Guest Post: How Real Life Propelled Me into Fiction

By Marilyn Meredith

The easy answer to this one is that I was a committed reader from my early grammar school days and read everything I could get my hands on from 10 books a week from the library to my mother’s Book of the Month selection. (My favorites were those she told me not to read.)

Though I did write all through my growing-up years, fiction and non-fiction, real life actually got in the way of fiction writing. I married right out of high school and had a big family. As my children grew older and started school, my main writing was for the PTA newsletter which I wrote and produced for four years.

Next came writing plays for my Camp Fire Girls to perform. In the meantime I did write two fiction novels, sent them off, they were rejected and I decided to forget that aspect of writing. Which I did, until my sister did our family genealogy on both sides. When I read through the genealogy, I noticed so many unanswered questions.

What happened to the twin who disappeared when she was sixteen? Why did a mother give up her four girls? Why did the families move so much? What brought them to California? I decided to check the historical facts around the times and places that people were born, married, and died to see if I could learn any answers. In some cases I was able to make educated guesses in others, I made up the answers.

Of course, I had to write a book based on everything I figured out. One of the books was my first published. It is still available as an e-book, under the title Indian Paintbrush. Once both books were done, I really wanted to keep on writing, and since I loved mysteries, I wrote one. The Astral Gift.

My son-in-law, a police officer, interested me in police procedure by entertaining me with stories of what he did at work. My Rocky Bluff P.D. series was born.

Moving to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada with an Indian reservation nearby, sparked the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, along with my meeting a female resident deputy.

Many other events in my life have given me the impetus or idea for a character, scene or book plot.

Thank you for this great idea for a topic, Thonie.

Marilyn Meredith

Seldom Traveled Blurb:

The tranquility of the mountain community of Bear Creek is disrupted by a runaway fugitive, a vicious murderer, and a raging forest fire. Deputy Tempe Crabtree is threatened by all three.

Marilyn Meredith’s Bio:

Marilyn has had so many books published, she’s lost track of the count, but it’s getting near 40. She lives in a community similar to the fictional mountain town of Bear Creek, the big difference being that Bear Creek is a thousand feet higher in the mountains. She is a member of Mystery Writers of American, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, and is a board member of Public Safety Writers of America.

Buy the book

http://fictionforyou.com

http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

New Contest:

Winners will be randomly picked from those leaving the most comments on the blog posts. Each winner can choose one of the earlier books in the series as either a print book or e-book.

You can find me tomorrow at https://bookbrowsing.wordpress.com/