Twisting Topeka (25 page)

Aimee L. Gross
savors all varieties of storytelling, but a ‘What
If’ story might be her favorite--to read and to write. The library
anthology gave her a chance to pursue both an interest in Topeka
history and WW II espionage tales. All the details in “Dance with
the Devil” are founded in truth, including an obscure pain-killer
used by Nazi spies. The only twist is the revelation that
Menninger’s was the antecedent of today’s CIA--a fabrication and
the speculative aspect of the short story. That is, unless an SUV
full of men in black turns up at her door after
publication…

Her debut YA
Fantasy,
If Crows Know
Best
, termed “a sure hit” by Kirkus
Reviews, is available on Amazon.com in e-book and paperback
formats.

What was the inspiration
for writing your story?  

As I wandered about on
Facebook one day, I read a post about Topeka history. It included a
link to letters written by a WW II soldier stationed at Topeka Army
Air Base (Forbes Field), describing dances at Lake Shawnee for the
servicemen, and other aspects of local life at the time. This
sparked the idea for my story, but I had not saved the link, and
mysteriously could never find it again no matter what I used for
search criteria.

What is your most memorable
moment from this year’s CNP?

The moment when I realized
I was never going to be able to find the ‘Letters Home’ link that
inspired my story, and had to rely solely on my memory!

What have you learned about
writing fiction?

Professor Tom Averill gave
a superb presentation about short fiction techniques. This was
invaluable, as I write novels these days and needed a refresher on
plot structure, narrative arc and character development on a short
story scale. As a bonus, I discovered I also like writing a
non
-epic
tale!

What’s the most important
writing advice ever received?

“Find your tribe” has
carried through the longest for me, in art and in writing. We are
fortunate to live in a community which invests so much in growing
local talent and helping writers find each other. Critique groups
and author association opportunities abound, plus the annual
Community Novel Project and NaNoWriMo brings us together in
creativity. My advice to anyone who aspires to write is, find some
folks who are writing and join them! “A writer is someone who wrote
today,” so invest time in learning the craft and tell your
story.

Ian Hall

The Jesse Owens
Effect

Ian Hall
is Scottish, born in Edinburgh, and spent the
first 41 years of his life there. He now lives in Topeka, Kansas,
with his wife Karla, and many gallons of homemade wine bubbling as
he writes. His biggest literary achievement to date is a
traditionally published novel; “
Opportunities: Jamie Leith in Darien
.” He is an award-winning writer and has published over 20
novels and 10 non-fiction titles on Amazon.com. He does not feel
confined by genres, having equal success in Historical Adventure,
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror and Detective Crime. He admits to watching
far too much football (soccer), plays golf when he gets the time,
and plays guitar and sings in a folk/rock band. He would love to
have enough money to tour the world’s archeological sites until too
old to walk. He loves to write, and enjoys literary challenges of
all kinds.

What was the inspiration
for writing your story?

I found various articles
online that said President Roosevelt never shook Jesse Owens’ hand.
That was enough to spark my ire. I was determined that in my
version of history he’d never win the election of 1936.

What have you learned about
writing fiction from participating in this project? What have you
learned about self-publishing from participating in this
project?

I love writing, but
sometimes my projects get too time-consuming. I loved the time
structure and schedule of the idea, and learned from it.

What is your writing
background? What do you usually write?

I am not confined by
genre. My last four projects were, a history of Winston Churchill’s
Secret Armies, a Sci-Fi Adventure collaboration, a British Slang
Dictionary and a modern conspiracy novel. Since writing in the
Library project, I have started my own Alternative History’ WW2
series, set in Edinburgh, Scotland;
Avenging Steel
.

What’s the most important
writing advice you’ve received?

Write what you know. Write
what you are passionate about. Both these elements will show in the
final writings.

How do you make time for
writing? Do you write on a schedule, or write for a certain amount
of time each day, or do you only write when you feel
inspired?

Each day, I write until
11.00am (with Mike Oldfield playing to take away the street noise).
I often wake up with the day’s writing already in my head,
(sometimes a whole book), I just have to download it.

Reaona
Hemmingway

Underground Ark

Reaona Hemmingway
resides in Topeka, Kansas where she is an active
member of the Kansas Authors Club and KS Writers, Inc. During the
month of November, she participates in National Novel Writing Month
(NaNoWriMo) in which writers challenge themselves to complete a
50,000 word novel in 30 days. In 2009, her 2007 NaNoWriMo,
Baseball Card Hero
, was
published and received honorable mention in the J. Donald Coffin
Memorial Book Award contest. Her published work also
includes
September 11
,
Mariah
,
Prairie Angel
,
Collateral
Bride
,
Home for
Christmas
, and
Tillie’s Marbles
&
Other Stories
.

Why did you want to
participate in the Community Novel Project?

The challenge of meeting a
deadline helps keep me focused on getting a writing project
completed. I also enjoy working with the other writers. The
Community Novel provides a social network authors need to grow and
enhance their talents.

What was the inspiration
for writing your story?

The novel I wrote for
NaNoWriMo in 2013 is about two brothers who discover a plot to
genetically control the population a hundred years in the future.
In choosing a story for this year’s Community Novel project, I
decided to write
Underground Ark
as a prequel to the novel. In the short story, a
worldwide disaster creates the events that lead to the genetic plot
a hundred years later.

What is your writing
background? What do you usually write?

I began writing poetry in
fourth grade, took creative writing in high school, and minored in
Creative Writing in college. While studying creative writing, I
switched from writing poetry to fiction. In 2006, I started
participating in NaNoWriMo. My first published novel was my 2007
NaNoWriMo novel,
Baseball Card
Hero
. The first full length novel I wrote
was
Mariah
, which
was published in 2010. I now have five novels and two short story
collections published.

How do you make time for
writing? Do you write on a schedule, or write for a certain amount
of time each day, or do you only write when you feel
inspired?

My writing routine has
changed quite a bit over the years. In 2013, I went from living
alone to moving in with my mom to help her out. I’ve gone from
writing every day to looking forward to weekends when I escape to
my house and binge out on getting as much writing done as possible
in two days.

Duane L.
Herrmann

Proclaim the New
Name

Duane L. Herrmann
hasn’t let dyslexia, ADD, or PTSD stop him,
though detours are common. It took more than a day, or a year, but
he finally achieved some success. He is stubborn, he persevered and
he is now an award-winning, internationally published
author-historian-poet with publications in a dozen countries and
books in libraries on three continents. Not bad for a farm boy who
couldn’t read and still has trouble spelling! His story here is
based on ground-breaking research he’s done into the early history
of the Bahá’í Faith in Kansas -the second oldest Bahá’í community
west of Egypt. His research has caused others to revise their
histories.

Why did you want to
participate in the Community Novel Project?

I had heard about it in
past years but this year the format was more interesting to me and
a challenge. My work is scattered around the world, very little has
been published locally. This would change that.

What was the inspiration
for writing your story?

I want to share some of the
history of Topeka that I’ve learned over the years, and this was a
new and exciting way to do that. I’ve never combined history and
fiction before. Felicity is based on the real-life wife of Leonard
Hilty, the first Bahá’í to live in Topeka, but her actions as a
fictionalized character are her own. Everything is true up to the
trip to Chicago. The other characters in the story and their
actions are actual, though conversations are imagined.

What real-life alternate or
speculative twist for Topeka do you anticipate or fear?

Is this asking if I’m
afraid of or for the future? No. I’m not.

What’s the most important
writing advice you’ve received?

Write what you know, and if
you don’t know much—go learn!!

How do you make time for
writing?