My Inspiration
As a child I loved the idea of bringing stories to life for the entertainment of others and would often put on skits with the neighborhood kids and my younger cousins. This led to leads in high school and university productions, as well as studying at the acclaimed Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London where I played Juliet in Romeo & Juliet. Returning to the US, I continued my acting career in Minneapolis/St. Paul, where I earned rave reviews for my “icily regal” Lady Macbeth, before relocating to Virginia Beach, where I continued to have great success in roles as diverse as Sugar (the part made famous by Marilyn Monroe, in a musical version of “Some Like It Hot”) and the title role in “Educating Rita,” where my accent was so convincing that several critics assumed I was from Liverpool!
While performing the lead in All the Way Home in Minneapolis I met my husband, Jamie. Moving to the East Coast I continued to act while working in television production, script writing and editing which led to an opportunity to produce an international talk show in Southern California. When the financing for the show fell through, I pivoted to my other passion – travel – where I worked my way up from hotel sales to global director of a large travel company. One of the many perks was staying in many of the world’s best hotels in Italy, France, Russia and the UK. Some of these became colorful backdrops for the storylines woven into “The Fallen.”
As a student in London, I was invited by a classmate to live with her and her wealthy family, whose social standing afforded me a front-row seat to the city’s elite. Their circle of friends included such notables as Princess Margaret and revered actor Rex Harrison. I could never have imagined that years later I would draw upon these insights as I created the character of Christian Atherton, one of the two lead characters in “The Fallen.” Though I did not grow up as the son of a revered London author and national treasure as his character does, I was able to visualize what his upbringing might have been like.
In creating the character of Rowan, the other lead in the story and Christian’s love interest, I drew upon many of my other life experiences as director, actor and sometime model.
While much of “The Fallen” comes from my own imagination, I believe these experiences, especially in London, lend authenticity and depth to the story.
A last example of my inspirations is actually the genesis of “The Fallen.” When I first returned to the Twin Cities, I had my own real-life, chilling encounter with the paranormal, which took place inside a historic mansion on St. Paul’s famed Summit Avenue. Most people who know me would describe me as neither impressionable nor gullible. Yet I encountered something inexplicable that night that became the inspiration for the characters in my story who are “the fallen”—angels in human form who have battled evil and sought for centuries.
The story is told through the eyes of lovers Rowan and Christian against the backdrop of countries that I love. The narrative takes you from the Twin Cities with its old mansions and modern theatrical culture to a beautiful riad in Morocco to the majesty of the Amalfi Coast to the bustling city of London. Many scenes take place in London’s revered landmarks such as Westminster Cathedral, The Savoy hotel, Hyde Park and the National Gallery of London, where after closing, one of the characters has a harrowing supernatural experience in the dark bowels of the gallery.
Finally, the story takes you to the ancient Iona Abbey on a tranquil Scottish isle known for its scenic beauty and deep religious roots. Here, we learn that one of the lead characters has sought sanctuary and redemption. As told through Rowan’s eyes, the powerful messages of love, forgiveness and the dark power of fear are threaded throughout each of the characters’ lives in “The Fallen.”
I hope you will browse through My Literary Journey in Photos section of this website. You will be able to see how each locale inspired elements of my story and how it connects to the plotline as told in the captions.
My Writing Process
For a first-time novel, I wanted to use what was familiar to me as building blocks of my characters and story. Of course, imagination and the creative process took over from there.
A good place to start is to know your characters. I believe for many writers, their main characters dwell someplace in their own souls. By that, I mean that you understand how your characters would feel in the circumstances that you place them in because, in a sense, they are you or at least someone you know well. Writing a description of the major characters is helpful to do at the outset. I suggest the same for the locales where your story will take place.
Next, do an outline of your story, then flesh this out in a one-to-three-page synopsis.
Now comes the research phase. If you’re not familiar with a particular location, use your favorite search engine to explore the cities, countries and customs of where your story will take place. Write down what the sights, sounds and smells might be like at each. Note the socio-economic makeup and even things such as the weather in the area. Look for photos that capture the backdrop you are imagining for key scenes. If any scenes take place in another country, be sure you are using any foreign language terminology correctly. For instance, part of “The Fallen” takes place in London. While of course this is in an English-speaking country, common terminology for such things as “parking lots” in the US would be customarily referred to as “carparks” in the UK. Likewise, the Brits refer to what we call a “bathroom” in the states as the “loo.” (And the late Queen shuddered at that and would only say “lavatory.”)
Similarly, in Morocco, another backdrop for my story, what we might refer to as “outdoor markets” or “bazaars” are called “Souks.” The traditional dress for men and women is a long caftan called a “Djellaba.” Homes of the wealthy are “Riads” not “mansions.” And then there are the religious practices such as the daily calls to prayer known as “Adhan” or “Azan” in Arabic. While some of my online research never made it into “The Fallen,” having a deeper knowledge of Morocco’s fascinating history helped to define my characters’ backstories and motivations.
“The Fallen” begins in Minneapolis/St. Paul in late February as a winter storm is approaching. Having lived through many winters in Minnesota, I know the eerie effects of a sudden whiteout, as well as the beauty of ice crystals covering the barren trees during winter. Descriptions of weather can help to set the scene. Think of the sensation of the sun on the face of one of your characters and let the readers experience it. While the characters in “The Fallen” are well-educated urbanites, making them unlikely to use rural Minnesotan jargon, another Minnesota-based story in a different setting might incorporate colloquial terms in its dialogue.
To put a fine point on it, while not a locale in The Fallen, if you find yourself writing a story using a Wisconsin locale, you might need to know that a “bubbler” is a “drinking” fountain. Likewise, in Mississippi, you might need to know that “transporting” someone is typically referred to as “carrying” someone.
The bottom line is that no matter where your story takes place, it is important to know its unique customs, vocabulary and culture, both for local color and for authenticity.
Once you have gone through these exercises, you need to put yourself in a relaxed, positive mental framework to help your creative juices flow. Here are some recommendations from my own writing process that may help you:
- I find that turning off the news and studying Italian gets my mind to a different place entirely. For others, if might be an early-evening walk around the neighborhood with their dog, meditating or listening to music. Writing is a very solitary job. Distractions are the greatest creative killer I know, so getting yourself away from chores that need to be done, bills that need to be paid, mail that needs to be opened and calls that need to be answered will do a world of good for your writing psyche.
TIP: Establish a routine that you try to never skip that will help free your mind before you start your writing process for that given day. It’s different for everyone – for some it might be gardening, doing yoga, reading your daily devotional or whatever creates a brief mental respite for you.
- Set up a place to write in your home where you can limit interruptions, especially from family. Anything that fractures concentration and makes you lose your train of thought and can sabotage your writing.
TIP: It can be difficult to limit interruptions from family members who are used to full access to you at any time. If this becomes a challenge, find a café or coffee house with a WiFi hotspot and make a commitment to block out a set range of time daily where you can write from. There are even bookstores that have small indoor coffee bars or cafes where you can park yourself to write. The best part is that you can take breaks to browse the bookshelves for inspiration.
- Set daily goals. Theses can be a set number of hours you can devote to your writing or what topic, scene or chapter you are going to commit to complete on any given day. Remember, the way to avoid overwhelm is to “eat the elephant a bite at a time.”
TIP: It is extremely important that you schedule time off as well. Perhaps you take off one or both weekend days. Or perhaps you work at a job Monday-Friday, and you can only devote evenings and/or weekends to your writing. Be sure to block out two or three evenings or at least one weekend day as your time off. You won’t believe how much more fruitful your writing time will be when you take time for yourself and come back to it feeling refreshed and ready to go!
You can do it!
My Synopsis
It begins with an excerpt from a children’s story called The Mirror when three children, led by a brave older boy named Loren, confront a cruel and distorted image speaking to them about the nature of lies.
This is the story of a talented and beautiful young man named Christian Atherton who is both blessed and cursed by secrets from his past, as well as the three fallen angels that have befriended him. What starts off as a love story quickly becomes a mystery and then, ultimately, a story of forgiveness and redemption as seen through the eyes of Rowan McAllister.
Lost in a white out while running on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rowan passes out in front of a stately home on a quiet cul-de-sac near the College of St. Thomas. Disoriented, she wakes up with a fever to find that she is face-to-face with a young man who seems strangely familiar.
Her rescuer is a charming, intelligent and talented pianist who had recently been hired by her brother, Ian McAllister, the Artistic Director of the St. Paul Orchestra, as part of a Baroque series. In his mid-twenties, Christian has remarkable grey-blue eyes, ash-blonde hair, an athletic body and a gorgeous English accent; yet he leads a very quiet life with his aunt, no other family, and one striking friend who is ever present in his life. Rowan discovers that this isn’t the first time that they’ve met, it’s the second; and this time it feels predestined.
The more she discovers about Christian, the more that she feels as if she knows him, yet there are mysteries within mysteries as she feels herself falling deeply in love.
Sophisticated and intelligent, Rowan is an actor and student director in her early twenties who has recently returned after three years of drama school in London to finish a degree at the University of Minnesota. Now living with her older brother, who is going through a divorce and reeling from a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s, they are both fiercely protective of one another. As Christian begins to show interest in his sister, Ian expresses some concerns; not because he doesn’t like Christian, but because he seems so solitary. Rowan initially dismisses his worries; yet she begins to feel as if she is being haunted by something. Is it tied to the rose-stone mansion on Summit Avenue that was burned last year, or is it some strange curse of Macbeth, the Shakespearean play that she is assistant-directing?
At the opening night of Macbeth, Rowan is introduced by Christian to the stunning and enigmatic Dr. Ashton Tate. But what hold does he have on Christian? Is he a friend, or something else entirely?
As Christian’s secrets begin to unravel, Rowan is shocked to discover that he is the only son of August Alan Atherton, a famous English poet and the author of a series of popular children’s books that Rowen deeply loved. In fact, the images of the main character’s face in these books mirror Christian’s own. Reeling from this, Rowan calls her best friend, Elise Dryden, and discovers that Elise wrote a college paper on A.A. Atherton. Providing some details, Rowan learns that Christian’s mother drowned under mysterious circumstances the same night that a 14-year-old Christian and his famous father were in a near-fatal car accident.
Confronting Christian, Rowan finds out about a terrible argument that had driven his father to take Christian with him, leaving his mother completely alone that night. Driving like a madman, his father had hit black ice and nearly killed him. To this day Christian doesn’t know if his mother committed suicide or drowned accidentally. All he knows is that he has been unable to forgive his father.
When August Alan Atherton comes from London to tell Christian that he’s dying of cancer, Christian is compelled to tell Rowan the truth – that the argument that took place that night was because his mother had told his father that Christian was not his son, but the son of Alexei Kaljuste, his mother’s half-brother.
But Alexei Kaljuste was far more than that. He had been a spy in Estonia during the Nazi occupation of 1941 and would have died a hero’s death at the age of 16 if not for Ash (Ashton Tate). Forced by Ash to leave his widowed mother and eight-year-old sister, Kristian, behind in Estonia, they made their way to Finland while Alexei recovered from his bullet wound. Ash tells Alexei the truth – that he is an Angel and one of the Fallen, who has been working his way back to God for thousands of years, and that, in order to save him, he had been forced to give Alexei his own blood. Alexei recovers but finds that his senses are heightened and that he has a particular ability to see the evil in others. Together, they hunt down Nazis’ and other sympathizers who have been taken over by darkness. Tracking these demons even after the war through North Africa, Europe, Egypt and South America, Alexei finally finds his mother and half-sister living in Austria. It is there he discovers that his little sister is being molested by his mother’s new husband, Kurt Renner, a wealthy Nazi sympathizer.
13 years later, Alexei unexpectedly comes face-to-face with his half-sister in Paris where her paintings are on exhibit, and they spend one night together. Just one. Kristian is already engaged to marry August Alan Atherton, the kindest man that she has ever known, so she goes through with the wedding, knowing that she is carrying a secret that she plans to carry to her grave.
The Fallen takes you on a journey through the history and secrets of a remarkable young man who is equally blessed and cursed by the angels. From the Twin Cities to the riads and slums of Morocco, to an inn on the very edge of the Amalfi coast, and to a moving funeral in London to pay tribute to a beloved writer of children’s books, The Fallen is a novel that will take you on a haunting and spiritual journey to a place of forgiveness.