Author's Notes

Writing "The Artist -- an Illustrated Story" was a continuing surprise for me. As an attorney, I had written numerous pleadings, briefs, and other legal documents throughout my career. As a reader, I chose histories and biographies; I rarely read, and so had little experience with fiction.

The Artist was a small blob of an idea I had after I retired from law. I thought, "Why not," and that blob turned into a journey of three years.

The initial "blob" was a series of illustrations I wanted to create. I needed some text to go with the images --- I was terrible. I started reading and studying how to write fiction. How to plot, the parts of a story, the flow of words, sentences, and paragraphs that, if not creating a melody, at least are clear and understandable. And grammar, God. I'm terrible at grammar. It's so illogical. Who invented this English stuff? No one would have done it on purpose.

Drafts. The first, you let everything go, don't worry about the mechanics, just write, get something down. Tidy it up in the second draft, and get all the pieces together and ready to publish in the third. So what about the fiftieth or hundredth draft? What are you to do with those? Writing, at least for me, is a continuous process of writing and rewriting, and rewriting. Check some sources, do a grammar check, sleep on it, and then rewrite again.

The blob grew. I would wake up with ideas for the story. I would take walks, and thoughts would pour in. I learned to always keep a notebook with me to make notes, lest I forget the thoughts before I fully awoke or got home from a walk. Where did they come from? I don't know. Sometimes the images I created suggested an idea or required a change in the story. Sometimes the characters would just start talking or doing something, and I would be typing as fast as I could to keep up with them. Some days, a lot of days, especially toward the end, no one was talking. There were no ideas, no creative bursts, and a lot of self-doubt. Where did this story come from? Why did I write it? And who cares?

Well, I hope you do.

I understand this is not a story for everyone. Given the dark themes and sexual content, it is not a story for most. It's not the story I started with, but it's the story I finished.

Mike Bonafede

2020