First, when Miss Becky arrives on a bicycle, Cody says, “Ya must’ve done somethin’ real special to get a fine gift like this.” He looks to her for an explanation but doesn’t receive one. Miss Becky simply answers, “I reckon I did.” The story moves on, and along with Cody, I have no idea what Miss Becky did to receive that fine gift until later.

Similarly, I didn’t know how Miss Becky came by the diamond-and-ruby earrings until she explained her adventure with Big Bart’s horse to the sheriff.

Later, I wanted to add some humor to the bronco-busting contest, so I created a drunken heckler in the moment. When he and Miss Becky were at the saloon, he asked her, “Likin’ yer bicycle?” That’s when I learned of a past encounter between the characters and discovered that Hank Starley was essential to the plot.

That same day in the story, two more secrets crop up. The first one is more of a mystery: When Cody tells Miss Becky, “In the Contreras family, cash is a rare crop. I doubt María’s ever had ten cents of her own.” Miss Becky replies, “I’ll be mindful o’ that.” Cody thought her answer was a bit odd, and so did I, but I made a note of it and found a way to tie up the loose string at Miss Becky’s birthday bash.

The other secret occurs at supper that afternoon. Cody speaks to Miss Becky about the gift that Mason claims is from the two of them. Cody says, “Well, actually, it’s not really from me. I got ya somethin’ separate, Miss Becky. I’ll give it to ya later. It’s in the buckboard.” I had no idea what he had waiting in the buckboard, and I struggled for months to come up with a special gift that Cody would likely think to give Miss Becky.

In all these cases, the dialogue prompted me to discover events that occurred in the lives of the characters or answers to fill in blanks. What if I hadn’t come up with answers, such as what Cody’s special gift was? I could have chosen one of many other gift ideas I had brainstormed, or I could have deleted Cody’s lines from supper and allowed Mason’s gift to be from both Campbells. Somehow, though, in each case, the process of letting my characters’ dialogue guide me worked. Discovering answers as I go, instead of knowing them in advance, is one reason writing is fun for me.

Sherrie J. Lyons ©2023