Writer’s Group

In this section of the blogsite you’re invited to become part of my development as a fiction writer. I have one complete series, All About Rose, which you can find in the drop down menu across the top of the page. Currently underway is a new piece of work, Loretta’s Smokes.

Fiction is about using the imagination, but it often begins with something real. Walking along the streets of Seattle I might see a homeless couple having set up shop on the enclosed terrace of a recently failed restaurant. The restaurant stays vacant, and no one rousts the couple out. Gradually they expand their claim on the space, beginning to hang laundry along the wrought-iron railing. In the late afternoon, in what’s sometimes called “sundowning”, the couple come out from under their makeshift shelter and begin to harangue passers-by.

I see this couple often on my walks around town, but in fact I know nothing about them. They caught my attention, so I take a leap of faith and trust that if I write about them interestingly enough and well they’ll catch your attention too.

As I begin writing fiction I find myself beginning with what I know. I haven’t tackled a series about the homeless couple yet because I’ve never been homeless, and really know nothing about the life. I’ll have to develop my fiction-writing skills further before tackling something in the realm of pure fantasy.

I’ve known many women like Rose; even in this early portrait, she’s a composite character. My imagination takes off from there.

Loretta, who you’ll quickly find is Sister Loretta, a Catholic nun, harkens back to my college days at a small religiously-based liberal arts institution for women in northern New Jersey. There actually was a Sister Loretta, and she actually did smoke. Everything beyond that is a figment of my imagination.

Comments, which you can make at the bottom of this page or any page in any of the segments, are welcome. You’ll be helping my development as a writer, and satisfying my curiosity. If I really like a piece, I can hardly wait to see if readers like it too.