When Your Book Has a Mission--How Do You Keep the Story Personal and Engaging?

Mindy Greiling was a Minnesota state legislator when her son Jim threatened to kill her. It was his first psychotic episode. Mindy's new book, Fix What You Can,is an account of twenty years with her son's schizophrenia and her lawmaking efforts to change policy for people with mental illness.

It launches next week (October 8) from the University of Minnesota Press. (Click on the title for more information or to preorder.)

Mindy came to me for coaching a few years ago, challenged by the teaching points she wanted to bring into her memoir as a member of her state's legislature and the mother of a son. She wanted to make sure the story itself wasn't overwhelmed by the book's mission. She also wanted help on writing about the very tough subject of living with mental illness in her family while working a high-profile job.

After years of hard work, her book will soon be in the hands of readers. It's a book to be proud of. I wanted to interview her for this week's blog post, so readers who are also bringing agendas, or strong teaching points, into their memoir (or even fiction) can learn from her success.

I wanted to interview her for this week's blog post, so readers who are also bringing agendas, or strong teaching points, into their memoir (or even fiction) can learn from her success.

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Character Names: How to Find the Ones That Feel Just Right

A blog reader recently wrote me: "As I write a middle-grade mystery book on pet detectives, I have changed some character names three or four times. I can't see to get that 'feels right' fit for a particular name."

Names are tough for me. Some I just know, even before I start writing. I knew Kate and Mel from a short-story written before my novel, Qualities of Light, that expanded their story, was published. Kate was always a Kate, just because I felt that name was no nonsense, like a pilot has to be. Mel is a dreamy artist and I didn't care for Melvin, which it's short for, but try as I might, I couldn't change him to Jim or Joe or George.

Like my blog reader, though, some characters feel elusive in early drafts. I give them a "draft" name and try to keep it until they tell me otherwise. That might sound woo-woo to some, but fiction writers all know how the characters live inside our heads, often more real than the living folk around us at times.

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