How much is true?
I'm all alone in a motel room right now. Julie will be joining me when she's off work in an hour or so. I thought maybe I'd pass the time by writing a blog post. The topic? How much of my serious works are based on true events.
This month I've been trying to put some focus on marketing the Noah City Stories. I've let it be known that Noah City is based on a town in which I once lived. How much of the stories are true? Well, let's go visit Noah City.
Old Pops' Last Beer The first one I wrote and, incidentally, I'm giving away free this weekend. Go get it. Anyway. Old Pops is not based on anyone at all, but a few of the other patrons drinking their lives away in Scoots are, such as Spud, the old man who slips mickeys into people's drinks and Tiny, the giant man who gets drunk and punches people out in the alley. The narrator is loosely based on several bartenders I knew in those days. I drank a lot back then. In fact, I'm in the story, but I won't say which patron is me. Anyway, Scoots is completely based on my favorite bar in those days. When I close my eyes I can still, all these years later, smell the place and hear the bug zapper hanging over the bar.
Austism None of the Worth family are based on anyone. In fact, no one in this story is based on anyone I know. However, I do work with adults with disabilities and the relationship Dallas and Austin have is strongly based on several of the relationships I've had with my clients. I think the only thing in Austism that came from my life was the moment Dallas was served cinnamon sticks and Spam (although I call it Speef in the story). I had a girl actually serve that to me on a date once.
Bonny Truman Bonny himself (yes, Bonny is a man, that surprised my wife) is slightly based on several men in my first wife's family and a few of the lines he has come directly from things they used to say, my favorite being, "Gordy can't eat at no place that ain't got no salad bar." Wesley is based on myself at age 22, arrogant, pretentious and lazy. The only thing missing is he doesn't drink. The cabin the family is staying in is exactly like the cabin Julie and I sometimes rent a couple of days a summer. In fact, the original story was written in two days while we were camping and it poured rain most of the weekend.
Lazarus Wept This one is not released yet, but it should be out within the week. The hospital in the story was heavily inspired by the one in the town that Noah City is based on, outdated, run down, a little scary. There is a brief moment in the story in which two nurses are looking for an elderly man they misplaced. This actually happened to my first wife's grandpa in that hospital. They found him again, thank goodness. Also, I started working on this one some time ago and right around that time I did stand by the bedside of a friend who was on life support. I drew heavily on that experience for this story. Lazarus Cain, the elderly pastor in the story, is not really based on anyone, but Cain and I share a similar approach to Christianity: Great faith in God with a great dash of cynicism toward many of His followers.
This month I've been trying to put some focus on marketing the Noah City Stories. I've let it be known that Noah City is based on a town in which I once lived. How much of the stories are true? Well, let's go visit Noah City.
Old Pops' Last Beer The first one I wrote and, incidentally, I'm giving away free this weekend. Go get it. Anyway. Old Pops is not based on anyone at all, but a few of the other patrons drinking their lives away in Scoots are, such as Spud, the old man who slips mickeys into people's drinks and Tiny, the giant man who gets drunk and punches people out in the alley. The narrator is loosely based on several bartenders I knew in those days. I drank a lot back then. In fact, I'm in the story, but I won't say which patron is me. Anyway, Scoots is completely based on my favorite bar in those days. When I close my eyes I can still, all these years later, smell the place and hear the bug zapper hanging over the bar.
Austism None of the Worth family are based on anyone. In fact, no one in this story is based on anyone I know. However, I do work with adults with disabilities and the relationship Dallas and Austin have is strongly based on several of the relationships I've had with my clients. I think the only thing in Austism that came from my life was the moment Dallas was served cinnamon sticks and Spam (although I call it Speef in the story). I had a girl actually serve that to me on a date once.
Bonny Truman Bonny himself (yes, Bonny is a man, that surprised my wife) is slightly based on several men in my first wife's family and a few of the lines he has come directly from things they used to say, my favorite being, "Gordy can't eat at no place that ain't got no salad bar." Wesley is based on myself at age 22, arrogant, pretentious and lazy. The only thing missing is he doesn't drink. The cabin the family is staying in is exactly like the cabin Julie and I sometimes rent a couple of days a summer. In fact, the original story was written in two days while we were camping and it poured rain most of the weekend.
Lazarus Wept This one is not released yet, but it should be out within the week. The hospital in the story was heavily inspired by the one in the town that Noah City is based on, outdated, run down, a little scary. There is a brief moment in the story in which two nurses are looking for an elderly man they misplaced. This actually happened to my first wife's grandpa in that hospital. They found him again, thank goodness. Also, I started working on this one some time ago and right around that time I did stand by the bedside of a friend who was on life support. I drew heavily on that experience for this story. Lazarus Cain, the elderly pastor in the story, is not really based on anyone, but Cain and I share a similar approach to Christianity: Great faith in God with a great dash of cynicism toward many of His followers.
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