Voices In My Head

Disclaimer: This post is in no way related to, nor commentary on the mental health condition commonly known as Schizophrenia. Please know that Stonefruitpress and its authors take mental health very seriously. 

Picture this: I’m working on a story with a park ranger, a genie, and a dragon. When the female protagonist can’t work up the nerve to tell the cute guy she likes him, the genie lets him hear her thoughts. The following conversation ensues;

“So, you magically made him telepathic?” 

“It’s not telepathy. It’s a manipulation of the fifth dimension.” 

“There aren’t five dimensions. There are only four: length, width, height, and time.” 

“Not true. There is a fifth dimension.” 

Not willing to trust the person I’m talking to about this plot point, I reach for my phone. With a quick internet search I find that there is a fifth dimension that helps unify the fundamental forces of physics. Here’s the catch, the aforementioned conversation happened inside my head, between me and the genie… 

And she’s not the only one in there. 

Having written multiple series, consisting of several books each, there are dozens of character voices in my head. From the Moore Love series alone, five brothers all compete for space to be heard. Even after their book is finished, they keep talking. Long after the happily ever after, new details emerge. (Cue bonus scenes.) 

As an author, I pride myself on creative ways to express ideas, emotions, and events, but to put a name to this phenomenon, I can only describe it as the voices in my head. In a previous post, I talked about Brandon Clay and his presence in my psyche as a gigantic tool bag who needs to be knocked down a few clicks. He’s not happy about his character being molded into someone more likable, but he’s putting on a smile for the cameras. (Typical Brandon Clay.)

The time-space bending genie, Isabel, is much more agreeable… most days. Other than a tendency to be demanding and impatient, she’s just a simple girl, trying to make a little magic happen, and using physics is simpler than straight telepathy, or so she says. 

Truth be told, I don’t have a strong opinion either way, nor the mathematical knowledge to argue with fifth dimensional activities. What flumaxes me is where these ideas come from, because I don’t have a degree in physics. Surely, some Star Trek episode long ago must have planted the seeds of alternative dimensions. (Seems like there was a Klingon vessel involved and the sexy Commander Riker was tragically blown up, but I digress…)

The point is, as a writer I not only entertain these voices, I need them in order to create fresh takes on otherwise well known ideas. I’d like to think that as an author, every word I write is fresh breathed inspiration, drawn from the well of my creative genius. (Cue eye roll, and a little giggle. Let’s be honest, it does take a wee bit of hubris to write a novel and share it with the world, but “well of creative genius”?) 

In reality, tropes, especially in romance novels, rule the stage. No writer can claim absolute autonomy for ideas as old as time. No evil genius can ever beat Mary Shelley to the punch, and no bat can transfigure before Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Maybe Stoker was the first one published, but I’m thinking he would admit to leaning on a few legends to conjure up that beautiful book. Flash forward 128 years, and we’re still writing books, movies, plays, and poetry about bats becoming nightmares and in some cases those nightmares becoming playful goblins that prey on human fears. 

Tropes, these well known themes that permeate every corner of creative writing, are the building blocks for storytelling. As Author Michelle Pennington explains in her new book The Scene Trope Solution: For Romance Authors, tropes are “storytelling magic,” because they have fan bases. What starts as a formula combined with “creative plots, compelling characters, and our own unique voices” becomes fresh and intriguing (Pennington 2025). 

And, vital to the survival of the novel writer, writing books that are commercially successful, i.e. that pay the bills, it makes “sense to deliver what those existing markets of fans” are looking for (Pennington 2025). If you are a writer wanting to learn more about the beauty of tropes, I highly recommend you check out Michelle Pennington’s book: The Scene Trope Solution

This is where my own personal blend of neurodivergence becomes a blessing for my books. Being medically diagnosed with ADHD, my mind has a tendency to wonder, along the way making strange connections that others might not. I’m always listening, usually not to what I’m supposed to be focusing on, but always drawing in fun facts from the world around me, and synthesizing that into what eventually becomes a voice inside my head.  

Authentic characters, unique personalities that twist facts and sink their teeth into realistic details, are what makes a story come alive. “A Cinderella Story” is both the title to a movie and a much loved trope. We all know Cinderella, but if you’re not sure who that is, check out “Chapter 37: Cinderella Moment” in Pennington’s book. For brevity, Cinderella is the oppressed, usually penniless, character who triumphs in the end with love, wealth, and a healthy dose of come-uppins for those who tried to keep them down. 

My Cinderella is named Georgianna Glass. This unpublished manuscript follows the life of an orphaned teenage girl who makes huge sacrifices to help her sick brother and eventually becomes co-owner of a thriving business with her handsome husband. What makes Georgianna unique from the Brothers Grimm and Hilary Duff’s versions is that Georgianna teaches herself how to drive a manual stickshift truck with no brakes, using the transmission to stop the vehicle until she is forced to fix the rusted safety hazard. Georgianna then challenges traditional gender roles as the only female diesel mechanic in a shop where she meets her beau, Neil. This story is chock full of all the mechanical knowledge my husband ever shared with me, all told in the voice of a relentlessly optimistic teenage girl, quickly growing into womanhood. 

Georgianna’s voice is a mixed bag containing a part of my younger self, my husband’s mechanical expertise, and a bit of my later life experience mixed in. All that being said, I think it’s safe to say that while the Cinderella trope is alive and well in Georgianna’s story, it’s completely unique. The dozens of voices in my head, all formed from bits and pieces of my life and world, shaken up and reassembled into new and often surprising combinations, are what my writing thrives on. 

I hear them as clear as day: Brandon Clay with his intense passion and brooding nature that smiles on stage like its his job, sweet, compassionate Yesterday Sandrelli, quietly shaping everyone around her into nicer versions of themselves, Sarah Rossi tending to her garden and broken mama’s heart, laidback and hardworking Austin Moore building a life for his girls, Noah Moore with is irreverent lust for life, annoying and prodding forward all the other Moore brothers, and even Isabel, the genie with a no-nonsense take on her purpose in life, and a willingness to bend the rules magic and physics to make the right wishes come true. 

There’s more, lots more, bouncing around between my ears, all waiting for their chance to land on the page and tell you a fantastic story that is all their own. Andrea Kruz, my writing partner, does a great job of helping me keep them in line, because without her, we’d be meandering through the maze of people with no structure in sight for hundreds of thousands of words. Hopefully, I will get to write them all, all the stories of all the voices in my head.