The Story Behind the Story of
Shaky
Ground
by Hadley Hoover
When I wrote Prevailing Winds several years ago, I recall dashing off
a history for the hero Cory Whipple that would give him an understanding of
the heroine Laurel McPherson's grief over losing her husband. What
better than to have him be a widower? Little did I dream such a
decision meant that in a few years I would have to "kill off" (as my
mince-no-words husband puts it) a character I had grown quite fond of while
writing Prevailing Winds and its prequel, Rogue Wave.
Bibs Whipple could have remained Cory's memory on the pages of Prevailing
Winds had not so many readers e-mailed me, nabbed me at church, etc to
say things along the lines of "Okay, we want to know: how did Cory get to be
such a great guy?" I had embedded just enough clues as to Cory's early
life within the pages of Prevailing Winds that I had a skeleton of a
story which fleshed out to be Rogue Wave.
I loved writing Rogue Wave—telling how toddlers Bibs and Cory grew up
next door to each other, as the story moved along from the 1940s to 1960s,
was delightful for me. Yes, I knew there was a gap between the end of
Rogue Wave and the 1990s when Prevailing Winds began, but I
figured covering Cory's formative and young-adult years was good enough.
What was I thinking?
One thing I'll say about my readers is that you're a persistent lot!
You adored Prevailing Winds and did some prevailing of your own to
get Rogue Wave written. But while you loved Rogue Wave,
you insisted it didn't cover everything you thought it should. Well, I
had gotten Cory and Bibs through college, so I thought my job was
done—"Uh-uh," you said. "Tell us about Bibs."
I had thoroughly enjoyed creating Cory's unusual family, though I really
didn't give much thought to Bibs' family in Prevailing Winds.
Her parents, Ed and Lorene, had lost a son before Bibs was born. I
wove that scant detail into Prevailing Winds' storyline, but that was
pretty much it for the Johnson tribe even in Rogue Wave. That
skimpiness gave me freedom to develop her family with the crises and dramas
which would become the storyline for Shaky Ground.
Even after Rogue Wave joined the line-up, part of what shaped Cory to
become the man who intrigued Laurel in Prevailing Winds was still
missing: how did he so completely understand her grief? Where was his
compassion born? I knew you persistent readers were right: there still
was more to the story.
But it was a part I didn't want to write: Bibs had to die.
I've always hoped readers don't skip to the end of my books to find out what
happens—but anyone who had read Prevailing Winds already knew how
Shaky Ground ends. Drats; there goes the suspense.
Since I was the author of her existence, I had to not only let her die, I
had to be there—hearing, showing, telling, grieving right along with my
characters. Yikes. No miraculous recoveries. No
misdiagnosis caught at the last minute. At one point, my on-site
first-reader (AKA my husband) said, "You know you're just going to have to
let her die. Quit waffling!"
He was right. Since Cory was a widower in Prevailing Winds,
there was no way out: I had avoided it in Rogue Wave by ending the
book before Bibs and Cory got married. But the bottom line was: Bibs
had to die in Shaky Ground. Bummer of a plot to entice readers,
huh?
Why-oh-why did I decide to have Cory tell Laurel that Bibs had died of
breast cancer? I had just pulled that out of the air—blithely unaware
that detail would rear up and bite me in the future. Yes, breast
cancer does claim far too many lives, but not every life.
I can't tell you how restless I was while I wrote (and rewrote—many times)
the parts about Bibs' diagnosis and eventual death. For the first
time, I seriously considered abandoning a writing project. Knowing
this was neither an option or a disciplined decision, I would go outside and
pull a few weeds, or throw in a load of laundry. Once I even made
cookies, and I hate making cookies! I knew that words on the pages of
Prevailing Winds had predetermined the end of Bibs' life—Bibs had
walked off my computer screen and moved into my heart. I flat-out
didn't want her to die.
Shaky Ground is fiction, but the details are also what's happening
every day for many people. And maybe that's why Shaky Ground
needed to be written: because others have flesh-and-blood family and friends
whose lives can't be arranged and rearranged, either. As I wrote Bibs'
story, every day I learned more about redefining faith, hope and love when
life doesn't seem fair.
Don't let the fact you know how Shaky Ground has to end keep you from
reading the book—read it, but please don't peek at the last pages!
There still are a few surprises—good ones, I promise. And if, at
times, you laugh—don't chastise yourself. Humor is God's silver lining
for the dark clouds He allows in our lives: this I believe with all my
heart.
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Shaky Ground
