Donna Barten

Writer… Scientist… Someone who wonders

I first became interested in writing fiction as a volunteer leading writing groups in a women’s prison. This creative activity balanced my work as a research neuroscientist, where I ran a lab studying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease for 21 years.  You may wonder how science and writing fiction could fit together. 

As a scientist I always asked questions.  “What makes a normal nerve cell become abnormal?  How does that cell cause its neighbors and then the whole brain to change function?”  As a writer I ask similar questions.  “If a character has a major trauma, how does it affect not only their own life and dreams, but also those around them, and then those in the next circle around them?  What becomes embedded in the family dynamic?”  I also thoroughly enjoy the research involved in adding approriate historical details. 

I’m retired from neuroscience work now, so I write, garden, and run agility trials with my standard poodle, Jocco.  I live in rural Connecticut with my husband, and often work out plot points during long daily walks with Jocco.