Craig Chalquist, PhD, PhD's Blog
November 4, 2025
Listen To Your Characters
Soulmapper: Novel 1 of the Lamplighter Trilogy
I thought SOULMAPPER would be a short story, but the protagonist thought otherwise. I talk to "my" characters in fantasy quite frequently, especially while out walking in the morning.
He said, "A novel." As more ideas came through, I kept writing and reached the length of a novella. "That's all i've got," I said.
"There is a sector of my life," he told me, "that I haven't said anything about yet." And he described it to me. Wow. (It starts with Chapter 4.)
When I finished adding material about what he'd mentioned, the result was a novel, my very first with others to follow.
I thought SOULMAPPER would be a short story, but the protagonist thought otherwise. I talk to "my" characters in fantasy quite frequently, especially while out walking in the morning.
He said, "A novel." As more ideas came through, I kept writing and reached the length of a novella. "That's all i've got," I said.
"There is a sector of my life," he told me, "that I haven't said anything about yet." And he described it to me. Wow. (It starts with Chapter 4.)
When I finished adding material about what he'd mentioned, the result was a novel, my very first with others to follow.
