Into the Prologue – The Reflective Tale of an Entire Lifetime: The Second Heartbeat of A Diary’s House

 

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A Diary’s House

Perhaps the hardest thing for a writer is how to begin a story. Where does the tale have its birth? It’s the human element which draws us in; this being the most profound kind of interaction. It’s what the reader will relate to the most, and how they will discover the quickest attachment for the characters within any novel. Sometimes it’s a very dramatic, tortuous event which draws the reader right away; how they will discover and support the character (or characters) initially placed in peril. This being where the story has its start at the most dramatic moment in the novel, then it works its way about this particular event.

  While other stories begin with a perspective, reflective tone – and require the reader to be just a tad more patient. This can be difficult because of the instant gratification many contemporary readers require in today’s society. It appeals to the ‘get-it-fast’ & ‘fast-food’ generation we live in. Caution: it’s not always the best stories which reveal the whole plot upfront. Some readers will bail quickly, while others will move through the novel as if it were a tale worth reading – all the way to the conclusion. To those readers who do bail, you might be giving up on a story which, in the end, will move you tremendously. Such is the world with ‘A Diary’s House’. You can’t always wait for the movie – many worthy stories don’t make it that far.

The Beginning of A Diary’s House

  So what brought me to begin ‘A Diary’s House’ the way that I did? Trust me, there were varying elements at play with that decision. I looked at nearly seven different options based on the continual storyline which ultimately prevailed to make the novel what it is. But in the end, it had one key ingredient which had to be the driver for the story. This would be Landon’s story, told in his manner and in his fashion – and it had to be human in every phase. The story is complex and it would have required nothing less.

  I looked at the option of having Landon tell the story in his early youth as the events unfolded; his middle years, sitting on a hilltop with his horse, under a tree, drawing the first whims of his tale in the dirt and ground; as a stately person more established in his life and times; or as an elderly man, reflective, responsive to his thoughts, and recollecting his history with a fond mind-set, almost as if it were the greatest treasure in his life.

  The stage where he sits feeding the pigeons, knowing every detail and personality for each one, and taking care to attend to them all – this was an antidote for humility. That the simplest things in life he’d come to realize were the most important, the most enjoyable. And the feeding of these pigeons was a representation to the abiding wisdom he had learned throughout his lifetime. At some point in time our lives do come full circle in some way and fashion, as it did with him – a sort of ‘Forrest Gump’ bench setting to begin his humorous yarn. I wanted to instill a similar atmosphere and aurora.

  It needed to be simple, aspiring – Landon being a breeder of a wonderful tale to relate in the most appealing way towards his own listeners – the reader. He had a story to tell, and he wanted you to know how grand of a world he had lived through. The story’s emotional complexity also required a character to have lived a lengthy life, and to be at a certain stage in their lives where they could give such emotions the fullest dimension and apt description. The story had to breach its deepest impact for the reader or something important would have been lost (if I told you that little snip-it, then it would ruin the story for you!).

  In order for it to work, the story he would tell had to be just as compelling. Otherwise the reader would be disappointed by the story. As a writer, if you are going to project such a reflective tone and then not deliver on the storyline, the novel will fall flat and the reader will feel like their time was not adequately invested in.

  A story of adventure, romance, and of true love are all universal elements for such an ambitious novel as this. Through this simplicity of a man living, as it were, a very regular and ordinary life in his ‘golden years’, somehow he has a great secret he wants to reveal. It’s up to the reader to listen and respond with their own emotions as they work their way through this novel. It’s a journey, no doubt, but even the longest of journeys can be worth it as long as the story prevails to speak in a compelling voice.

  The first segment of the Prologue deals with this very element, with humorous antidotes on his settled life in a small town deep within the mountains of NC. The second half of the Prologue deals with the very heart and basis of the story’s beginning. It reverts back to his earliest memories of his family, the admiration for his father, and the beginning tale his father wanted him to know about – The Tale of Kituhwa.

  This reflects back to some of my earliest memories with my father reading me stories and rocking me to sleep when I was a very young boy. So in some respects, the very first tale for Landon is actually my own. Without reading carefully through the Cherokee tale of Kituhwa and the beginning of the Cherokee nation, the reader will lose the essence on the striking affect this story had on Landon’s earliest years.  This legend from so long ago was told, in descriptive detail, by the only living thing which could have lived so long – a living tree.

  The birth of the Cherokee nation, the creation of the North Carolina mountains, and the beginnings of the mighty and mysterious Randola River are all weaved tightly together in this particular tale – told much like the myths and stories handed down from Cherokee generation to Cherokee generation. Its affect would remain with Landon throughout the novel and it is one of the principal drivers to his pursuits.

  We all know legend and lore is a mixture of facts and embellishments. Where the lines are drawn we can not clearly ascertain – thus the alluring mystery of such a tale. But with the clever combination of both, the story takes on a new dimension of its own. I researched many of the Cherokee legends and myths which had traveled many generations. And through this atmosphere and backdrop, I wanted to create a story which would acknowledge such legendary tales but still be completely different in the same stroke.

  Landon would never forget this story and he begins to be drawn to the Randola River and the mysteries which shadow and surround this entire region. It would soon lead him on an adventure of a lifetime. An adventure with no clear outcome or resolve – but one which would shape the rest of his life in a most profound and engaging way…

  I suppose this is where the heart of Landon begins to beat on its own. And thus is the second heartbeat to the ‘Language of the Heart’ series…

  Until the next heartbeat…

  C. David Murphy

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