When you write fiction, is is always your own experience?

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   Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years ago

   Over the years, I've often been told that the things I write in fiction are the things I think and believe. Nothing could be further from the truth. If I have a murderer as a rogue, I do not draw on my own experience. What I do is read endless books on the topic and then insert that knowledge when I write about my character.
   
   Would you say that the characters you write about are all a composite of who you are?
   
   Or would you say that the characters don't resemble who you are at all?
   
   Or would you say it's a composite of both?

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      waynetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know actually. This question has really made me think as I've never really though about it. I was writing the other day and the story was a very daft adventure of a disabled Hamster trying to win the prize at a local dance competition and after having re-read that story a lot of the Hamsters personality reminds me of myself....just daft to the core and quite possibly a bit mental!
      
      So maybe I do write subconsciously re-using my own experiences within my own stories serious or otherwise!

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      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hmm good question. I'm just one chapter through my book and I wish I was the person in my book

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      leroy64posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting question.  I know that painters and designers almost always feel that they put a piece of themselves into projects.  I had assumed that writers did something similar with the characters and the atmosphere the characters are in.  I am still kind of new at writing, so I am following this forum.

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         Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         leroy64, yes, I think writers do put 'something' of themselves into all their writing. In other words,they draw from their own experience as much as they imagine things, and draw from the experience of the world around them.
         
         My question had to do with something that is misunderstood by some - that all the writer's work is a reflection of who the writer is in terms of the writer's character and beliefs. That's simply not true! People who write crime novels aren't murderers. People who write fantasy aren't necessarily dragons, etc...
         
         I think you raise a very good question of whether readers put more of themselves into a book than writers do. I think that may well be true.
         
         One of the big mistakes of newbie writers is to put more of themselves into the book and create life as it plays out minute by minute.. However, this is not what readers respond to. Readers respond to quick moving  (which means shortened), slightly colored (not over colored) narrative. That leaves them room to imagine the rest...

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            leroy64posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you.  This clears up some things for me.

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      KeithTaxposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      All characters in my fiction are just that, fiction. I never have a real person in mind when developing a character. Each character is developed based on their role in the story. Could you image if I had characters based on real people or myself in my erotica stories? Yikes!

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         leroy64posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         That concept is a little difficult for me to wrap my head around.  I wonder if the reader puts more of himself into the character than the author?

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      mts1098posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I would lean towards there is no relationship between my fiction hubs and my real life

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      in4mativeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think that in my experience the characters that I understand might well be an aspect of myself. My method of filling out the character is based on conjecture and reasoning.

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         Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         That's pretty good! No mistakes made in the character build up that way.

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   readytoescapeposted 12 years ago

   I think much depends on type of story you’re writing. In my novel, The Shopkeeper, many of the the characters are composites and/or caricatures of real people I know or have observed. Some uses are just descriptions of physical attributes and/or are exaggerated behaviors both positive and negative. Other aspects and characters are purely drawn from the imagination.
   
   On the other hand a portion of the overall theme may be an extension of the writer’s core beliefs. For example I employ in my novel a quote in the front matter that is intended to convey to the reader an overall theme.
   
   The quote I use in the book is: “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
   
   This was a choice to use however it also is a concept I believe in.

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   Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years ago

   So what I'm picking up here is that it's different for everybody. Interesting. This definitely means that the general belief that a writer can be viewed through the story s/he writes is not true.

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   sjwigglywooposted 12 years ago

   I think what ever you write has some of your own personality in there somewhere. More often than not I write or include personal experiences I just can't help it, whether this is a good or bad thing I'm not sure.

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   ItsMrsWalkerposted 12 years ago

   I never intentionally write my own experiences in a fictional story, but I'm sure some of my own flavor gets in there anyway! At the same time, I  like to write characters that I wish I could be, so in a way I guess I am writing my experiences, only I'm writing them as I wish they could be.

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      Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      In other words, ItsMrsWalker, you're using your imagination! That's what I do as well...

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         ItsMrsWalkerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Is that what we call it? I think I need a break from this keyboard

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            Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, that's what one calls it. To imagine something is the trademark of all creative people - I think.

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               ItsMrsWalkerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Sometimes I get so used to it being work that I forget there are better ways to look at it!

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   Eric Calderwoodposted 12 years ago

   When I write fiction I add character traits (and sometimes events) from myself and from people I have known or observed.  But I am never writing about those people I am writing about fictional characters, so I am wonderfully free to change things, mix and match traits, and just plain make stuff up.  That is the way it should be, and that is why writing is so much fun.

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   leni sandsposted 12 years ago

   My ideas generally spring from an initial experience and develop from there.
   
   I am currently writing my first crime novel 'WATCHING & WAITING" which has been born out of an experience earlier on this year.  My idea became my synopsis and I am gradually working through each chapter with no real idea of where it is going at the moment even though I sort of know the outcome.  Am I the heroin in the story?  Probably not I wouldn't be that brave though I wish I was!  I currently have about six chapters - the synopsis plus four chapters are here on hubpages as separate hubs while I work on my ideas - so it really is still in the development stage.
   
   My other novel 'Dead Memories, Shattered Lives' is currently sitting on the back boiler because it is autobiographical and quite hard to turn into fiction - yes I am the person the story is about most of which is true with slight embelishment.   So far I have a synopsis and ten chapters but am not at a stage to start sharing much more than the synopsis.  That has been about ten years in the writing and might take several more years before I can share.

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