Among writers, we say it is bad luck to discuss a project before it is finished. However, I wanted to share with you what the process is like for me when working on a new novel, and I feel confident enough in the eventual completion of this book that it’s safe to talk about it a bit:

As with my last and most favorite book, Go Look There, the title came first, this time when I was driving. I make it a habit while doing so to not listen to the radio or any CD’s. Instead, I use the silence to let my mind wander in a meditative sort of way, bouncing around different topics like we do when we’re dreaming. Then the title rose out at me with the same sense of weight that I felt when discovering the other novels for the first time. Personally, I can always tell the ‘good’ ideas from the bad because they have a certain feel in my mind. They feel inevitable, like when you know you need to sleep, or eat, or go to the bathroom. There’s a firmness of the future: Sometime soon these things must be done.

It was the same way with the Antebellum idea, and Of Coffee and People, and Go Look There. Now, I haven”t worked on a new novel in two years, so it was with some hesitation that I accepted and began to explore the new story, afraid at any moment it would go away from me if I played with it too much. The title that captured my imagination and broke my two-year dry spell will be my a modern science fiction novel named A Clear and Beautiful Lie.

There, now isn’t that special? Once I had the title and a topic the ultimate ending revealed itself, and then the main characters began ambling their way onto the scene, cautiously, like wild animals approaching food left out by humans. I wasn’t writing on them then, but giving them a chance to cement in my mind before I tried to explore a story line I didn’t know anything about.

Over the course of a month I brainstormed about the world they were living in (Ours, thirty years in the future), the type of technologies that would be available, what global politics and the environment would look like and what would be the prominent social issues of the time. Ending already in place (which of course I can’t give away), the beginning began to develop along with the relationships between characters, their motivations, their fears, etc.

The main character is Kiera, a mixed-race young woman working for the government as an Energy Ambassador (read: administrative aide), helping to set up power hubs across the world that will support the Grid -a force field built by Facade Industries now going global in order to protect everyone from both extravagant amounts of pollution but also radiation from the sun caused by a depletion of the ozone layer.

When the Grid finally goes up a second company begins chemical therapy with the atmosphere exiled above the force fields to try and repair the damage that has been done and return the Earth back to its normal state. Everyone is told to expect results within a few years, and Kiera looks forward to seeing blue sky for the first time since she was a child.

However, after the excitement of a global Grid dies down problems begin to surface, primarily that solar power has mysteriously stopped working, causing an economic and social crisis threatening the death of millions through starvation or anarchy. Kiera’s department is called upon to investigate Facade Industries and find out if the Grid has anything to do with the failure of their most important energy sources. When it becomes clear that the Grid is operating the way its supposed to, Kiera and Jonathan Hollander, young executive and heir apparent to Facade, begin a trans-continental journey to discover the truth about the power failure. What they learn will both shock them and threaten their lives now that they know the truth behind the clear and beautiful lie.

I finally felt confident enough to write the first chapter for ACABL on Friday, and I’ll post it here once the excitement from reconnecting with all my Fictionpress reviewers has died down. It’s so good to hear from everyone again, and I’m excited to continue to work with you through this blog!