Building Castles in the Sky
(And anywhere else they can float free)

Building Castles in the Sky
(And anywhere else they can float free)

Friends and fans often ask me, “How do you write books like that?”
Too which I respond, “Writers are thinkers. We live in our minds most of the time and do our best to keep the outside world from interfering with the fantasy world that we are painstakingly trying to create.” This sounds very philosophical and makes me look like I have mastered some mystical art form - but truthfully - I’m just a dreamer.
Many of my books and stories are nothing more than mind-wanderings and what-ifs I have had. In fact, one of my recent books is an exact account of a dream that I had one night - specific to every detail that I could recall. They are not all that easy though, I have been known to work a story in my head for months before I ever touch a keyboard. I will work the storyline, and characters in my mind until they are an integral part of my everyday life. I make them plausible and realistic so I can talk to them, and many times, they talk back. I share things with them, and they tell me how I should write them. I build them worlds that I would like to live in, and others that I am glad I only have to watch from the safety of my computer screen. I dream, I live, and I laugh at things that my characters do, say, and create. I also mourn the loss of friends that must go, and rejoice in those that live on. Once I have lived with them for a while I only have to write down my memories. The worlds that live in my books are not found on this earth, but they are not completely from that 'other' world either, they live somewhere in-between. I believe that is why they call to other passersby - asking them to come join them - if just for a little while. Fantasy is nothing more than a casting off of the common day, and the call to return to a simpler time, when all you wanted was to go outside and play. This may all sound strange to you - a mere seeker of entertainment and diversion - but the fantasy that lives inside me is not unique, it can be found in us all.

“Everyone dreams, some of us just write it down.”
Michael R. Mennenga