“Library program: "Researching and Adapting Real History into Fiction”

Longtime Daily Record editor, reporter and columnist William Westhoven will discuss the process of turning nonfiction into fiction during an informative seminar for budding novelists, historians, storytellers and fiction-lovers on Monday, May 7, at the main branch of the Parsippany Library.

“Researching and Adapting Real History into Fiction” begins 7 p.m. at the main branch, 449 Halsey Road. Admission is free of charge and no advance registration is necessary. For more information, call 973-887-5150 or visit www.parsippanylibrary.org.

Westhoven recently published his first novel, “One-Hit Willie,” which imagines the life and career of a fictional rock musician as it intersects with 50 years of meticulously researched music history. His character’s globe-trotting journey includes a “gig” at Parsippany’s legendary former rock music venue, the Joint on the Woods.

The discussion will include research techniques, legal disclaimers, combining subject sources, developing fictional characters based on real people, “fact-checking your fiction” and more.

Westhoven, a lifelong Parsippany resident, is currently working on his second novel, inspired by the rise and fall of the notorious consumer-electronics retailer Crazy Eddie. Prior to his 23-year career in journalism, Westhoven spent seven years working for Eddie Antar, leaving the company as a store manager in 1987. Antar later became known as the orchestrator of one of the most infamous financial-fraud scandals in American history, generating national headlines decades before Enron and Bernie Madoff. His exploits have continued to generate headlines, including a recent front-page story in the Star-Ledger.

Westhoven also is the author of a nonfiction book, “Eric Clapton: Career of a Rock Legend” (Zinn Publishing/Barclay House Books, 1996). As the theater critic and columnist for the Daily Record in Parsippany, Westhoven won seven first-place awards from the New Jersey Press Association for Critical Writing.

For additional information, visit www.onehitwillie.com. Copies of “One-Hit Willie” will be available for purchase at the discounted price of $10.