Writing and Life experience

[Comshaw]

All of my stories contain some of my life experiences. Not just situations and people, but the emotions, the thoughts and reactions to things. It's an integral part of my storytelling. A lot of my life experience is both intense and personal. I've never done anything that was huge, nation-shaking or close to that level. All of my experience has been personal in nature, seen or witnessed by few and easily forgotten by them, slid into the dustbin of history because it didn't affect many. When you hear the phrase (or more accurately the curse) "I hope you live in interesting times" it definitely applies to me. All that said, for me those things are part and parcel of who I am, how I approach life and how I tell a story.

I know there are some here who are like me, who have lived through a life that most, if they read it in a story, would consider to be pure fiction. And I'm sure that they, like me, use some of that experience in their stories.

I also know there are writers who haven't that kind of background, who have lived a relatively normal life, but can still write a tale that will stir emotions and touch the reader in places they didn't know were possible by a written work. So where does that come from? Never having experienced those feelings, those wants and fears and desires and jealousies, how do you conjure them from thin air, stick them on a page and make readers feel them? How?

Yeah I know, I'm in a mood this morning.


Comshaw

 

[StillStunned]

I also know there are writers who haven't that kind of background, who have lived a relatively normal life, but can still write a tale that will stir emotions and touch the reader in places they didn't know were possible by a written work. So where does that come from? Never having experienced those feelings, those wants and fears and desires and jealousies, how do you conjure them from thin air, stick them on a page and make readers feel them? How?

There are some basic emotions that you can't avoid. Everyone has experienced fear, or anger, or jealousy, or the kind of love that makes you think your heart is about to explode, or worries that feel like they're gnawing away at your guts, or anticipation so gripping that you're literally biting your lip and trembling on your feet.

When I write a character's emotion, I try to draw on one of those basic emotions. The closer the circumstances, the more vivid the description, perhaps, but even if you can't place yourself in your character's situation you can describe how you'd feel that emotion.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Honestly, research, research, research and a large dash of imagination. Oftentimes that research is reading slice of life stories about a life I could never aspire to. Other times I'm doing wiki crawls, and reading papers on the pros and cons of this or that. Or even diving into books and websites and papers on mythology. And then trying to put myself in the head of someone who might be living the type of life I'm writing down.

Because otherwise, all of my stories would be about someone who grew up poor and rural only to one day move and remain poor and rural. And no one wants to read more than maybe one story about that.

 

[AG31]

My stories are notable, to me, for having nothing to do with my life experience, except for my fantasy life. No touchstones in either action or emotion. They come from an isolated part of my brain.

 

[alohadave]

I also know there are writers who haven't that kind of background, who have lived a relatively normal life, but can still write a tale that will stir emotions and touch the reader in places they didn't know were possible by a written work. So where does that come from? Never having experienced those feelings, those wants and fears and desires and jealousies, how do you conjure them from thin air, stick them on a page and make readers feel them? How?

Empathy and research.

Imagining how you would feel in a situation and talking to/listening to other people when they talk about their experiences.

 

[crookedletter]

I extrapolate from my personal experience. I observe people.

And I read. A lot. I read fiction, nonfiction, science, philosophy, whatever piques my interest at any given moment. I would say that's key to the ability to try to put yourself in other perspectives, settings, scenarios, to just in general make shit up.

Maybe one day I'll be inclined to write something autobiographical. It wouldn't exactly be a thriller, but there is a story there. In the meantime the fun for me is in imagining what other situations might feel like.

 

[iwatchus]

I tend to put caricatures of myself and people around me into interesting scenarios and write what happens. Like @StillStunned said, we all share some basic emotions. And if you watch the people around you, you can learn a lot about their hopes and fears, likes and dislikes. And some of it, you have to just make up. Making up plausible facts is one thing AI's do well too.

 

[Comshaw]

There are some basic emotions that you can't avoid. Everyone has experienced fear, or anger, or jealousy, or the kind of love that makes you think your heart is about to explode, or worries that feel like they're gnawing away at your guts, or anticipation so gripping that you're literally biting your lip and trembling on your feet.

When I write a character's emotion, I try to draw on one of those basic emotions. The closer the circumstances, the more vivid the description, perhaps, but even if you can't place yourself in your character's situation you can describe how you'd feel that emotion.

"basic emotions"...yeah, I think I get it.

While some people don't know what it's like to be a finger's width from seeing the reaper, or feeling betrayed and hurt (both physically and emotionally) by the violent actions of someone close, that doesn't mean the emotional intensity of what they feel in a situation is any less.

Perhaps for me it's a matter of desensitization? Mayhaps it's difficult for me to see the emotional intensity one person feels in a situation I would consider to be less than a major whack to my emotional self, because for me it's far less in magnitude than things I've experienced?

Some things I definitely needs to think on a bit more though.

Comshaw

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I also know there are writers who haven't that kind of background, who have lived a relatively normal life, but can still write a tale that will stir emotions and touch the reader in places they didn't know were possible by a written work. So where does that come from? Never having experienced those feelings, those wants and fears and desires and jealousies, how do you conjure them from thin air, stick them on a page and make readers feel them? How?

“Everything you write is autobiographical, even science fiction, and the planet Ork. In some way even that is a reflection of you—who you are.” —Paula Fox

You're probably looking at it the wrong way. Look at fantasy. None of us fought dragons or casted spells, but we faced problems that are just as scary, and used our smarts like a wizard. Some of us lived through impressive lives¹, others went through quieter lives², but that matters not. What matters is that our experiences and our emotions, no matter how grand, are something we can all connect to. Sure, running away from the army while swallowing tear gas and locking myself in a stranger's house because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time isn't the same as, I don't know, asking your boss for a raise, but both situations have one common emotion: fear. Both can be interpreted as fighting, or running away from the dragon.

¹ I honestly want to have at least ONE year of boredom, please! I need a break from all this beating.
² Lucky ones that I'm jealous of... for the most part.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

If you can hear stories, take them in and feel them, you can write them.