Inside the Mind - M.R. Gardner

My family had moved to Martinsville, Indiana for a brief period of about four years and had a property in the country 5 miles outside of town. I discovered some remarkable and concerning facts about the property dating back prior to the Civil War period. This discovery, coupled with the notorious and well deserved reputation of the town, gave me plenty of material to get started writing The Farm.

The Farm is about a family (grandparents and two grandchildren) who move to the country near Martinsville, Indiana. They discover a truly terrifying past lurking in the backyard that permeates the property and confines them as it once did to other unfortunate county residents. They discover parallel crimes in the present which they are determined to confront. The present day crimes intertwine with the past and a shocking discovery makes it all personal.

Many of the characters are based upon real people such as myself and my family. Others are based upon people we knew when we lived in Martinsville. The characters from the past (1864) referenced in the book are a mix of real and fictional people. Whenever possible I created characters that were based upon a real person to some extent. For example, the owner of the bank in Martinsville in 1864, Perminter Parks, was one of my characters. There was not much documentation on him specifically but I was able to use his name and position in the bank to develop a character with fictional actions.

Most of The Farm was written between the hours of 10pm and 1am. I started writing this novel almost 15 years ago after everyone else was in bed. Since then I have performed significant research on the 1864 period specifically and incorporated many factual stories and events into The Farm. Most of the writing in the last 10 years has been in my spare time.

Getting the story out. I have been an independent business owner for over 30 years so I appreciate working on projects like writing a novel where I can work on my time table without the stress.

The research early on was more difficult. As time progressed finding information through internet research became much more productive. I also obtained a complete set of "The War of the Rebellion" which is a 128 book set (3" thick each) containing every written record from the Civil War organized by the Library of Congress after the war concluded. It contains transcripts of all of the documents that could be located or referenced from both the Union and Confederate sides. I have also been very fortunate to have visited many sites that were written about in The Farm because it gives perspective that can only be found by having boots on the same ground.

I started and finished The Farm on Word as this was then only program I had available at the time I started.

Don't stop. You can add new material a few minutes at a time if you need to or take a few weeks off writing and then take another look at your script with fresh eyes. It took me almost 15 years off and on, doing research, writing, and adding historical facts or stories into the book to make parts more real and to sneak in small history lessons. If you are an Indie author you are only on your time table so don't stress how long it takes you to write your masterpiece.

Slowly. I took the approach that I was not going to rush the marketing. I looked at this as a learning opportunity for me as well so I have been doing the marketing slowly and monitoring what works and what does not. I am finding many useful facets of book marketing as I go and trying to improve upon this slowly and economically so when I feel confident with my test marketing I can make larger investments. Also, please be very cautious of all the online people that will approach you about marketing, editing, etc. I suggest looking into them carefully before sending any money or sending a transcript of your book. Do things like image search of their profile photos to see if they have stolen an identity, look up the IP address they contacted you from if via email to see if they are in Florida like they said, or Nigeria (or any other part of the world not represented by their communication or photos).

Several at this time. I have plots outlined for multiple novels similar to The Farm but based upon different dark historical places. I also have a SciFi in the works partially based upon my education in Physics. I am also actively writing a novel at this time which is more family oriented and involves basketball. I try to only write about topics or places I am familiar with because I believe that is where I can write the best material.

The Farm will run the gamut of emotions in the best way possible. I included comedic scenes when I felt like the material needed to be less dark and there is definitely some material that will make the reader disturbed or emotional. There is nothing graphic in The Farm, however it does touch on some controversial topics such as racism, abuse, and criminal acts. These topics are offset by family values, Christianity and just plain doing what is right. One of the first people to read The Farm multiple times prior to being published told me that "they cried every time they reached the end of the book, but in a good way." I'm not sure how to interpret that, but I will take it as a win.

So much of The Farm is based upon real people, places, and events that it is difficult to discern what is real and what is fiction. If any readers want to reach out to me about any specific event, location, or character I would be glad to tell them if it was real or fiction and why.

Definitely Historical Fiction as much of the book is written about events during the Civil War (both combat in Georgia and at the home front where the really scary things were going on). I would also add Contemporary Fiction, Crime, and maybe even Christian Themed as this plays a part in the story as well.