Welcome to Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits:
The pink bowl at the thrift store.
Where it all began.
This blog is about:
My YA debut book, Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits. How the main theme and character of my book came to life about two years ago.
Gosh, where to start.
How about 2 years ago.
Roughly two years ago I was jobless, with a lot of time on my hands and going through a ton of emotional crap. The important point was since I had time on my hands I had so much I could do but didn’t know what to really focus on.
One Saturday, my sister dragged me along for some shopping. Not the usual shopping, nice new never-been-used clothes in name brand stores. Instead, we were going to a few thrift stores. Which was definitely a love-hate situation for me.
I grew up understanding the true power of shopping in thrift stores but sometimes I really can’t stand it. Plus, new things, fresh out of the crinkly plastic wrapping, it just hits the spot sometimes.
So, there I was bored, wandering around the store waiting for my sister to get out of the baby clothes section. On my third trip around the entire store, I stopped orbiting to check out all the different pieces of silverware, plates, bowls and other kitchen utensils. No matter how many weeks and months passed between each of my visits to thrift stores, this area doesn’t seem to change much.
Being a sentimental type of person my thoughts hopped on the “I wonder where this came from” “what story would you tell me, if you could talk?” train and spent the next 45 minutes checking out various pieces and dreaming up what their numerous stories were.
One pastel pink glass or crystal bowl really sparked my creative juices. It was just small enough to be useful, but not big enough for anything like a salad bowl. The bowl was a piece you would find at some sweet old granny’s house. Charming if used as a candy bowl for guests. Or throw in some of those chalky multi color soft mints. Otherwise, it would be one of those pieces you would never really need.
My Short story about the bowl:
(Pink crystal bowl is not my image, check out pinterst seller for the bowl)
It’s 1956, Saturday evening. The new married couple scramble around the house preparing for their very first housewarming dinner party. All of their very dear friends were coming to celebrate their new life together and their beautiful new house.
As her husband gathers the cocktail drinks and sets up the bar, the wife grabs her favorite pastel pink bowl from the cupboard. The appetizers she worked on all day smell delicious. Now the only thing left to put out is her bowl of peanuts for the guests to munch on later.
Viola. The coffee table was set, appetizers and the lovely pink bowl catching the room’s soft elegant ambiance just right. The pink adds that splash of color between the silver trays of mini finger foods and silverware. The bar looked sharp and clean. The house was ready for the night’s entertainment to begin. The couple stops abruptly, footsteps can be heard. The wife straightens her husband’s tie before taking his arm. The guests have arrived.
***
75 years later, the bowl is passed down to relatives as a last parting gift. From there the bowl is handed down the line of generations. From party serving, to play time with the kids. And as the last generation packs up their memorabilia the bowl is placed in the donation pile. “I might not use it, but maybe someone else will. I remember playing house with this as a kid. I loved it.”
Two months later after being donated, sorted, washed and placed on a shelf, there it waits. Until someone else finds a use for it. The pastel, pink crystal or glass bowl.
***
“If you could talk, little antique, what would you tell me?”
This question kept me occupied for the remainder of the day. As an author, I knew there was plenty of story telling potential in this question. But, it needed to be something unique. A story that is connectable with other people.
My sister and I finally left the thrift store behind. I thanked (in my thoughts) that store and bowl for inspiring me. The little gray cells (Agatha Christie reference) were flying around like crazy. I thought long and hard about this potential story.
It could be about a girl, who goes around telling stories of random objects.
Yes, that’s good. But not good enough. What girl? Why does she go around telling stories? What type of random objects? Why random objects? And what’s the point?
Author Tip: I have found, dear reader, that once I have landed or stumbled upon a good idea for a story, walls immediately get built.
Walls of creation, shall we call it.
Each wall is a building opportunity to take the idea from just an idea to an amazing well written book.
They are built from highest to lowest in my mind. Making you really brainstorm why this idea is good and break it down before completely creating it.
The first wall
One minute while we all grab some snacks.
Who is this girl? What’s her name, what does she look like? What’s the story behind her? More questions than answers right now.
This is how I build my characters when I start a new story. Some character building comes easier than others.
Lily? Is that you?
Wall #1
The first wall I came across is creating the main character of the book. Let the brainstorming begin!
I whipped out my phone and hunted for girls’ names. My theory is that when you think of a character, the name that is meant for them will come.
Samantha, Georgia, Tanya, Donna, Bernie…I got stuck in names of people I know. Googling popular girl names I ended up scrolling through lists of names waiting for the perfect match to jump out at me.
Nothing was clicking with my character. Until I went home to visit my parents and was greeted by their two dogs: Mina and Lily. After a nice visit I returned to my apartment.
Have I ever mentioned I paint? Yes, it’s important to the story. During my time off I took up painting as a creative hobby. Turns out I’m not too shabby at some types of painting.
Anywho–I was looking through some of my paintings and found my main character.
Lily! She was right under my nose this entire time!
The painting was inspired by this pin I found on Pinterest. The pin was made by: Kat’s Art blog.
What struck me as funny is the fact that I painted this picture months ago and never once thought of it as anything but a cute picture. The fact that this painting I made out of fun has become inspiration for my Lily character is amazing!
Authors, you never know where inspiration will come from.
Lily was created. Her name stuck like glue to the painting and she connected with my thoughts for the story. She wanted to be the main character and that was settled.
One wall: Halfway scaled.
Lily’s name was decided on. I knew she was going to have beautiful green eyes and thick curly black hair.
The rest of the wall was going to be all about personality building.
Will Lily be loud and all over the place? Shy and respectful to the point of never speaking her mind? Who is Lily?
AHHH metaphoric Cecilia Just slipped and fell a few feet while climbing the first wall.
Lily has just started to come together. Now it was time for us to work together and build her world.
Picture this: Me walking around talking to the invisible Lily trying to ask her what type of person she is. Wait, wait. Better yet!
Cecilia sitting in a black leather chair with a pen and notepad. Lily laying down on the coach answering my million questions with questions.
Cecilia sips her coffee. “So, tell me Lily. Why would you ask random things from thrift stores?
Lily: “Why not?”
Cecilia: “Ok…What type of questions do you ask them?”
Lily: “I’m not sure, anything, I guess. Technically, shouldn’t you know what questions I ask…you are the author after all.”
Cecilia slumps over in despair. “Fine! Then how’s this? You ask any object it’s story, because you can and that object must tell you it’s life story.”
“Cool, sounds like a plan. Tell me, why do I ask random objects questions again?”
And we interrupt this dialog because you get the picture. I have to answer the questions and figure out what will work for my story. The characters come to life when I give them their motivation and personality. Exploring will be fun with this character!
Fast forward in time to today. You authors will find me here at my computer February 20th 2022, 6:10 pm writing this blog. Remembering how rough Lily’s character was, you will be happy to hear I’ve climbed the rest of that Wall #1. It was a long process getting to know Lily. She’s taught me many valuable lessons about character building.
One wall down and a few more to go!
This blog is about:
My YA debut book, Lily’s Guide to Releasing Antique Spirits. How the main theme and character of my book came to life about two years ago.
**If you have any suggestions of topics you would like me to blog about when it comes to the Author world, let me know!
Thank you for reading until the end. As a new blogger any and all support is appreciated and welcome.
Write on~
Cecilia
