Welcome to My Author Page
About Being a Writer of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Supernatural Fiction
When I decided to write fantasy fiction, instead of just dreaming about it, I decided the best place to start would be with Stephen King. Who better to learn from than a master fiction writer? I purchased Stephen King’s book, “A Memoir of the Craft – On Writing” in the year 2011, read it several times, highlighted tantalizing concepts, and tabbed dozens of pages until I had outlined the entire book.
However, I soon realized that reading about writing, noting every conceivable point of interest does not necessarily create a master fiction writer or even a mediocre fiction writer. I stopped reading books on writing and just started reading books of every description: classical, historical, philosophical, and archeological fiction, and all the genres.
I happily read dozens of books—good, I thought, now I can start writing the fantasy mysteries I was dying to put to paper. Yet, I hesitated, the fear I had lived with for so long came back to haunt me. Even though I looked at the world through fantasy colored glasses, I had a terrible fear of ineptitude. I was the student who couldn’t spell, never learned phonics, and a homonym is what? Regardless, I somehow managed to get a Bachelor’s, a Master’s, and even a PhD. I was a competent mimic.
So, what did Stephen King teach me? Stephen King taught me how to trust my instincts when he wrote, “stories are found things, like fossils in the ground.” “Stories”, writes King, “are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world.” Stephen taught me to lean heavily on my intuition, my inner sense of things without the mimicking and sense of ineptitude.
Then one day as I was watching a funny little mouse scurrying through the woods, I had an epiphany that opened my eyes to the truth. I knew I had always walked through this world wearing fantasy colored glasses where every nook and cranny was rich with fantastical possibilities—like magical stones, talking trees, whispering air, mumbling water, and things, like humans, who walked the earth. I was a writer. I have now written two fantasy novels, numerous short stories, and I am working on my third novel. (Oh, yes, lest I forget. That funny little mouse became my first short story: Bella, the Winter Mouse.)
****Stephen King’s seminal work on writing sits on my writing desk as my constant reminder that fiction writing is a journey, a fantastical foray into the unknown.
