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Drama: August 01, 2012 Issue [#5185]

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Drama


 This week: Write About What You Know
  Edited by: NaNoKit Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

"Write about what you know" is a piece of advice commonly given. And it's good advice! It doesn't mean you have to limit yourself. And you may know more than you think you know...

kittiara


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

If there is one piece of advice I have taken to heart over the years, it is to write about what you know. It’s a wonderful bit of advice, so long as it’s not taken literally.

Writing about what you know doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself to your own life, your own experiences. I’ll happily write about an overly determined tooth fairy and her troubles in carrying out her duty, or a man driven to despair by an imaginary budgie, whilst I am neither a tooth fairy nor do I tend to believe that I have pets that I don’t. I did have a budgie once, and he was quite a fun, harmless little creature. And I do know the frustration work can bring, especially when you have a deadline and everything seems to be going wrong. I also know the feeling when something irritates you and it just won’t stop. I was able to channel some of these experiences into my stories and poems, and used a good measure of imagination to take it further.

I am certain that Stephen King didn’t personally experience a town overrun by vampires, nor is he likely to have brought a cat back to life by burying it in a creepy little graveyard. That is not the point, though. The point is that we may meet people in our daily lives whose personalities and traits we can use, possibly exaggerate, and turn into characters in our stories. We can use snippets of events and wonder what if, we can use dreams, nightmares, those things we love and those we fear.

Above all, we can use our emotions. Emotions are pretty universal. The reader will recognize them, because they’ll have experienced those emotions themselves, or at least have some understanding of what they would feel like.

Relationships between people involve emotions. We form relationships with a variety of people – our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, siblings, friends… Many of us will, sadly, have been in romantic relationships that didn’t work out as we had planned. Hopefully, we will also have met, or will meet at some point in the future, someone who we are completely compatible with, and who we can fully love and trust.

Drama is based on emotions. It channels the emotions of the author, and triggers the emotions of the reader. If we write about what we know, chances are that our work will feel believable to our audience, and recognizable enough to fulfill all those reasons the reader decided to engage with our words.

And what we know will grow every single day, as we keep on learning, keep on experiencing. Our lives are an endless source of potential material. We may as well use it!

kittiara


Editor's Picks

Here are some of the latest offerings in the drama genre. I hope that you will enjoy them *Smile*.

 One Woman's Heart Open in new Window. (13+)
Using a weeping willow as a metaphor for a woman's heart.
#1882341 by HippieGyrl Author IconMail Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1882497 by Not Available.


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1882539 by Not Available.


 the night i finally kissed you Open in new Window. (18+)
Poem describing a really, really uncomfortable love triangle
#1882420 by HopefulJourney Author IconMail Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1882211 by Not Available.


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1882170 by Not Available.


 
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Torpedo Logic Open in new Window. (E)
Our sub is down.
#1881727 by Don Two Author IconMail Icon


 The Atheists Open in new Window. (18+)
In world dominated by religion, the atheists make a stand. The result is ...
#1881741 by andystellinstories Author IconMail Icon

 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

The Drama Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! *Smile*

shaara - Interesting newsletter. I hadn't heard about Grisham's plunge into nonfiction. Sounds like a good read. Thanks.

Shaara

Thank you for writing in, Shaara! And you are welcome! *Smile*

~~~

blunderbuss - Thank you for writing about non-fiction in your newsletter. I am not sure that I would have gone on reading this if it had been me - which is something lacking in ME. If a person is a famous writer, that might make me read it. Otherwise, if the character is not someone I could like, I am not sure how long I would have continued reading.
Do other people find that a really obnoxious character (unless you are aware that they are going to change) is a complete put off?

Thank you for writing in! I must admit that usually, if a character is really obnoxious, it puts me off as well *Blush*. It's all down to how much I enjoy the overall story and indeed my faith in the writer whether I continue reading or not. In this particular case I was so baffled at the lack of justice that I had to read on just to find out if the people affected turned out alright. I guess that it also helped that it was indeed non-fiction, so this actually happened to someone! But yes, I've closed books before because I simply couldn't take to the main character.

~~~

Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,

The Drama Newsletter Team


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