We have guest author Susan Payne with us this week and we hope you show her a warm welcome. She has a giveaway so don’t overlook that.
Sitting down to write this post, I thought I would discuss a unique project I’ve been thinking about for a few months now. I usually sit down in front of my computer and the words flow. After a week or two I have a novel ready for others to read. I pride myself on my continuity, well rounded characters and happy-ever-afters. This next novel, or rather sequels, concerns a train in 1872 that gets trapped inside a tunnel collapse. Of course, the train is full of people and they find themselves captive for well over a year. I don’t want to give out any secrets, but to say they feel as if they live a lifetime underground would not be untrue.
Now my readers may ask ‘how is that possible’? Well, I think I have that part covered with a few well-chosen passengers and a train full of products being carried to the capital. Food and fresh water are covered for the most part and the main burden is on the people involved and how they relate to one another. How they adapt to life underground in a world made-up of just themselves. How they keep morale up and arguments down. How they communicate and make decisions although many do not speak English and come from different backgrounds.
I know expectations are high as we meet the passengers. A group of high-school graduates heading to the capital to take their final exams led by their young female teacher and a couple of the students’ mothers. Their city mayor and his family travelling with them mostly for the free trip. A man running from his criminal past and a Pinkerton Agent chasing him. An engineer afraid to admit his part in building the tunnel in the first place and a myriad of others all having cameo appearances in their story as they come up. Some are so real to me it is as if I read their diaries while others remain shadowy figures in the darkness of the rocks surrounding them. I hope to get to know them more later. That they tell me their own personal hopes and dreams. The obstacles placed in their pathway by the entrapment.
I know I haven’t met them all and I want each to be a person my readers can relate to. Hopefully, readers can see as they read the story and know how it could have been for all the characters. How each of them could contribute, lose heart, and carry through what might appear to be the rest of their lives. I mean, after months, I’m not sure I’d be able to keep trying to find a way out, try to keep optimism up or try to keep working toward the common good.
I want to show the desperation they felt yet the strength of the American spirit of those who chose America to be their home. How the tenacity needed to keep a homestead going was put to use to keep the people of Traintown going. Never giving up, or at least fighting to the bitter end, was something ingrained in these early settlers. It’s what made America the country other nations tried to immolate. Where those with little chose to settle in for the opportunity to be more than they had ever dreamed.
What do you think the hardest thing would be having to live underground for so long?
I’m giving away a copy of REPEATING THE PAST to one commenter.
I hope I can come up to my own expectations. I like to pull from my knowledge and add new along with it. It will be tricky to give each novel enough background information without being redundant. I’m looking forward to several novels flowing from one to another while remaining a story onto itself. Mayor of Traintown should have its first novel out in late 2022. As always, I hope you enjoy.
But now, I want to tell you about the second book of my Second Chance Romance series – REPEATING THE PAST. Can two brothers be more alike and yet so different? Could their separation at 3 years old mean they can never forge the bond they should have? And now, 20 years later, can they agree that love is the strongest bond in anyone’s life? Cain and Abel find their own way to forgive those who should have cared for them the best and failed them the most.
ABOUT SUSAN:
Susan began writing when she was still a young mother, trying to find time to type on the old Smith-Corona from hand written notes that she was able to scribble off between children’s naps and cleaning. Cleaning always came first, before any amusements; but she has decided that dust can be interesting and shirts don’t need to be ironed to be wearable. She now spends her time writing stories as dictated by her new friends so others can enjoy them as much as she does. Since my first published work in December 2019, I have completed the Sweetwater Series and gone on to several novels both in historical western romance and Regency romance.
