I once knew an editor whose job consisted mainly of wading through the slush pile of fiction submissions. “My job sounds great,” she told me, “but you would be amazed at the number of people who write revenge fiction. The story is just obviously something that happened to them. There is no characterization, plotting, or setting.”
Writers are often told to write what they know. If you have never manned the international space station, for example, there are better people to tell that story. And, yet, as my editor friend laid bare, you also have to go beyond your basic biography. Few people have lives interesting enough to thinly veil.
I have written two books. While I agree with the basic rules of fiction, I have found that inspiration is a peculiar beast. My novels both reflect and defy my experience. When I am immersed in the process, I often have no clear sense of what is driving the story. The settings are places I have lived and the characters are composites of people I have known. What is mysterious is the story that is driving it.
With some distance from the completed project, I often gain clarity on what I wrote. My first book, written in 2009, reflected my own optimistic state of mind. My protagonist was ideal, a better version of myself. She was braver, more disciplined, and more forgiving than I am. Her life was what I secretly wanted for myself.
For my more recent book, it was just the opposite. My protagonist, Maggie, is a woman I would never want to be. She is not based on any one person but is an amalgamation of behaviors I have witnessed. Writing her story was a detour into some dark memories. Ultimately, though, there is some hope for her.
So what does all of this mean, exactly? I think writing fiction is an exercise in working through your own psychological issues. I would liken it to the final scene of The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy awakes from her Technicolor dream only to realize that the people in her story were those she already knew. Fiction is a multicolored reflection of our black-and-white interiors.
Books Smitten 