A book usually begins with a single idea that appeals to me, sometimes just a small one, and I start building the plot from there.
But as the story develops, I often realize that I’m actually writing about something much larger and more meaningful than the initial idea.
For example, I began The Wounded Nurse based on the concept of “Dear John” letters.
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, millions of soldiers were drafted and sent to the front, thousands of miles away from home, to Europe or the Far East in the Pacific theater.
The only connection they had with their loved ones left behind was through letters. Wherever they were, they would take out pieces of paper and pens, writing words of longing to the women they’d left behind, hoping so much that the letters would reach their destinations and that they would receive replies.
Sometimes the separation would last for years, and those letters from home were the soldiers’ only connection to a world that wasn’t filled with the sounds of rifle fire, tank engines and thundering cannons.
However, there were cases where the women at home gave up waiting or had met new men, and with great sorrow wrote farewell letters sadly announcing that they no longer loved them and had found someone else. These letters became known as “Dear John” letters.
But as the plot of the book began to progress, the character of Grace – the nurse who cares for John – began to take shape in the words I was writing, and I realized I wanted to write about something bigger: not just the distance from home and separation from loved ones, but the physical and mental injuries caused by war and the need to recover from them. And that’s how the plot of The Wounded Nurse came together.
This is why I chose to tell the story of a nurse who is wounded herself, and needs to deal with her injury and rehabilitation. During her healing process, she meets an injured soldier named John, and begins to read him letters from home. In doing so, she transforms both of their healing journeys into a shared one.
In the end, an entire book grew from that one single idea, as well as a sequel that tells the story of Francesca, one of the supporting characters, which I’ll talk about another time.
Every book begins with one small idea, like a single step at the beginning of a journey.
