About writing Cross Roads (Part 2)

This is the other half of the previous post, About writing Cross Roads. It finishes my explination about how and why I wrote my first novel.

That was what I decided to call How It Started. It was a guide for me, of all the things, large and small, that would become anecdotes in the actual story that was coming later. Finished with that, I turned off the computer and got my kids off to school. The baby was up by then, and I got her fed and spent some time being a mom.

When nap time came, though, Jessie was there again, politely demanding my attention. She asked me to sit down at the computer for the second time that long day, and being curious as to what she would tell me, I did. That was really the true beginning of Cross Roads, as Jessie talked, I typed. I was surprised when the baby woke up, what seemed like only a few minutes later, to discover that I’d typed thirteen pages.

It continued like that, in one voice or another, for the next six weeks approximately. There was a short break in there, when I didn’t work on the story at all. I knew that I’d done something wrong with it, but everybody was quiet in my brain for the first time since they’d all showed up. It was almost weird, not hearing even one of them prompting me to write down some important thing or other that they’d said, lest it be forgotten, but also very nice. After all, I’m not really crazy, and I just couldn’t get used to hearing other voices then my own, inside my head.

I realized that, in my hurry to get down what they were trying to tell me, I’d gotten it wrong, and they were unhappy about that. So I went back through my manuscript, searching for the incorrect information. It took a couple of days, but I finally pinpointed it. When I did, I asked them to tell me how it was wrong, and Caleb spoke up. This time, I paid closer attention, and got it down right. I felt better immediately, better but also a little overwhelmed.

After fixing that error, I sat at the computer for almost thirteen hours straight, typing frantically. Thankfully my husband was off work that day, so he dealt with the kids and dinner. As I typed that time, a new voice spoke up in my head. Just where he’d been all along, I still have no idea. Though late, Toby became a major character, and spoke often. Just not usually about himself, I’m still learning new things about him, even now.

I wrote an amazing forty-seven pages that day. Amazing for me, because I couldn’t type more then hunt and peck. I still don’t do it the right way, but I’ve gotten incredibly fast doing it my way now.

That was the first marathon writing session of many, and the longest. After that, I finished the story in about two weeks. It took me another two weeks to get it to where I thought it was as polished as I could personally make it. Then another week to get it to where it is now. After I received a request from a literary agent for the first five chapters, I decided to look at my story again, just to be sure that it was ready, that’s where the last week of editing came in.

Along the way, there were times that I was deeply affected by the things that my characters told me. I remember being alone in the car on my way over to pick up one of my nephews, and as I drove, Tyler spoke up and told me what he was planning to do, and I cried. Silly, you say, and I’m sure you’re right, but I was already so attached to my people, that it really upset me.

There were other things that they told me that made me laugh, or confused me, sometimes I got angry with them, and sometimes I was so happy that I could have cried again. My nephew Josh asked me once,

“Aunt Christie, why can’t you just write the story how you want it to go? Aren’t you the author?”

My answer to him then (and it’s still the only one I have), was that, as weird as it sounds, I’m not the author, merely the storyteller. It might sound like I’m trying to be philosophical or deep, but I honestly don’t have any other answer. The story is what it is, I just took it from the mouths of my characters and repeated it for everyone to hear.

So, if that’s insanity, then I guess I need some serious help, that’s what my son thinks. Then again, most teenaged boys think their parents are crazy. All I know is, I’m very grateful for the chance to know the people in my story. If someone will pay me for that, it’s all gravy. If they won’t, it doesn’t change anything. I’ve still heard this incredible story, and I’ll find a way to turn it into a book on my bookshelf so that I can read it as many times as I like.

About writing Cross Roads (Part 1)

A little note before you read this. As silly as it sounds, this is how the process felt to me as I wrote.

Some of my family members & friends have asked me how I got started writing this novel. They wondered if I’d had some idea, or concept of what I would write before I got started. The answer to that, is no. Actually, what happened was, my husband and I were getting ready to do some running around, (pay some bills, stop by the junk yard to look for a grill for his truck, that sort of thing) and I felt the urge to bring along paper and a pen.

I don’t usually write long hand, typing is so much faster, but I felt like I needed to write something, and I wanted to spend the day with Lee, so I improvised. I had no idea what it would be, but as I sat in the parking lot of the junk yard, waiting for my husband, I started writing. It might sound like insanity to some, but it felt comfortable to me. As I wrote, it was like somebody was in my head telling me what to write, not whispering in my ear, but actually inside my head.

That was Jessie Stanton. As I wrote, she told me all about herself. Everything; from her first, middle, and last name, and date of birth, to her favorite foods, the things she liked to do, her unrequited love for Tyler, her love of watching scary movies only with Caleb (and why). Like I said, she told me everything. It got a little hard to hear her when my husband came out of the junk yard victorious, and tried to tell me the whole fascinating story of his great find, but I tried still to hear them both.

After Jessie stopped talking, and that took some time, I thought I was done with the voices in my head. Wrong. Caleb came out then, and spoke to me in his quiet way, introducing himself in much the same way that Jessie had. Though I did have to prompt him from time to time, he wasn’t as talkative as she had been.

So it wasn’t a surprise to me then, when Tyler interrupted Caleb to introduce himself, the person he considered the true star of the story that was coming together in my head. I couldn’t shut him up at first, he was a very big talker. Fortunately, I was home typing by now, and distracted by my three oldest children fighting and arguing, to the point that I had to abandon any thought of writing.

I had decided to sit down and write a short biography on each of my characters as soon as I realized what they were, so that night, after my family was in bed, I started a new routine. I sat up typing everything that I had hand written in the car that day into the computer. I took the time to ask Caleb to refresh my memory on the things that he had told me, and to finish what he had started to tell me before Tyler interrupted. After getting it all down, I thought that I was done. Wrong again.

As I started to close out my new document, Caleb spoke up and asked if I wanted to hear about Jessie’s first day in town. I shrugged to myself and thought, what the hell, it’s already four A.M., I don’t have time to sleep before the kids get up anyway. Taking that as acquiescence, Caleb suggested that I might like to add this story to what I’d already typed that night.

I got a kick out of the story, learning about how Jessie moved down the street from Caleb when she was five, and about how they first became friends. It was sweet, hearing Caleb talk about teaching Jessie to ride her bike, and showing her around the neighborhood, taking her to the park down the street. Then as they started kindergarten, and her parents asked him to make sure she didn’t get lost on the way those first days, was all very fascinating to me. As well as all the important things that had occurred between that first meeting, and their senior year of high school, it was very interesting.

It wasn’t a terribly long story, but it was the longest that I’d ever written. It was about ten pages long, single spaced, ten point type, so not short either. When I finished with it, I knew that it wasn’t the novel, but just an introduction to the characters and their relationships to each other. It dealt with the introduction of Katie, who had been too shy and selfless to introduce herself to me before, and explained how and when Tyler came in to the picture.

Part 2 of About writing Cross Roads will follow shortly, it is the other half of this post, and will complete this post.

Secondary Characters

In one of my excerpts, featuring Tyler, I introduce a secondary character that I don't introduce properly. I wanted to take a moment now and explain. Lacey is the catalyst that causes Jessie to finally leave Tyler, and she becomes Tyler's next girlfriend. Though he is very abusive to her, and her relationship with Tyler ends very tragically, Lacy is only a secondary character. When writing her into the story, I wanted to add a little about her past so that you would understand her better. For instance, why would anybody in their right mind choose to date a guy that has plead guilty to assault to avoid domestic violence charges? I wanted to make sure that everybody understood how she was abused and the way that affected her choices. Hopefully I haven't confused anybody with an unaccounted for character.

More Excerpts From "Cross Roads" By Christie Chambless

“I made him mad in January. Actually I remember the date, ironically enough it was my mom’s birthday, the nineteenth. He was angry for the usual reasons, but he lost it when he punished me. He punched me in my stomach over and over again. I’m not sure how many times he hit me, but by the end I was spitting up blood and I could hardly breathe. I’m fairly certain that I had at least two broken ribs.” She kept her eyes away from Katie, waiting for her reaction, but Katie held all of her chaotic emotions in check.

“What happened then, Jess?” She asked gently, knowing that sometimes the things you least wanted people to hear, were the things that you needed to say most. Jessie sighed, a small sound of disgust escaping her.

“I thought he was going to kill me, he had threatened me with death often enough. He was always threatening me, it wasn’t unusual to hear violent warnings. Do you want to know what the worst part of it is?” She asked, looking Katie in the eyes for the first time in since she had started to talk. She couldn’t bear to wait for an answer. Katie nodded encouragingly, not really wanting to know, but knowing how important it was to let Jessie talk.

“The most terrible, sickest thing is, I wanted him to kill me. I wanted to die so that I wouldn’t have to face the pity and sympathy in the eyes of everybody I know when they found out. I could just imagine it, Poor Jessie, did you hear what he did to her? How could she be so stupid? I was so hurt and ashamed that I thought it would be better if I was dead, then I wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.” Tears streamed down her face as she tried to explain how death would have been preferable to living with this shame. Katie reached out to her and took her hand comfortingly. Jessie looked into those bottomless blue eyes and realized that there was at least one person who didn’t pity her. She could see that Katie was upset, on the verge of breaking down herself, but not mad at Jessie, more at the idea of what she’d been through.

“Instead of killing me though, he threw a damp wash cloth at me and told me to clean myself up. There was blood all over the front of my shirt, and I was wondering how I could possibly get past my mom without her noticing that. He thought of that, too. He went out and found one of his sister Candy’s shirts that was similar, and told me to put it on. I had to stay at his house for almost two hours, until I finally stopped coughing up blood, before he would let me go home.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she paused.

“After that, I felt so trapped, and the bastard knew it. He knew that I could no more tell my mom about what he was doing, then I could leave him. I was too ashamed, and honestly terrified of him. He’s so much stronger then I am, and he constantly reminded me what would happen if I tried to leave or tell anyone.” She stopped then, and Katie waited. After a time it was clear to Katie that she would have to push a little.

“What did he tell you would happen if you left him?” Katie asked gently, taking Jessie’s hand comfortingly.

“He said that he would kill me. I knew that he would, eventually. It was just a matter of time. I used to try to imagine how it would finally happen. Would it be with his bare hands, or would he use a knife? I used to hope that I would get lucky and he’d just lose control and I’d be dead before I could feel too much pain.” Jessie answered, her voice completely devoid of emotion. It chilled Katie to the bone, hearing her flat decided tone.

Excerpts From "Cross Roads" By Christie Chambless

Caleb reached down and swept her up into his arms. He carried her easily across his room to the bed and laid her head gently on the pillow. He gazed down at her, and he could see the hunger in her eyes. Katie reached up and yanked Caleb’s shirt off, she ran her fingers greedily over his bare chest lingering on his nipples. Her lips found his and they kissed urgently.

She pulled away and her lips found their way to his neck and on down to his shoulder and then his chest. Caleb moaned low, and pulled her lips back to his. He reached down and pulled experimentally at the hem of her shirt.

He was trying desperately to remember what he told her before they got out of his car… a million years ago(about stopping if she wasn't ready). She was still right there with him though, pulling her shirt off impatiently for him.

Caleb stared at her beautiful creamy skin for a half a second before he let his lips find their way to the hollow at the base of her throat, then down to her fair chest. Her body almost vibrated with the current that coursed through it.

Always giving her the opportunity to say no, he sat her up and reached slowly around her to unclasp her bra. Her breath was ragged as he caressed her naked breasts, her heart pounded furiously in her chest. She gasped and then groaned as his lips found her nipples. She couldn’t bear it any more, she reached down and fumbled with the button on his jeans.

He saw what she was after and gently pushed her hands out of the way. His hands were shaking slightly as he unbuttoned his jeans and slid out of them.

“This is very new for me,” he told her shyly, looking at a spot on the floor to avoid her eyes. “I’ve never done this before.”

She waited until he looked up at her again before she said, “Neither have I… and I’m glad that it’s going to be with you, Caleb.”

She seemed genuinely confident, not nervous or frightened at all. Caleb envied her that, he himself felt very anxious. He worried briefly that he might hurt her. He had heard that the first time for a girl could be painful.

He didn’t have the chance to worry long. Her lips found his again and as her hands roamed over his chest and down his stomach, he was completely involved. Her fingers trembled slightly as they followed the soft thatch of hair down the center of his stomach, but she never hesitated.

Caleb had never dreamed that something could feel so good without making him explode. The way it felt when she touched him, skin to skin, so intimately, so sure of herself, no stress or fear.

She was definitely fearless tonight. His lips found her nipple again and she moaned. She pulled his lips back to hers and he caressed her bare back. She pulled him closer for a moment, then abruptly pushed him away.

He sat back startled, “Did I do something wrong?” She stared at him appraisingly, then smiled as she stood up and slid out of her skirt.

“No… You’re doing everything very right.” She said breathlessly. She pushed him back on the bed and straddled him with her beautifully long dancers legs. Legs he had admired every time he had seen her dance ballet.

Caleb gasped and pulled her face down to his. “Are you sure about this?” He asked, his breathing ragged and fast. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop once they started, and he needed to know that she was positive.

"Cross Roads" By Christie Chambless

Jessie Stanton is an 18 year old high school senior, secure in her world and her new found love of 19 year old Tyler Mitchell, her dream guy. Unfortunately, dreams turn to nightmares when Jessie starts to see the dark sadistic part of Tyler that he’s kept carefully hidden away from the world. The more time that Jessie spends alone with him, the more terrified she gets. The more she learns, the harder it gets for her to extricate herself from Tyler’s twisted love.

Caleb Jensen is Jessie’s neighbor, and childhood friend. He’s also 19, and a senior at the same high school. Everybody knows that he’s nursed a powerful infatuation for Jessie, even Jessie. She, however, has never felt anything more then sisterly affection for Caleb. At the beginning of their senior year, Caleb finally sees that he’s been wrong about his own feelings toward Jessie. Upset by his own stupidity, Caleb opens his eyes and really sees for the first time with clear sight, the beautiful girl that’s been patiently waiting all along.

Enter Katie Franklin, Jessie’s best friend, also an 18 year old high school senior. Katie has been waiting for Caleb to wake up and get a clue, and is thrilled when he finally does. As their romance grows, it is tested by the unexpected and tragic loss of Caleb’s father, his only family. Katie is instrumental in keeping Caleb whole through his grief, and helping him start to heal. Their relationship is exactly what Jessie is so desperately trying to create with Tyler. The easy affection that leads to a very deep love, between Katie and Caleb just cannot be forced, however. Jessie finally understands this, but it takes being beaten and knocked down in front of her best friend to give Jessie the nerve to leave Tyler, and stay away. That, and the unfailing support from Toby Jones.

Toby is a 22 year old Shelton police officer, and the older brother of another of Jessie’s friends. He didn’t spend much time with his sister’s friends when he was younger, they annoyed him. However, coming across Jessie now, in his professional capacity, he’s intrigued. To the surprise of everybody involved, a very close friendship blooms between the battered Jessie and her protector. Knowing what she’s been through, Toby is willing to just be her friend, for now.

Jessie has made a determined enemy, though, in Tyler. He is convinced that by reporting the abuse she’s suffered at his hands to the police, Jessie has ruined his life. He’s no longer eligible for scholarships, he has to finish high school being home schooled, and everybody thinks he’s some kind of woman beating freak. He’s determined to get revenge somehow, and he starts his rampage with the girl he tried to replace Jessie with, and her meddling mother. The whole state of Washington’s talking about Tyler Mitchell now, and Jessie’s terrified. Toby and her family have drawn together to protect her, but will it be enough, or will Tyler get his revenge after all?