From Fact to Fiction by J.R. Chartrand
Jason Chatraw is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience and has written, co-authored or ghost-written more than a dozen books. He has written for The New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, San Diego Union-Tribune, the Fort Worth Telegram, The Sporting News and many other publications. However, he started writing fiction last year under the name J.R. Chartrand and released his first novel late this fall entitled, "Under Your Skin." Jason talks about making the switch from writing about fact to fiction.
Growing up in our home, my dad was an elaborate storyteller. He would make up stories to put us to bed at night, leaving the 
protagonist on death's doorstep before he would abruptly get up, kiss the tops of me and my brother's head, and tell us that he will share more of the story the following night. Despite our groans and protests, he would always leave us wanting more. While his cliff-hanger endings were a slick parenting trick to get us to easily climb into bed each night, he later admitted to me it was also so he could dream up the next sequence in the story.
Despite my love for good stories, it was true stories that arrested my attention when I was younger, particularly sports stories. When I found out I could get paid to watch sports and all I had to do was write about it, I was all in. I started writing a column for my local daily newspaper at age 16 and then eventually attended the University of Georgia, earning a degree in newspaper journalism.
But the mundane task of reporting statistics began to bore me. Every game had a story, but I wanted to tell people stories. What I discovered is that there were plenty to tell. I once interviewed a girl who hid under the bed as she watched her father murder her mother. I interviewed a beast of a high school football player whose real passion was illustrations (he's now a pro-bowl star in the NFL). I interviewed a coach whose father had seen him play or coach in every football game he'd ever participated in during his lifetime—and it was an hour before kickoff for the first game he wouldn't make after passing away a few weeks earlier. I've asked probing questions that made pro athletes tear up, not out of anger but out of how much the pressure of the game was getting to them.
These were all fantastic stories to tell but they never really allowed me to plunge deep into the soul of the subject. What makes them react the way they do? What past hurts have influenced them to turn out this way?
I still enjoy telling true stories, but there's something about fiction that's deeper than fact. Fiction makes us think more about our humanity in ways that very few true stories can. Fiction makes us examine our souls and we ride along with a character through bizarre twists and turns. Fiction makes us see things about ourselves that we never noticed. And that's why I am slowly making the switch from the genre of truth to the genre of fiction. Neither one is less true than the other nor any stranger. But fiction can tell a story that sticks with us and challenges us to be better people. That's what I want my craft of writing to do—make people think deeply and hopefully become better as a result of pondering what they read.
EV: First off, Jason's cover is excellent for his thriller target market, and he was wise to use a pen name for his fiction as a way of differentiating between his genres. Also, I love Jason's perspective. Fiction can sometimes be (and often is) just as true, if not truer than fact. It's fun. It's free. There are no rules in excavating human emotion, human truth. It has a power to it that is unquestionable. Granted, fact is cool, but in my opinion…fiction be cooler!
Spread the fire, and go snag a copy of UNDER YOUR SKIN, and be sure to check out the official book trailer for his novel below…I hear it features Bumblebee, or Bumblebee's cousin.
evega
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