There has been an update to this post. You don’t always go looking for a story. Sometimes, the story finds you. A Story That Beckons The Secrets of Whispering Pines wasn’t something I planned, not at first. It wasn’t the result of years of outlining, of carefully constructed plot points and deliberate world-building. No, it started the way the best things often do: quietly. A spark, barely there, a flicker at the edges of my mind. It was a class assignment, nothing more. A simple exercise, the kind you do and forget. But some ideas don’t fade. Some ideas sink…