In my mind’s eye, I saw a warrior frozen in time for so long that bits of debris and dust collect on his body and slowly encase him in stone. I saw the upright misshapen monolith of him clearly. I saw the seasons shift around him. I knew that he was not asleep and that he could somehow perceive the loss of each moment. I knew that time, the perfect weapon, would slowly take everything from him and leave in its inexorable wake only rage.

That’s it. That’s all. That was the initial idea for The Stone God (coming this May!).

But it left me with wonderful, juicy questions: Who did this to him? Why? And how would he get his vengeance?

I remember discussing the idea with a critique partner. And I drafted a few chapters so I could see the world, and I even sent those pages to beta readers. But other projects kept pulling me away, and I left him standing there, angry and alone.

Until one day, I rediscovered him. I frowned reading through the chapters. Scrapped most of what I had. Salvaged some.

And then I sent a flood to carry the stone man from his long-time standing place to the front steps of a small country house owned by a young woman, who just moved in and is trying to start her life over.

That woman is Terah Crane, my heroine. I’ll tell you more about her in the next post.