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Behind the Scenes... |
The story of True possessed me for nine years… The ensemble of characters are extraordinary people living ordinary lives. These women are diverse in their ages (from sixteen to seventy), their religious beliefs, and their ethnic backgrounds. Set in the rural, contemporary west, True explores the social issues and passages women experience over a lifetime. The story takes place in a small community, which is a microcosm of the larger world. These women share a strong bond of friendship until the proverbial stranger comes to town. Their pristine and wild environment is also a character in the story. I am fortunate enough to live in a similar place, and instead of writing about the loss thereof, I have chosen to showcase the astounding beauty so that perhaps someday when someone randomly finds this book, they might think and feel “so this is how it was.”
My characters once created, haunted me, revealing themselves even as I slept. I would awake to young Cat demanding that “I must say this and I have to do that.” While walking in the mountains near my home I would suddenly “see” Midnight on the path ahead. My characters had meetings without me! I would be in the flow of writing and read the paragraph back and exclaim out loud, “what you are going to do this or, really it will happen that way?” I suppose all writers become attached to their characters but when I finished True I missed them as if they were real people. As they struggle and rejoice and are touched by the human conditions of love, loss, fear, birth, death, and beyond I am grateful for the lessons they have taught me. Although I never planned it, I have had so many requests for a sequel that I have begun one and look forward to “being with them again.” I hope you enjoy their tale and that they move, mirror and transform you as well. ~Melinda
My characters once created, haunted me, revealing themselves even as I slept. I would awake to young Cat demanding that “I must say this and I have to do that.” While walking in the mountains near my home I would suddenly “see” Midnight on the path ahead. My characters had meetings without me! I would be in the flow of writing and read the paragraph back and exclaim out loud, “what you are going to do this or, really it will happen that way?” I suppose all writers become attached to their characters but when I finished True I missed them as if they were real people. As they struggle and rejoice and are touched by the human conditions of love, loss, fear, birth, death, and beyond I am grateful for the lessons they have taught me. Although I never planned it, I have had so many requests for a sequel that I have begun one and look forward to “being with them again.” I hope you enjoy their tale and that they move, mirror and transform you as well. ~Melinda
Soul of The Story...
I am often asked the dreaded question, "What is your book about?" I have discovered while in the publishing/ printing phase, that writing a brief synopsis for the back cover is a complicated process of distilling down around ninety thousand words into a few paragraphs. This is definitely an art form! Recently I have come to find myself needing to reveal not only plot lines, characters and the who, where, what and why...
The following is what I believe to be the soul of the story...
True is about life and love in all of its beautiful, strange, chaotic, romantic, maternal, collective, desperate, misguided and unconditional aspects. It is about passages, the journeys over a lifetime through childhood, coming of age, womanhood, marriage, mothering, midlife and the great beyond. It is about sisterhood and friendship, our connections to our families, the men in our lives, our animals and most importantly ourselves. True is about the beautiful and the terrible in the same breath. How hardships and illness and abuse and violence and the longing for peace bring us through the fire, scarred but transformed and more whole than we could ever imagine by the realization that we create our own reality. It's a choice, we are either alone or all one...True is about bigotry, narrow mindedness and seeing through the filters of our own convoluted, tunnel vision. It is about young people feeling worthy enough to receive love and old people having to let go of all they have known, and all the between from birth to death. True is about nature, the wild, pristine, raw preciousness inherent in our earth's systematic, artistic perfection. It is about the kindness of humanity and how our deep bonds matter. It is about being connected and fully present in our quest for honest wisdom. True is about love and being true, being free, staying wild and holding fast.
The following is what I believe to be the soul of the story...
True is about life and love in all of its beautiful, strange, chaotic, romantic, maternal, collective, desperate, misguided and unconditional aspects. It is about passages, the journeys over a lifetime through childhood, coming of age, womanhood, marriage, mothering, midlife and the great beyond. It is about sisterhood and friendship, our connections to our families, the men in our lives, our animals and most importantly ourselves. True is about the beautiful and the terrible in the same breath. How hardships and illness and abuse and violence and the longing for peace bring us through the fire, scarred but transformed and more whole than we could ever imagine by the realization that we create our own reality. It's a choice, we are either alone or all one...True is about bigotry, narrow mindedness and seeing through the filters of our own convoluted, tunnel vision. It is about young people feeling worthy enough to receive love and old people having to let go of all they have known, and all the between from birth to death. True is about nature, the wild, pristine, raw preciousness inherent in our earth's systematic, artistic perfection. It is about the kindness of humanity and how our deep bonds matter. It is about being connected and fully present in our quest for honest wisdom. True is about love and being true, being free, staying wild and holding fast.
Copyright 2022 Melinda Field. All Rights Reserved.
