LIFE AS FICTION

This novel I'm ghostwriting has completely taken over my life and I wouldn't have it any other way! Recently, my client asked me to cut back on my hours in order to make it more affordable to her. I understand well and I'm doing this. However, it doesn't diminish the time or space these characters take up in my head.

Every meal, these fictional human beings are seated at the table with me, each in turn pleading their case, justifying their behavior, often interrupting one another. When I'm watching TV at night I find myself frequently rewinding to catch something I missed because a character was whispering an important detail in my ear. And when I'm trying to fall asleep, they keep me awake as I try to anticipate one's next move and the ripple effect it will have on the others. Plus it's not just every waking hour; they also invade my dreams during deep sleep. It's almost as if I'm being haunted!

Until this book is completed, there is no escaping! And people actually think I get lonely living by myself! I don't feel alone because the voices in my head never shut up!

You would never guess that I dislike reading fiction, I prefer sticking to reality. But I love to WRITE fiction because I'm in control, despite the fact my characters quickly take on lives of their own, lives rife with terrible judgment with all its ramifications; in other words, much like real life.

I felt proud when a reader told me the character Abby Colter, from my novel The Valley of Shadows and Shame seemed real to her. Abby was actually a composite of 2 girls I knew in school set in a different time period. So in a sense, she was an actual person, or rather two.

But even when I create characters out of the air, they become real to me. However, fictional characters written by other writers tend to remain just that, FICTIONAL! I love and prefer history books! But I realize that what been accepted as historical fact may actually be fiction.

For example, as a child I loved reading about Pocahontas. She was a genuine American princess and a true heroine, so what's not to love? I recall all of those childhood stories being along the same lines as the animated Disney musical. Recently, I was horrified to learn the reality! Her true story is nothing short of tragic.

The mythical romance between her and John Smith was a fantasy that diminishes her. Also it is questionable whether or not she saved his life! Smith was a braggart and bully notorious for entering tribes unannounced with guns demanding food and supplies.

Her true story is greater; her strength and endurance comes forth.

Pocahontas wasn't even her name, just an affectionate nickname given by her father, it means "mischievous one."  Matoaka was her actual name!

Around age 14, she wed a Potowomac warrior and soon gave birth to a child. Shorty afterward, she was kidnapped by the Jamestown colonists and her spouse murdered. While in captivity she was raped!

As a captive of Jamestown, her conversion to Christianity and renaming herself Rebecca was likely the result of Stockholm syndrome. However, the exploitation of her people was never forgotten.

Reunited with John Smith years later in England, she verbally attacked and reviled him in public for his reprehensible treatment of her tribe. Not long after, she died suddenly under mysterious circumstances before setting sail for home.

I attended the live musical Evita and I also watched the badly acted movie version starring Madonna. Afterward, I marveled at how Evita made such a mark in this world before she died at age 32. Then I recalled that Pocahontas died before her 22nd birthday. Matoaka made a greater impact despite her whole story being widely unknown.

Everything I had previously read about her was either revisionist history or pure sugary fiction! That's sad, because the truth is far more gripping and compelling; never mind that history must never be denied.