About Fiction Writing

     As you may know, I am not just a blogger, but a fiction writer.  Aside from American Boys, I have written a novella called The Farm, which is not on line, but I have the manuscript, although it has not been published.
     I enjoy listening to a large eclectic selection of fiction and nonfiction.  I enjoy Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Elizabeth Berg, Fanny Flag, and in the nonfiction, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Neil Donald Walcsh, and of course many others in both categories, and of course I realize my taste in fiction varies.  I also like historical fiction, as well as historical biographies and books about history, such as Man Hunt, about the search for Bin Ladin, similar to the movie Zero Dark Thirty, but in much more detail and historical fiction such as An Unbroken Chain, My Journey Through the Nazi Holocaust.  
     One author of a biography of Abraham Lincoln, I read, in the forward explained that although accused of plagiarizing, had merely had to use other people's work for research.  Anyone knows, who ever took English 102 in college, writing a term paper with research and footnotes, that this is necessary.  You just need footnotes and a bibliography, as well as quotations.  I admit that writing Adrien's Story, an addition to American Boys, the story of an American soldier in Iraq, his journal in first person, and the demise of him in Baghdad, in writing this piece, I did hours and hours of research on Operation Iraqi Freedom, including excerpts from novels written about the war in Iraq.  I learned some disturbing things about the death tole, cover-ups, toxic leaders, and so forth.
     Today I woke up thinking about writing fiction.  Stephen King always writes about a writer, who is a recovering alcoholic, who is married with kids, and lives in Maine, almost always anyway.  Essentially, he is always writing about himself.  I guess what better to write about than one's own experience, although it could be redundant.  So, anyway, I thought I could write about a woman writer like me...  who lives in the south.  Then I began thinking about my character, Megan, from my novella, The Farm.
     If it were published, the book jacket could say this:
     After learning of her husband's affair, Megan Washburn divorces him, taking her nine year old son, Noah and their German Shepard, Rocky to live on her newly inherited farm, from her grandmother, in South Carolina, near the coast and Charleston, about two hours south of Myrtle Beach.  Michael, her ex husband, is literally coming apart at the seems, an elementary school teacher in Denver, Colorado.
     Megan learns many shocking secrets about her grandmother, and must learn to care for horses, with the help of a veterinarian and the Chestnuts, who live near by.  
     She has a brief encounter with a shady hired hand, and Susan, her best friend comes to live with her, pregnant, but not married.  Susan and Megan are both book editors.  
     Shocking twists of events occur, even danger, as Michael comes to reclaim his family, and Megan's estranged relationship with her own mother and sister come into play.
     Scary, heartwarming, adventurous, and romantic, The Farm will keep you captivated with its old worldly charm, and unexpected turn of events.  Read and let it unfold.