Real Life or Fiction?

My fiction writing is really a mix, always inspired by something “real” but wound through a vivid imagination to create, what I hope is, an interesting story.

As a child in grade school I used to relate stories about my family, the family history I knew of, daily events and more. Of course I delivered these stories with a flourish sometimes garnishing them with elaborate details, but ALMOST always telling my perceived truth. While most of my teachers and my parents encouraged me by listening, nodding, and asking me to tell more, I did have some classmates and skeptical teachers who accused me of “telling tales” and dismissing me as a “fibber”.

In reality almost every story I told was based on truth even though it was colored by my young perspective. There WAS the time three strange men were tapping phone lines in the building next door to where I lived, and two friends and I snuck down there to observe. At a time when spy shows were the big fad on television, our imaginations immediately went to international espionage. (Now as a adult I can imagine it was probably something as simple as a marital dispute, but it was still very exciting.) Of course my classmates didn’t believe that my friends and I stumbled upon something so extraordinary and they weren’t very kind in letting me know how they felt. That never really stopped me, I loved to tell stories.

My parents were great role models and encouraged both my sister and me to be heavily involved in our communities and to volunteer where we could to help others. Being involved and volunteering has led to many real-life adventures and experiences that are often out of the ordinary for most people. I volunteered with the NYC Auxiliary Police in the early 70’s, and currently I’ve been a volunteer EMT with my local ambulance corps since 1986, so I’ve responded to a lot of emergency situations, dealt with a lot of people during a crisis.

My stories often contain MANY bits and pieces from real-life experiences. Both of my “EMS novels”, Final Sin and Hyphema revolve around the EMS and emergency services world. I find the background of emergency services to be very exciting and I feel that putting characters into that setting just creates action. I hope that my readers enjoy it as much as I do.