Put a Little Variety in Your Life: Try Publishing Fiction

Gail Farrelly
August, 1997

Independent presses tend to emphasize nonfiction works, but publishing fiction can be lucrative. Fiction stays current for longer, so a market can be developed slowly and steadily. If you are already known for your nonfiction work, you have a ready "hook" to snag some publicity as well as readers for your fiction books. And the variety of working on fiction as well as nonfiction may give an extra spark of creativity to ALL your work.

Sometimes it’s easy to categorize yourself as one type of publisher—of nonfiction for example—and not realize that you may be setting unnecessary limits. Forget about those limits! They could be "limiting" your potential!

As a career academic in a business school, I had been used to writing nonfiction. I wrote numerous articles in accounting and finance and co-authored a book on corporate reputation. Several years ago, I decided to branch out and reinvent myself by trying my hand at fiction.

The result of extending my goals? In addition to academic articles, several different kinds of publications came into existence: a financial cartoon about risky investments, a fantasy tale about a Martian takeover of the stock market, and a mystery book about a murder at a finance convention. As you can see, I have continued to wear my finance cap as I ventured into fiction.

Here are some tips for nonfiction writers wanting to write some "fun" fiction:

1. Rewrite a fairy tale and provide a message related to your nonfiction work.

The wolf loses all the money he invested in derivatives and his job as well. Needless to say, he doesn’t live happily ever after. On the other hand, our gal "Red" earns a steady return on her stocks and eventually starts her own company to manufacture little red riding hoods.

I sent this fairy tale to a number of places before it was ultimately accepted for publication (Business News, New Jersey, January 11, 1995). To my surprise, publication came with a bonus. The editor, Mukul Pandya, turned my story into a 12-picture cartoon! The illustrator, Mary Linnea Vaughan, did a terrific job and really brought life to the characters.

There’s a reason why fairy tales never go out of style. They have the power to jump-start our creative juices. Fairy tales provide interesting characters and a magical world of fantasy. Pick up a book of these tales and I guarantee that you’ll find one or more that relate in some way to your nonfiction writing.

2. Use your nonfiction area of expertise to create a story related to a current item in the news.

I am amazed and amused by the fact that my studies in economics and finance are so useful for writing fiction! It is, of course, fiction with a "kick," the little extra that makes use of my academic background.

I advise keeping your fiction "antenna" open to receiving vibes all the time, from any source whatever—newspapers, movies, plays, lines from songs, comic strips, etc. Who knows what will inspire you? My antenna must have been tuned to an extraterrestrial channel when I wrote the story described above!

3. Give a creative slant to an on-the-job situation.

The victim, Richard Duncan, is a finance professor with lots of talents—talents for acquiring money, lovers, and enemies. There’s a bull market of suspects and motives, but the police manage to get some inside information from two savvy ladies: chambermaid Katie Maguire; and finance instructor and amateur detective Lisa King.

What would a convention be without boring speeches, inattentive audiences, and the tendency on the part of some attendees to grab up every freebie in sight? All of these are, of course, part of the auction in Beaned in Boston. And having taught for many years, I really enjoyed being able to make some comments about the antics and vanities of academics. The teachers in my story are not especially industrious. In fact, one comments that the best part of college teaching is that you don’t have to do it much!

Telling stories about work may prove to be a stress-buster. Don’t let petty annoyances at work get you down. Take them home with you, put them down on paper, and use them (in a disguised version, of course) in your fiction. Writing mystery fiction can be a wonderful escape mechanism. Think about it!

You can be in perfect control, killing off or glorifying the characters as YOU see fit. It’s cheaper and more satisfying than psychotherapy. It’s less dangerous than telling off your boss or voicing your complaints to co-workers. Don’t get mad; get published!

4. Join organizations that enable you to meet some fiction writers.

Academic writing continues to be an important part of my career, but extending my goals to fiction has brought new energy and zest to my nonfiction writing.

The best gift you can give yourself is to discover talents you didn’t know you had. Writing fiction has done this for me. It feels good. I highly recommend it. After reading "Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Derivatives," one of my friends commented: "I didn’t know you could write cartoons." My response: "Neither did I!"

If you are a nonfiction publisher thinking of taking a stab at fiction, my advice is: Try it, you’ll like it!

Gail Farrelly is an associate professor of accounting at Rutgers University and the author of many articles on financial reporting and investment risk. Her first mystery book, Beaned in Boston (Chicago Spectrum Press, 1995), was named to the 1997 Washington Irving Book Selection list. The sequel, Duped By Derivatives, will be published in 1998.