Before a Chapter Exists

Opening

Before I write a chapter, I already know the experience I want Rhett and Severin to have.

Sometimes I know exactly what they’re doing.

Sometimes I know where they are.

Sometimes I know a moment that belongs in their story.

I may not know every conversation yet.

I may not know exactly how the chapter will unfold.

But I know the experience.

That is where it begins.

The Collection

The chapters of The Artist are not planned from beginning to end before I write them.

There are experiences I already know I want inside the novel.

Places I can see them together.

Dates I want them to have.

Moments that move their relationship forward.

As I begin sitting with one of those experiences, the images start forming in my mind.

I begin to see what they are doing.

Where they are standing.

How the moment is unfolding between them.

As the images become clearer, so does everything surrounding them. The textures beneath their feet. The sounds in the distance. The warmth of a fire. The scent in the air. The light moving through the room. Those details become part of the experience too, helping the chapter come alive as I write.

Then the conversations begin to take shape.

From there, the scene becomes part of the chapter.

 

Why It Belongs

Most readers only ever see the finished novel.

This collection opens the door before a chapter exists.

It is where experiences become scenes, where ideas begin taking shape, and where the first glimpses of a story appear long before they reach the page.

Sometimes, while I’m writing one chapter, an idea for a future book arrives unexpectedly. I make a note of it, then return to the story I’m writing, knowing I’ll come back to that idea when its time arrives.

These moments are part of the creative life behind The Artist. They don’t belong inside the novel itself, but they belong here—inside the collection—because they reveal the journey before the finished pages ever reach your hands.

Continue Exploring

Continue inside the world of The Artist and follow Rhett and Severin’s story as it unfolds, chapter by chapter.

Then step through another doorway inside Luminous Luxe, from the journals and Private Pages to original artwork, photography and the published words that live throughout the house.