The Great Unexpected: Idea? Fear?

It is not easy to answer the question: "Where did you get the idea for this [or any] book?"  A book is not one idea. It is thousands.

But: What was that very first spark? 

Recently–prior to the Sandy Hook tragedy–I attempted to answer that question for an interview about The Great Unexpected:

    Aware that so many children are more fearful now than when I was young, I hoped to create a story in which the unexpected could be something great instead of something to be feared.  Two other notions wrapped themselves around this idea. One was how closely the 'real' merges with the imaginary in the lives of young people. Another notion was the intricate connections between people–some obvious and some not. . .  

   And so evolved this story of two young girls: in whom the real and imaginary merge; who discover intricate connections between people and places; and who learn that the unexpected can be great.

Now, post-Sandy-Hook-tragedy, I am especially mindful of the fear so many of those students and teachers must have felt, and of the fear which the survivors continue to feel.  I wish I could ease it. I hope that 'intricate connections' in their lives will sustain them; I hope that the living and the dead will unite in their minds and hearts; and I hope that one day the survivors will again be able to look forward to the unexpected. 

Connections

I am fascinated by connections

by seeming coincidences

by intricate design

and serendipity

You pass a window and see

two silhouetted figures

You don't know that they grew up in

the house you now live in

You watch a young girl climb a tower

and admire her dexterity

You don't know that she is the daughter

of the woman who will be your boss

In a diner you see four men on stools

You don't know that

one was  your high school math teacher

who advised you to hang out with

a better crowd

You see boats bobbing in a harbor

You don't know that one of them

belongs to the boy (or girl)

you had a crush on in third grade

You stop and photograph a jewel box of a house

You don't know that the owner is

the grandson of a famous painter

and that one day

he will marry your granddaughter

As the narrator of The Great Unexpected asks:

"Did a delicate cobweb link us all, 

silky lines trailing through the air?"

xx