When my first novel, SHELTER ME, came out, people often asked if it was autobiographical. “No,” I’d reply. “It’s pure fiction.” Sometimes this question came from people who actually know me—even a few who’ve met my very much alive husband. I found that a little surprising since the story is premised on the main character’s husband being dead by page one.
I can’t imagine writing a memoir—happily, my life isn’t nearly exciting and/or horrific enough. But readers often want to know a writer’s connection to a fictional story. Had someone very close to me died? Do I have people in my life like the characters in the book? Is the main character like me? I can’t answer yes to any of these.
Readers also ask if my characters are based on real people. They’re not. It’s much more fun to invent a character than to be limited to the boundaries of a live person. Also it seems like a great way to get yourself into some interpersonal hot water. You can’t write authentic characters if you show only their good sides, but their true life counterparts would rightly hate you if you revealed their less-attractive traits. I do occasionally borrow little incidents, phrases and mannerisms. For instance my son once wore goggles for no apparent reason, as Dylan does in SHELTER ME. Other than that I generally rely on my wayward imagination.
And yet …
There’s a way in which all the characters are vaguely autobiographical. As a writer, I have to be inside the “head” (as it were) of each of my characters, and those mindsets make sense to me in a fairly personal way. How would I—as character X—feel if … fill in the blank? It’s a lot like method acting.
Also, writers write about what interests them. I cooked up a story about a recent widow because of a long-standing worry that something would happen to my own husband. Then I wrote about a woman going through an adult version of middle school, while helping her daughter negotiate real middle school, because middle school was miserable for me. Also I’m fascinated by how adults have to work out identity issues from time to time even though we think we’re “grown up.”
Edna St. Vincent Millay once famously said, “A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down.” Fiction writers may not be recounting factual events, but we often reveal something of ourselves simply by virtue of the stories we choose to tell and the characters we create to tell them.
I guess my “pure fiction” isn’t quite so pure after all.
Thanks, Cheri! So glad you enjoyed it.
What a great book! I am an avid reader and this is one of my favorites. I giggled and choked up almost simultaneously. I will be passing this on, for sure.
Wow, Kaily, what a great comment to get! I’m impressed that someone your age can appreciate a story with a main character who’s more than twice your age. You must have a great imagination to be able to relate to someone that different from yourself — a mother with small kids. I have to agree with your teacher that sometimes having to write a book report makes you sit down and think about why you liked a story, which makes you enjoy it even more. It also makes you a more careful reader. By the way, I cry from books all the time — I like it when I’m so involved that I either cry or laugh out loud. I even do that when I’m writing sometimes! Thanks for your wonderful note, and for letting Shelter me “frazzle” you! I hope you get an A on that book report!
I’m a freshman in high school and I didn’t find your book, your book found me. My grandma was
moving from Chicago to L.A. and told me before she left that I would enjoy your book. Reading
normally isn’t something I would do in my spare time but apperintly it’s something I’m fairly
good at. At the beginning of the school year my English teacher started a conversation on book
reports and the reasoning for them. When he asked our class what we thought, not one kid raised
there hand. He told us that it was for us to be able to enjoy a good book. So my teacher told us to
go home to find a book that we would be intrested in. I chose your book SHELTER ME. I stared to
read it and could make some connections to the main character and her son, Dylan because I
used to wear goggles when I was younger as well. Soon after that, I became frazzled with my
addiction to reading the book. I finished your book in three school days, and I even got in
trouble for reading in some classes. When I finished SHELTER ME I was suprisingly crying. I
questioned myself on how I could cry from a book. I finished my book report and haven’t gotten
my score back yet, but I know it will be great! Thank you for writing books because they are
truthfully phenomenal!
Kaily Crous(:
I just finished reading “Shelter Me” and thoroughly enjoyed being with Janie. I am Catholic and really treasured her treatment of Father Jake. She called it like it is. Priests in my history have never been as “true” as Jake. I loved Janie’s insight into the diverse relationships she had. Reading them! Great! And of course, darling Dylan. So, bottom line, I now miss this sweet experience of sharing Janie’s days and will be watching for your next book.. Thank you for a story filled with insights and life lessons.
I’ve never written to an author before, but I just wanted to let you know…I just finished reading Shelter Me, and although the story is completely unlike my life I became so engrossed in Janie’s life that upon finishing the book I felt like I had lost a friend. I didn’t want to stop meeting with Janie. I know it sounds corny, but I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed your book and am sincerely looking forward to your next book. I checked the book cover to see if you had written any other books and was disappoint to find out Shelter Me was your first. I had to check on line to see if you had any other books out and now am looking forward to your next book.
Juliette: I just now finished reading your book SHELTER ME and I really, really loved it! I volunteer at our local small public library and in “checking in” books I saw the cover (and I also like quilts) and after reading the back of the book for the story decided to check it out for myself. How happy I am that I did so! You really have a gift for making dialogue believable — since I, too, like the character, Janie, lost a husband, I could completely relate to her emotional highs and lows and what do I do now feelings. I am now looking forward to the release of your new book in January, 2011. Thank you for sharing your ability to tell a story with your readers!
Ruth Henderson