Ask Mrs. M – Part 8

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I was cleaning out my file folders (on the computer) and found a whole slew of questions that don’t look familiar. So, here are another 12 questions and answers. I hope they are not repeats. LOL Enjoy! Remember: if you want to ask a question, great! But make sure the question has not already been answered in one of the other previously posted parts 1-7.

1. Why did Mitch never get married? (Annie)

I figured it was kind of “overkill” to marry off all of the Carter brothers within a couple years of each other, like I was trying to “get it over with,” so I left Mitch single. However, fan fiction and Andi’s Journal may provide Mitch with a wife after all! I’m leaning toward a courtship with Libby Flanders, of the Triple L ranch. She is mostly highlighted in “Adios, Jeffrey Sullivan,” but since that story will be vanishing into a Black Hole once the new short story book is released, I’ll have to think of something different, I reckon.

2. What gave you the idea to start doing fan fiction? (Sara)

Call me crazy, but I really do like to encourage young writers any way I can. I’ve recorded free writing videos (CircleCWriting.com), written writing workbooks, and hosted many, many writing contests. Years ago, I believe a fan of the old, old blog asked if she could write a story about the Circle C characters, and that gave me the idea to host actual writing contests revolving around the Circle C world. Also, I loved writing Star Trek and The Big Valley fan fiction, so I knew others might like the chance to share their own versions of the Circle C.

3. When Daniel comes to memory ranch, he gets Shasta out of the barn when it’s on fire, but he dies in the fire. How come? Why did he go back into the barn? (Tori)

Good question, Tori (not sure if it’s Toriana or Victoria, but who cares, right?) Daniel was able to wave Shasta out of the barn. He did not lead him, but waved and scared him into getting out. When he attempted to follow, a beam fell on him and trapped him. So he never went “back” into the barn. He was never able to get out in the first place. Of course, since the story is from Andi’s POV, and she never learns how–since no one would know since no one watched–I could not bring any of that out in the story.

4. Why did you make Taffy die? (IloveAndiCarter)

You are not the only person who has asked this. When I first got the idea, I presented it to my local fans (from church and homeschooling stuff). I think I was was doing a writing class and we started talking about the idea. Only one person, 14-year-old Rebecca H. (I named Aunt Rebecca after her), thought that Taffy dying was a good idea. Not that she didn’t like Taffy. But she thought it would make the story more dramatic. Not even my mentor, Miss Reece, thought I should let Taffy die. But the whole idea of true forgiveness would not have been such a hard, dramatic time for Andi if Taffy never died but was only injured. Plus, how in the world would anybody get an injured horse out of such a deep draw (gully)? It seemed like a lot of unbelievable events and it was more believable to let her die. It was very hard. When my sister read the scene (I wrote that scene before I actually got to it in the story. It kept playing like a video in my head so I had to write it down), she cried. So I knew it was heart-wrenching, and she was an adult.

5. Why did you have Justin and Chad get married when they were older and Andi get married when she was young? (Jenny)

I never thought about the brothers getting married (since they weren’t married in the western TV series from which I got the whole idea in the first place), so it didn’t occur to me that they should get married. My publisher wanted to know the answer to that question too (why aren’t Andi’s brothers married?), so in Thick as Thieves, I set out to get a couple of them wed (along with Melinda). By the time The Last Ride came along and Riley came back into the picture, I knew Andi would marry him. So I had to get her married by the end of Courageous Love, or I would have a lot of disappointed reader fans! So it was just how the course of events went that she was young and everybody else was older. Young men back then generally married when they were older, and they married younger girls, so I guess it’s not impossible to have it go as I did it.

6. Did you enter any writing contests before? (Sara)

One. Years and years ago. I never did it as a teen, only after I started writing Circle C books. I entered the first few chapters of Dangerous Decision in the Pacific NW writers contest and got a nice editing back, but I did not win. Kids’ books normally do not do well in general writing contests across the board.

7. Did you ever dream of publishing when you were younger? (Anonymous)

Nope. No way. I wrote my stories for me. I never thought about publishing or becoming and author. Even when I was an adult and writing my stories (and had four kids and was homeschooling), publishing a book was not on my radar! I had no desire to let strangers read my stories, just the kids in my co-op and at church. That’s it. But God had other plans, and it was hard to obey. But He has blessed by stepping out in faith and sharing my stories.

8. Why isn’t Dangerous Decision first in the CCA? (Anonymous)

Mostly because Andi is a little older in Dangerous Decision than she is in Long Ride Home. Long Ride Home is set in the spring of 1880, and Dangerous Decision, being a fall setting, comes later.

9. Do you know Spanish? If so when did you learn it? (Anonymous)

I used to know a lot more than I know now. I was an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher for awhile, and I liked learning Spanish while I was teaching English to the group of ladies. I actually took five years of German in school, but I’m kicking myself because five years of Spanish would have been a much more practical choice! I went to Costa Rica and could along in Spanish, so long as it was one on one with plenty of body language. They speak so quickly that I could not keep up in a group.

10. Where did you get the name “Taffy”? Did you make it up? (IloveAndiCarter)

Absolutely, I made it up. I thought of what a golden palomino would look like and thought she looked like taffy candy, so that’s what I named her. I didn’t want any cliche names or fancy ones, but something a little girl would name her filly.

11. Out of the circle c characters who was the most fun to create? (Katie Moen)

If you mean out of the main characters, well, Andi of course! If you mean from the minor characters, I actually enjoyed creating Jed Hatton, and I especially like the way “he” insisted I have him grow and change by bringing him back for encore appearances in Courageous Love and Yosemite at Last. He started out as just a “bad guy” antagonist, but characters sometimes stick to you, and you can’t help writing more to make them feel more like real people. From the time Jed admitted his regret at having to take Andi hostage–to covering her up with his blanket–I knew he was not “all bad.” Somehow, he had to find his redemption, which he did.

12. When did you decide to start writing more Andi books after your first one? (Jenny)

Well . . . that’s a hard question to answer. I had a number of “Andi” books already partially written before I ever got convinced to try to get one of them published (Long Ride Home). I had Dangerous Decision written, since I wrote it first (with the very boring title of Andrea Carter and the Golden Rule). You know about Trouble at the Line Shack ➡️, the “first” edition of Trouble with Treasure. It was already written. So was Family Secret and an early version of Price of Truth. At any rate, the plots and outlines were already there. The only book I had to work very, very hard on was San Francisco Smugglers. It was not written, but I wanted Andi to go to San Francisco so I had to think up a plot. And that’s really stressful when you are now an author with a publisher.

I hope you enjoyed this Ask Mrs. M post!