In college, I lived on the top floor of an apartment building which meant that I had to haul my laundry basket up and down two flights of stairs at least once a week if I wanted clean clothes. On one such trip, an unmentionable item unknowingly slipped from my basket and sat in the corner of the stairwell for days before I noticed it and realized it belonged to me. That embarrassing incident (coupled with the dropping of a feminine hygiene product on a busy street) inspired the creation of a storyline that almost was made into a telenovela and now stands to become the premise of my next book (series?). Who knew a pair of clean undies and a Tampax could launch such creativity?
Sometimes when people find out that I’m a writer they clam up, afraid they’re going to end up being written into my latest book. Some people ask me out right if they can be in my next book, eager for to be turned into a fictionalized hero. I’m frequently asked how much of my writing is real and how much is made up. To clarify – no, I’ve never sung drunk on stage in a London club or run down bicyclist on PCH. But there are certain things in my writing that come from personal experience and I believe such insights and experiences truly enrich a story.
How personal an author should make their writing differs for every authors with every project. There are some writers that have been known to pluck entire characters or story lines from their lives and have made no bones about it. Other authors choose to build detailed worlds, populated with nuanced characters that are so believable it is hard to believe that they are nothing more than a construct of the author’s imagination. Having intimate knowledge of a topic or experience can give a story a gravitas and a sense of realism. But if there’s an issue the author has trouble dealing with or is too emotionally attached to, those feelings might possibly bleed into their work and threaten to muddle a story if the author blurs the line between their own emotions and those of the characters.
Most of my story ideas are inspired from my real life – dropping embarrassing items in a public place being one such catalyst for storytelling. I currently have book ideas based on items people dear to me love (gnomes), a family and friends passing away (something I know a thing or two about) and plotting the perfect murder (no, I do not wish to kill anyone, but I am fascinated by what motivates people to resolve their problems in such a messy and immoral way).
I’ve been very open about the fact that one of the characters in the Dani Truehart trilogy is based on one of my best friends from university (love you, Sidewalk!), but the rest of the characters are fictional. Yet the characters that have had the most impact on the readers (whether they are loved or hated) all have one thing in common – each are imbedded with some quirk, flaw or characteristic from my own life experiences (personal or observed, past or present). I believe that these personal touches have made these particular characters richer and more authentic.
To me, characters are more relatable when they seem like people we meet might every day. As a reader, I make that connection to characters through the subtle peccadillos (the polished business woman pocketing packets of sugar at Starbucks), physical traits (a man’s limp from an old track team injury that fires up in damp weather) or pet peeves (the sheer disgust that boils over anytime someone clips their nails in public) that the author layers into them. Then, even if the premise of the story is some far-fetched setting or something I’ve never experienced, falling back on the mundaneness of humanity makes that situation more relatable. I might not know what it’s like to jet across the galaxy on a space transport ship, but I know the annoyance of sitting next to someone who chews their dehydrated ice cream in a loud and obnoxious manner. Those quirks draw me in as a reader and that’s what I love to layer in my own work.
If I wrote in a vacuum, I’d love nothing more than to create stories based on people I know or my own experiences – the storytelling heavy lifting would already be done! I would merely have to write down what I see or remember, just like Phoebe did in that one episode of Friends, when she revealed to the group that she’d authored several books. Her friends were understandably upset when they discovered that what Phoebe considered “writing” was simply recording their lives in a journal and giving them all fake character names. I can guarantee that anyone I know would be equally upset if I wrote about them without their permission. It is not only an incredible violation of privacy and trust, but it takes away one of the many challenges a writer faces: creating an engaging story with captivating characters.
My observations and personal life play an important part in my stories. After all, it would be difficult to express a character’s emotions or meaningful transformation if I didn’t use my own emotions or experiences as a reference. But rest assured friends and family, I make every effort to guarantee that it is my experiences alone that I use when I write and not something someone I know has experienced or felt. I don’t want to inadvertently share a confidence or someone’s private experiences in a very public way. It’s something I am vigilant about because trust is something very dear to me and I respect the privacy of those close to me. Just because I choose to write doesn’t give me license to use everyone I know as fodder for my books.
Ask another author and you might get a different answer. I can only speak for myself.
But be warned – if you’re a rude stranger at the super market or you shove me out of the way at airport security, you’re definitely going in the book!
Happy Wednesday📚💕