WIP: Working title: "Preacher's Kid"

I have been reading several books about writing.  Since I was teaching an after school creative writing class and had several students who were working on books I thought it would be a good idea to find some student writer friendly books.  I am not sure who recommended this book to me as I have had so many wonderful people helping me on my writing journey.  The book I am talking about is called Spilling Ink  by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter.  It is a "young writer's handbook".  Don't let the title fool you.  This is probably one of my most valuable resources right bow.  The book is broken into three main parts.  The section I am going to use for this "work in progress" is in section two:  Crafting Your Story, Section 4:  Convincing Your Characters That They Are Alive.  When I described to my students what we were going to do they looked at me like I was nuts.  Basically the idea is you interview your characters.  The book has a set of questions to get you started and then I found that other questions came to mind.  I was interviewing my characters and learned so much about them.  I did this with my first book, "Steps to Courage" and it is helping me with the revision process.  I have found out more about my characters that has taken me down other avenues.  For right now I am going to start with the characters for this WIP.  I will interview one character a day to give you an idea of who they are.  Please feel free to jump in and give me your feedback. Let me give you a little background on my story line and then check back on Monday for the first interview.


Imagine what it would be like to be a PK, you know, a preacher's kid.  Now imagine you've been ripped away from all of your friends and your football team and moved twelve hundred miles away.  That is what has happened to Jacob Wingate.  His father has moved them from Beardstown, Illinois to a little back woods town called Strawberry Ridge, Florida.  As a sixteen year old Jacob has become somewhat rebellious.  His mother tries to intercede on his behalf.  His father is determined to make his family the pillar of the community at all cost.  What happens when Jacob becomes friends with the rebellious son of a member of his dad's church?  How does he get himself out of a mess that will definitely involve the law when he is being threatened by his new friend.