Sunday 1 June 2008

Writing Tips - Using That Experience

Tell Me a Story - writing from the heart .

Hello Anthony, can you help. I'm thinking to write my biography. I've undergone things in my life that I'm sure others will want to read. How do I go about it?


Hi Brian, nice to hear from you.

Please don't think I'm pouring cold water on your idea, but unless you're already a celebrity, chances are that few people will be interested. It's a hard fact of life. Sometimes it's the wrong idea to use a circumstance(s) from your own life as the basis for a book. Instead, think novel.
It can be better to use the feelings generated by an experience as a theme rather than the circumstance itself.
The consequence can be a richer story than you might have envisaged because you've already explored the emotional boundaries.
Sometimes you can be too close to a particular episode and it can warp your writing. Instead, use those feelings, tap into the energy of the evocative experience, expand on it, push it in a different area and the result can be POW!
Unless we're TV presenters, film-stars, radio personalities, or have achieved something incredible, who's going to be interested in reading about our lives? Everyone has problems they overcome, we all do things with our lives. It can be a bit egotistical to think that others will find our own life interesting.
I normally advise people to weave the things they've undergone into a piece of fiction, breathe life into a novel with those experiences. Use it as a backbone and who knows, you could have the next best-seller.

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Romantic Suspense