Charming (32 page)

Charming is one of those stories that required so much more than regular reader feedback. Charming is a story that required a carefully crafted village of family and friends and everything in between to make it out there into the world.

You see, this book wouldn’t have come to life if I hadn’t been brainstorming with Jessa Russo about which fairy tale redux she wanted to write next. When I suggested Grimm’s Cinderella meets Saw, she immediately said she couldn’t write horror, to which I responded how easy it would be, then rattled off a story idea in the matter of five minutes. I then begged her not to want the idea because I needed it for myself. She laughed and said I could have it. We spent the next several days discussing titles, and we added “in blood” to practically everything. I’m pretty sure we spent more time laughing than being serious. But I have to admit, Charming wouldn’t be here without her. So, thank you, Jessa.

What I find funny about this story is that I didn’t immediately begin writing. I sat on it for quite some time, several months, in fact, before I did anything. Sometime late last fall, I heard The Neighbourhood playing on the radio, the song Afraid, and I got the feels. You know, the FEELS, and my thoughts turned toward Chris freaking Charming and this little story. I spent the next few weeks doing nothing but coming up with a history for each of my characters, combing the internet for models for them, scouring public Facebook profiles for certain celebrity-types who I could use to base Chris off of, researching company history for a huge candle store. I needed motive for a killer, so then I spent time researching serial killers. Boy, sometimes real life IS stranger than fiction. That’s all I can say about that.

Once I had all that handwritten, I typed it up, edited it as necessary, and began sharing with Kay Froebel. She told me what worked and what didn’t. She helped me give the motives more meaning and the characters more depth. This was all before writing a single word of the novel. Okay, not true, I did have the opening line… and maybe a couple after that. Anyway, I was so pumped to write because she was so pumped to read. And so I did. I wrote the plot outline, gave it to Kay, then when we finished, I sat and wrote Charming in a couple of weeks. The fastest I’ve ever written anything.

We spent the next month tearing it apart, breaking it down, and making it better. Thanks to my beta readers: Melissa Ferguson, Susie Levine, and Danielle Cornwell (who said Charming made her want to broaden her reading horizons!), for their early comments, and my agent Nicole Resciniti, for your invaluable feedback that truly helped the thriller/horror aspect of the story. Alisa Gus from Curiosity Quills, for always having my back. ALWAYS! And I can’t forget to thank my Street Team, the wonderful #wadebrigade who Tweets, Shares, e-mails, supports, and knows how to party better than anyone else. You guys rock! Expect more fun things to come. And I can’t leave out Jessica from Crossroads Reviews, and Morgan and Fallon from Seeing Double in Neverland! You guys never seem to run out of steam. You’re always willing to read and review what I write, and everyone knows just how important those reviews are!

I love you all, especially my family, who puts up with me when I get in the zone, when I forget about laundry and cooking and bath times, who has to encourage me to eat and drink so I survive my writing bursts.

You’re the best, family.

And to the people I know I’ve missed because I’m fairly sure my publisher is going to tell me this is too long, thank you too!

  
Krystal Wade
is happily married to the love of her life (don’t gag) and raising three beautiful children in the gorgeous state of Virginia. They live just outside Washington, D.C., and every day she wakes up to find herself stuck in traffic trying to get there.

The horrid commute gives Krystal plenty of time to zone out and think about her characters in full, brilliant details (she’s a safe driver; don’t worry). Stories give her a way to forget about the sometimes smelly strangers sitting next to her on the fifty mile trek into town (she picks up hitchhikers every day. True story. Check out
www.slug-lines.com
if you don’t believe us).

Krystal has been a part of organized hitchhiking for nearly fifteen years, but that’s just one small aspect of her oh-so-large life. When she’s not working, commuting, or chasing after her three children (four if you count the man), you can usually find Krystal outside talking to her chickens like they’re the cutest things in the world (they are), or training her amazing dogs how to herd said chickens (which they love), or curled up on the sofa with a good book (why can’t that be 100% of the time?).

Abigail

erick and I were at The Griffin—a little bookstore in downtown Fredericksburg. He was reading his worn out copy of
The Hobbit
, and for the life of me, I can’t remember what piece of literature I held in my hands. I was too busy staring over my book at him.

Burning tinder popped and sizzled in the fireplace next to us. He sat across from me, on a chocolate, micro-fiber sofa. I loved the way the warm, earthy hues of the furniture made his sky-blue eyes stand out against everything else in our favorite spot in the world.

He caught my eyes in their eternal lock on him, smiled—a nervous smile, but a smile nonetheless—then patted the spot next to him.