A few years ago, my wife suggested that I write a play for myself and our two nieces, Addison and Harlowe, to perform at Christmas.

     So, I talked to my nieces, “What would you like to be in this play?”

     “I want to be a Snow Leopard that controls winter weather!” said Harlowe.

     “I want to be a magical Christmas elf!” said Addison.

     Well, I had to write a part for myself, so I did: Victor the Sneak, the suspected villain of the piece. My wife, also known as Dee Dee, was the narrator and I wrote a short play called The Mystery of Christmas Magic. You can find more details about this project here.

     I was pretty happy with the results of our little play, but my happiness was short lived as my wife said, “You should write another Christmas play for you and the girls to put on.”

     Great. I didn’t think I could pull off another Christmas play, but one must try in these situations.

     I was talking to Harlowe about the possibility of another play when I asked her, “What would you like to be in this one?”

     “I’d like to be a Tiger searching for Cleopatra’s tomb!” was her answer.

     Hmm, that was oddly specific but not very Christmassy; nevertheless, I reckoned I’d give it a shot.

     So, I sat down at my old computer and thought, well, there needs to be a role for Addison, so I’ll make her the world’s youngest archaeologist who also happens to be looking for Cleopatra’s tomb. And there needed to be a part for me as well, so I thought of a guardian who was looking after the PhD wunderkind.

     But before I’d even finished the first page, I realized that this would be too long and complicated for a short Christmas play. I mean, why would a Tiger be looking for Cleopatra’s tomb? Tough to explain that in a one-act play, so I thought, I’ll make it a short story that we can all read together; but about 10 pages in, I realized it was more complicated still. As the story and characters became more developed, I hoped I could wrap it up in a novella, maybe about 60 pages long … but the story had other ideas.

     Eventually, the novel came into being, and maybe another novel will be required to continue the story.

     But it all started with the need for a second Christmas play and a young girl who wanted to be a Tiger looking for Cleopatra’s tomb.