The question this week is whether life exists outside of writing. For me, the better question is, does writing exist outside of life? Without life experiences, is there anything upon which to base a short story, novella, or novel? I doubt it. Even a splendid imagination needs some comparison in order to work. If you only know one place or one type of person, it would be much harder to develop a well-rounded story line.
How does my life contribute to writing?
- Jack and I have traveled all over the country so I can draw on what various states look like. Even a WIP that takes place in Europe is made better by our having been there.
- We have a small family, but fortunately, they are all nutty as fruit cakes, and I often draw off them to provide story lines and character definition.
- In our travels but even more by our living in a variety of places—from
cities like San Francisco and Chicago to small places like Appleton, WI and Greenwood, SC—we’ve met and made friends with people from all walks of life, helping me to give depths to my stories and characters. - I’ve worked in a lot of places and in a lot of different career paths, so my imagination has an easy time making comparisons to other lines of work as well.
Does this all mean that someone who’s lived in one place all their lives without a great deal of change can’t write a great book? Gosh no. In fact, maybe it means I don’t have a good imagination and need all that outside stimuli to help me write. It’s all made life interesting, and I hope it’s helped me write better and deeper stories.
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Only a Good Man Will Do: Seriously ambitious man seeks woman to encourage his goals, support his (hopeful) position as Headmaster of Westover Academy, and be purer than Caesar’s wife. Good luck with that!
Naval Maneuvers: When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!
Well said, Dee.