Why I Wrote THE KEY

The Key was never meant to be a book. It wasn’t meant to be anything. I’d been OD-ing on Stargate Atlantis and got an idea for the show—yeah, total fan fiction—that I could NOT get out of my head. In desperation, I decided to just write it down. Put it on paper and GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD.

Well, over one hundred pages later, I realized there were two things I was not going to get out of my head without writing their story: Sara Donovan and Kiernan Fyn.

They weren’t characters to me. They lived and breathed. Okay, maybe not breathed, but they haunted me. I think Sara invaded me (I was going to say “infested” but that sounds kind of creepy.) When I was out and about—even just out to the mailbox—I’d see the world from my point of view and hers. It was a strange sensation.

I realized the only way to get all of my brain back was to write her story.

I launched into it, not sure she had a complete story. Not sure I have enough of a book to be worth my time. I had no idea that her story would take me in a new direction with my books.

I knew Sara was a pilot. I didn’t know she was a space pilot.

I knew she had special abilities. I didn’t know why or how.

I knew Fyn was an alien. And very cute. And that’s all I knew about him.

And I knew they met in a cave.

Yeah, the chances of getting a whole book out of them seemed a risky proposition. And yet…they were between me and writing anything else. So, I looked at the pages of fan fiction, trying to figure out if there was anything in there I could use.

There wasn’t much. But I was desperate. So I started writing. I wrote. And I wrote some more. Slowly, Sara and Fyn let me deeper and deeper into their worlds, their stories. I got excited, but I was also worried. What would my publisher think of this story? So far I’d written romantic suspense, humorous mystery and a romantic adventure/time travel tale (Out of Time). Taking my characters into space was going where this author had not gone before.

I had a messy mass, a story about two-thirds told when I handed it to a friend and beta reader. To my surprise, she liked it. She offered some great suggestions, which I used and eventually I had this novel that I tentatively sent to my editor. Another surprise: she liked it, too.

This not only sent me into a new genre, but I launched my own, private label: my BABs (big a** books) and started my Project Enterprise series.

When I went indie, The Key got a new cover, and I’m happy to say that it is now widely available online.

So, have you had something you couldn’t get out of your head recently? A song? A quote? A book? Do tell!

Perilously yours,

Pauline

“The Key was good in every way a novel can be. It’s an engrossing story with full character development and growth. There is an ultimate battle between good and evil and Ms. Baird Jones even makes the villain likable on some levels. For me, The Key is one of those rare books that strengthened my love of reading.” Night Owl Romances Top Pick and Reviewer’s Choice.