I might have mentioned previously that for someone who was raised and has lived primarily in Iowa for the vast majority of his life, I’ve not set much of the books I have written in the state.
My first book, The Holy Fool, had a protagonist who was born in Iowa but otherwise had little connection with the state
1. The Yank Striker series has no connection whatsoever with Iowa. On the other hand, my poetry does have a pretty strong connection with the state.
I also wrote two unpublished manuscripts that were essentially young adult crime fiction, both of which were based in Iowa. I briefly wrote about one of those books way early in my time blogging (a few years ago) but not the second one in my A Writer’s Biography series that I bring out every once in a while over the past several years. Next month for Prose Night, I’m considering revisiting those books and rewriting that A Writer’s Biography entry to explain it in more detail.
The point is, for a while I tried to avoid writing fiction based in Iowa for the past several years. My plan here tonight is to explain in part why that was the case, and what changed my mind.
Why I Stayed Away From Iowa in My Fiction
If I was going to pinpoint the main reason, it would be I didn’t want to limit myself from a storytelling standpoint.
In all honesty, the book series I have published and am now working on getting published were very personal stories to me. The Holy Fool (which is now turning into The Fool series) was based on my experiences with and observations of American journalism. The Yank Striker series was based on my love for the sport of soccer and my interest in sports superstardom as well. Those stories never felt like they belonged in Iowa because, well, Iowa is a pretty modest-sized media market and we don’t have any top-flight non-collegiate teams in the state, much less soccer clubs. I wanted to tell my stories no matter what their settings were, and I’m glad I’ve gotten those opportunities.
What’s Changed, or Why Iowa Now?
If I’m to be honest with myself, I would say I have a few reasons to now consider writing fiction based in Iowa, which are a mix of the personal and the practical.
- As I’m getting older, I have more of a draw to the place I have spent a majority of my life. I in no way see Iowa as a paradise or a perfect place, but I have affection for many of the things (the land, the rivers, the pace of life) which are positive parts of my lifelong home. I will always be an Iowan, no matter where I live in the future, and thus I feel a compulsion to address in an artistic fashion something that helped make me who I am.
- After my previous attempts at creating home-based fiction, I’m feeling more confident in my skills as a writer not to screw up a story based in Iowa. I’m not worried that I’m not going to produce an “authentic” Iowa novel like The Bridges of Madison County, A Thousand Acres, or Gilead. My Iowa experience is just as valid as anyone else’s, despite the fact (as I often tell friends and students) I have never lived closer than three miles to a corn field.
- I finally feel like I have a few stories I’d be able to tell best here in Iowa. For years, my political viewpoints and philosophies have been poking through at various points in my published work in a subtle manner. For some time now, I’ve felt a creative urge to address what is going on in my country, what’s going on in my state, in a meaningful and original way. Rather than try to write some sort of meta-commentary on America or The Great American Novel (however it is or isn’t defined), I’ve gotten the idea to shrink my literary focus closer to home and how it does or might affect people on a local level. Frankly, most of our national leaders nowadays aren’t really intriguing characters to build a story around. I’d rather take a look at these themes from a different perspective, and I think there’s a lot of potential for an intriguing story.
- I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t mention one more, entirely practical, consideration:
Yes, financial. It has not gone unnoticed by me that many of the Iowan and Midwestern book enthusiasts I have encountered at book shows and events around the state over the past few years are particularly interested in fiction based in Iowa and the region. If I have some compelling stories to tell based in Iowa, why not tell them? Why not go after those local dollars and give these readers something compelling?
I don’t consider this selling out. I consider this to be a way to get more people reading my books and wanting more of them. If this is what gets reader’s attentions, then I’m all for it. I want readers, end of story, and if it is a financial benefit for me, all the better.
As of right now, I don’t have a publisher for these Iowa stories. I very well might go the self-publishing route, although I’m not sure about it at the moment. There are some Midwest-based publishers I might try to pitch on this, especially a couple I’ve been interested in working with for a while.
With that in mind, I will continue to update you on these as well as my other projects. Hope you (especially all my subscribers in the Midwest) might be interested in them when they come to fruition.
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- The upcoming sequel (Working title: The Fool 2) will have at least a couple of scenes set in Iowa, however. Call it a homecoming for our main character, the veteran journalist Samuel “Sonny” Turner. ↩︎