Just completed the final edits before my debut novel, Peggy Sue Got Pregnant: A Rock ’n’ Roll Love Story (see last post), goes to press. And as a writer of nonfiction for more than 20 years, I want to say that creating imaginary worlds is not for sissies.

      As they say in Cleveland: To live in this town, you gotta be tough. And if you’re a fiction writer in whatever town, you gotta not only be tough, but diligent and creative. And produce interesting characters, and write great dialogue, and keep the plot moving, and structure it well, and make readers laugh, and cry, and get angry, and surprise them, and make them care about what happens next, and  . . . have it all make sense.

     You see, the truth about fiction is this: Just because you’re making things up doesn’t mean you can just . . . well, make things up.

      It must bear the element of truth. That means being true to the era of which you write, the historical events, and how people respond to various events in their lives. Which all comes down to one thing.

       Emotion.  You must get the reader emotionally involved.

      The reader wants to care about the characters and what happens to them. They want to be a part of the story. To take a break from reality.  Isn’t that why we all read? We want to be transported to another place, another time.

       I often tell my students that one of the coolest things about being a writer is that you can take your characters and scenes in your head—and if you do it right—transplant them into someone else’s brain.

      Cool? Yes. Easy? Not so much.

       And actually, the same goes for nonfiction writers as well.  Those writers, however, must create inside the box, sticking to facts. Yet even when you color outside the lines, it better be good art.

        Now that I’m a “trans-genre,” as I like to call myself, I will say that whether you write truth or fantasy, you still need to ask yourself when writing, ”Who Cares?” If only you do, best hit the delete key. 

       And that folks, is the literary truth.

Peggy Sue Got Pregnant: A Rock ’n’ Roll Love Story is set for release on June 19, 2013.