Story Behind The Book
Ray Bradbury wrote 65 episodes of a science-fiction anthology series called <em>The Ray Bradbury Theater</em>, from the mid-eighties and into the nineties. I managed to catch a bunch of the episodes when they reran on the Sci-Fi Channel, back when it was still spelled “Sci-Fi.” <em>The Ray Bradbury Theater</em> opened with a shot of Ray Bradbury riding up an elevator and walking into a tiny, upper room, stuffed with junk... and a typewriter. Bradbury narrates with a voice-over: “People ask, ‘Where <em>do</em> you get your ideas?’ Well, right here. All this is mine... I’ll never starve here. I just look around, find what I need, and begin... “Well then, right now, what shall it be?” He looks around the room. “Out of all this, what do I choose to make a story?” Indeed, every story starts with a single idea. In my case, <em>From the Ashes of Courage</em> started with a comment a fictional character made on some TV show or movie. The character was relating a story about his parents. They had become empty-nesters and like many new empty-nesters, they discovered had grown apart and didn’t know each other any more. So to save the relationship, his father asked his wife out on a first date, as if they had never met before, and they began falling in love all over again. Soon after, I wrote in my idea journal, an idea for a story about a divorcée and her ex-husband, who divorced after having drifted apart, and who meet each other on a blind date and start falling in love with each other all over again. From the beginning, I knew the basic plot, up to the first kiss. In my original idea, he drove her home—I have no idea why—and opened the car door for her. As she stepped out of the car, she told him she was <em>not</em> going to invite him in. And he responded that he didn’t want to come in, because he knew that if they made love, he would <em>fall</em> in love with her. “But,” he said, “I <em>am</em> going to kiss you.” And he did. <a href="http://blog.jtimothyking.com/2009/12/15/sneak-peek-the-kiss">That kiss</a> survived in the final manuscript.