So, a friend just emailed me that my book is in our local Borders. I guess that makes it official - it is definitely out there.
Here is my question of the day, when you read a book, do you ever confuse fiction with fact? How much do you think is true and how much made up? This came to mind when a woman who was reading one of my sample chapter booklets told me she had a hard time separating me from the book.
This really set me back. I mean, I am sure little pieces of me leaked into the characters, but in no way am I the herione. Did not even occur to me. Have you ever read a book by someone you know and put that person in the book?
It then occured to me others might see themselves in the book, simply because I wrote it and I know them. Well, not to burst any bubbles, but no one I know is in this book. That isn’t to say that there wasn’t some inspiration. One of, what seems to be, the favorite characters in the book, Aunt Tilde, has some things in common with my great aunts, but she is not any one person and lots of her are totally made up. Yes, I made things up. Remember when that was a bad thing?
Oh, and in case anyone wonders, the town is also fictional. It is geographically located near where I grew up, but it isn’t my home town. The streets don’t exist. I don’t know these people. And as far as I know, no town is experiencing the issues at this moment in time that Daisy Creek experienced.
Now me back to being Patsy Lee, hmm. When I become a twenty-something blonde who has snagged an ex-dotcom rich boy and managed to save everthing she holds dear, I’ll let you know. :)
My mother’s the only one who believes I’m the heroine of my books. She also believes I’ve experienced all those things. She needs a medical check-up, lol. The DaVinci Code thing amazes me, because it is fiction, yet all this other has come out of it. Stunning.
by Marty K April 22nd, 2005 at 9:07 pmLOL on your closing line. I love it!
I can’t honestly say I’ve ever assumed the author was the heroine in her books. I know I’ve asked people how much of them is in the character, but that’s the extent of it.
There’s a little bit of me in all my heroines, but none of them are all me. And I don’t put people I know in my books, although some characters have started out loosely based on people from my past. As the book progresses, though, those characters become more themselves and less other people.
by Lynn Daniels April 25th, 2005 at 6:59 pmOkay, so I just had my first couple of book signings and got the chance to talk to people who have known me practically since birth. First, a friend tells me reading my book is like talking to me. That it completely sounds like me. That’s weird, don’t you think? Do your books sound like you?
by Lori May 3rd, 2005 at 5:44 amAnother friend made the same comment about another author I know. So, it must be true of a lot of writers.
Oh, and my friend also said she had to buy the book to see if she was in it. She isn’t. Well, as I told her, her ruffly underwear is, but she isn’t.