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Now to the post! I know a young lady going to USC this fall for Screenwriting. She shared the title of one her potential classes with me and not only did it crack me up, it made me think. So here's my take on the term: Just because it happened to you doesn't make it interesting.
We hear all the time the advice, write what you know. But that doesn't mean a literal recounting of your life. Well, I suppose there are a lucky few who've been through some pretty amazing stuff. But the vast majority of people... not so much.
What it DOES mean is that we've all experienced similar emotions. Whether it was from losing a loved one, or your goldfish when you were six, you experienced something called grief. It's that feeling that you have to capture. The situation you can extrapolate. But the visceral reaction that underlies it, that's what you want to evoke. If you can do that to the reader, then you've made a connection that means everything. How? Well, NOT by revisiting your own life in detail. Instead truly understand your character and put them in situations that will evoke those emotions.
Doesn't that class sound fun though? That's my type of humor!
Darn! i planned on writing about my boring life. Back to the drawing board. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteHahahaha! What a great title for a class. You made the distinction crystal clear, too. What we need to tap are the universal emotions, not the verbatim experience.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a superb class! One that writers could do well with, not just screenwriters.
ReplyDeleteOh come on, the first year of my marriage is a story of epic wonder and fail! :-) You mean the snowmobile and ketchup incident isn't interesting enough?? Smirk.
ReplyDeleteThat is a completely awesome title! Who could resist signing up for that??? :)
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me as writers many of us have to get through writing a roman a clef about ourselves before we can truly dive into fiction. It seems to be part of the learning experience and helps us tap into those emotions. But, then, that's why first novels probably don't sell. :-)
ReplyDeleteI was just talking about this with some writer friends IRL. You don't have to have lived through the exact experience to be able to imagine how it would feel. Well said, Lisa!
ReplyDeleteThis is so true Lisa. My life would never make a good story but I can tap into some emotions I've experienced through my characters.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. Even non-writers need to be reminded of that every now and then. LOL.
ReplyDeleteWriting what you know partly has always referred to emotions unless we have some crazy story but usually that ends up not believable! Great post. I know my son experience real grief when his gerbil died. Maybe different from a person dying but for him the grief hurt, ached, deep in his bones. He knew that emotion.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had LESS in my life to write about. I just need to make sure I mask events slyly enough to avoid the necessity of entering the witness protection program. Great advice.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a class I'd love to take! :) But I agree - personal stories can be great in conversation (sometimes!) but not so much in writing. It's the emotions we carry over, not the physical facts. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure I like the advice to only write what I know. I definitely don't take it. If I did I wouldn't learn about new stuff. : -)
ReplyDeleteIt's posts like this that make me wish I'd taken more writing classes in college. Instead I was a lit major. But that's a great point! thanks for sharing, LG! :D
ReplyDeleteGood point, Lisa! And if we only wrote what we knew... I guess I wouldn't be knocking off a few characters here and there. :D
ReplyDeleteBut MORE to your point, you're right: You can draw upon your gut emotions and inject those into your characters. For example, my father is alive and well, but my protag's father died when she was young. What we both have in common is that our fathers traveled often. I can inject my missed out moments with Dad into my protag's wistfulness.
Well said! It really is all about drawing off the emotions from our experience. The only time they truly mean write what you know is with memoirs, which honestly, I do NOT read.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand this post. Every time I read my memoir to my dog, he only sleeps through 1/3 of it and then stares blankly at the wall the rest of the time. Not once does he get up and walk away.
ReplyDeleteThat's good, right?