.jpg)
Marilyn: I never intended to write fiction. I thought I’d be writing devotionals and articles. And that’s what I did, so when I attended writers’ conferences and heard others talk about writing novels, I didn’t believe the topic pertained to me. That was before I discovered a story that would be my first novel.
History has always interested me, especially the history of
the area where I lived. So naturally, I researched that history. I’m a southerner, born and raised, and I’ve
only lived in three southern states, so my research has stayed in the south as
well. But one day after I moved to Florida, I stumbled upon a new subject to research.
You see, like many others, I’ve always admired lighthouses.
Majestic and alluring, they represented strength, dependability and tales of
adventure. I’d only seen them in pictures, so imagine my surprise when I chanced
upon a lighthouse while making sales calls for my day job.
I was astonished to see one so close, and I was immediately smitten.
I had to go inside. In a heavy rain, I
followed a van down the road to the lighthouse, and when it parked, I parked
alongside. The driver rolled down his window and asked if I needed to get
inside the lighthouse which was closed during the week. For the first time in
my life I said, “I’m a writer.” Then I added, “I need to see it for research.”
Amazingly, he told me to come back in an hour after he did some work, and he’d
let me in. When I returned, he gave me a personal tour of the keeper’s house
and the lighthouse, telling me the history of them and the roles they played in
the Civil War. Standing at the top of the Pensacola lighthouse, I could “see”
history playing out before me, imagining
the feelings of those living there at that time.
I know now that experience was a gift from God and He led me
down that road to lead me into a new career. Before I even left that day, a
story was forming in my mind, and my first historical novel was born. Shortly
after my visit to the lighthouse, my company was sold and I was laid off. But
God had shown me the new path I would take.
It’s been such a surprise to see how God has continued to
lead me down trails in my mind as stories continue to unfold. But to those who
ask where I get my ideas, I say, “I don’t think I create them. I find them.”
As my passion for lighthouses and coastal history has
developed, the more I learn, the more the stories expose themselves. I find out
what happened in a particular area and immediately, I see the characters who
lived there, and when I start writing, they reveal themselves to me. In that
way, I feel like an archaeologist, uncovering history and finding the story
that is told by the discovery.
If there’s one question that I ask myself in finding the
story, it’s “what would life be like for someone who lived here at that time?”
And knowing people haven’t changed much since the beginning of time, I can
relate to the feelings they might have had.
I admire those writers who can invent worlds – they are
truly creative. But for me, I’ll just take my shovel and keep on digging.
Marilyn Turk lives in and
writes about the coastal South, especially its history. Rebel Light, the first book in her Coastal Lights Legacy series,
and her Lighthouse Devotions, will be
published in 2015. Her historical suspense, The
Gilded Curse, will be published in March 2016. She writes a weekly
lighthouse blog @ http://marilynturk.com.
