Meet Mariah

Meet Mariah.

I've started this blog as a spot for me to think through my latest work-in-progress. It's a novel called [title coming later] about a woman named Mariah. She's twenty-eight and a high school English teacher with a famous singer-sister and a younger brother she's raising.

There's lots of family history--mom died of cancer, dad and stepmom jailed for skimming money off their nonprofit organization designed to help the families of those who lost their loved ones to cancer. Mariah is embarrassed by the experience (thanks, Dad!) and has lived the last five years a recluse, basically.

I chose this blog template because a) I like the color and much of what Mariah is stems from me; b) Mariah would like the color because she's soft, not prickly like I originally thought she was going to be; c) It's simple and not distracting because Mariah doesn't like attention. Her sister gets plenty of it and she's from a small town where, for better or worse (mainly worse), everybody knows her, where she's been and what she's come from. She shies away from attention.

I need a place to think through many things: the plot of the story; the characters--especially Mariah; the recurring themes; symbols (Sno-Cones, what else?); PLOT; other characters like Nick (what does he want?), Dacia (does she have her own story? With Tommy? With her career?); PLOT; PLOT; PLOT; PLOT!!!

I called this blog And They Call the Wind Mariah because for now, Mariah is the wind. She's elusive. Sometimes I feel her and other times she disappears without a trace. I'm not entire sure who she is. Sometimes I think I know her, but I don't know her journey. Who is she when the book starts and how is that different from when it ends? Where will this trip take her? How will the other people change her? See? She's elusive!

So for today I want to focus on Mariah. Questions to consider: What is her North Star? What motivates her? Who is her antagonist (is it Nick?)? What does she want? How does she get it? What are her likes and dislikes? What defines her?