Those who know me understand my passion for writing, and that I’ve been interested in writing a novel for many years.
It began a long time ago, when I read a best-selling novel written by a physician and concluded, “I can do a better job than that.” Well, it turns out that writing fiction is not that easy, particularly if you’ve written science for the last forty-five years (though perhaps some of my critics will say I’ve been writing science fiction all along!).
In science, we strive for clarity and briefly tell the story in the introduction, detail the methods, carefully describe the results, and then tell it all over again in the discussion. In fiction, you write with an ‘eyedropper’ — a little fact here, another there, and a third ten pages later, so the reader can eventually put it all together on his own and say, “Oh my gosh, I just figured out what’s going on!,” and feel great about the discovery.
A good writer avoids “telling” the story, as we do in science, and rather “shows” what is happening, all the while avoiding the lethal “ly” words — adverbs! I had to go to school all over again to learn this new trade — and start at the bottom.
In cardiology, many people know my name. In fiction, they say, “Who the heck is he?” But it’s been a fun ride, and the feedback from readers of The Black Widows has been great.
I hope you all like Ripples in Opperman’s Pond even more. It loosely stems from two trials in which I participated, one as a defense expert defending a colleague accused of malpractice, and the other as a plaintiff expert against a drug company. Let me know if you do. I’ve just started the third novel and can use the feedback. Happy reading!