In the first Fact or Fiction article, I introduced a new series to reveal how authors use real life characters, places, and events to write fiction. The series was targeted to what was fact and what was fiction in Search Beyond Lies, a romantic suspense thriller inspired by true events.
I’ve had so much interest from my readers, that I’ve invited some favorite authors to share the inspiration behind their novels and reveal the facts behind their fiction. My plan is to publish the Search Beyond Lies Fact or Fiction series every other week and share guest articles on the alternate weeks. Some weeks 2 articles will be released.
Our first guest is Jane M. Choate, author of 41 romantic suspense novels, the latest being Rocky Mountain Vendetta – a definite must read that spent 2 weeks on the Publishers Weekly Bestseller List.
This article is the introduction, the first in a three-part series by Jane that will look at how the pandemic affected the creative writing process in developing the story, characters, and “Aha” moment.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PANDEMIC
BY JANE M. CHOATE
We are now on the other side of the pandemic (at least until a new one or another life-altering thing hits). What do we do now? If you’re like me, you’ve faltered, may have doubted yourself, even questioned whether you could or should continue writing at all. We get it. We’re all feeling our way to a new kind of living, a new kind of dressing (how many of us have pretty much lived in pajama pants over the last couple of years?), and, for the writers among us, a new kind of writing.
How do we find our way back to our writing or forging a new path in that writing? This may be changing genres or it may be developing a new schedule or changing how we look at the world. It may be letting go of something that fit the you that you were and finding something different that fits the you that you are now.
In the last two-plus years, I’ve been practicing new life skills, adding some things, subtracting others. How are any of these things helping with my writing? Truthfully, I don’t know how much they are helping, but I can see and feel a difference in myself. They are helping me keep myself in balance. And that’s important. For my writing. For my life.
In the next article, I’ll discuss what I’ve added.
Jane M. Choate dreamed of writing since she was a little girl and entertained her friends with made-up stories about them. She postponed her dream of writing to get married and have children. On one particularly hard day when it seemed all she had done was to clean toilets (she had two small boys at the time), she wrote a short story and sent it in to a magazine on a whim. To her surprise and delight, it was accepted.
Jane now writes for Love Inspired Suspense where she combines romance, danger, and faith. Jane is the mother of five children, grandmother to ten grandchildren, and great-grandmother to one adorable baby girl. When she is not writing, she can be found trying to keep up with her grandchildren. (The operative word there is “trying.”)
