People have started to read the book, and the feedback is trickling in. All positive so far, though I suppose if they didn't like it they wouldn't tell me! I'd read their bad review on Amazon or Goodreads! I've received a lot of questions about what's real and what's not. Someone even asked if that was a picture of me on the cover. I WISH! My body hasn't looked like that in a decade! Let me state again, this is a work of fiction. However, there are always kernels of truth in any fictitious work.
I went to a Wally Lamb book signing last summer, and he summed it up pretty well. We write what we know. It doesn't mean we know it well, but there is some basis of truth in everything we write. My plot is fiction based on little nuggets of truth from my life, my characters are fictitious, but are comprised of an amalgamation of traits from different people I've met over the course of my life. Imagine a silo. At the bottom are a dozen itty, bitty kernels of truth and the silo is filled to the top with piles of fiction.
So, here are a few truths...
Is Julia me? No. Do we have some similarities? Yes. We both have dark curly hair. We both love history. We both went to school in NYC. We both did summer theater. We both grew up in Bristol, RI. My parents are also divorced. I am a teacher. I have traveled around Europe. I did go to a society wedding with a guy and that bathroom scene really happened (those b**ches!). I don't want to give the plot away so I'll keep the other similarities to myself, but these little factoids are what I built a fictitious story around.
Is Will real? Hell, no! I know people from his world, but his character is a whole lot of men I've met rolled into one. I'll be honest, I've never met a society guy who has ever followed an unconventional path. Does that mean a man like Will doesn't exist? No. There might be, I've just never met him. The men I've met from that social sphere have all lived the life expected of them. That doesn't make them bad people, or ignorant, or whipped, or any other word that pops into your head. With the exception of maybe two men, the life set out for them is the life that makes them happy. My character Peter is one of those guys.
Ellie. I know foul-mouthed butt-in-skis with the best of hearts and intentions. Me included. But no one from that world, which is what I think makes her a more interesting character. I like the idea of a society woman, someone raised in a somewhat oppressive world, who bucks convention and lets it all hang out, doesn't keep her mouth shut and does whatever the f**k she wants to do.
Gabby. She started off based on my best friend, and went in a totally different direction with each revision. The only similarity remaining between my friend and this character is she's not afraid to say what's on her mind, and she'd (at least in theory) kick the ass of anyone who hurt me.
Julia's parents and step-parents. The circumstances of my parents divorce are not at all similar to what happened in the book. Julia's relationship with her father is complicated, as was mine when I was her age, but that's where it ends. Well, my dad does like recliners and sports, and lives in a raised ranch...but yeah, that's about the sum total of their similarities. I had to dramatize their relationship, and the one between Julia and her mother and stepmother to make the story more interesting. My life is pretty boring! Have to spice things up!
The people of Poppasquash. Yes, I babysat for a family on Poppasquash for many years. It's true, we are from different tribes, no doubt about it. Poppasquash is a different world from the one I grew up in, BUT the family I described in the book IS NOT the family I babysat for. They are kind people. I was always treated with the utmost respect and would never, ever want to hurt their feelings. The kids are all grown up now and I don't know much about their lives anymore, but if they're anything like their parents, they're amazing people.
Gram. She's real. I wrote a character based on my real grandmother, Mae. She was loving and kind, religiously watched soap operas and made the best meatballs. She loved Joe Montana, the Red Sox and her family more than anything. She's been gone for almost seven years and I miss her terribly. I didn't want to leave my other grandma out, so I combined them a bit, adding some character traits of Grace's, as well. She worked in the lace factory and sewed up a storm. Gracie taught me about birds and nature and art and rhinestones. She died when I was in college and it was when she died that I had 'the dream'.
Places and Events.
