How Can a Fiction Writer Compete?

I’ve shared with you that I’m making less progress than desired with novel number NINE. There was travel-related jetlag and higher-than-desirable pollution in Asia, then adjusting again to the Eastern time zone back home. But there has also been a more subtle factor hovering in the background every day.

Life in North America has become stranger than fiction. Writing an enjoyable novel requires a delicate balance of facts that make a story believable combined with the creative imagination of the storyteller to probe what’s “plausible.”

One dictionary defines “plausible” as “having an appearance of truth or reason; seemingly worthy of approval or acceptance; credible; believable.” In all my stories, I use my knowledge of business and long-held interest in crimes to create plausible works of fiction. You enjoy my stories because I test the limits of credibility in each. If my stories stay believable, you’ll probably enjoy them. If I cross that boundary from “plausible” to unbelievable, I might lose you.

That’s a dilemma I find more challenging with every day and every writing session. Compared to the bizarre, malicious, grotesque, weird, vengeful, petty, and malevolent decisions and actions described in the daily news by American reporters, it becomes a real challenge to weave a tale that might hold your attention!

Truth has become an option in some quarters. Lies have become a standard communication tool—the more outrageous are apparently the most desirable. Proven facts are simply ignored or conveniently dismissed as “someone’s opinion.”

In many quarters, apathy has replaced empathy. Many feel that what’s happening is happening somewhere else, or to someone else, and grow numb to the ludicrous. How is a writer of international suspense and intrigue stories to compete with such a circumstance?

Don’t despair, though. I plan to rise to the challenge. It just might take a little longer to craft a work of fiction that outperforms real life over the coming few months.

https://garydmcguganbooks.com/