What Inspired Me to Write, Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever?
by Judith Marshall
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to write about enduring female friendship. But it wasn’t until I read, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, that I was motivated to quit my job in corporate America and follow my dream. Reading about Vivi and her group of lifelong friends reminded me of how blessed I am to have a similar group of gal pals I’ve known since high school. They say, “write what you know,” so that’s what I did. I created six very diverse characters, placed them in a small California town in the 50s, and watched where they took me over the next forty years. It was a wild ride.
So inspiration can come from anywhere; from a book you read, a dream you have, or an accident you see on the way home from work. The idea from my second novel, Staying Afloat, came from observing an affair between the CEO and the Controller at my last company. Inspiration is everywhere. The key is to be open to it, to see it as impetus to write something, from beginning to end, not stopping until you’ve completed a first draft. And before you know it, you may have realized your dream of writing that novel.
For more information, go to www.judithmarshall.net
Judith Marshall is a author of Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever, winner of the Jack London Prize awarded by the California Writers Club. She is currently working on her second novel, Staying Afloat, the story of a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother who morphs into a sex-starved adulteress.
3 Comments
January 17, 2010
I agree. Inspiration for stories is all around us. Newspaper accounts often provide useful fodder for fiction. For instance, My short story “The Last Hours of Marion H” (Sand Hill Review, 2008) was based on newspaper accounts of a kidnapped English aid worker in Iraq. The writer can use empathy and imagination to flesh out the details to make a good story.
Margaret Davis
http://www.margaretdavisbooks.com
January 17, 2010
Your book is both a romp and chock full of serious women’s issues. i look forward to the next one! Love, Lynn
January 18, 2010
I ran into a bit of a snag as I’m converting to this new WordPress blog. The fastest way to convert is to just copy and past this comment from the old blogger post. Hope you don’t mind!
-Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Teresa LeYung Ryan said…
Judie,
I’m so happy that your first novel is published. So fun to see you yesterday at California Writers Club. I dubbed you Glamour Gal Author Judith Marshall.
Sincerely,
Writing Career Coach Teresa
http://WritingCoachTeresa.com
January 17, 2010 3
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