Who Sits at Your Kitchen Table?

By Katherine Pickett

My debut novel, Debra Lee Won’t Break, centers on Debra Lee Morales, a 38-year-old mother and widow living with multiple sclerosis (MS) who undertakes a two-day, 150-mile cycling challenge. Along the way, she must face the ghosts from her past and reconcile with her onetime best friend, Caroline.

The ride at the heart of the story is based on the Bike MS Chesapeake Challenge, which takes place each June in Easton, Maryland. As I was crafting the scenes leading up to the ride, I realized I was bluffing my way through some details. A nagging feeling told me that readers would notice.

Katherine Pickett with a copy of her first novel.

Now, there’s a saying in the writing community, “Write what you know.” The idea is that you will be better able to represent people and events if you have personal experience with whatever you’re trying to depict. Was I really going to ride 150 miles just to get to know my character better?

Of course I was!

And I was glad I did. Not only did I learn more about the actual ride, but I also had several inspirations during the training that shaped the novel and added a level of realism.

Learning from Others

While it’s possible to experience many things firsthand, when writing fiction, you may choose to include elements that you can’t or don’t want to experience yourself. Getting shot at and leaving the Earth’s atmosphere are but two examples. Living with a chronic illness is another.

When I decided my main character would have MS, I knew it carried some risk. Although I live with chronic illness (epilepsy), and helped care for my father through his Parkinson’s disease, I don’t have MS and, at the time I made this decision, I didn’t know anyone personally who did. Certainly MS falls into the realm of experiences you can’t train for. Could any amount of research fill that size of an experience gap?

I recalled another bit of writing advice that said, when considering who you can comfortably represent in your novel, think of the people who sit at your kitchen table. I liked that idea, but I had to admit, no one with MS sat at my table.

I was somewhat familiar with the disease from popular culture, but not to the point of being able to capture the life of a person who lived with it every day. In fact, I was sure someone with MS would have a very different life from mine. I dug in to the MS manuals, self-help books, memoirs, and websites. I even had the privilege of joining an MS support group, with permission from the coordinator to sit in and join the conversation for a few months.

The Big Surprise

What I discovered was that I actually have a lot in common with Debra Lee. The tests someone with MS must undergo to get a diagnosis overlap with epilepsy tests. Even some of the medications are the same. And the pain and stiffness that accompany MS are similar to the muscle spasms that attend Parkinson’s disease. While my life experience wasn’t identical to someone with MS, it gave me a head start in understanding it.

To make absolutely sure I was portraying the disease correctly, I enlisted the help of five beta readers who live with MS: four people from the support group and one medical doctor. By the end of the process, one reader said if they didn’t know differently, they would’ve thought I had MS. Achieving that level of realism was a point of pride for me.

In another surprise, which really shouldn’t have been so surprising once I started talking about MS and showing my interest in the subject, I found more and more people who live with it or know someone who does. What’s more, they were pleased to know I was writing about it.

Don’t Be Afraid to Learn New Things

I had been nervous about representing someone else’s lived experience, but what I found was that, by and large, people were glad to have another book available that depicts life with chronic illness and to meet an author interested in learning about their worldview. It’s been a privilege.

“Write what you know” is good advice, but it’s only half the story. The better advice is: Write what you know — and don’t be afraid to learn new things.

And when you think about who sits at your table, who you can comfortably represent in your books, remember, you can always welcome more people to the table.

Beyond helping me write a better book, my research broadened my understanding of myself and bridged the gap between me and the MS community. And that ability to connect people is the real beauty of fiction.

[Pickett lives on Lombardy Road.] ■

About Debra Lee Won’t Break
Debra Lee’s life is overflowing — widowed at 38, raising a son, supporting a daughter in college, and caring for a mother with dementia, all while managing her multiple sclerosis. Determined to seize the moment, she sets out to conquer the 150-mile Chesapeake Challenge bike ride before her MS slows her down. But just as she gathers the courage to push forward, ghosts from her past resurface. Caroline Cook — the friend who once betrayed her — wants back in her life. And the man who shattered her world as a teenager is suddenly appearing in unexpected places. As old wounds reopen, will she find the strength to cross the finish line, or will the past derail her journey? An electrifying tale of grit, heart, and unshakable resolve.... [Pickett’s] words don’t just tell a story — they pull you in, wrap around your heart, and linger long after the last page. — Suzie Housley, Midwest Book Review Debra Lee Won’t Break is available in print and ebook editions from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere else books are sold.

About Debra Lee Won’t Break

Debra Lee’s life is overflowing — widowed at 38, raising a son, supporting a daughter in college, and caring for a mother with dementia, all while managing her multiple sclerosis. Determined to seize the moment, she sets out to conquer the 150-mile Chesapeake Challenge bike ride before her MS slows her down.

But just as she gathers the courage to push forward, ghosts from her past resurface. Caroline Cook — the friend who once betrayed her — wants back in her life. And the man who shattered her world as a teenager is suddenly appearing in unexpected places.

As old wounds reopen, will she find the strength to cross the finish line, or will the past derail her journey?

An electrifying tale of grit, heart, and unshakable resolve.... [Pickett’s] words don’t just tell a story — they pull you in, wrap around your heart, and linger long after the last page.
— Suzie Housley, Midwest Book Review

Debra Lee Won’t Break is available in print and ebook editions from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere else books are sold.