What is the name of
your main character? Is he or she fictional or a historic person?
Casey Wheeler is a fictional character
telling a story of hope that very closely resembles my own.
2. When and where is
the story set?
Casey weaves through the suburbs of San
Francisco, trying to find a place to land with her daughter, Maddy, having just
left an abusive and unfaithful husband with nothing but the clothes they’re
wearing and the cash in her pocket.
3. What should we know
about her?
While her willingness to stay so long in an unfaithful marriage seems
questionable, Casey’s motives stem from her maternal instinct to provide
security and consistency for Maddy. These
same instincts force her into the unknown, with nowhere to go, in order to
protect them both from her husband’s blatant infidelity and increasing abuse.
Casey is willing to walk away from all she’s ever known to provide Maddy with
a life she never had - one filled with love, security and the freedom to be a
child. Her isolated, loveless and controlling marriage closely resembles the
overbearing, unloving and critical childhood she experienced with her father, a
retired, decorated military man who has had much success as a litigating
attorney. He is short on compassion and high on expectations and criticism.
Casey’s unplanned pregnancy and disagreeable marriage left her without the
option of turning to her parents. Her father’s only offers of help always
came with the unthinkable demand that she rid of Maddy, a stain on his perfect
life, one way or another. Her mother uses alcohol to cope, and her fear of her
husband’s wrath prevents her from helping Casey in any significant or
meaningful way. With no one to turn to, Casey cries out a prayer for help in
desperation. The answer she receives is nothing she could have ever expected,
and is the beginning of a life-changing dialogue she never knew possible.
4. What is the main
conflict? What messes up her life?
Casey’s most urgent and immediate conflict is
her lack of shelter, money or a job that could provide the possibility of
either. Accepting the role as
unquestioning housewife has left her without options. Independence is something Casey has never
experienced and she is ready and determined to get it, never returning to the life
she’s left behind. Having cried out for help, to a God she’s only heard about
indirectly or casually, the answer comes faster than she expects as she loses
control of her car, crashing onto a hillside off of a dark highway in the
pouring rain. The building at the top of the hill provides the answers she’s
been looking for, but what lies inside threatens to change her entire
perspective on life...and death, forever.
5. What is her
personal goal?
While Casey strives to establish independence
and a safe, loving environment for Maddy, she stumbles onto much deeper
personal transformation, finding a new and growing faith, the real meaning of
family and the possibility of new love, all in the unlikeliest of places – a
funeral home.
All the Wrong Places is available in
print and ebook format at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks/iTunes
