STORIES COME FROM LIFE

Some of the best stories come from real life because they are dense and compelling .That's why readers like memoir as well as fiction that allows them to identify with the protagonist or point of view (POV) narrator.

When I lived in tiny Arctic Iñupiat villages without plumbing or roads or any modern conveniences, I acquired a lot of first hand experiences I included in my books I AM THE ICE WORM, DOG WOMAN, ALONE IN THE ICE WORLD, and FINDING JADE MOUNTAIN.

Fishing commercially for salmon along the California coast aboard a 55' sailing schooner led to BELLY UP. My sailboat Bobolink became the sailboat in the story and my experiences with sharks, whales, freighters and trying to catch fish in terrible weather gave me the nuts and bolts I needed to give the story verisimilitude.

I taught eighth grade on a USMC base and former students who have read WARRIOR'S DAUGHTER say it's like "reliving eighth grade all over again."

Both KNUCKLE DOWN and LOOKING OUT FOR LINDY come from growing up on the Los Angeles homefront during World War II. My dad's liberty ship SS Peter Silvester was torpedoed by a German submarine in the Indian Ocean and the facts about that incident are absolutely true.

A FEW SCREWS LOOSE has truths about friendship and mental illness. And my most recent novel CHANGED IN THE NIGHT deals with psychological issues connected with loss within a context of sci-fi/fantasy.

The most important element of story is truth, and truth comes from reaching into those deep and sometimes brutal feelings. Readers tune in to that truth at a level they might not understand. All they know is they've been there and done that and can relate to the story's narrator.

As writers, we need to excavate human emotions even if it hurts to face our own guilt, fears, and hopes. We need to somehow get those feelings onto the page for the reader no matter what genre we are working in.

How do we get story? The hard way; we dig up a rough draft like clay and slap it down on paper. Then we mold that sloppy mess and shape it and tweak it and revise it a hundred times. We put our heart and soul into it so there are universal truths based on who we are, what we know, experiences we've had, and life lessons we've learned.

Readers read books to discover how to lead their own lives.

Where do stories come from? They come from ourselves; we need to dig deep.

This book came out of my real life experience
of living in the Arctic Bush.
I AM THE ICE WORM

Journaling helps separate backstory from story and my adult writing students sometimes have a big problem doing this. I have trouble myself and have to cut out great amounts of writing because I sometimes get in my own way.