Today on Fabulous Feature Friday: Pepper Basham
Come meet my dear friend, Pepper Basham.
She is an aspiring writer, native of the Blue Ridge Mountains, mom of five, pastor’s wife, and university instructor in Communicative Disorders. When she’s not sleeping, she’s creating fictional worlds where good defeats evil, laughter reigns, and adventure thrives
Inspiration Settings
She also has a great sense of humor. (I've translated some interview answers for you...she speaks Appalachian:))
Pepper's mind works at a lightning speed. She always has a good plot with subplots floating i her mind. Recently, I asked her what genre she writes.
Gee whiz, Mary, I can only pick one?!? For now, I’m writing contemporary romance (with humor). I love using family humor and writing fairytale-ish stories in modern day. However, I enjoy writing historical, fantasy, and paranormal (in that order of interest). I’ve even plotted a suspense-adventure along the lines of National Treasure.
If she'd chosen one, I think I would have been shocked.
Maybe she can give a straight-faced, serious answer to my next question. Pepper, name one funny incident you witnessed and chose to include in a manuscript.
Hee, hee. Not only is my life full of incidences, but my family history is too. Phrases my kids say will appear in my fictional kids. Two of my real-life-to-fictional repeats involved rodents. (Mary Connealy will LOVE this). One was about a mouse jumping on my knee while I was driving down the highway – not sure how long it had been in my car. The other was about a friend who beat a mouse to death with a box of spaghetti.
Historically there are SO many I use. From my great, great, great grandpa who traded his wife for a hunting dog, to mule races, and getting a rattlesnake drunk. Real-life is truly stranger than fiction J
Take a walk with me into Pepper's world (a 26 seconds clip).
She'll show you the setting for most of her books.
I've noticed this does not play on a mac - you will need a pc to view
I've noticed this does not play on a mac - you will need a pc to view
Pepper, your home setting is lovely.
Tell me, who inspired you the most on your writing journey?
Storytelling is a part of my Appalachian heritage, and I grew up learning of my family history through my granny’s stories. She could trace by 6 or more generations and tell of the times, places, and people. It was fascinating. I’ve always told fictional stories (grin). Just ask my mom J, but my granny sparked in me, all the more, the love of story. She is the first person who ever called me a ‘Writer” – when I was twelve years old and she presented me with my very first typewriter.
A typewriter? Those machines we threaded paper into and punched keys? Wow.
I'd really like readers to know something special about you. Tell me, what goals do you have for your writing career?
To glorify God, first and foremost, but my second is closely
linked to the first. I really want to be a good writer. I want to weave stories
that inspire, encourage, and entertain – and do it well.
And, if the Lord allows, I’d love to challenge my breadth of
writing. I already try – but I truly to enjoy so many genres.
Could you give us a writing teaser. Something to plant in our memories until your first book hist the shelf?
Gladly! I’ve listed the first paragraph of two of my novels – two
contemps, I hope you enjoy.
A Twist of
Faith – a contemporary retelling of My Fair Lady with an Appalachian Twist.
PhD was not supposed to smell like this. Adelina Roseland dropped a box of
research articles onto the floor and stifled a deep breath as the strong aroma
of damp grass and naturally fertilized farmland wafted in from the open window.
The entire scene defied any prestige the little placard on her mahogany desk
could have given:
Dr. Adelina N. Roseland, PhD - Department of Communicative
Disorders, Blue Ridge University
Her
dream job dangled like a carrot in front of her, so running away wasn’t an
option.
MY FAVORITE novel I’ve
written – Here To Stay. It has a definitely
fairytale-ish feel with a lot of Lucille Ball thrown in J
One step into the
massive, glass-walled waiting area was all it took.
In a cataclysmic chain
of events, someone bumped into Eisley Barrett from behind sending her purse and
all its contents skittering across Heathrow International Airport’s glossy
floor. Just as she regained her balance, her heel caught on her purse strap,
forcing her off kilter. She liked comedy, but this was ridiculous.
In horrific slow motion,
forward momentum merged with gravity, the crowd parted like the Red Sea, and
she landed face-first on the floor.
Well, not exactly on the
floor. Somebody broke her fall.
What exciting stories. I think she's going to be published soon!
Look what she's accomplished:
Pepper D. Basham
Inspirational Fiction Author
“Stories peppered with grace and a dash of humor.”
BRMCWC Award of Excellence - 2009
TARA Winner Inspirational Category -2010
Comments
I agree, her pic is beautiful.
Hi Cindy,
I like that picture too :-)
Love you BIG