When Fiction Becomes Reality

 Today, fellow author and friend, Amy M. Bennett, describes what happens when fiction becomes reality.

 

When an author releases a new book, it’s usually a time of celebration. It was what I anticipated when I released my latest Black Horse Campground mystery, In The Heat of the Moment.

Little did I know when I wrote the fictional story that the events I described would soon become a terrifying reality.

Anyone who has lived in New Mexico for any length of time knows that wildfire season occurs whenever the combination of dry conditions and high winds meet in areas with plenty of fuel for flames. Since we have been in a drought for most of the last few years and since late winter/early spring brings the strongest winds, the Lincoln National Forest, where I live (and where my fictional campground is located), has become a high-risk area for fires.

When I started writing the book a year ago, I recalled the high emotions that accompanied the tragedy of the Little Bear Fire of 2012. This wildfire burned over 44,000 acres in roughly the same area. I used this event as a springboard for the story and figured nine years would be enough time to process it all. I wrote how the fire affected the village of Bonney, the people in the village, and the areas around it, displacing people and destroying property and homes. It added heightened tension to the other, more personal, events taking place in the book. I also wrote how the village came together to help. As Corrie says to J.D. in the book, “When people help when they’re struggling, that’s not just help. That’s love.”

Two weeks after the release of In the Heat of the Moment, the McBride Fire erupted in the village of Ruidoso, a real town near the fictional town of Bonney in my books. Within two days, the fire spread to over four thousand acres and destroyed many homes, including the home of my employer and fellow co-workers. Suddenly, all the emotions I poured into the book came rushing over me, and I felt a horrible dread, almost as if I had been responsible for bringing this tragedy upon my friends and our hometown. Of course, an event as common as a wildfire isn’t something triggered by a writer describing what happened before, but the feelings are there.

What is also there is the reminder that the community has emerged like a phoenix from this type of tragedy before and will rise again, with the help—the love—of those who are struggling as well. This is, fortunately, not just fiction.

In the Heat of the Moment

Things are about to heat up in Bonney County. While winter winds aren't blowing snow, a different storm front brings cold, hard truths to Corrie Black, Sheriff Rick Sutton, and Detective J.D. Wilder. A lack of guests threatens the future of Corrie's campground. Rick's ex-wife, Meghan, now owns the company that carries Corrie's insurance. The person with shocking proof from Meghan's past ends up dead. To what lengths will Rick go to secure a future for Corrie and himself? And where does J.D. fit in all of this? Tempers flare until a raging inferno jeopardizes the Black Horse Campground and the lives of those connected with it.

Amy M. Bennett is the author of The Black Horse Campground mystery series. She currently works as a cake decorator in Alamogordo, NM and a "vino slinger" with Noisy Water Winery in Ruidoso, NM. End of the Road, her first Black Horse Campground mystery, started as a project for National Novel Writing Month in 2009. It won the Oak Tree Press 2012 Dark Oak Mystery contest. This book and her second book in the series, No Lifeguard on Duty, were both awarded The Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval.

She and husband, Paul, currently reside in Bent, New Mexico, with their son, Paul Michael, who grew up believing that having a mother who writes mystery novels is normal.

Visit her website at: http://www.amymbennettbooks.com/ and The Back Deck Blog at: http://amymbennettbooks.blogspot.ca/