About the author
When we begin to read a new novel, we aspire to escape and be transported. Just as Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz, was literally lifted into the sky by a tornado, and Scarlett, in Gone with the Wind, desperately and courageously escaped her fiery surroundings, so we, too, depart on a virtual journey. From the moment we immerse ourselves, we expect and deserve to have an author skillfully pull us into a fully-woven chronicle.
Novels hook readers so that ideally the imaginary world becomes more compelling than the real one. Stories can inform with knowledge, and persuade with arguments, but primarily they're meant to entertain. In fiction writing, human virtues and values bubble up to the surface, whether on business or family relationships, friendships, or timeless qualities like courage and honesty. Stories also provide answers to questions and solutions to puzzles, with spikes of excitement as readers ask "what if" and "what's next."
Characters often feel exactly the way we would feel enough that we identify with them, sometimes even imagine ourselves being in their situations. Sometimes they can be stronger, braver, more talented and do more than we could. Things happen to them that could not possibly happen to us. And yet they change their minds and emotions and, by the end, we've watched as their values and lives have been transformed. And it's my hope that readers grow to care about my characters and become concerned about their destinies, even of the villains.
The actions of my characters illustrate eternal truths of human values and the wide range of universal emotions we carry inside us everywhere. They're happy and sometimes sad, yearning for more and better in every way, hopeful of the future, and filled with love. The truth becomes evident when my characters ultimately achieve the goals they set out to accomplish.
Characters must discover and deal with the results of their own actions. Certain consequences are bound to follow. It is my hope readers feel their strongest emotions along with my characters, see deeper meanings in the world, and appreciate the vibrant colors of nature around them. Whether or not such challenges ever occur in real life, my work provides hypothetical situations and ideas as to where they lead.
Everything must be shown, and in my stories, the rules of structural affects are obeyed. Every challenge and puzzle has a resolution. Metaphorical allegories of lively stories illustrate my points and, let's hope, stir contemplation in the hearts and minds of my precious readers.
When we read, we're vulnerable to new ideas, and completely and utterly dependent on the delicate cerebral skills of an author. We can become different persons and improve our own characters, and learn life-changing knowledge by reading. If my efforts are judged, may they prove worthy of the repeated and absorbed attention of my readers until each stories' conclusion.
We all leave memories behind us with others. Writing adds more "life to my life" and creates lines in my legacy. Always and forever stories have enthralled me, listening to them, learning from them, and telling them. Making my own stories spread to novel-length for the purpose of entertainment, while attempting to gather and resolve situations, is constantly a thrilling challenge.