Is there any Truth in Fiction stories?Yes when a writer can get away with it there is. |
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Certain relatives who have been to the old farm on Green Pond get a kick out of Martha Martin's farm in the story because that's the place I designed it on. I called it Peaceful Pond in the first book though. Megan had to gather the eggs on the farm. I don't know if you remember the old chicken coop, but that's the one I wrote about right to finding the big old rat snake under the hen on the nest swallowing the egg. The old barn loft where Megan would play. That's a picture of the actual barn on the front cover of the book. The hog wallow that May fell into and the big old mamma pig oinked at her. That's the same pig lot where I stepped on the nail and grandpa Smith had to carry me back to the house. The fighting rooster who Megan talks about attacking her actually attacked me. What she did in the story is what I did in real life. In the story those things happened to Megan but in real life they happened to me. Who says fiction books can't have true stories in them? ;-) Of course the first book has the most true stories in it. The action gets better and better as the story progresses through the other books. The second book is our Halloween story and has a big mysterious very haunted house in it where something very sinister took place back not long after 1947. Note the date carefully and what comes to mind. Was it really just a big old mansion or was it really something else? Oh it's really haunted all right but the ghosts aren't the things that really frighten the girls; it's the other things that have them scared out of their wits. What about the Characters, are they all fictitious? A hand full of names were picked that belong to people we know and love. The names were used but most of the characters we created for those names are still fictional. An example would be John and Alma Butler, two of the dearest people I know and love. I used their names but the characters and place where they live in the first story are fictional. The real John Butler is a master carpenter while the John Butler in my story is a horse rancher and farmer. I used my brother and sister in-law's names in the third book. Lionel and Sara Smith gave the prayer and song preceding the Christmas play at the homeless shelter. My brother is a minister of the gospel and his wife also sings sometimes. Their characters in the story are very close to who they really are but I kept my descriptions and use of their names to a minimum. I asked and they said I could use their names so I did. My cousin Ricky Campbell is also a minister of the gospel and in the story I used his name for the pastor who ministers to the people at the shelter. I'm sure that Rick would do the same for anyone who needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ but the actual character in my book is my own creation. Rick told me I could use his name and as a tribute to him I did. God bless you Rick, I hope you like the character who bares your name in these stories. The Christmas angel in book number three is Angelina. In the book at the shelter she goes as Jelina. I took this name from my great, great, grandma Angelina Smith who also went as "Jelina" instead of by her real name. I don't doubt she's really an angel, I think perhaps she was in life as well. I liked the name, it worked for me and I used it since it is a beautiful name and implies "Angel." Some of the story character names and how they look come from Laura and Kristy's friends. You will find certain books will even have pictures on the back of them showing these special characters. The girls give me the names and tell me a little bit about what they want their character to be like and I create them using the names they give me. In book three, "A Christmas Story" you will find a character created by Tempest and another by Morgan and you will find their pictures on the back of the book with the name of the character under it. MiKayla has a fair sized part in A Christmas Story while Katharina has a small part. Katharina, also called Kat for short returns in a major roll in the fifth book, "Night Visions." Morgan's character is called MiKayla and is one of Brianna's friends. In reality Morgan is one of Kristy's friends so it all works out. Hannah has a character in book five. Her name is Aubrie. She's a little girl who got hit in the head by a soft ball line drive and has been in a coma for just over a year and can't get back into her body. Megan and Xeba come to the rescue and they finally figure out the solution to the problem. This is a short version of what happens but for Megan and Xeba it's not that easy. You must read the book to find out exactly how it does transpire. Since this time more of the girl's friends have come to me asking me to write in a character for them in the following books. :-) I'll see what I can do about that. The readers appear to enjoy it and a writer always needs new characters. I intend to end this series of books with book number seven, for which I do not yet have a name. That's just two more books from where I'm at now working on book five. If the reader response is great enough and if they want another story I may be inclined to write a very special eighth book for them. In order for that to happen I need to hear from my readers. |