Drawing On Experiences

We're always told to do it in our writing and deep down we all know that it'll make our work better. Yet some of us still struggle with it, saying things like: "my life has been too boring" or "no-one's interested in what's happened to me".
That. Doesn't. Matter.
Maybe not everything in our lives is book-worthy, but that doesn't mean none of it is. Something as simple as experiencing a failed relationship or losing a pet can be drawn from and used in the story. Not necessarily every detail (that would be a bit too much personal info), but the emotions would be the same: the pain or the grief, and could be drawn from.

This is where us younger writers have a slight disadvantage to older ones: we just haven't lived as much as they have. They have a whole encyclopedia to draw from whereas we only have a notebook or two (in most cases anyway).
But even these little things can be usable, and we can always use those wonderful things: our imaginations! Just think of the situation you want, and imagine how you'd feel in the place of your character and hey presto!

Okay, maybe it won't be that easy, but it's a way to get started. Most of us - if we pay attention to things around us - will have an idea of how people will react to certain things. All we have to do is tailor that reaction to our character.

For example: I was bullied for chunks of my childhood; not in the physical way, but certainly emotionally, and it's only in the last few years that I've managed to get out of my shell a bit more.
Well, my main character is a bit excluded from the majority of her society; so I'm drawing on some of my feelings of isolation and emptiness, to make it more effective and realistic. I'm not using everything, but just enough to make it believable.

Your book doesn't have to be your life story. But if you can't use real emotions, you're going to find the writing proccess a whole lot harder.


On slighty different note: thank you RaeAnn for being my first follower and commenter!
It's good to know someone out there is actually reading my blog :D

Hope you liked this post
W-O

First person vs third person

This is always something I've had conflict with: whose perspective to write from.
Both have their plus points but others also have their downfalls.

First Person
Good: It's easier for the audience (and often the writer) to connect with the character and understand them better. If you are the sort of reader who imagines themselves living the story it is easier to get in the mindset and you are seeing through the character's eyes. You can follow the character's thought processes easier and see more clearly how they come to some conclusions.
Bad: It can be harder to write as you have to keep including the character's opinions and thoughts instead of getting on with the story. Sometimes the audience can get annoyed with the character or just bored of the inner monologues. It's hard to take an objective view of the story if you're constantly being bombarded by opinions (though that may be what the writer intends to happen).

Personally I find first person is easier to write, but it tends to make the story a bit slow moving and I often end up writing pages and pages of nothing but thoughts. I am working on improving this.

Third Person
Good: Tends to keep the story moving faster. You can still use character's thoughts but only when you feel it's necessary. It allow you to use the points of view of all you characters, rather than just your protagonist. It can be better for a reader who just prefers to view the story objectively and not get too emotionally involved.
There is less chance of the audience getting sick of the inside of the character's head.
Bad: If badly done it can make the story read very dryly and not be as engaging, stopping readers from empathising as much.

This is slightly harder for me as I like to really get inside character's heads, but for some things it can work really well for me: it depends what sort of mood I'm in.


For my story I've come up with a compromise, taking a leaf from the book of one of my all time favourite authors. I'm going to switch between the two.
The half that centres mainly around my original protagonist will be in third person as I want to be able to view how other people perceive her rather than how she views the world. She is all about images and how people treat her differently compared with other characters.
My second protagonist - who, oddly enough, seems to be becoming slightly more of the main character than the original protagonist - will be written from the first person as hers is more of an internal struggle and how she reacts internally to what goes on around her.

Well then, that's my thoughts on perspectives.


I am feeling fairly proud of myself today: I have finished the prologue (for now - things will probably revised later) and have added a lot more the my first chapters of each section (the first and third person sections).
I am also hoping to get some more planning done tonight so I'm going to end this nice, long entry here.

See you
W-O