Chronicle

I once went to a writing conference and Andrew Neiderman was giving one of the classes. In case you don’t know, Andrew Neiderman had been famous for writing horror novels. He had also been a ghost writer hired to write sequels to VC Andrews, author of Flowers in the Attic, and he wrote numerous novels under her name.

During his lecture he told of the time a reporter asked him if he ever got confused when he wrote. Did he ever start a book as Andrew Neiderman and end up writing it as VC Andrews?

He said, “No, I don’t. It’s simple really. Whenever I’m writing as Andrew Neiderman I have my own computer and I simply write as I always have. However when I’m writing as VC Andrews, I go put on a dress, go to a different room with a different computer and write as her.”

Of course he was joking, although he did say the reporter took him seriously for a few minutes. However, that idea intrigued me. While still at the conference I wrote the beginning few pages for what has turned out to be Chronicle, The Woman Who Was Arthur Joplin.

It starts with a young eager author of one published romance novel. Her name is Gail Summers and she has given up her prior life to move to Texas and become famous as “Gail Summers Romance Author.”

She even gets an agent, and one day was surprised when her agent, Hazel, calls her in and tells her a famous horror writer named Arthur Joplin has died.

Hazel informs Gail his family is looking for someone to write the third and final book of a trilogy to his popular horror novel series called, "Chronicle.”

Hazel wants Gail to write a sample chapter to submit to them and be a ghost writer for Arthur Joplin.

Do you see what I’m getting at here?

Of course Gail gets the job, otherwise I would have no book, only a few pages of notes that would quickly get lost or thrown away.

Not only does Gail get the assignment, but she also ends up getting Arthur Joplin’s personal computer with which he had written the first Chronicle.

And now the fun begins. She not only begins to write a novel as Arthur Joplin, as the book progresses, she unexpectedly begins to feel she is actually becoming Arthur Joplin, which is the reason for the sub-title of Chronicle, “The Woman who was Arthur Joplin.”

If you enjoy mysteries, plot twists, and horror stories which really aren’t scary, and a bit of humor, then you may very well LOVE Chronicle.