Camino Child Progress Report

Audio version: Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Would you like an update on the progress of my current project, Camino Child? Wonderful! 

The stories premise: Mystery pulls teenager Summer Darling to Spain to trek an ancient pilgrimage; then tragedy strikes, leaving the American alone to seek her family’s buried past.

Let’s get to the update in a moment. I’d like to make some introductions first.

In this new novel and its related novellas, there are three main characters, all females. There’s Summer, the eventual Camino Child. There is Grandma Pat, which we see a lot of in Summer’s characteristics. And there is Great Aunt Georgia. 

Georgia is like that aunt they loved and aspired to be when the ladies among us were younger. She is Pat/Patrica’s older sister, and Summer’s great aunt. Georgia is an enigma: She’s interested in history and has an excellent grasp of world geography; though not religious, she loves old churches and cathedrals; she is adventurous, gorgeous, travels the backpacker’s circuit, and promiscuous. And, as it turns out, she is also a bit of a detective. 

One important thing we need to understand about her is that Georgia doesn’t like nicknames. It’s Georgia or nothing. 

My characters usually name themselves. Rarely do I argue with them or change their chosen moniker. However, I can abbreviate Grandma Pat as GP for the sake of typing speed and then correct it later. Georgia will have none of that.

Pat/Patricia/Grandma Pat is a no-nonsense kind of gal. She knew what she wanted to do in life at the age the eighteen and ran her own business for many years. Pat also knew when to toss a lousy husband out the door. She always looked up to and wanted to follow her older sister, Georgia, in her world travels but only did the one time. Read the novella Georgia & Patricia to learn about their trip to Europe in 1982.

Now we skip a generation; you’ll see why in a bit.

Summer, who we get to know best as we watch her learn and grow while walking the Camino de Santiago, was raised on a commune in the Pacific northwest where her father grow marijuana legally. Mostly, the people at that commune had a very loose grasp on reality. Summer calls her parents by their first names, a result of—from a very young age—being more mature than the adults around her.

To help you get to know these three ladies a little more, here is a line from each as their stories begin:

Summer (as she starts her tale and is just arriving in Spain to walk the Camino Del Norte): 

I think of myself as an orphan. That’s what my grandmother and I tell people. It seems harsh, I know, since I talk with my parents every few months.

Patricia (age eighteen, waking up on a beach on the Mediterranean Sea in France, June 1982): 

My eyes squeak open, dehydrated, encrusted, icky. Lying a few feet away, my older sister, Georgia, squirms in her sleeping bag and then scrunches into the fetal position, still asleep. 

And Patricia as Grandma Pat (at an airport in Spain with Summer moments before they start their Camino hike): 

“Let’s go, girl.”

Georgia (on same said beach with Patricia in 1982): 

“How many francs did you say we have left?” she asks her sister. 

And then a moment later, “Let’s go find that croissant you were talking about.” 

These three main characters, all women, have fascinating stories and relationships. I’m a man in his sixties, and here I am writing about women. Go figure. I just think they are more interesting. At least these three are. 

Other characters in this series:

Tilly (Summer’s great, not-so-great aunt; the youngest of the sisters Georgia, Patricia, and Tilly). She wasn’t yet born when her father left his family behind and went to Europe in the late 1960s. 

Mother (Summer’s great grandmother, who never got over her husband leaving her and her young daughters to run off to Europe.)

Father (Summer’s great grandfather and an integral part of the Camino Child story and the mystery that Summer must solve). He who fought in Vietnam in the early 1960s.

Rob and Laura, Summer’s parents. Rob has a passion for growing the very best weed. Laura is a lost soul who loves Rob too much to leave him. 

Paul, the lecherous leader of the commune where Summer was saved from by her Grandma Pat.

And too many to list: Summer’s Camino family members, spiritual guides, and Camino angels who help her in her quest.

So, now for the update on the novel I am calling Camino Child.

Just this last week I finish the first complete draft. The storyline is there. The Camino route, the people who Summer meets along the way, the many challenges she must overcome, and Summer’s goals and accomplishments are there. I call this version the “skeleton” of what will eventually be published.

Now, I begin the process of “fleshing out” Summer’s story, bringing it to life. 

Not already a subscriber? CLICK HERE to follow along as Summer Darling discovers the world.

While sketching out the backstory and family history for Camino Child and our lead character, Summer Darling, I wrote a novella about her grandmother when she was a young woman backpacking through Europe in the 1980s with her older sister. CLICK here to download your FREE copy of Georgia & Patricia.

Know someone who might like this blog post? Email this page to them and have them CLICK HERE!

#caminochild #caminochildbook #briencrothers #caminochildupdate #caminobooks #newcaminobooks #caminofiction