Why Snowflake? Also read Chapter 1.

Thank you for all the responses. I’m very interested in ConstantRambler’s comment and I’ll make sure to learn from it. Indeed, the main heroine of the Snowflake is a little girl, and though I hope that the story will be interesting to younger readers, it is primarily aimed at adults. In the novel, I’ll try to describe a little girl who, just like the snowflake, started her life among millions like herself. She’s just as pure and innocent as that tiny drop of frozen water, moving through life without any understanding of what awaits her. Humans experience life through emotions. Sometimes we feel elated, others – down. Sometimes we are content and other times we are bored beyond belief of life itself. But then there are moments for each and every one of us when we’re suddenly faced with a question of the meaning of life, of our purpose in it.

I remember a time when as a child I woke up in the middle of the night with the deepest feeling of fear. It was the first time when I thought about dying or more precisely of not being. I’m sure everyone had one of those moments. My parents heard me crying and, once they found out the reason, they told me a story – a legend – about a tiny snowflake. The thing that stuck in my mind, that calmed me down, was that the snowflake always comes back, but only if she tried to do something good on her previous visit. Using the snowflake as example, I want to show that even the tiniest being on Earth has its own mission, its own purpose.

Computing crime and our vulnerability to digital intrusion is merely a backdrop to that story. Ultimately, it is humans that we are most interested in. And it is one little girl – Amanda Clarke – who will be chosen, challenged and forced to grow up if she’s ever allowed to get her life back. Still, I’ll keep in mind ConstantRambler’s comment and make sure there’s enough action in the book to satisfy even the choosiest of readers.

I’ll admit that the legend about a snowflake that underpins the book has been in my mind for a while, but I’m going to leave its presentation for later. For now, I’d like to present the first chapter of the Snowflake. As always, all comments, positive and negative, are welcome.

I also want to ask everyone a question. Do you believe in destiny or karma?

Snowflake, Introduction

I’m pleasantly surprised to find first visitors on my blog, who cared enough to leave comments. Thank you for answering my questions and I hope to see you again. You caught me unawares as, I must admit, I haven’t given writing enough attention this week. No, it wasn’t just laziness (though there’s always a bit of that). I had a hell of a week at work and didn’t have enough in me to write anything good. To make it up to you, I decided to upload an Introduction to my novel, Snowflake. I hope you enjoy reading it. All your comments, positive and negative, are greatly appreciated.

Arguments in the family

Nothing is ever perfect. A perfect life is what we all strive towards, but once there, we should be left alone to enjoy the bliss. It’s the problems and struggles that make it to books. And it’s a first serious problem for Clarkes.

Every family is ultimately built on trust and when something to shatter that trust slithers into a relationship, it hits hard and leaves splinters behind. Leo and Sally have a serious argument in the third chapter. I’ve tried to re-create realistic conditions to spark and then fuel the fight. After all, arguments typically stem from the same set of roots. Secrets in the family, whether or not they are directed against the other half, misunderstandings, coincidental circumstances. Sometimes a fight can be deliberately provoked by a third party looking for something to gain. What other things can cause a serious argument among close people?

Child Abuse

Have you noticed how sometimes a topic that wasn’t discussed for a while suddenly springs up everywhere, all at once? During the last few weeks several child abuse cases have been publicized on TV and web, talked about at work and that inevitably left a mark on my writing. I must admit, violence is against my nature. Violence towards children sickens me and hurts all the way to the heart. I can’t understand it and I can never forgive it.

In the second chapter, Jason – an excellent lawyer, but a single man – is accused of viewing child pornography. There is solid evidence found on his hard drive, months of historical data. Still, is he a criminal or a victim? He does, after all, claim to be a technophobe. Is this technophobia just a lack of computing knowledge, which meant he couldn’t cover up his tracks well? Or is it a cover up in itself? If Jason is indeed guilty, then we can never forgive him, but if he is merely a victim, then why is he being set up and why in such a horrific way?