An 80’s Movie Explains Everything: The Inspiration for My New Novel 48 States

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT Is Evette Davis, the author of 48 States

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I may be dating myself, but there is a scene in a classic ’80s movie called Working Girl, where the young assistant has to prove she didn’t steal a business plan and is asked to explain how she came up with the idea. In response, she pulls out a collection of seemingly random news clippings that when strung together validate her idea. 

48 States is a similar story.

I interviewed a panel of female veteran authors for a literary festival at the San Francisco Main Library, around the same time I was reading about the explosion of fracking in the United States. National Geographic published a feature about people who moved to North Dakota to work. One of those highlighted was a mother who left her family behind to drive a haul truck in Williston, ND, because the pay was so much better. I’d also been reading about Japanese Internment camps and had been surprised to know that the entire effort to relocate Japanese Americans had been done by Executive Order, meaning without congressional approval. If you put all of that in the blender of my imagination, you get 48 States. The book took five years and went through several major plot revisions, but the central themes I was interested in: extremism, domestic refugees, and, of course, women who transform themselves, remained the same.  

 Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I usually write a chapter plan, by hand—in pencil—mapping out points of conflict along the way to ensure readers are kept on the edge of their seats. I did a lot of research and map reading for 48 States. I knew the story would take place in the west and that I would need to get a good handle on streams, rivers, highways, and hiking trails. I also spent time learning about how the United States monitors energy production. I developed character profiles and spent time writing down their backstories and thinking about the territories and what they would be like if they existed. The plot flowed from that rich backstory.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

For 48 States, the central plot of River, a woman trying to figure out who she wants to be after years of tragedy, and Finn, the man she finds standing in the middle of the road, who disrupts her plans, stayed constant throughout. I had a clear vision for the two of them from the beginning. What was tricky and changed over time is the villains and their motivations. Previous versions included more than one aggressor, including foreign terrorists on U.S. soil. In the end, I decided to keep it simple, and of course, the world changed. Red is over the top for a reason, but his actions, however outlandish, drive the book’s drama and they are plausible. But the plot for 48 States is much more intricate than Red. It’s a series of two-person relationships that each evolve (or devolve) until the six of them converge.

 Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I have more story ideas than time to write. I keep ideas in notebooks and journals and sometimes if I need a break from what I’m working on, I will start writing a piece of the story or a character bio. I love that I have enough ideas to keep me busy for another 10-15 years. It’s always nice to know you have a creative project. In my case, I have a romance series, a spin-off of my urban fantasy trilogy involving a security firm run by super-naturals, and a few stand-alone novels.

How do you choose which story to write next if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I’m not sure, this is the very question I am asking myself. I have another novel being published in early 2023 and then I have to choose what comes next! I may have to ask my readers.

 I have six cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed), and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I have a black lab who usually curls up in her bed next to my desk. I like her company, but I usually send everyone else out of the room and ask them to leave me alone for a few hours.  (Everyone being my husband and daughter.)

Evette Davis is the novelist who created the “Dark Horse” trilogy, including novels Woman King and Dark Horse. The final installment will be published in 2023.

The Saturday Slash

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My thoughts are in blue, words to delete are in red, suggested rephrasing is in orange.

It’s just another regular, boring summer Friday night in small-town Upstate New York for painfully average You've done a great job here of using a bunch of words that are going to immediately turn someone off. Introducing anything as boring, regular, or average isn't great language to use in a hook sixth-grader Ben Grishop and his friends Joe and Dana—until they’re abducted by aliens and informed by the Almighty Extraterrestrial Ruler of the Universe (coined by Ben himself) I feel like "coined" isn't great wording to use in an MG query that they, through sheer luck alone, Eh... dumb luck isn't compelling. I know you're probably trying to counteract the "chosen one" trope, but you put a lot of effort into telling us how normal / boring these kids are. So why are they going to save the world? are the only three beings in the universe who can save it from imminent total destruction. Right here is the ending of your hook sentence. All the way down here. Get this quick, concise, and above all - not inferring that anything about the beginning of this book is boring. Reading is an escape. Reading about characters who are bored is not an escape. All they have to do is push a tiny red button constructed by the aliens over the course of millennia within twenty-four hours. Confused. It took aliens a millenia to create a button?

But before they get a chance to, the aliens’ spaceship is attacked by what the aliens call “an immensely powerful, evil force from The Realm Beyond.” In a desperate attempt to save Ben and his friends, the aliens dump them on a random, distant planet full of giant, man-eating, French-speaking crabs. lol, I mean, of course they speak French Now, before time runs out, Ben and his friends must find a way to survive the deadly planet and reconvene with the aliens, so they can push the button and save the universe from oblivion.

I feel like there's a lot missing here. We need more of a goal than "push a button" and we need to have a feeling for who these kids are. Boring, average kids are not compelling characters, and dumb luck isn't what drives a plot, neither is the single act of pushing a button. Give us a better feel of the group dynamic, what's at stake for each kid (not just a generic "end of the world" scenario). The world is always ending these days - why is this version special, and why should we root for this kids to save us?

If what you're going for here is more a of Shaun of the Dead "everyman given an impossible task" / implausible hero, you'll need to get more of the tongue-in-cheek, humorous voice injected into the query. Right now it's coming off as a slightly, rambling SF adventure with characters who are just kind of meh about everything - including the end of the world. If you want your reader to care, the characters need to care, too.