Writer and Poets group work on technique

Once a month local writers gather to help each other at the Artist Retreat Center. Village on the Lakes Writers and Poets has about 40 members, organizer Joanie Roberts said, and the group is cosponsored by the Artist Retreat Center and the Bella Vista Library.

"Authors can get lonely," Roberts said. When they get together lively conversation ensues. "We have all kinds of surprises, it's really great."

The monthly workshop is held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month. The next workshop, on Aug. 9 has a speaker, poet Kate Lacy, who wants to encourage submissions for the state fair poetry contest. The deadline is Aug. 15.

There's also a speakers series held in the evening on the second Tuesday. At 6 p.m. Sept. 12, western author J.C. Crumpton will speak.

At a recent workshop, local author Lori Ericson was on hand to talk about using true life to develop fictional stories. A former newspaper reporter who worked at The Benton County Daily Record and other newspapers in northwest Arkansas, Ericson used events she covered in Washington County in the 1990s as the basis of her first novel, "A Lovely County." Her second novel, "A Lovely Murder," is also out and there will probably be two more in the series.

Her protagonist, Danny Edens, is a newspaper reporter, but the story isn't autobiographical, Ericson said.

"She's not me," Ericson said. "She's prettier, stronger and has a more interesting life."

It's true, she said, that her parents owned and managed a cemetery when she was growing up -- just like her protagonist.

"Anyone can turn real life into fiction," she said, and she supplied a list of suggestions starting with writing about "the most exciting thing that ever happened to you." She encouraged her audience to look at many facets of their own life, including early memories, recent vacations and family history.

Another way to find stories in your own life is to imagine it went a different way. What if you married the boyfriend you left behind, or you had no children, or you had more children? What if you won the lottery and then lost all the money gambling?

You can also clip stories out of newspapers, magazines or from the Internet. Ericson showed her suitcase full of clippings, which she keeps for future inspiration.

But she also cautioned her audience about some pitfalls when writing about true events. For one thing, if you are not fictionalizing the events, you have to stay true to things that happened and you have to be careful of the participant's feelings.

Also, sometimes true events can seem very unlikely. If a coincidence seems too unbelievable, rewrite it, Ericson advised.

Some people may start by writing a truthful version of an event, but then embellish it and let characters go their own way.

All writing is somewhat biographical, she said, which is why writers are advised to "write what you know." But a good writer needs to go beyond what they know into the realm of imagination. While people whose job lets them meet people, like reporters, have an advantage, anyone can write from real life experience.