So – when I told you about my dad’s mail order bride and the story of her overwrought performance at his funeral I noted that it was something so overdone that it would be rejected by a soap opera. As I think about the story that I may write – prequel to my own Star’s End series I watch what is actually happening and wonder is this to crazy to even consider adapting. How would I write this?

In the world that I wrote, five strong families using corporate interests as their base took control of the United States and quickly ended free elections and even the illusion of democracy. If you watch Kochs, Trumps, Kushners… you might see the beginning of why I see this situation as oddly familiar, I wrote these books quite a while ago so the way things are playing out can be a tad disconcerting. Watching Trump’s inconsistencies and what is happening I wonder how to make this story last long enough to get to a long-term takeover – not that I want that outcome but story-wise it’s fun to consider.

In this story of mine, where I can play a little bit with conspiracies and let me mind run wild – and get serious about this prequel because characters are starting to come alive to me.

Last night and this morning, I’ve been reading some of the “Rogue” twitter accounts (there are a few out there that are purportedly leaks from within the White House – if nothing else they are amusing if fake and alarming if real) and the twist came to me that might make this still fit within a story that I might write because right now I’m wondering why anyone would act quite as out of control and unhinged as the characters in our White House right now and I may have found my angle.

Mike Pence, the quiet, long suffering (it’s been almost three weeks in office and you had the campaign before that) VP, who was “lied to” and not told about the Flynn lie until he read it in the paper. If Pence is absolutely innocent it makes it much easier to impeach Trump, install him and things kind of fall apart story wise. Far better, is the idea that Pence was in the know but has been trying to find a way to get rid of Flynn and install his own wing, consolidating power under the VPs office. So if Mike Pence began leaking this information about Flynn – even though he actually knew all along – to force the firing of the man who had the President’s ear, who talked to him first thing in the morning, last thing in the evening – well in a story this could be an ideal way to get rid of such a man. It is also a way to try to cut loose the Russia connections and hope to excise that as well.

So in this particular what if, we wonder what if Pence is the leaker of this particular bit  of information doing it in such a way that Flynn was forced to resign and that decision was forced upon Trump, done deal just as Trump was manipulated into accepting Pence as a VP. That makes Pence many possible characters from handler to man trying to save a republic he loves – or anything in between.

So now where does this Pence character fit into this story? Idea’s, comments, crazy meter ratings. This is the early stages of the story writing process for me as I figure out people’s motivations. I’ve never written off of actual events before, I’m usually far off in time, or in a earth where vampires and elves are out there. I’m not sure that I will this time but I do know that the events leading up to this moment and the authoritarian dictatorial nature of Trump, the family behind him, well I see similarities to my books and prequels are occasionally quite fun.  If you are interested in the four book series that follow this fall from Democracy they are all available on Amazon under my pen name Nataya. The first book is Reach Beyond the Stars. I started it when I was about 15 – I was a bit older when I finished it.