Using Real Disasters in Fiction

My current work-in-progress requires a disaster. Hurricane Katrina would work. So would 9-11. But I can’t bring myself to use those tragic events. I’m even uncomfortable using this image from Katrina. It simply feels too soon, with too many of the hurricane’s victims still in pain. I recently finished reading Wally Lamb’s wonderful new book, The Hour…

Read More

Trusting the Author

I’m reading The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. Love, love, love this book. (Don’t tell me how it ends–I’m not done yet!). At more than 700 pages, it’s quite a tale, involving the Columbine shootings, a couple of Katrina victims and myriad other real and imagined events. However, I constantly find myself turning…

Read More