Hi, readers–  Not along ago I was seated next to another woman fiction writer at a book-signing.  Since no one was looking at our books (sigh) we had a lot of time to talk.  This woman writes happy-ending books with delightful, admirable characters.  I write books with more ambiguous endings and complicated characters who may behave badly. I’ve heard the complaint that my characters are “too real.”

The more we talked, the more I realized that the writer next to me had a rough life with many problems and disappointments.  I began to admire her for making (writing) a fantasy world that she could enjoy more than her own.  In contrast, I have a good and easy life.  If you look at the photos I’ve posted, they are almost nauseatingly happy.  And that’s my real life!  It’s not that my family and I  haven’t had hard times–we have–but overall we are very, very lucky.  How strange then I would concentrate in writing on my own characters’ problems and flaws.  (My thought is:  fiction would be boring without those things.)

Which leads me to the question:  why do you read?  To be entertained and/or comforted, or to be challenged emotionally or mentally?  My favorite books are challenging ones, I’ve realized, but many of my favorite movies are comforting.  Of course it’s a silly question, in a way–a work can be both entertaining and thought-provoking–but it does point, I think,  at something real.  Have there been times in your life you’ve only wanted to be exposed to something “light”?  (I’ve felt like that.)

Thanks for reading, and I’m eager to hear any comments.   Marti