Speaking of funeral homes and the services they perform . . . Did you all read last week about the man who died in Kansas City? Police and the medical examiner said he died of natural causes, then they sent him to the mortuary . . . where the mortician found two bullet holes in his head and another in his chest. The mortician sent the body BACK to the Jackson County ME's office, and police adjusted their records to, um, homicide.
How did the idea for the third Fairlawn book germinate? Caution: slight spoilers ahead.
I had always intended to have a big plot arc that would cover the series: in the first book, Jen would inherit the home, in the second book she would be in mortuary school, and in the third book she would be running the home. In order to force her to stand on her own two feet, as it were, her "crutch" had to be taken away. And that's all I'm going to say at this point. :-)
I also intended to fulfill a sweeping arc for Jen's romantic relationship. And that's all I'm going to say about that. (Goodness, I'm channeling Forest Gump.)
So those things were decided a long time ago. There are two smaller plots, though--the one about Leticia Gansky and the one about Kirsten. I had the idea for Leticia's plot several months ago, and I knew that I'd need a good comedic angle to balance the heavy story happening elsewhere in the story.
And the story about Kirsten . . . well, you may have heard me say that I take situations from my own life--what the Lord is teaching me about things--and write about them. And I think that's all I should say about that in this very public forum. :-)
It was particularly poignant to finish this book and then say farewell to my own father only a few months later . . . but working on this series has completely rid me of any "heebie jeepies" about death, dying, and funeral homes. I hope it has done the same for you.
One of the highlights of my week last week was when a woman messaged me on Facebook and said she was interviewing for a job at a funeral home . . . and she hoped she got it because she was now aware of what great opportunities for ministry it would offer. :-)
Perfect.
~~Angie
P.S. Tomorrow: the research
This was such a fabulous series. I wish that more authors would write like this OR that you would write FASTER!
ReplyDelete[Terri covering her eyes] La, la, la . . . am not reading the spoiler because I just started She's in a Better Place.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely got the comedic angle with Leticia! She's something else! Never quite decided whether to shake her or hug her!
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't like knowing that you aren't writing right now, because that means in a couple of years there's going to be a dearth of new releaseas from you. "And that's all I'm going to say." :-)