How The Myth Was Forged: Reality + Fiction = Myth
Stories are told in many forms – oral, dance, music, written, some even felt in the heart in the depths of the soul in which moves us forward. Stories not only entertain but later lessons are learned even if it is subconsciously absorbed by the sleeping mind as it dreams. Such a story was told to me by my heart as I slept, unaware of the pains I was experiencing around me. My subconscious constructed something exquisite.
I’ve been able to remember my dreams at a very early age. I wrote the first one Mystic’s Dream and followed it’s visual ques for 30+ years. Another keystone dream The Island was a full on dream that lasted a year or two in full story format with even stopping points to pick up where it left off. The third main dream The Nightmare was another that lasted a year again in story format. Those were a taste of what was truly to be formed decades later that I would weave into a massive story.
It continued with my first hand written manuscript Mythia at age 16, in which later I discovered that part of the story was prematurely created. I had not known what really lay in store for me.
In the thralls of an abusive marriage of seven years to a residual schizophrenic, anti-social personality, narcissistic, emotionally manipulative, bully – my mind shifted gears back to the younger times in which I let my soul speak to my heart. I found myself going into survival mode with vigour. Typing a chapter a week for nine months (just like I had done with Mythia), I had given birth to a whole new book. I welcomed it with open arms of love and tenderness. It was then I looked back and found clues to my journey in my novel saga Soul’s Little Lie.
I dove in.
Wrote the notes in a leather bound journal.
Kept typing at my keyboard as though I were playing a piano before a crowd of one – the computer screen. The words came and went. Then I saw it!
The repercussions of ones actions to not tell what needs to be told to a loved one from the present or to the future. Yet, those from the past come knocking at our soul’s door asking if the present self of us needs help. The guide comes in, takes you by the hand. Opens your eyes to show you what the lesson was all about. You see the book before you! You see the story and you begin to cry.
These five brothers, the boy band group New Kids On The Block, as I would later affectionately call the Five Lords for my novel saga, came to me once again in my memories. I had forgotten about the dreams – The Island and The Nightmare, tucked away in a part of my mind I had given up on. The burgundy curtained room was closed off, but a wisp of air blew it open to reveal all the past years I had tucked away. I stepped inside, dusted off the books I had once read. Looked through the posters and re-read old stories I had once written. This was all in my mind in which I walked into, not at all in the physical world.
A spirited form of these five singers came to the Isle of Spirits in my mind where I played out my dreams. I did not know, back then between the ages 9 to 16 what was really going on of how they truly inspired me. It took what I subconsciously learned of the five singers and molded them into characters for Soul’s Little Lie saga. I did not use their personalities or backgrounds completely. I took pieces and parts that worked and molded them in such a way to hide the real factors that formed the inspiration. I wanted to showcase them as myth of how much I loved them. How these five young men kept me alive as I faced down my bullies in school, my mother’s abuse and the abuse of my marriage. If it wasn’t for my subconscious weaving something so unique, I know for a fact I would not be sitting here typing this Indy Talk for all to read.
With the band members’ reality of themselves mixed with a fictional construct and placed into the last book of the whole thing into a myth, I found I could mix and match to my hearts content. For example, I took my own spirit guide Ynycornus and mixed his actions and speech into behaviors and basics of Jordan Knight’s Taurus astrology personality. I wanted to hide not just Jordan Knight’s real life personality, but hide my spirit guide in which guided me into forming these stories.
I did this process with all my characters. Donnie Walhberg is Jacob Umari. Jonathan Knight is Frankie Bellington. Danny Wood is Brandon Elwood (notice the hint of last name usage, little things like that that I pick apart to see what fits) and Joey McIntyre as Davon Tucker. As for female characters, Vivian Warren is myself telling my prospective of the abusive torment I went through and my spiritual journal in how I survived it. Leah Jones in book 2, is also party me of more that I’ve been through in a survival tactic. Some basic characters like Andy Stone are based off of a close friend of mine. Character Jake Olson is based off of, very loosely, a new friend of mine. All the villains in my stories are based off my abusers and bullies I’ve ever come across.
As for the fictional character names that I mentioned above, those characters will later reincarnate into the fourth and final book under new names. This is where it will get tricky as to how to weave them in while still hinting where the characters originally came from of the five band members. A story of how a person(s) actions that are not fulfilled can cause a soul to reincarnate in the most unlikely way having to relearn a lesson that should have been learned the first go round.
Now, a reader may think – ‘She put New Kids On The Block into her novels? That’s fanfic.’ On the contrary, it is far from it. Now, if you are a NKOTB fan you’ll find the little hints I placed into the novels. A scavenger hunt for anyone who’s looking, however, the main premise of these four books is to tell my story of how I survived abuse and how my psychosis kept me alive. Weaving reality into fiction into finally a myth to give thanks to those who gave me strength at a distance is the best thing I could ever do as a writer. While at the same time bring the reader onto a journey into the soul of a broken woman that will never let her abusers and bullies win.
Fairly well traveled, having lived in Louisiana, Arizona and state of Washington, the author takes great joy in writing about all the places she’s ever been. Locations are always a character on their own. Having a love for painting, she took it upon herself to brush up on old skills through Art Instruction Schools and passed with full marks. In between writing novels, she works retail and is an art instructor. Currently resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Q. Where are you from? – Chattanooga, Tennessee; where I’m currently living again.
Does the area you live in influence your writing? – I don’t write about Tennessee directly. I write about areas I’ve mostly been to. I’ve moved around a lot which gives me different settings to work with. In this order, I’ve lived in: Tennessee, Louisiana, Arizona and state of Washington. In my first novel, Soul’s Little Lie book one, I’m telling the prospective of Vivian Warren of her life experiences as she makes her way on a road trip to Massachusetts. Massachusetts is the main location for the main three novels even though I’ve only been there once for a week vacation, I’ve studied about the area a lot, have been since I was little.
Q. Tell us your latest news?? – The paperback for Soul’s Little Lie should be out in May. Currently, I’m working on the second of four books.
Q. When and why did you begin writing? – Been writing all my life. My first manuscript I wrote at sixteen. I remember how many words it produced still to this day – 197,580. Sadly though, I only have the hand written notebooks and one fully printed copy left.
What inspired you to write your first book? – The first manuscript when I was sixteen, I look back on it now and found it was prematurely written. Now, Soul’s Little Lie is more of the beginning to the original concept. Many things inspired this story – my personal psychosis to survive my family’s abuse and the abusive marriage I got out of. My love for a boy band back in the late 80s. All world myths and legends. Astrology, tarot cards, personal experiences in astral projection, ghost stories, personal ghost encounters, psychology and my fear of being locked up in a psych-ward. And all the dreams I’ve ever remembered are a key player in forming my novels. In Soul’s Little Lie book one is full of dreams I’ve had. In book two, there will be even more.
Q. What book(s) / author(s) have influenced your life and writing? – R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon, Richard Matheson’s What Dreams May Come, Alice Seabold’s The Lovely Bones, Ray Bradberry’s Fahrenheit 451, Susan Hill’s The Woman In Black, William Shakespear’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and the New Kids On The Block novels, believe it or not.
Q. Tell us about your characters and how they came to be? – I’m actually writing a thesis on such a subject and it’s not quite done yet. There is so much to Soul’s Little Lie characters that I wouldn’t be able to explain it in the short form. Let’s just say, five men that I’ve loved since I was a little girl have a whole lot in the making of this series of books.
Have they been in your head for a long time? – The character Ynycornus has been in my mind the longest considering I found him to be of some serious spiritual help now and then when I’m going through tough times in my life. Your inner self is always there for you no matter what. I’m just grateful I’m now sharing what I’ve been through and this character/spirit guide is there with me for the long hall of this process.
Q. What motivates you to write? – Wake up in the morning and the first thought out of my mind and through my mouth is a scene in the coming chapters. I have to get my cup of coffee first before I dare start writing. Then I go to my music collection on iTunes, play a selection from the ‘novel soundtrack’ I set up to keep track of the chapters and pick up where I left off.
Q. What is the hardest part of writing? – Being interrupted by my family and then having to get back into the swing. The more interruptions I get, the harder and longer it takes for me to get back to where I left off. I can usually produce a chapter a week, but now, it’s getting tough for this second book.
Q. Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? – I learned, that whatever I go through in life gives me more fuel to write that experience down for a future story. Life is filled with inspiration which is free therapy to help me heal from a hurt past.
Q. Where do you get your ideas? – Personal experiences of all the people, places and situations I’ve been through. All the anger I have in me from how I was treated fuels me to prove bullies and abusers wrong.
Q. What does your family think of your writing? – My parents are ravenous readers of all genres, so they are pleased that I produced my first publication. The subject manner in which the books are about kinda tweaks my mother’s nose, but at least she read it before Alzheimer’s takes her mind completely.
Q. What is the best advice you would give to inspiring authors? – Have a notebook of lined paper and a pen at arms reach at all times. You never know when you’ll suddenly see a scene, a character name, a location to describe, when the mood strikes, write it down before it flies away. Procrastination is your best friend. If you are having trouble writing, lay back on your bed or couch and relax. When your mind is relaxed, the ideas start popping up like daisies. Those ‘AH HA’ moments are fun filled and happy.
Q. What book are you reading now? – I’m reading many books at once in between my writing. In non-fiction – Working With Spirit Guides by Ruth White and Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce (both these books for my thesis and to back up what I’ve already experienced for 30 years) and in fiction – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and still finishing up on The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
soulslittlelie?ref=hl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
PaintGoddess101
Deviant Art: http://mythian.deviantart.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/
channel/
UC0AxGJcj820Ap8q7KJg3rVg
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/
author/show/13493967.Tara_
Dobbs
Excerpt links:
Booktrack – Soul’s Little Lie Part 1 excerpt
https://www.booktrack.com/#!/
bookshelf?booktrackId=
f9430a21c6fc415fbd24a3fd1e551b
60
Booktrack – Soul’s Little Lie Part 2 excerpt
https://www.booktrack.com/#!/
my-work?booktrackId=
ad7ad8ce917245e4a671158035242e
d0
Where to buy:
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=
ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=
UTF8&field-author=Tara%
20Dobbs&search-alias=digital-
text&sort=relevancerank
All Romance Books:
http://www.allromanceebooks.
com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=
author&qString=Tara+Dobbs
Omni Lit:
https://www.omnilit.com/
storeSearch.html?searchBy=
author&qString=Tara+Dobbs
Barns & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
c/tara-dobbs