The Story Behind...

The first thing readers ask me about I Will Always Love You is whether it is autobiographical. My answer is a firm and unequivocal “Maybe.” It draws on memories from a crucial period in my young life. The best advice an author ever gets is to write about what they know. The love story of Josh and Emmie is what I know. Where David the human ends and Josh the character begins is a bit fuzzy, even in my own mind. Nevertheless, this is most definitely a work of fiction. Buried in the fiction, however, are truths I learned in my own coming-of-age true-life story. 

I Will Always Love You is a story within a story told in two books. In the outer story, Josh and Susan have let their separate but demanding careers take over their lives, eclipsing their marriage and even putting their faith in God on the backburner. Josh desperately needs an emotional oasis to relieve his life’s parched landscape. A notice about the upcoming 24-year high school reunion triggers buried memories to which he escapes.

And so begins the inner story of Josh’s first love. Emmie is the new girl in school. He sees her in the first period on the first day of ninth grade and falls in love. Book One – First Kiss follows Josh and Emmie as they learn about friendship that turns into deeper feelings. They are innocent, good kids raised in a conservative community. Josh stresses over the first dance, the first date, how to make conversation, the right way to hold Emmie’s hand while they walk home from school, and especially that all-important first kiss. 

In the meantime, Josh learns to navigate many new and confusing situations, like a falling out with his lifelong best friend, trying to befriend a bully who wants to beat him up and move in on his girl, and coping with a nerdy kid who seems determined to be Josh’s best friend whether he likes it or not.

The climax of Book One is the magical moment when Josh finally kisses Emmie. The circumstances, however, are anything but magical as they stand on Emmie’s porch in the cold with the bright porch light glaring, the headlights of Josh’s mom’s car spotlighting them, and Emmie’s mother sitting on the sofa just inside the bay window. Still, the kiss is magical and stands out in Josh’s memory as the highlight of his young life.

Book Two – Last Love returns to the adult Josh’s predicament. He wants to find Emmie and see if she perhaps still feels the same sparks that have fired Josh’s memories. He begins an internet search through social media and public records to figure out what has happened to Emmie since they lost contact. He doesn’t want his wife, Susan, to know what he is doing. He’s not sure where this search will lead him. 

The story then returns to teenage Josh’s post-kiss adventures. Emmie leaves with her family on a two-week winter-break vacation, and his best friend isn’t speaking to him. Enter Corbin, the nerdy wanna-be friend. With nothing else to break up the monotony of two weeks with no school, Josh agrees to hang out with Corbin. The boy gradually introduces Josh to a side of life he has never experienced before. Corbin’s dad is the minister of a small nondenominational Christian church, and Corbin wants Josh to come to church. Josh and his family have no religious background, but he lets himself get talked into attending a worship service. He gets involved not only with the congregation but with Corbin’s family. 

All of this happens while Emmie is out of town. When she returns, he wants her to go to church with him. Emmie is totally turned off by religion, a byproduct of a terrible grief when her father died. She agrees to go once to see this church that Josh likes, but she is not impressed and refuses to go again.

Nevertheless, Josh continues to attend worship services and spend time with Corbin and his father, the minister. During a sermon, Corbin’s dad calls for people in the congregation to come forward and commit to baptism. Josh is drawn by the call and makes the commitment.

When he tells his parents he wants to be baptized, they are skeptical but willing to let Josh make his own decision. He proceeds with the baptism without inviting Emmie or even telling her of his decision. When he tells her after the fact what he has done, she turns cold toward him. He tries to keep their relationship going, but within a week, she gives him a Dear John letter. Heartbroken and distraught, Josh turns to Corbin’s dad. The minister explains that Josh is caught in a test of faith that many new disciples face. He must decide whom he loves more, Emmie or Jesus. Josh chooses Jesus, and he comes to terms with losing Emmie. 

Thus ends the inner story. Book Two returns to the outer story of Josh’s search for Emmie thirty years after they last saw each other. After following many blind alleys, Josh finally locates the person he is sure is the Emmie he kissed so long ago. 

I won’t spoil the ending. 

The second question readers ask me about I Will Always Love You is why I wrote this particular story. Let’s just call it an exorcism.