The story, or not

This was a though one. What kind of story could I tell with my protagonist and my beautiful castle?

Horror was out of the question. Historical takes waaaay too much research. and I'm brutally lazy.

So what were my options? I finally decided to try my hand at mystery, with a dash of romance, and paranormal. I know this can change at any time during the process, but at least I had a "might work" kind of thing going.

My first question after I felt satified with the genre was: What kind of girl would my protagonist have to be to get involved in a mystery?

I built her life in my mind, making only a few notes in my MS (manuscript) I want to keep this blog as spoiler free as possible, so I won't go in too deep. Let's just say she's a happy girl.

Now, since I want, no, crave romance, I need to find a love interest. Someone that can rattle her world a little (read: A LOT).

Back to Google (lots of hours passing)................ and I'm back.

WAIT WHAT?? Okay, my mind didn't want to find a love interest. It gave me the first person my MC (main character) meets at the beginning of the book. Sometimes you've got to roll with the punches and accept what you get.

I introduce to you, Jonathan Michaels. A kind, and strange, 9 year old boy.

The fact that my mind threw me a name is a nice change, and it helped me get to the core question.

WHY would my protagonist keep going?

I returned to the search for a LI (love interest) and found........

Not your everyday hottie, but there's something about him. Time to pick my brain, to pick his brain.

- Izzy