I took a commanding stride forward and painted a much more detailed picture of some bow-chicka-bow-wow.

Now, I am not talking about raunchy Fifty Shades of Grey kind of sex, but I make it pretty clear that two individuals get it on, and your pickle might get tickled.

Despite being the fun-loving, travel-seeking, blunt-cussing sailor I describe in my bio, I am very modest when discussing sex, which pushes me to new territory.

I dreaded writing this scene so much that I made myself write a seductive article just to see where my comfort level was. To do so, I decided to personify coffee and got stellar reviews.

Feeling more confident, I knew that I could finally tackle OPERATION: GET IT ON (aka Matchmakers | Chapter 12: Between a Cock and a Hard Place)

Wearing Different Hats

Matchmakers serialized fiction revolves primarily around one main character named Maisie Jones. However, Maisie’s support system is very eclectic. As a result, I got a chance to put on several different hats. I also got to try on different personas and feel like I could put on other skins, but not in a Buffalo Bill kind of way.

To give you an idea of the different perspectives I had to put on, here’s a quick breakdown of several of the characters:

• Maisie’s parents are Saucers
• Her father is a smart-ass, yet a gentleman
• Her mother, a lush and a once-party animal
• Her three best friends are made up of:
• - A prior French stripper who claims to be proper and modest
• - A feisty Italian-New Yorker who’s also a nymphomaniac
• - A local celebrity and drag queen
• Some of Maisie’s dates: - An angry car salesman - A guy who lives in his mom’s basement and has a Mohawk - A man who has a honey-fetish - …and more

I had fun with each of these, could change characters out quickly, and had free reign to make the story as ridiculous as I wanted.

Eureka

I’ll never forget the day that I had the moment of “ah-ha!” and Matchmakers was born.

One day, I walked to the back of the office, where my bestie was talking to another trusted companion. Seeing me tip-toe in, she continued her story about a horrible date she had.

I could not believe my ears. Then it hit me, That’d make a pretty good story.

After that, I started to think about other ideas of bad dates. Then, it spiraled from there, and now I have the serialized fiction Matchmakers.

To me, this was a vital lesson as a writer: Take in your surroundings because you never know when a story might be at your fingertips.

Coming to Fruition

After I had a general idea of the story that I wanted to tell, I confided in my closest friends; Over drinks as usual.

They loved the idea of the story.

Pour, after pour of wine, we started to ramble off a series of ideas, thoughts, and ridiculous perversions.

The next day, I woke up sober, and my mind was reeling with a story that I could not wait to tell.

Even though Matchmakers is nearly completed (at the time of this writing), I cannot help but think of my girls. We laughed, drank, laughed some more, and drank some more. We even managed one of our husbands to blush and leave the room only to return to check on us that no one had passed out…or she at least had a blanket.

#ThankYouJose

If I had to boil it down to a simple factor why I love this story more than my own eBook, then it would be because of the memories of how it came to fruition. I never considered myself “one of the girls,” but these gals in Virginia made me feel like part of the club. We had great moments together, plenty of laughs, and were always there for each other. In fact, I see a little of each of my girls in the Matchmakers characters, and somehow, it makes me feel close to them.

#IMissMyGirls

Thank you, JA Vassili and KL Simmons, for this writing challenge and for bringing more awareness to the world of fiction on Medium!