Wanda's Book World

Kathryn Magendie is today’s guest author blogger and will be signing at the All STARS Autograph Area at the SIBA Trade Show.

I am fortunate to have found BelleBooks Publishers. They saw something in my words, in Tender Graces and in me, and from there a match was made in literary heaven. At least I feel as if I’m in literary heaven, for what author doesn’t want a publisher who loves and respects her and her words? Publishing Tender Graces through BelleBooks was one of the best decisions of my writing career—I just wanted to give a shout out to the strong women of BelleBooks.

One of the most common questions I am asked about Tender Graces is whether it is autobiographical. It’s a fair question; for after all, the story centers around family relationships, home, belonging, and place. When a writer writes about something so personal, so very human and real, readers can’t help but wonder if it is a true story. If I’d written a book about brain-sucking aliens, I instead may be asked, “Where did you get the idea for brain-sucking aliens?”

There are truths in Tender Graces. However, for most writers there are most always truths in our books. Even the brain-sucking alien stories have a “write what you know” quality about them, for the writer knows about fear, knows how to manipulate that fear, and then convey it to the audience. In the instance of Tender Graces, for my write what you know, I took a significant event from my own childhood and then built a fiction story around it—over the course of several years, my biological mother gave up her three children one at a time to my father and stepmother.

As often happens when I write a story or book, a character whispers to me and asks me to tell their story. Virginia Kate, the narrator, was the perfect character to hold this event in my life and hold it well—but more important, she made it her own. Her unique voice, her strength, and her ability to remain hopeful are what moved me to love Virginia Kate. As she began to talk to me, and her story unfolded over and above my own, I stepped out of the way and let her have her own life.

An email I received from a friend brought me up short. She said she had such a hard time reading Tender Graces because she hated the thought of me going through what Virginia Kate went through, even though there was hope and love, there were those bad things. I sent her back a note reassuring her I was fine; that no, I didn’t have an alcoholic momma bent on self-destruction, and my brother didn’t witness the horrible death of an uncle, and further, I hadn’t hidden in the closet and ridden my imaginary horse Fionadala up sweet sister mountain. However, I do have an understanding of abandonment issues, of children with a need to find home and belonging and place, how children require security and sanctuary, and from those understandings I created Virginia Kate’s world that must resonate quite realistically for my readers—I did my job; I convinced my audience. That’s a good thing.

Inside each book I write are truths, but for me “writing what we know” is oft-times more abstract than concrete. We don’t have to experience an event to have an understanding of it. If you convince your audience, your job is done. Writing what you know means convincing your audience because you tap into something you do know. I’ve learned to write from the marrow of my bones, because therein lies the understandings. I wrote with a sincere heart and a joy of language and words. I write with love. Whatever happens from there is out of my control, but no matter the process and where it takes me, I’ll do it again and again, for as long as I am able. For as long as my wonderful publishers BelleBooks will have me, I will “write what I know,” and hope that it resonates with my reader’s own life and experience.