Jericho Wells - Author's Notes (now it's all done)

Tuesday, August 4, 2009 5:44 PM

Ever have one of those tales that seem to take over, go from a simple idea to a behemoth? That’s what happened with Jericho Wells. It was meant to be nothing much more than a filler, a little tale slotted between the aftermath of Mal’s heart attack and Kaylee’s giving birth. Instead it became a twenty five chapter novel, in excess of 78,000 words, and something I had to work hard at.

It started with the beginning, as good tales should, and a vague idea of someone standing for Parliament. It was going to be Mal, but that was too obvious. After going through all the options I decided on Zoe. I had the first chapter already written before I came up with the idea of Bethie talking to Kaylee at the end of the last story about Ethan’s pacemaker, but it all seemed to fit. So it began.

The heist was almost always going to be a part of it, but the parts with Bethie, her election games and cookie theft were written on the fly as I went. And I had to figure out a way for Serenity to get away unscathed, thus River and her computer shenanigans. I always had this picture of her dancing between the security beams in my head ...

Anyway, so here we are. An entire book about personal and specific freedom, rather than a simple little bit of fluff. And success for Mal and the crew. Whether or not this current trend continues is another matter, though, dependent on my muse and if I decide to let them keep the money ...

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