To her fictional characters, Stonich adds an author

When a debut novel from Minnesota writer Ava Finch arrived in bookstores recently, it caused some head-scratching. Not only was the book "Fishing with RayAnne" about a fishing show on public television, but the author was unknown even to the Minnesota writing community.

Except, that is, to Sarah Stonich. She knows Ava Finch well.

"I think she's a little bit warmer than I am. She's younger. She's got red hair," Stonich said.

"And she's Canadian. For the moment. For various reasons," she added.

But Stonich, author of an armful of serious literary works, isn't surprised no one has heard of Ava Finch.

"No, I made her up," she revealed.

Stonich created Ava Finch as a pen name because she wanted to try something new. But she regards Finch as a character in her own right, with traits she wouldn't mind having herself. It just so happens Finch also writes books — genre fiction, Stonich said, although she's not quite sure into what genre Finch fits.

"And I know I sound crazy when I say 'she,'" Stonich continued. "But I do kind of think of her that way. I think of her as someone outside of myself."

Ava Finch gave Stonich a way of dealing with juxtapositions that keep occurring to her, but didn't fit into what she was doing.

"I'll look into my notes and find the most opposing notions and ideas," she said. "Like homeopathy and NASCAR in the same sentence. Or 'dysfunctional family of civil war reenactors.'"

And it was one of those that blossomed into "Fishing with RayAnne," Ava Finch's debut novel.

"So the premise of the book is about the first all-women's fishing talk show on public television," Stonich said, "which just seemed like such an odd combination to me that would be fun."

Title character RayAnne Dahl, the host of this show, finds it an odd combination too. She's recently retired from the competitive pro fishing tour and has signed on as a consultant for the program. But when other candidates don't work out, she's surprised and scared to become the host by default.

RayAnne overcomes her lack of self-confidence by denying that a lot of people may be watching:

"In her mind's eye, the audience is the size of a large book club, or a small studio audience. Not a sea of faces but a pond — a smiling, indulgent pond bobbing with women like her mother, her gran, her sister-in-law Ingrid. Or the sort of women in her yoga-sculpt class she might ask to coffee if she weren't so shy. If she paid any attention to how many women (and men) were actually watching she would likely wet her capris."

The show "Fishing with RayAnne" becomes popular because of a selection of guests aimed at a female audience. They range from a woman who escaped an abusive marriage by becoming a weightlifter to a former dolphin trainer who has written a book applying her techniques to child-rearing.

Having survived the comparative isolation of being a woman on the male-dominated pro fishing tour gives RayAnne fresh inspiration as a TV talk show host, Stonich said.

"She realizes that she has the power to get some things said," Stonich continued. "Not necessarily on her own, but through some of these really interesting guests that she has."

The story gets a little zany as RayAnne tries to hold it together on the air, even as the show swings from disaster to disaster and she deals with a wildly dysfunctional family at home. It's allowed Stonich to have some fun skewering the aggravations of modern life.

"Many, many readers have emailed me so far to tell me they didn't realize I was funny," Stonich said, laughing. "And I keep saying, 'I'm not. Ava's funny.'"

Stonich has a second Ava Finch novel underway, and she's experimenting with other pen names. She's also turned to crime writing, using a man's name this time. She declines to give details for now, other than one revelation: "I had no idea it would be so fun to commit murder!"

In the meantime, Stonich said, readers can expect to see her doing book-signings in the spring, likely at tackle shops.