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This week: Using Life in Writing Edited by: Vivian  
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The advice of writing what a person knows is true, partially. A person doesn't have to commit murder to be able to write about one, for example, but one has to be able to use life experiences to help understand how a murder victim's family feels or how a murder's mind might work.
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How to Use Life to Enhance Writing
Life may not bring all possible experiences into each of our lives, but we all have experiences that we can draw on to enrich our writing. Using the example of writing about murder, I have never killed anyone, but I have been angry and for a short period hated. I could use my imagination to increase those feelings enough that I might imagine killing someone.
Some people have never had a loved one die, but they probably had a pet they loved that died. That pain can be used to imagine it's expanded into the death of someone close to us.
Did you notice the one thing I used to expand feelings into something greater? Imagine ... imagination is the key to using our life experiences to make more intense scenes in our writing "real," believable.
Sometimes we don't need to imagine some of the most horrible traumas life can throw at us. Sometimes we have suffered the results of a murder, a thief, a family member sent to prison, the death of someone we love. Then, we can draw upon our experiences. We can write what we know.
Often, writers can read something and become emotionally and mentally involved -- Imagination at work again. Or, a person may listen to another's tale and empathize because he or she has a vivid imagination. Therefore, those people don't write what they know or have lived, but use other people's knowledge and life experiences to enhance their writing.
Look, listen, feel, use your imagination to enhance your writing, make those scenes of great emotion live. |
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Words from Our Readers
brom21 
I think that 1st person POV is the most effective for description, thought, dialog and action because you’re literally putting yourself in the character’s shoes. 3rd person, however, flows more naturally. I think 3rd person omniscient is the hardest to do. Thanks for the succinct newsletter!
Just remember, if you're using 3rd person, when you're writing dialog and thought, you are in the mind of the character. Personally, I prefer reading fiction in 3rd person because the use of 1st person isn't always done well. However, I just read a book by Tess Gerritson in which she used 1st person in the chapters concerning one character. She made it work very well.
Loreli
Thank you for featuring my piece. I only found out about it when I received a review from it. I appreciate the time you took to highlight my work!
Loreli
You're most welcomed.
chopstixd
There is another class of POV I've encountered called DeepPOV which comes in two flavors (I and he/she -- many DeepPOV commentators don't like 1st and 3rd person talk).
In DeepPOV the narrator's voice is completely submerged into the characters POV. In this sense DeepPOV-he/she is a blend of 1st and 3rd person. Even in DeepPOV-I, common narrative devices are dismissed to bring narration and character closer together (snarky winking at the camera type stuff is definitely out because it draws attention to the narrator, 1st person, but away from what the narrator experiences.)
I noted my findings about DeepPOV in "A Self Proclaimed Style Nazi's Manifesto" [ASR] Rules 211-217.
Interesting, but I believe for our purposes, we need to stick to regular point of view.
willwilcox
Hey Viv, my beautiful school teacher. Just thought I'd drop you a line for another awesome newsletter and a shout-out for featuring one of my tales. *Cool*
You are welcomed, Bill.
Thanks for joining me again. I'll cover some other aspect of writing in four weeks.
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For Authors: March 30, 2016 Issue [#7564]
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