Books – Patricia J. Parsons

When a Fictional Character Starts to Feel Real

Posted on 10 Jun 2026 by Patricia J. Parsons

One of the questions that fascinated me while writing my soon-to-be-released novel, A Necessary Fiction, was this: what happens when a fictional character starts to feel more real than the person who created her?

Novelists have wrestled with versions of this question for centuries. We spend months or years (more like weeks for me, but who’s counting?) inventing people who don’t exist, only to find ourselves talking about them as though they do. Even as I write that statement, I realize that for me, they do exist, just not in the reality you and I live in day to day. Fictional characters become familiar companions, occupying space in our imaginations alongside people we know in real life. But these days, it seems to me, the line between fiction and reality is becoming increasingly difficult to define.

Social media has given all of us the ability to create versions of ourselves. Most of us don’t think of these versions as fictional, yet they are inevitably selective. We choose which photographs to post, which stories to tell, which opinions to share, and which parts of our lives remain hidden. Over time, the person who exists online can begin to take on an identity distinct from the person sitting behind the keyboard. This idea became central to A Necessary Fiction.

One of the novel’s characters creates an online persona that gradually attracts attention, followers, and influence. What begins as an experiment becomes something more complicated. The persona develops its own audience, expectations, and momentum. People react to it as though it were entirely real. In some respects, it becomes real. It influences decisions. It shapes relationships. It changes events in the physical world. The character who created it discovers something unsettling: once a story acquires an audience, it no longer belongs entirely to its author.

Writers understand this phenomenon well. Some might say that every book becomes a collaboration between author and reader. Still, in my view, before that can happen, it must be a collaboration between the writer and her characters. Readers bring their own experiences, assumptions, and interpretations, but so do characters. Writers tell their story, and then the characters further evolve in the minds of those who encounter them. Meanings that the author never intended begin to emerge

Online identities work in much the same way. We create them, but we don’t completely control them. Other people participate in their construction. Expectations accumulate. Narratives form. Before long, maintaining the story can become as important as living the life behind it.

This tension lies at the heart of A Necessary Fiction. This book is a literary thriller that explores not only the stories we tell others but also the ones we tell ourselves. It asks whether truth is always as straightforward as we imagine and examines how narratives can protect us, deceive us, and sometimes take on a life of their own.

Perhaps that’s why the title resonates so strongly with me. A necessary fiction is more than a lie. It is a story we come to depend upon. It may begin as something invented, but over time, it becomes woven into our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

The question is not whether we live among fictions. We all do. The more interesting question is this: how do we know when a fiction has become reality?

Backstory, Books, Ideas generation

What I Learned from Pippi Longstocking

Posted on 7 Jan 20257 Jan 2025 by Patricia J. Parsons

You might have to be of a certain age to remember her. Pippi Longstocking was a great friend of mine as a child. Of course, like any aspiring writer, many of my friends lived between the covers of the books I cherished. Pippi was one such friend—and a friend who taught me a lot about myself, who entertained me, and who, perhaps most importantly, inspired me, even though some of that inspiration wouldn’t find its way into the pages of my own books for many years.

Published several decades even before my own birth, Pippi was the title character in Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren’s series of books. Pippi was a nine-year-old girl with superhuman physical strength, extraordinarily unconventional, fiercely independent and a particular disdain for pompous adults. In today’s terms, she would probably have been called quirky. She was a character unlike any ever created before her and Lindgren herself has said, “Everything great that has ever happened in this world happened first in somebody’s imagination.” But the truth is that even imagination needs to be fed.

Here are some key lessons I learned from Pippi.

Unique characters are compelling characters. Pippi is extraordinary—a strong, independent girl who defies societal norms. Her quirky traits, like her incredible physical strength and her freckled face, make her unforgettable. Writers can take inspiration from this by giving their characters unexpected qualities or contradictions that set them apart.
Showing the reader rather than telling the reader leads to a more engaged reader. Lindgren doesn’t simply describe Pippi as adventurous or generous; she shows it through Pippi’s actions—like hosting wild tea parties, standing up to bullies, and sharing her wealth with friends. Writers can aim to reveal character traits through behaviour and dialogue rather than exposition.
You can address serious themes with humour. This has been key for me in recent years. In Pippi’s world, the tone of the story may be funny, but there is always a serious theme: loneliness, loss, and societal expectations. My own recent fiction has been, on the surface, satirical and funny. However, the themes are much more profound for readers who care to look.
The setting can be a character. Pippi’s home, Villa Villekulla, mirrors her personality: colourful, chaotic, and full of surprises. I have learned to make the setting an extension of a character in some instances and a character on its own in others. When I wrote We Came from Away, I left little doubt but that the island of Newfoundland is a character unto itself.

I still have a copy of Pippi Longstocking on my bookshelf—in hardback. And I still cherish it. What’s your favourite childhood book?

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Books, Fiction Writing, Nonfiction Writing, Self-Publishing

Write and Publish a Book in a Year: It Can Be Done

Posted on 10 Aug 2024 by Patricia J. Parsons

Three years ago, I started a little YouTube channel for writers—or, more precisely, aspiring writers. More than thirty years ago, I began teaching writing to university students. And before that, I started writing—and publishing. These three elements of my writing and publishing career have finally come together in my newest book.

Over the past decade, I’ve become increasingly concerned about the seemingly uncountable number of people who are writing books—and publishing them, for better or for worse. Many of these would-be writers have no one other than Facebook writing groups to answer their questions. Many of those people in Facebook (and LinkedIn) groups either have little more knowledge and expertise than they do or, worse, are only there to try to sell their services to unsuspecting writers.

There is little doubt in my mind that every new writer could benefit from a writing tutor, teacher, guide or even sherpa for this journey because it is, indeed, a journey. And that’s just how I’ve framed my new book.

One Year to Author: Your Roadmap Guide to Writing and Publishing Your Book in Twelve Months is a compilation of the lessons I’ve learned in almost forty years of writing and publishing. It’s written in a workbook format so that you can use it as your roadmap as you begin to understand what you need to know to write and publish in the next twelve months—and actually accomplish your goal.

Here’s a glimpse of what it’s all about.