What Is A Mule and What Is This Book?

We all know what the animal "Mule" is, but in this case, it refers to something else.  A "Mule", in the bike world, is a testing prototype that is not meant to look pretty or represent the brand in any way, but to test out physical concepts.  How the bike works.  This blog is intended as just such a thing- only in a literature sense.  A rough sketch, first draft, trying out the plot place for a new book I'm writing.  And the best part is that it can be interactive.

On to what I'm intending here, what I'm writing about.  One possible title was "Four Fathers" and that catches a small bit of what's going on.  I like books that cover generations, and I'd like to include that kind of sweep.  Another thought is to capture some family stories for my daughter's sake.  But- and it's a major BUT- I am not in any way trying to write history here.  This is not genealogy.  It isn't even strictly family history.  It is a fictional novel, foundationally about  my family (we all write about ourselves, why hide the truth) but the house that is built upon that foundation is in my mind only.  I am not in any way attempting to hold to the way events happened, or the order in which they happened, and in some cases- IF they happened at all.  One rule I do have for myself is that the characters won't violate the spirit of the person they're based on.

I guess what I'm trying to get across is that this book is really about ME in a way- my imagining and trying to piece together the stories I heard over the years which never were fit into a narrative for me.  My projection of what things MIGHT have been like.

But, finally, this is not about my family- it is about a fictional family whose name I haven't found out yet.  And I'm fully committed to letting them tell me about themselves- a goofy phrase I've heard from other novelists but strangely am already experiencing for myself.  As the subconscious does whatever writing IS, things do not happen as you, the author, expect them to.  I hope you enjoy.  Please comment on anything that moves you, and I'll try to have a thick skin.