Patricia Mather Parker

People often ask where my writing ideas come from. Sometimes the answer is easy. The story “No One Ever Listens to Me” (Highlights for Children, 2006), for example, was pretty much autobiographical: Girl with a short temper who yells a lot when she doesn’t get her way? Yup, sounds familiar.

The Abode, though, took me by surprise. At first all I knew for sure was that a girl named Molly needed to be rescued from her sad, frightening life at a place called The Abode. As I set out to help her, other characters invited themselves into the story to assist me. Fel, Molly’s friend and an escapee from The Abode, showed up accompanied by a cheeky parrot called Hidalgo. The mists, who Molly had been taught would kill her, began to give helpful instructions. Pirates came along and, of course, Ywyn, whom the reader meets a little later in the story. None of these characters appeared in the original outline.

So in the case of The Abode, I have to give credit to a deeper part of myself for “the idea.” This story evolved slowly, building on itself unexpected revelation by unexpected revelation. When I look back at what I’ve created here, I realize that I’ve included many aspects of myself. But not intentionally. Prisons and the human beings who spend their lives inside them hold a fascination. The children of the Abode are imprisoned. And magic?—I’ve always been a believer. But I prefer not to overanalyze. I like instead to think that “the idea” is a conglomeration of ideas brought to me by these characters who have been kind enough to hang around long enough for me to write their story.