Episode 72: Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction?

If something happened to you in real life, how much of it can go into a work of fiction for your character?

Would your readers believe the scene?

This is what we dive into in this week's episode. 

In romance, there are often outlandish events that bring people together or tear them apart. 

Readers get drawn into the emotion and tension of a scene, but are they questioning if it's believable?

Being part of a critique group often brings up these interesting points to discuss. 

In Abby Jimenez's book, Just For The Summer, you have Justin who paddles his way across a lake on a unicorn floatie. 

Would someone really do that in real life?

Maybe. 

Justin certainly did in the book so he could get to his sick girlfriend, so not only was it humorous to imagine, but it created the "awww" factor of romance.

We talk about this and so much more! 

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Get your list of 4 Essential Reads for Memoir Writers

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Transcript

Elizabeth: 0:00

Welcome to the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. We're your hosts, Elizabeth and Stephanie book coaches who help you finish your book. Tune in each week as we dig into the writing process, including reaching your goals and silencing your inner critic. You'll learn how to deepen your characters, hone your authentic storytelling style, and strengthen your writing muscles by exploring books in and out of your own genre. You'll also hear from published authors, industry experts, and marketing specialists who will give you tools to navigate this. Self-publishing landscape. We are here to provide the support and accountability you need throughout the marathon of writing so you stop running in place, editing the same chapter over and over, and find the confidence to move forward. Get your copy of a curated list of four essential craft books to assist your memoir writing or a character coffee chat for fiction writers through the links in the show notes, let's bring your book to life together. Welcome back to the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. I am your co-host, Elizabeth, and I'm joined here with Stephanie. And let's see. Let's start with a recap of where we each are in our writing. Um, for me, I've been working on my edits, so I got that full draft of the memoir done. As you guys know, I use that 90 day. Um, goal setting program, path program that Amanda talked, talked about in a previous episode, and that was really helpful. So now I'm in the editing phase, but it's also the end of school year wrap up and having a kindergartner. This is my first time really living through. This crazy season. I don't remember it being like this at the end of preschool last year, but this has just been really nutty with all sorts of events and all sorts of projects she needs or special outfits to wear. And it's, it's been a lot. Um, plus my co-parents work has, has changed and the schedule's changed, so I have more demands for childcare on me, and that means my editing is. You know, I'm still doing it. I'm still showing up, but not quite as many hours as I had originally planned, and it is kind of feeling slow. So I'm hoping that as I get into some different chapters that I don't know, I'll be a little bit more excited about it. Right now, I'm definitely just like showing up, grinding it out, hoping that I'll, I don't know, make it through and get some inspiration along the way. But most of my inspiration comes from like. Being out hiking now that the weather's really nice. So I can't say I've done much there. Um, one thing I have really enjoyed with writing though, has been adding in these Tuesday email blasts. So we've expanded our email list and, um. Basically what offerings we have if you join our email list. So it's been really fun to provide a sort of memoir perspective on our Tuesday emails, and we hope you're enjoying, you know, the fun Fridays as you go into the weekend and have a little extra inspiration. And if you're not on our email list. Yet, please use the link to subscribe. So you're getting all of that bonus content throughout the week. We're not just here on Mondays, we're here for you throughout the week, and there's tons of extra content, um, insights, early stuff that you get access to by being a part of our email list. Um, Stephanie, how's your writing been going?

Stephanie: 3:35

So it's been, uh, it's been interesting. Uh, may has actually been the first month for me where I've written something every day, and that's not typical. Usually I. I space it out, or I do a big chunk here or a big chunk there. Um, and, and like you, I also, uh, use the PATH program from Amanda McKinney to help plan my 90 day chunks of time. And surprisingly, I didn't really plan this extra little bit of writing into my 90 days, but it's a little bit triggered by. Upcoming shoulder surgery I'm having in June, and that has me feeling a little bit like. my goodness. I know that I can talk to my computer and I can talk to my phone and you know, and I can use speech to text features, but for some reason when it comes to writing my novel, that just doesn't feel natural. I can do that all day long with, you know, podcast topics or things for the emails that go out. But when it comes to writing. My novel. There's just something about sitting at the computer and being able to write, uh, in that way because there's that piece in writing fiction of almost channeling the characters. And so that's been really fun. I've really, you know, dived in deeper with my characters this month and discovered some new twists and turns in my novel that have been really fun. And it with help, with inspiration from you, Elizabeth,

Elizabeth: 5:13

That was so fun.

Stephanie: 5:15

Yeah. And, and that's what I mean, we talk about this all the time about the power of writing in community, and that's really one of those pieces is so powerful about having someone where if you're stuck, you know, not turning to AI to say, you know, help me with any idea, but you know, another human being. And that's where the, you know, that human element is so important to say, Hey, I'm stuck here. Like, what? What'd you think of? So that's been super fun, is having that collaborative piece. And then the other thing that I did for the first time is I joined a critique group, that felt really scary because I. I mean, none of us as writers, you know, putting your work out there, you can feel very vulnerable, even if it's fiction, even if it's not about you, it can still feel very vulnerable. Like, do I even meet any standard here with what I'm writing? so I joined a critique group and this episode was inspired by. A little piece of critique that I had gotten that I hadn't really thought about at in the moment. You know, I kind of was like, oh, okay. You know, but then there was an event that happened to me this past weekend where I was like, oh, okay, truth is stranger than fiction, and do I really wanna make the change in my novel that was recommended because of that? Or do I leave it because I'm writing in the, you know, sort of romantic comedy piece of like, no, like these. Pieces happen in books like that, and so Elizabeth and I earlier launched into a conversation about that, which started this. Idea around, well, let's talk about this. Um,'cause it's kind of interesting and for those of you who don't know, and I had to look this up because it certainly didn't come off the top of my head, but the origin of the phrase, truth is stranger than fiction, comes from the poet, Lord Byron, in his poem, Don Juan. In 1823 says ti strange, but true for truth is always strange stranger than fiction. If it could be told how much would novels gain by the exchange. So it's kind of interesting because it does lead us into this discussion here. So, Elizabeth, what are your thoughts?

Elizabeth: 7:42

Well for me, of course my brain goes, well that's memoir there. There's the beauty of memoir because you know, you could craft all this fiction and stuff, but gosh, the truth is stranger like. I don't think I, I would hope that a writer would not subject, uh, their main character to all the trials that I have gone through in my life, right? Even just those that are listed in the memoir versus like those I've actually lived. And in that sense, you know, truth is stranger than fiction to go through all these massive kind of big changes, trauma, all sorts of things. All in one life. Like I look back at my own story and I'm like, oh, wow. How did, how did I survive that? Um, funny enough for any of the like astrology nerds out there, um, I just heard that this full moon and Scorpio that we're like actively having right now for my sign means that the, I'm at the end of this like seven year period of all these massive surprise. You know, life changing events that keep me like constantly like swiveling my head and having to pivot. Apparently that's just not a normal part of life, and that's about to end hopefully. So when I heard that news I was like, oh, great, because the last seven years have been just one thing after another. And so much as of that is chronicled in the memoir I'm writing. But yeah, I, I like. I like that take, and of course, my mind went straight to memoir. What about you, Stephanie?

Stephanie: 9:18

Well, based on our conversation earlier, just thinking about the outlandish events that happen in rom-com novels, and

Elizabeth: 9:29

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie: 9:29

it was so cool to think about that because my brain hadn't gone there originally. You know, I had just thought I was thinking more about my work and do I

elizabeth_2_05-14-2025_180229: 9:37

Mm-hmm.

stephanie_2_05-14-2025_180227: 9:37

I not? But then going, I did a little bit

elizabeth_2_05-14-2025_180229: 9:40

Do you mind summarizing for the listener, like what the scenario was that you painted and how it was related to an a real experience you had?

stephanie_2_05-14-2025_180227: 9:48

Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, I forgot about the context. Um, so what, what happens in the opening scene of my novel is my main character, who's a 16-year-old girl, is on an airplane and the tray table collapses in her lap and it has completely fallen apart. And this. Was something that actually happened to me on a flight not too long ago where I was sitting on the plane and all of a sudden the tray table just fell. And it was partly because the person in front of me had jostled the seat and I thought, oh, okay. You know, sometimes that happens'cause if somebody doesn't secure it enough. went to try to secure it, only to notice that in fact, the arms that hold it had fallen off the seat in front of me. The tray table was in pieces, you know, just it just. I couldn't even believe it because, I mean, I've flown enough and thought like, this isn't even believable. But then to make it, the part that made it more unbelievable from the critique group perspective was the fact that I had written into my. Novel that the pilot was gonna be asked to come back and fix it. And in fact, that is what happened to me in my real life experience with, you know, all eyes on me as I'm standing in the aisle along with the others in my row standing there and the pilot comes walking down the aisle and fortunately he was able to put it back together. And so that, that is the. that the readers in the critique group were like, you know, that's just outlandish, too crazy. Like, there's no way that any reader would believe that. And, but in my novel, what it does is it, it triggers the, meeting of the two teenage main characters. They don't, you know, they. Have an encounter. They don't introduce themselves until later in the, in the novel. But that's the, that triggers that encounter. And so that's why, to me, it's an important part of the novel and. we went on to discuss, there's so many aspects of rom-coms. Even if you, even if you think about movies, even if you've never read a contemporary romance book or you know, but if you've been to any rom-com you know that there are scenes that just have you rolling in your seat laughing because you just can't believe it. But then. It creates an emotional connection that draws you into the story.

Elizabeth: 12:30

Yeah, it's, we were talking about this because of course the critique group is not necessarily made up of people who normally read contemporary Romance, but as you brought this, you know, experience to me, as you were telling me about it earlier, while we were sitting at the tire shop doing some writing and business planning, um. I just was like, I think, I think your readers will be totally fine with this. And I was thinking back to all the romcoms I've seen, and to me it's the outlandish thing that triggers me as the viewer or the reader to know. Oh, this is where, you know, main character guy meets main character girl. Like, it's just that signal of, oh, something really important that's not gonna look important right now is happening. And I know I, I know to pay attention here because this is part of the, I guess, a trope, I don't know, but like, it's part of the formula, honestly, of the rom-com genre. Like I, I'm getting visions not of a specific movie, but like of like a female character who's like got caught in like this torrential downpour all of a sudden on a sunny day and she ducks into like an alcove at a little shop. And then she ends up to go in to try and like use toilet paper in the bathroom or paper towels to like dry her hair off. And that's where she meets someone. Right. And they don't usually have much significance in that particular scene. It's not like they suddenly, you know, asked to go on a date or whatever, but that is like the first time that two characters are meeting each other. And I feel like we as the audience know that because something really kind of not unbelievable. It's still possible, it's still plausible, but just really kind of uncanny and outta the blue and not ordinary happens. So I told you, I, when we were talking earlier, that. I think you absolutely are right for having that, and I think your readers will expect that and they'll know how to interpret that.

Stephanie: 14:29

Well, and that also brings up an interesting thing, thinking about the difference between having writers read your work and having readers read your work. And we touched upon this a little bit, and it'll come up in a future episode when we talk about beta readers, which I know you're looking for.

Elizabeth: 14:47

Mm-hmm. that idea of, you know, who is your audience? Because oftentimes. It's not other writers unless you happen to, you know, connect with writers who are specifically in your genre. And so, but going back to some of the outlandish things I was just thinking about, uh, recently I read the book, the Bodyguard by Catherine Center. And the outlandish thing in there is you have this very petite woman who is this like, highly trained, you know. Security person who acts as a bodyguard and, she's assigned to act as a bodyguard for this very flashy movie star. And then she arrives to be the bodyguard, thinking that, she's just gonna be present, kind of keeping an alert eye only to then be placed in the situation where she becomes the girlfriend because they're at his parents' ranch. And so, you know, it just like. You just almost think like. is this for real? But then it creates, especially in a, in a romantic comedy, that sort of aspirational thing that a reader is like, oh, like, could that happen? Like I could get an, you know, an assignment with my job and I could meet the love of my life. And you know, not everybody who's reading romances. You know, married or has a family yet, and they're, you know, oftentimes it's that escapism piece of I just wanna escape into a world where yes, like crazy and weird things happen. But that's the human experience too, which I think is also Hmm

Stephanie: 16:21

makes it so relatable.

Elizabeth: 16:25

mm-hmm. Right. I mean, for those who are, are more spiritually minded, there's always this aspect of like. If you're running, if you find yourself suddenly running late for something and there's like, you're, don't get frustrated because it's usually the universe kind of rerouting you around some sort of incident. I was just talking to someone I don't even remember now who it was this week that told me they got stuck like right behind, um, a landslide of rocks on the drive between our small town and Colorado Springs and. If, and their, their kid had made them run late, and it was like if they had left on time, then they really could have been caught under that pile of rocks. Like that's, that's what it was like. And they were the few cars that were actually able to get through before they actually closed down the whole highway. So what they had to do was they. Those grouping of cars that were already there, they went ahead and let them pass once they got those immediate rocks cleared, but then they had to shut down the highway to prevent any future rocks from falling into secure the rest of the, the landscape. So she luckily was one of those cars that was actually there,'cause she had to get her son to an appointment in the springs. And so it was like it worked out perfectly for them. But initially she was like, oh, we're running late. We shouldn't have been running late for this thing. We need to be on time. And so, yeah, there's that whole aspect of like, sometimes when things go awry in, in the real world, there's some sort of bigger picture that you might not, you know, have a glimpse of of yet. And I think that's what you're main female character is experiencing in your opening of your fiction is she's experiencing the aspect of the universe kind of taking its, you know. Showing its hand and, and molding and shaping and creating opportunity for these two characters to meet. And yeah, I think, I think it makes total sense that that's, that's how it would go down.

Stephanie: 18:26

Yeah, no, it, in, in thinking about it and reflecting on the critique, it's also speaks to when getting critiqued, it's a matter of, you know, taking the pieces that you need for your work and leaving behind,

Elizabeth: 18:42

I.

Stephanie: 18:42

pieces or saying like. That's a really interesting comment and, and in fact, you know, this was a really interesting comment to have that said in the critique'cause it triggered this conversation, which you know, is certainly relevant and interesting to dive deeper into. And in fact, it's a beneficial bit. But know, I'm, I'm certainly gonna leave things as they are because as the writer at the end of the day. You have the say, and then maybe down the road, maybe, you know, when it comes time to pitch the book and somebody else reads it down the line and you know, whether I decide to self-publish or traditional, however it goes. If somebody else gives their opinion, then that might change the outcome. But for right now, that's, that's where I am.

Elizabeth: 19:29

Yeah, I would just be surprised if like a reader of the genre would give you that same feedback. I think. I think the readership of contemporary romance allows for a good bit of. You know, not likely, but still possible scenarios. Like we referenced a couple of, um, Abby Jimenez's plot points as we were chatting about this earlier with like the mom coming home with like a purse of baby raccoons and, um, the one guy Justin, like paddling across a lake on a inflatable. It's like, it's possible, but like. There's probably some pretty good reasons as to why that would not actually work out or why that would not be how this, the specifics of how that scenario went down. But as I was reading those books, I wasn't really concerned about that. It was just funny. It just was just a, an important plot point. It said something about the characters and so I think the readership of contemporary romance is really not so worried about, you know, whether something, it happens often or not.

Stephanie: 20:34

Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. No, I think, and again, you know, there are different readers in the same way that. Someone who sits down to read a memoir is approaching that from a different place than, you know, someone reading romance. And I love that you made the connection at the beginning about how memoir just is absolutely this and all the things you've lived through and just how, how relevant those can also be to everybody's experiences. And so it's, it's interesting to take this and so listener as. You're, we're wrapping this up here. Think about, you know, moments in your own life where truth is stranger than fiction. You know, could that be something that you could write in, um, even if you had to tweak it a little bit, depending upon the genre you're writing in, but. be really interesting to hear from you. You can definitely send us a text through the podcast app you're listening on. We've, we've gotten some in the past and we love hearing from our listeners. And as Elizabeth said at the top, please join our email list because we send out the announcement about the podcast on Mondays, but the rest of the week we also have really great content for you to keep you inspired. So until next time, happy writing.

Elizabeth: 21:53

Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. We hope you found inspiration, valuable tips, and connection to yourself as a writer. Thank you for sharing this episode with your writing friends and leaving us a review. The power of storytelling lies within each of us, and by supporting one another, we can amplify our voices and craft narratives that resonate with our audience. We're not just about words on a page. We're passionate about the craft, the process in building a supportive community. Become a part of our community by connecting with us using the links in the show description or join our weekly email newsletter for updates and a dose of inspiration straight to your inbox.