I first read the book The Hobbit in middle school.
I had no idea about The Lord of The Rings.
Like literally no idea. Never heard of it.
Meanwhile, I was devouring mystery books, like Earl Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason series, trying to find any copy of The Shadow books I could and taking out stacks of contemporary mysteries from the library.
In addition to any books on sleight of hand, since getting to a magic store was something that only happened every few years.
But I guygress.
So a new paperback of The Hobbit was sitting in the book shelf of whatever English class I was in at the time. I can still picture the teacher, reddish curly hair, glasses, slim and tall. No idea what her name was, all lost inside the cobweb strewn attics of my mind.
But The Hobbit – I can still see the book cover. A blue-ish turquoise font (could be my memory “re-creating” it, will look it up after I finish writing this) and a picture of The Hobbit on the cover. Maybe in a mirror or something. UPDATE: Totally saw the same color font of The Hobbit in my mind. The title is a little bit smaller than I remember, but I also remember the image of Bilbo in what sort of always looked like a mirror to me but I don’t think that’s what it is.
Again, I was clue-less.
But I started it and got sucked into the book. I loved it.
I literally had no idea that the little gimmicky ring of invisibility would turn out to be such a powerful relic. No clue.
It wasn’t until I read the rest of the series later on. But when I did, it was a revelation to me.
I love that he hid that ring in that book, almost as a plot device and you don’t find out till much later how powerful it is, how it was created and the vast mythology all centered around it.
To me that was an Aha Moment.
The idea that you could hide something in plain sight and it have such a rich backstory.
To me it seemed like Tolkien just took a strand of a story and followed it as far as it could go.
I don’t know the order he wrote in, but I love taking an unexpected detour through a story rather than the most straightforward path.
I learned about Kate Wilhelm’s Law from the great Dean Wesley Smith. Basically the idea is that you don’t take the first 3 ideas you have for a plot point, because everyone reading it will have already thought of it.
But if you dig beyond those, and find something deeper you’ll have come up with a story that almost no one could predict. Interestingly enough, it’s also not a story anyone else could write, because the first few ideas are the top of everyone’s piles of thoughts, the next ones are the ones that make you “you.”
So when writing Don’t Get Dead and even The Haunted House book, I’m always trying to dig deeper, pull more from the vault and keep things surprising. Going down the unlit hallways to bring you back a story you’ll never forget.
At least that’s the plan. Check out two free stories by signing up down below and see for yourself.