You can use this material overtly: you can write articles for newspapers and magazines, and non-fiction books about your interests. You can write about marriage when you get married, children when you have them, and divorce when you get divorced.
You can also use your life-experience covertly. You can’t avoid using your life in your writing. Writers who write fiction are still writing from their own experience. If a young female writer writes from the point of view of an embittered homosexual male war veteran, she’s still writing from her own experience, because mentally and emotionally, as well as physically, we’re all people. We’re all human, and we’re all the same.
There’s a very funny scene in the movie As Good As It Gets when Jack Nicholson, who plays an obsessive compulsive romance writer, visits his publisher and is cornered by an ingenuous secretary. She asks him how he writes his women characters so well, and, while touching her hand to her chest and forehead asks: “How do you know what’s happening in here?” It’s hilarious. If you haven’t seen the movie, rent it and watch it. The point being, that even Nicholson’s character in the movie, who’s about as far from being a romantic as you can get — on the surface — writes sweet romances which touch his readers deeply and affect their lives.
You can write anything, because you’ve got it all in you.
=> How to use your life in your writing
Using your life in your writing means learning to use your imagination. Like Alice, in Alice In Wonderland, you learn to develop the ability to drop down the rabbit hole of your mind to access the Wonderland of your imagination at will.
You can train yourself to do this. You start by conducting an archaeological dig on your life, to access your memory of past events, people and places. You usually won’t use these memories as-is in your work, but because your memories inform your imagination and creativity, digging around in your memories enhances your imagination.
Therefore, there are two major techniques you need to learn to use your life in your writing. The first is to stir your memories, and the next is to access your imagination at will.
==> Your memories: write a timeline of your life
Julia Cameron calls your life story your Narrative Timeline. Simply make a list of the big events of your life, starting with your birth, going to school, major childhood events and illnesses, getting your first job, and so on.
You don’t need to make a big production out of this. Write the list — it won’t take you longer than ten minutes.
Each day, choose an item from the list, and write about it. This is not writing for publication. Think of it as archaeology, or turning over the compost of your past. Your writing can be totally stream-of-consciousness in style, because no one will be reading it except you, and then only if you want to. If you wish, you can even delete the computer file or destroy the paper when you’ve finished writing. The process is only intended to stir your memories.
If you have painful events in your past, as most of us do, ignore those. You don’t need reminding about the painful events. Those will color your work whether or not you intend them to.
==> Access your creativity at will: drop down the rabbit hole of your imagination
All creative people develop the skill of entering the landscape of their imagination. If you’ve ever been hypnotized, it’s a similar experience, and it’s very simple to do. The process is just like a daydream. You can even do it with your eyes open.
Imagine that you’re walking down a staircase, or descending in an elevator. When the elevator stops, you open a door into a landscape — a beautiful garden, or a mountain meadow. Start wandering through this landscape. Make it real: smell the flowers, feel the wind, listen to the waterfall, or to the sounds of chirping birds.
Or, imagine that you’re floating, on a magic carpet, or on a cloud, or in hot-air balloon. Imagine that you’re drifting over landscapes. When the carpet lands, you can wander through the landscapes of your imagination.
You can stay in your imaginary landscape as long as you like. Even two minutes will refresh you, and will feed your writing. This creative technique is a stress-reliever par excellence too.
There you have it: two techniques to help you to write from your life — consciously. Enjoy them, they’re great fun.
Stuck in your writing career? Get a coach! Angela Booth coaches writers in copywriting (writing for business), nonfiction, and fiction. A veteran writer, published by major publishers worldwide, Angela is also an experienced writing teacher, who knows how to inspire and motivate. You CAN make a success of your writing career. Free daily info for writers at her blog: http://copywriter.typepad.com/ Start your writing coaching today by contacting Angela at her site http://angelabooth.com/ Angela offers personal one-on-one e-courses and mentoring for all forms of writing. Ask for a low-cost initial phone or email consultation.
Entries (RSS)