Which comes first: fantasy or fact finding?

I love ‘em both: creating ideas and digging deep in research. Even when I am writing pure fiction – a dragon waiting for wings to grow – there are things to learn.

I use two sources: children’s books at the library where I am employed and the internet. That wingless dragon book leads me into the mythology section for dragon traits and the picture book area for the ways others have pictured dragons. Then I comb the internet for difference between Western and Eastern dragons, and always check to see if anyone else has recently published a story about wingless dragons! If so I might as well put it in a file for next decade or work on it until it is really unique.


For years I focused on Bible storybook writing where there is only one source: the Bible. Publishers vary on how close to Holy Scripture the story has to be. Can I introduce talking animals? Can I put words in anyone’s mouth or only use direct quotes? Can I fill in settings with information I know is culturally accurate? Then I research the abilities and interests of the intended reader. What are children at various ages capable of understanding about terms like “crucifixion” and “incarnation”? What is the attention span of each age? (Pictured: Robin Currie's Baby Bible Stories about Jesus, Cook Communications, reissued with new art, 2009.)

Recently I may have found my real place in the publishing world: Edu-tainment: fun stories that teach new ideas and cultures with words introduced in glossary or sidebars. Who doesn’t want to know more about the arctic or the Sonora desert?

I have always pulled inspiration from the things that surround me, people, events, and sometimes it seems nothing at all. Many times with my picture books, the title comes to me first, and the story is the byproduct. Sometimes a couple of lines from a story will pop in my head, and the rest of the story is constructed around these lines.

Novel writing is different. Usually the outlines of an idea come to me and I have to brainstorm to get a clear picture of the story I want to tell. This process is more evident with the vampire novel I am writing. It took me years to plot the story. Actually, I'm still working on the plot even as I write it.

But sometimes, there are those events or places in my childhood that provide such warm memories, that I want to relive them through my writing.

Monta so eloquently described a place like this in her post.

But for me, that place was Camp Mathieu which my Middle Grade novel Camp Lagoon is based on. When I was a kid starting at age 7, I went away to camp every year for 10 summers. Since Camp Mathieu was owned by the Off The Street Club, a boys and girls club in Chicago, it serves inner city youth who normally wouldn't get the opportunity to go away to camp. Although I never attended the club, ( I lived on the other side of town) I did get to experience Camp Mathieu through my church's coordination with the facility. For one entire week, my brothers and I were whisked away to camp for a week of hiking, swimming, horse back riding, and a host of other activities.

But the highlight of the week, was always Thursday nights. On this night, campers were gathered around the camp fire and told the story of Goon. A half human, half monster like creature with a child-like mind and super human strength, who had possibly killed a camper or two as revenge for a prank pulled on him years ago. Then, we were marched through the woods half scared out of our minds looking for signs of Goon. After of course, they showed us the half foot print left in the road leading up to the camp, and the broken chain at the camps entrance.

It was always a wild time. Even when we were older and no longer believed in Goon, it was exciting to walk through the woods pretending to be brave while surrounded by a chorus of screaming children.

My MG novel Camp Lagoon, which I hope will be a bit funny and a bit scary, is based on the experiences my brothers and I had over the years at Camp Mathieu. The main character Tyler is a combination of me and my brothers. Mostly them, except the nerdy part of his personality, which is me. Although this is irrelevant to the topic of writing inspirations, writing this novel has prompted me to start donating to The Off The Street Club in hopes of sending someone to Camp Mathieu this summer.

I should say, a lot of my ideas come from me having children. I haven't based one particular character around my boys, but they do help me keep in touch with what children like and how they think. They remind me of what it was like when I was a child, which helps me try to relate to other children while I'm writing, so in essence they are probably my greatest source of inspiration.

Under the boardwalk...down by the sea

My grandfather emigrated to the United States from Italy when he was eleven-years-old. After a circuitous route (including a six-month stint in the hoosegow for operating a speakeasy), he found himself a legitimate bar owner in Wilmington, Del. and in want of an Italian wife.

In 1925, he went back to Pettorano, a small village in the Abruzzi, and picked out my grandmother from among the ladies in the piazza. Luckily, it had always been her dream to marry a man with clean socks who would take her to America.

Skipping ahead to the 1950s, like many families in the tri-state area, the Monacos vacationed at the Jersey Shore. Wildwood was a boomtown during that era with a wide, beautiful beach, a two-mile boardwalk lined with amusement rides, games, restaurants, and even sideshows, and clubs that attracted entertainment like Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell.

My grandmother saw there was money to be made and asked my grandfather for $5000 to buy a hotel. One led to another and they ended up owning five. When my grandparents were ready to retire to Florida, their eight children were given the opportunity to purchase the properties. My father joined four of his siblings as part of a corporation that would run several of the businesses, including a new parking lot and a commercial property on the boardwalk.

I spent every summer in Wildwood until I turned 21. It's a place of magic, adventure, and, truth be told, testing boundaries. I always thought that if I made the jump to fiction, I'd like to use Wildwood as a backdrop. I just needed a hook, and I think I've found one in my pirate adventure story.

My biggest challenge with using a place so familiar has been scene setting. I forget that people might not know that the boardwalk is raised, or that the amusement rides sit on piers that stretch out onto the beach. It's a good thing no one in my writers' group has been to Wildwood, and so they tell me when more detail is needed. Who knows? Maybe my redone descriptions will give them the urge to go down the shore.

(If you couldn't tell, I also find my family history fascinating on both my paternal and maternal sides. Perhaps if I ever finish this first novel...)

Photos: My dad is in the front right. He is on Wildwood beach with his brothers-in-law. The boardwalk building on the left is what their commercial property used to look like. Next to it is the boardwalk chapel.

My grandmother and three aunts are in the other picture. I think the building behind them is one of the old dance halls.

Inspiration is flowing (revising is not!)

I think we’re supposed to be answering where we get inspiration for our current project? In my previous post, about the “when” and “how” of writing, I included a few sources of inspiration: walking at night with my dog, having seriously creepy and malicious neighbors, MUSIC--both for mood of characters and setting and also to help me with word count issues on picture books. I also mentioned that I wrote a book about a girl whose family moves, inspired by need in my school social work job. My work with children and families in the fields of child welfare, mental health, and education provided many ideas as to more issue-oriented stories, as have my own life experiences with infertility and adoption. I think about writing adoption stories that are helpful to parents as well as picture books for young children. Catholicism is chock-full of ideas with which the characters in my YA or adult novel will struggle. I definitely want to explore themes like how young women find their identities or let others define them, the nature of love, spirituality versus religion, what it means to be a “good” person.

It’s kind of surprising to me how once I got out of the technical grad-school writing mode and re-opened the creative part of my brain, I could find bits of inspiration everywhere. If I’m walking at night, the foggy silence (with “mistful” moon of course!) could lend itself to an entire scene playing out in my head. Or maybe I pass by something that could become a small piece of some future story--like this house on my usual route where different bird houses, chimes, and weather instruments hang from nearly every branch of the tree in the backyard. Perhaps a painting or photograph of a person or building catches my eye. Maybe I snap a picture myself if something strikes me--an eerily-lit tree or a path winding through the woods?

As mentioned in my previous post, perhaps parts of conversations I overhear will transform into complete characters or whole plotlines. I love words in general, and a funny turn of phrase or an interesting quote could conjure up new facets of characters already living in my brain. News stories that pop up online get filed away for potential later use (mystery of New England’s “dark day” in 1780 solved, European village where rent hasn’t changed since 1520, scholar claims to find lost Jewish capital of the Khazars). If I am writing for a class deadline, I might simply think about what holidays are approaching--Mother’s Day? Halloween? Out comes a picture book story. The most fun ideas come from my 4-year-old. I often jot down the funny things he says and think how I could build stories around them.

As far as my current project? That would be gestating twins and trying to move to a bigger house. Instead of jotting down a hundred ideas for “later,” I should really focus on trying to revise the drafts of things already completed. Since my doc is quite conservative, bedrest may end up being my inspiration...

Oh The Places You'll Go

Inspiration unfortunately isn't tangible, it floats in and out of my head like the wind. I wish I could call upon it at will. Sometimes it comes at night in between dreams, when I'm too tired to write it down. Sometimes it just turns on in my brain like a light bulb.

Part of the inspiration to write my current project came from my Dad's interest in the Civil War. When I was little he would bring my older brothers to battlefields for vacation and we would all tag along (I have 7 siblings). We also visited my cousin who lived in a antebellum home in Georgia. We traveled in an RV ( so much material there). I fell in love with the time period and the South. I didn't realize then what an impact these trips would have on me.

The romantic in me was also inspired from a laptop-sized writing desk that's been in my Dad's side of the family since the Civil War. In the desk is a letter my great-great grandfather wrote to his wife while he was away at war. These people that lived so long ago fascinated me. It's a shame my Dad didn't live to know I was inspired by his interests, I wonder what he would have thought of my novel writing.

All of these thoughts were in the back of my head until the idea to write a novel came to the surface. I have to acknowledge the kids I worked with at school for actually making me want to write. They inspired my creativity. It was amusing to see their different personalities and watching the little ones faces as they were read a story. I posted one of the murals I painted for those kids. Dr. Seuss will always be an inspiration for me. If I could have an ounce of his originality, I'd be content.

Enough is Enough

What can I say? I am a child grasping with the throes of growing up, maturing, whatever you want to call it. My ideas come from my childhood zeal for all things adventurous and fantastic. I have come up with my book ideas at random times but all in the spirit of my fervor for movies, comics, and books. There really is no one place I draw inspiration from. No place I go to. No well of original ideas I can dip my bucket brain into. I have had to create the place really. Sure there are places where the wheels start turning but the real great ideas I formed in no particular place.

I do draw inspiration from the structures of stories that I love to watch or read. What kind of a story should I tell? There are only a certain amount of stories all of which share similar plot elements. I learned that in high school. So pick a kind of story and then make it your own. Create a world then tell a structured story. Is it an adventure story? Is it a suspense/thriller? Is it all of the above? One thing I promise myself to do is try to make my story different enough to be considered original. Blazing my own trail is paramount for me to continue my writing endeavors.

With my "original" ideas I write my stories. I suppose I write stories thanking those who have written or created an awesome world that I enjoyed in my man and childhood whether in film, book, or theme park form. Lastly, I get my ideas and motivation from a need to stop living in other people's imaginations and creations. A great deal of my life is spent reading other people's words, watching other people's movies, and playing in other people's worlds. One day I decided I had had enough. I needed to create my own worlds people could live in and enjoy. So I did and I love it here. I just hope that someday more people can enjoy the world I have created with me.

Where do you get your ideas?

For years my writing was driven by need: 12 lessons of Bible stories with crafts and games or a chapter on kid’s clothing including a song about underwear. Only recently have the gates of inspiration been open to whatever wanders in. Since I wrote short picture books, the traffic is varied!




My most recent completed project came from a trip to Tucson, AZ, where I encountered and fell in love with javalinas. That little porcine is as yet undiscovered in Various Slush Piles of Hope.




Now after reading a couple of adult books on arctic exploration I am almost done tracking the adventures of a collard lemming settling in for winter on the tundra.

Past stories still ambling out and back have involved flightless dragons, misplaced dandelions, and a frog who has been stuck against one particular “not right for our list” wall for almost a decade. I believe in the right climate, with the right publisher…they will find a home.

And I continually return to the phrase above my computer: “What are you working on next?” There is always another story out there. Right now I’m thinking about a bush dance in Australia…