Notes on Messages in a Bottle

I want to share some notes for now is the time to start adding the written Druthers to the site. (7/8/2022)

The first three short stories to be shared in this written section of the website will be Messages in a Bottle, Sir Bedivere’s Gift and Finding Xander Draven.

My note on Message in a Bottle.

I wrote Message in a Bottle on July 6, 2022 under the working title “Love Letter in The Used Book”. Last week I had just completed writing and editing the audio for Finding Xander Draven starring Barnaby and wanted to have a Harper Thorne story. Knowing Devon, who portrays Harper, I knew she enjoyed the book Northanger Abbey and bookstores in general. So I began with a premise of finding something in a used bookstore. I wrote about the ambiance within a used bookstore first. This took longer than intended and i had not fleshed out any plot in my mind even while finishing that first paragraph.

With the second paragraph, it all flowed together, and quickly. I thought of what a note written to someone named Elizabeth (which was a suitable name given we were using Austen as a conceit within the story) might express. I knew there had to be a reply message and took the story there. I thought of two different people who had been changed through time but still had a shared, profound experience in the past where choices were made. Those choices are left ambigious but it is clear that one choice was whether to stay together or go their separate ways and they chose the latter.

After writing the first draft, I sent the email to Jeff Savage (to record Edward) and Beth Steinberg (to record Elizabeth) and Devon (to record the narration as Harper) and to AJ for direction. After sending the email, I did a quick read through and made minor edits. I read it aloud the next day a few times and made a minor adjustement on a word or two and the story was complete.

All three of these first short stories were written on one day (each), though there is a caveat to Finding Xander Draven which I’ll discuss in the blog that addresses that story.