Let the Story Percolate

I've lived in NW Montana for three years now, but none of my stories take place in this gorgeous setting. Yet. Residual ideas and characters followed me to Montana. I thought I'd have to get them out of my system before writing about what surrounds me here. (Like this year's blooming bear grass at right.)

But my Montana story percolation has begun. You see, long before the outline or the seat-of-the-pants first draft, small incidents become feelings, notes become scenes, a collection of women becomes my protagonist, and on and on. Let the story percolate, as writer and teacher Dennis Foley explained at a recent Authors of the Flathead session.

Percolation in the form of lists diverts me from finishing the first draft of my second novel. How is NW Montana culturally different from Dallas? Answers to the question alone could delay my writing for days, and has.

This morning I drank coffee in a sunny window, read our local newspaper online (they don't deliver up here), and jotted two more pages of What makes this place different? notes. Aside from all things topographical, weather-related, and urban/rural distinctions... people are the same. Groups of people and relationships are the same. Those of us who relocate and the many who vacation here, we all bring our own stories with us and either assimilate with or change those who came before. Probably a little of both.

Stories I've carried for decades just might be
 transportable.