Fiction Writing

I've been writing various stories since I was nine years old. Fourth grade was the year I decided I was going to be an author. And while I haven't published anything yet, I haven't given up the dream.


Since about sixth grade, I've had one particular book that continues to gnaw at me. And while it's gotten several plot makeovers, a lot of the characters and concepts have stayed the same. But what was once a selfish personal fantasy has, over time, grown into something that, if I work hard enough at it, could be a nice piece of fiction that upholds some of those Bibilical ideals which are so often absent from what girls my age are offered to read.


They say you write what you know, and so it takes place primarily in a town modeled after Cordell, Oklahoma, and also in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It's a bit of a Cinderella story.


I want to say that the character of the stepmother bares absolutely no resemblance at all to my stepfather, I just needed a way to insert her, and this was the most logical. She's actually based off of a friend's stepparent. The father, I will admit, has some similarities to my own, but not largely.


As far as the themes are concerned, it deals with quite a few. There are questions of courtship, of duties at home versus in the world, and the conflict between needing to remain under her father's headship and the fact that her father is not a strong figure.

It centers around a girl, Eileen, who turns 19 at the start of the book. Her stepmother is a hypochondriac who absues her desire to serve. A large family conflict arises when she tells Eileen to go out and get a job and start contributing, something she herself has never done. Her father is torn between appeasing his wife and allowing his daughter to continue on her chosen Christian path.

Eileen does have her grandmother, who she sees every weekend after church. It is from her that she's learned to sew, cook, and other tasks that she needs to know to run a home. She's sort of the sage of the story, a voice of wisdom and reason.

The action beings when Eileen, feeling desperate, decides to run away from home one night. She doesn't get very far, but in the process runs into a friend from her past that gives her an entirely new hope and dedication. She returns home before sunrise, and by breakfast has plans to open a mending business that she runs for the rest of the summer.

Meanwhile, this old friend, her grandmother, and eventually her father, are setting in motion things that will culminate just in the nick of time. I don't want to spoil any surprises. ;-)

If anyone's interested, I can post some tomorrow.