Finding Story Glimmers at the River

A couple of years ago when I started thinking about writing a new book, I had to come up with many things before I could put my fingers on my keyboard and start churning out words. One early glimmer of an idea was how nature can be a healing force. Another glimmer was I kept seeing or imagining two young sisters in a orphanage who needed that chance to heal. Then I had to think about where that nature healing place might be.

Since my books are usually, well maybe always, set in Kentucky and since I didn’t have any particular historical events to shape my story, I decided why not use a place that I could model on my own area here in the middle of the state. Of course, I have used my little town as a setting in several of my stories – the Heart of Hollyhill stories and my Hidden Springs mysteries. I renamed the town and added and subtracted things to make it fit my fictional story, but the Main Street looks a lot like Main Street in my town. I thought about using a setting something like our farm, but when Anneliese came to mind, I knew I needed a river.

Our county has two rivers. The Kentucky River borders the county on one side and the Salt River runs right through the county. I knew the Kentucky River was too much river for my story idea. Too deep. Too broad. So I decided to check out the Salt River. A hiking friend had told me about walking to the Salt River and about the river bottoms. I contacted my friend and she got us permission to go back through one of the farms to where her father once had a camp on the river. That turned out to be the perfect place for Anneliese and Dirk to meet. In the story, their families had a long standing disagreement over the boundaries of their farms and didn’t get along. Anneliese and Dirk were more than ready to forget the feud, but sometimes things don’t work out the way you hope.

But back to the story glimmers. It was great walking back to the river across broad river bottoms where once Confederate soldiers camped. The local people used to drive through the river and across the fields to get to town. And my friend’s father fished with his friends and studied the fauna and flora. That’s why I let Dirk do the same. My friend’s father and friends ended up saying goodbye to their carefree young men days and entering the service after Pearl Harbor.

Meadowland turned out to be a great setting for much of my story, When the Meadow Blooms. On that chilly early spring day when we went hiking, I could imagine the river bottoms becoming fields full of flowers. I could imagine my young character, Sienna, with her love of all creatures finding it a perfect place to live. I could imagine her big sister, Calla, feeling as though they had finally found a safe place. And then of course, a bunch of boulders fall into their paths to threaten all that. But that’s where story glimmers will take you.

I hope if you’ve gone to Meadowland with my characters that you enjoyed the trip. Above is a picture I took of the river that day. It’s not exactly the spot on the river where I had Dirk doing a lot of remembering about his Anneliese. That was farther along the river and harder to get the right shot. But it was a beautiful spot.

If you’re read When the Meadow Blooms, did you enjoy going to Meadowland? If you haven’t read the story, does Meadowland sound like a good place to visit and commune with nature?