Sometimes, characters push so hard to be written that it's really hard to ignore their voices in your head. That's why I rearranged my writing schedule and began working on Tempered, because the characters were ready to be put on paper.

Now, about a week ago, I started fantasizing about how nice it would be to spend a week on the beach, just me, the ocean, and my Kindle. (Hey, it's my fantasy. You go get your own.) Thanks to my work on Tempered, I also had this young man running around in my head.

Ha, no. That's no one I know. It's Levi, Hawthorne's great-grandson. He makes a couple of appearances in Tempered. Now, I really like Levi. Like his Nana (Hawthorne), he's honest, straight-forward, and controlled, and tackles life head-on. Don't get me wrong. He has his flaws, but all in all, he's a great guy. (You know. For a completely made up character.)

Anyway, I had these two competing ideas running around in my head, one a longing for a solitary vacation and the other a character who is, er, persistent. I started melding the two together, brought in a female character who was not interested in a relationship with a brash younger man. One thing led to another and, before I knew it, I had accumulated enough ideas to form the rough outline I use as a basis for my stories. 

But, Levi being Levi, he wouldn't leave me alone. Write me now, he kept saying, usually in the form of...well, to be frank, naughtiness.

*cough* *ahem*

Even though I kept telling him I'd get to him (That's why I wrote down all those plot points, Levi!), he kept insisting, so a couple of nights ago, I stayed up all night writing the first two chapters of his story. Yes, I'm still writing everything else that's on my schedule, but I'll also be sneaking in a few hours a week to work on Levi's story, tentatively titled Say Yes. I have a few ideas on what I'll do with SY, but nothing firm. 

But, to get back to the title of this post, that is the tipping point for writing a story, when the characters just won't leave me alone. I think y'all are gonna like the end result of this character's persistence.