It's NOT Harry Potter

I've heard authors talk about how real their characters were, how they came to life and seemed to make their own decisions. I didn't get it. Until it happened to me.

I knew my main character needed friends of all sorts. The best minor characters act as a foil to the main character, so that's where I started. Johnny the reckless was born.

But as much as I wanted this to be a book boys would like to read, I mostly know how boys behave around girls. So friend #2 was a girl. Kat.

Before Kat and Johnny said a single word, I hit myself on the head over and over. How could I tell the tale of a boy-girl-boy trio, now that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were out there?

Then again, three boys become The Three Investigators (see above) and four boys turns into "The Body" (also known as Stand by Me) or The Goonies. Any combination of kids turns into some former literary or cinematic combination. I couldn't worry about how NOT to write the story, I just had to write it. And I was already picturing these two clearly.

As a concession, I deliberately veered away from the Harry Potter trio by making Johnny's and Kat's families as different from the Weasley and Granger clans as possible. Kat is not an only child; she has older brothers that figure into the story prominently. And Johnny's one older sister is the neighborhood babysitter. Also, his parents are divorced.

Sandra instructed us to write the pivotal scene of the story -- the place where the main character falls heavily (in a metaphoric way). I chose Flight day. I wrote the scene.

And Kat and Johnny took it from there. It was like they just took over and said what they wanted to say and did what they wanted to do, whether I liked it or not. I get it, now.

PS My reader remarked on the similarities to Rowling's trio and asked if I had noticed. Indeed.