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ART IMITATING LIFE:
TURNING REAL EXPERIENCES
INTO FICTION THAT WORKS
by
VALERY PRITCHETT
No matter what genre we write, we are all looking for a way to connect
with our readers. The specifics of your target audience don't matter;
one of the main purposes of writing is to link with someone, to make
them feel something.
What are your favorite short stories or novels? What do you love about
them? You lived the story with the characters. You understood what they
were going through, experienced it with them. I still remember (and
own) the first novel that made me cry (Where The Red Fern Grows by
Wilson Rawls). It still makes me cry thirteen years later. In order to
form that kind of connection with your readers, you have to strike a
chord that resounds with them.
When you're writing a novel far removed from the average reader's
experience (high fantasy, historical or futuristic settings, and on and
on), you might think it would be difficult. However, the answer is
simple. Build real life into your novels: the experiences you have
lived through, the things you know are true, the questions you have
about life and love and what's going on when everything around you is
going wrong. It takes that depth of experience to build the bridge
between the here and now and the world your characters live in. That's
how you write a story that others will want to read and reread.
WHY SHOULD I USE MY
EXPERIENCES IN MY WRITING?
Life is full of conflict. Think about what you experience on a
day-to-day basis. Sure you might not be defusing bombs and saving the
world or fighting dragons and Really Bad Guys(tm), but every
day you're struggling with something, even if it's only yourself.
Fighting with parents and lovers, dealing with the gossip at work who's
doing his best to get you fired, wondering whether you should keep a
secret that might cause someone pain...you get the idea. There are
things at stake, things that matter, things that affect how you deal
with the world around you, things that might affect the rest of your
life.
Your story needs conflict too. It's the first rule of good fiction
writing: You need conflict on every page, in every scene. Without it,
your story will die. A long, slow, boring death.
And if you need conflict, why not use something that you know
intimately? You know how it feels, every bit of fear, every harsh word,
every regret, because you lived through it. "Write what you know" is
one of the pieces of advice you hear reiterated in many discussions
about writing and lambasted in many others. It does have merit though,
not the "what you know" in a prosaic, tangible sense. Emotional truth,
however, the kind you get from living life, strikes a chord with every
reader no matter what details surround it.
WHAT EXPERIENCES DO
I USE IN MY WRITING?
The painful ones: Your failures, your nightmares, the betrayals by
friends, the things that keep you awake at night, the things that make
you cry, the arguments that still make you angry, the ones that
embarrass you, the experiences you don't talk about because you're
scared no one else will understand. Am I bringing anything to mind?
You use these experiences because they give you the most material.
Pain, anger, fear, betrayal, embarrassment: There is nothing simple
about these emotions. These are what you provide you with stories
others want to read. And, if your characters survive, if they find
victory and peace at the end of your story, how much sweeter will it be
considering all the turmoil they slogged through?
So, how do we start? First, make a list. Look over your life; write
down the experiences that are painful to think about, past and present.
I know it's painful. I'm squirming in my seat just thinking about it,
but you want to tap into those emotions. It will make your writing
better. I promise.
Are you ready? Now pick any one of those experiences to use for the
rest of this workshop. You have a conflict, but now we need to look
deeper. So, let's start by asking some questions.
- What's at risk? What do I have to lose? Why is
this so important?
- How am I reacting to this being threatened?
What emotions am I feeling because of this?
- What will happen if it doesn't work out? How
will it impact the rest of my life (both current and in the future)?
What will happen if it is successfully resolved?
- Who or what is standing in my way? How and why
are they threatening me? What do they have to gain by their actions?
- Am I sabotaging myself? What's my motivation?
What am I gaining by my actions?
TRANSLATING IT INTO
STORY FODDER
The first step to make this usable for fiction is to strip out the
details making it only applicable to your situation.
My mother wants me to postpone my wedding (which is supposed to happen
in eight weeks) for six months because of financial issues. While I
could write a story that featured this bit of conflict exactly as is,
it wouldn't work. I would be constricted by what occurred in real life.
I would never be able to show the story to anyone who knew me without
them knowing exactly what (and who) I was writing about. Besides, am I
writing fiction or thinly veiled memoirs?
Assuming you chose the first option, you need to find the underlying
themes of your experience. Using my situation as an example, there are
questions about maturity: When can I make my own decisions? Who
determines what's right for me? What does it mean if I make a choice
that no one agrees with? Issues focusing on betrayal: If my mother says
she wants what's best for me than how can she not support my dream for
the future? Questions about love, choice, the list goes on.
Focus in on the issues driving your conflict. Look back at the answers
you discovered from the list of questions earlier in this article. What
points emerged that have the potential to transcend the specific
details occurring in your life? What hard concepts are you dealing
with? What themes are surfacing?
Take the theme questions you've generated and brainstorm some other
situations in which they would still be valid. By using the nugget of
your experience, you produce a conflict that holds truth for the
readers even as you warp all the details until they bear no superficial
resemblance to your own.
Example: What does it mean if I make a choice no one else thinks is
wise? For me, this is specifically concerning marriage at this point in
my life. But the same question would apply if I was talking about the
decision to get pregnant or not stay pregnant, to drop out of school,
to not join the family business, to give up the religion I was raised
in for one that I think holds more truth, to be friends with certain
types of people, to move out of the house or state or country, to join
the military. The list goes on and none of them are similar to what I'm
actually going through. At least, not until you delve beneath the
surface.
Also, ask yourself how else this question could be answered. Look at
some ways that might not apply to the situation you're in, but would
apply if the situation was different. Don't allow your character's
responses to be bound by what you perceive to be the One True Path(tm).
Think about what other viewpoints have validity.
Example: What does it mean if I make a choice no one else thinks is
wise? It could be that I am able to decide what's best for me despite
other people's beliefs. Or that I'm missing a key piece of information
that others have. I could be deliberately rebelling against other
people's ideas for me (I could be doing that for the right or wrong
reasons). Maybe I am being manipulated by someone else or brainwashed.
Maybe it wasn't my choice at all.
Run wild with your ideas. See what comes out. You can edit for
plausibility and what would actually be feasible within the confines of
your world and story later. But don't allow your story to be crippled
because at first brush with an idea your inner editor couldn't figure
out how to make it work.
We have all lived through situations that hurt, that changed us in
unexpected ways. Use those experiences in your writing, to help your
characters grow, to bring new depth into the story you're telling.
Although people may say they read for the escape, one doesn't want to
escape to a world that is wholly unfamiliar. Readers demand honesty in
what they read even in a world they never have or never will
experience. Using your life, pouring yourself, into everything you
write is how you do it.
Copyright © Valery Pritchett,
2004. All rights reserved.
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