Using Real Life to Inspire Fiction

I write a fair amount of non fiction--notice my sidebar.  All my published books are non fiction.  But my life's ambition is to publish a novel. My novel.

What's it about?  Well, um, me.  But it's fiction.  Huh?

If you know me "in real life" you probably know that my parents had a fairly unusual family business when I was growing up.  They managed and co-owned a golf course.  We kids had a blast.  We learned a lot about people, human nature, and ourselves.  We had good friends.  It's the basis for a great YA novel.  Except...

Nothing really exciting happened.  Unless you count my brother's hole-in-one.  Or the time I got poison ivy crawling into some shrubs after a ball.  Or when Mr. A. yelled at a friend of mine for practicing too long on the putting green.  Like I said, not so much.

How do you take a great setting from your own life and make it fiction?  Easy.

I ask myself a lot of questions.  What if I had done that?  What if I hadn't been afraid of that thing happening? What if he had said this?  What if they went there? 

Make yourself an alternate universe.  Up the stakes.  Invent people.  Change personalities.  It's your story--you can make anything happen.  Nothing in my book happened "for real"--well, maybe one or two things did--but no one really knows, do they?

You can do this with settings, but you can also take "real" situations and turn them on their ears.  Anyone else take a real place (or situation) and fictionalize it?

Thanksgiving in Plymouth

Well, not really. But close. I spent part of the weekend at Plimoth Plantation as part of a Girl Scout program. I was very interested--because I love history, and I'm working on freelance project about colonial America. I've been researching since June--and my weekend made it very clear to me that my extensive research has merely scratched the surface.

PP has a living museum--with live "pilgrims" in a reproduction of the 1627 settlement. They also have a Wampanoag village with native American historians describing daily life.  The craft center is amazing as craftspeople create reproductions of the time in the same manner they were originally created--hand sewn, hand carved, etc.

If you're in the area, I highly recommend the trip to Plymouth.  We also had a chance to tour the Mayflower II.  Incredible to think of a four month voyage with 100 of your closest friends on that boat. 

It's even harder to imagine the living conditions and the basic daily comforts that they lacked.  My daughter thought the Native Americans had it better because their wetus were warmer than the colonist's houses.

For the most part, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans at that time got along pretty well.  But I start to get emotional when I think of the violence and the grief that both groups suffered as time progressed.  And of course the Native Americans lost everything in the end.

We should celebrate the things we are thankful for this week.  But we should also remember the people who came before us and the things they suffered for us to be where we are.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The Great Library Giveaway

I love this website--all about Middle Grade books. They are hosting a great contest for a wonderful selection of Middle Grade books for someone's local library. Check it Out!

My local library is a wonderful place--with an exemplary staff of generous and caring librarians. But then I'm biased. :)

The Great Library Giveaway

Suggestions for blog series or posts?

Yikes, my last post was a whole week ago! I hope everyone is enjoying the pre-holiday season. We just started listening to holiday music in the car. Planning and plotting the shopping strategy.

I've got a deadline next week. Scout stuff this weekend. Not much time to think up insightful blog posts.

I'm taking suggestions. Anyone have an interesting idea?