Beautiful Megan MacGregor (played by Deborah Ann Woll in my film fantasies) is the heroine in my novel, News From Nowhere. Married to the protagonist, J. Lindsay Calhoun, her focus in life is having their baby.
But it wasn't always so. How quickly life can change! When Megan met Lindsay less than a year earlier, she was a happily single child psychologist with a flourishing career - actually several careers. She worked at a Denver hospital counseling at-risk adolescents, served as a highly respected material witness to legal firms across the country, and had just published her first children's book.
Because her own mother risked her life to have Megan due to a genetic disorder called Marfan Syndrome, Megan decided early on not to have children for fear of passing the gene to her own children, even though it skipped a generation in her.
That is, until she falls in love and marries, and embarks on a shared life and mission with her new husband. Lindsay is building a kingdom for himself and his farm partners, and Megan is clearly his queen. As surely as he understands his role in this story, so, too, does Megan. She is to bear the heir to their dreams.
Unfortunately, she'll suffer a great deal of heartbreak trying, as she is a chronic mis-carrier. I understand these things very well, having lived through the heartache of Marfan Syndrome and multiples miscarriages myself. In the book, the situation will allow me to explore other parallel issues pertinent to the story lines, which will often illustrate social justice issues, ecology, sustainability, and personal growth. Megan's dilemma will touch on themes such as these:
- Over-population burdens
- Natural healing remedies related to infertility
- Adoption
- Self-worth issues
- Envy
- Patience
- And so much more!
But after all is said and done, the main issue for Megan will be her inability to bring a child into the world to share with Lindsay.
I've come to a curious conclusion late in life, especially curious coming from a devout feminist like me. No matter what our professed focus early in life - education or career - on a primal level we're mostly focused on breeding and regenerating the race. It's all about sex, at least before age 40 when we're in our primes. My characters will discover that and other aspects of themselves they really didn't know.
What do you think?
