Maggie Blackbird

Today, author Merida Johns is guesting. She’s talking about her latest release, A Proof of Love, a women’s fiction title. Don’t forget to enter the King Sumo giveaway.

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Creating the Story Characters: Maze-Routing and Jigsaw Puzzles

For me, creating stories and characters resembles maze-routing and jigsaw puzzles. Why? My only explanation is that I was lousy at algebra but a superstar at Euclidean geometry, preferring rectangles and squares to x’s and y’s.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, where assembly starts with foundational elements such as identifying the corners and edges, the manuscript begins with the basic story structure of the character first.

I study my characters—their strengths, weaknesses, wants, and needs—and how these clash (conflict) with the world (the maze) I’ve put them in.

For example, in A Proof of Love, here’s a snapshot of Katie, one of the three main story characters:

Katie (Kathleen Claire Blake): Courageous, courteous, strong-willed, confrontational, principled. An inquisitive nine-year-old bookworm and computer geek, Katie lives in a small town in Northern Illinois. “Plagued” by three brothers—Tom, Rory, and Kevin (Buzz), who she views as silly and superficial against her vision as a budding scientist. She develops THE Principles List—seven rules—as an ode to her beloved and deceased “Gram,” hoping the virtues extolled in the poem will protect her from vulnerability. Katie’s greatest desire (want) is to control her world, eliminate every obstacle, and measure everyone within her world against the Principles List.

Signature strengths: Curiosity, honesty, justice, bravery

Weaknesses: Overuse of her strengths leading to intrusiveness, self-righteousness, and being overly analytical

Greatest want: to control her world, eliminate every obstacle, and measure everyone within her world against THE Principles List.

Greatest need is to learn that absolute control of her world is impossible. She needs to give herself some slack and boost hope, self-compassion, love, gratitude, and forgiveness.

What she doesn’t know: Her underlying grief over her Gram’s death fuels her greatest want and, ultimately, her greatest need

Like a maze-routing puzzle, the maze (the story) is created– action, climax, consequences, and conclusion. I scour the maze for the best path that advances the character’s story from beginning to end, encountering challenges and obstacles that inhibit my characters from achieving what they need and finding ways around these.

In A Proof of Love, the maze is full of twists and turns, introducing two primary characters: the grumpy neighbor, Ned Boomer, and the enigmatic Rose LeMay, each carrying a boatload of life’s baggage. Like Katie, Ned and Rose are coping with loss and grief, which is unresolved until the secret that binds them is revealed.

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Title: A Proof of Love
Series: N/A
Author: Merida Johns
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Length: 330 pages
Release Date: March 17, 2026

A fictional story with a memoir overlay as narrator Katie Blake reflects on life in small town America and the principles, influences, and big personalities she wants you to never forget.

Blurb: It’s Memorial Day weekend, 2009, and the town gossips have their shorts in a twist about a mysterious newcomer who wears tie-dye, colorful headbands, clunky necklaces, and rings on every finger.“Who installs a ceiling fan on a Victorian porch?” cries Ned Boomer, Woodburg’s grumpiest man, and the town gossips concur, “She must be a hippie, witch, or maybe worse . . . a socialist.”

Hell-bent on preventing a neighborhood blow-up, precocious, nine-year-old Katie Blake launches a covert investigation to gather the truth about the enigmatic Rose. But when she discovers a decades-old secret binding her, Rose, and bad-tempered Ned Boomer, her world takes a turn.

Penning a memoir sixteen years later, Katie is forced to reconsider whether the real proof of love was in preventing a neighborhood war or finding friendship and comfort among three unlikely grief-stricken souls who should never be forgotten.

Goodreads | Amazon

Gram taught me to be independent, manage my anxieties, and have confidence in myself, showing me how to use my imagination to wiggle out of a jam or face the “grim crossroads” when confused or sad.

The first time I cried and lost it over a complicated computer problem, she said, “Be inventive, Katie! What can you do to calm down and think things through?”

We put our heads together to come up with ideas. Gram said she brewed herself a cup of tea when needing a break. Mom worked on crossword puzzles. Dad played solitaire. My one decadent delight was a FatBoy ice cream, and that’s how Gram and I hatched the plan of taking two ice cream sandwiches and hiding them under the frozen vegetables to create my private emergency stash.

“Close your eyes, breathe, take a bite, and replace the leftovers. No one will suspect anything. Our little secret. . .”

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At heart, I am a storyteller who writes women’s fiction and stories of courage and discovery, showcasing the protagonist’s journey toward a more fulfilled self.

My passion is writing women’s fiction and exploring the human experience—how ordinary people tackle challenges, endure sorrow and betrayal, wrestle with doubt, and act on their aspirations to achieve flourishing lives.

My insight into the power of fiction came during a conference call in late 2017 with a group of fellow life coaches. “What would it be like to help women and men achieve a flourishing life through storytelling?” I asked them.

After that phone call, I got started answering that question. The result was my debut novel titled Blackhorse Road, a compelling story of womanhood and the power of choice, gratitude, and forgiveness, published July 21, 2020, by Coffee Cup Press, followed by Flower Girl (2022), Flawless Witness (2023), and now A Proof of Love (2026)

Before embracing writing fiction, I was the author of health informatics and leadership textbooks. Later, I put my leadership experience to use as a leadership coach, focusing on supporting others to fulfill their leadership and economic potential. My range of nonfiction is available on my Amazon Author Page.

Follow Merida: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Substack

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