Sunday, January 24, 2016

How Do You Write Your Life as Fiction?

I'm still writing notes in my notebook but I seem uncertain about what the plot should be. So far the notes I've written have been based on exercises I've seen in this book I bought over 20 years ago. (NOTE: Upon Googling this info I came across another edition of this book from 1999; the one I have is from 1995, and the cover above is from that edition). Even so, the various writing prompts still work today. And If I Google "writing prompts" I may find others that I can try. I've tried to make my based on these prompts notes fit the theme of depression or possible craziness, something I'd often thought I might be having. 


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Another thing--is it really a good idea to write about your mental issues as a fiction story? According to a comment on my last blog post, doing it fictionally gives you more creative dramatic liberties. This is from Stephanie Faris, a children's writer whose blog I regularly read. I think it's good to have gotten advice like from someone who has written books. But what does anyone else think? What sort of plot could come from all this?









And it may be too soon to be asking this, but how in the end do you come up with a title for the book, something different and interesting?


1 comment:

Stephanie Faris said...

Aww, thank you for thinking so highly of my advice. Of course, I'm just figuring it out like everyone else. The best thing about spinning it into fiction is that you can make multiple books out of it over the years. In fact, I'd say most of us call upon our life experiences when writing fiction. We just disguise it! I'm excited to hear what everyone else thinks.