We should write what we know. Right? Our best writing--our most authentic voice--is about the things we've experienced and learned for ourselves. So. Here's a list of some stuff I know at least something, if not everything, about:
The 100 years war
miscarriage
expressive/receptive speech delay
natural childbirth
medicated childbirth
Switzerland
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Islam
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
Why modern art really is good stuff
Post-Colonialism
how to set up a tent
carbon monoxide poisoning
food poisoning from ranch dressing
bedrest
Places: Idaho, Utah, Montana. San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, Charlotte, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina.
all inclusive resort vacations vs. cruise vacations
German
genetic diseases
white trash
wealth
education
government and politics (two different things)
child development
Pre-Raphaelite painters and Victorian England
See--writing that down, I don't feel like it's a very interesting list. Of course, there are more things I could list. All of us could list for pages and pages if we sat down to think about our own life experience. What I want to figure out is how some of the pieces of that puzzle could fit together, and which of them would help me to create a good story.
All of this also makes me wonder how people like JR Tolkien and JK Rowling create these entire magical worlds, of which they have no first-hand experience. The introduce characters and settings that are so vibrant and alive that they become, in a way, real. I admire that a great deal. I'd love to exercise my imagination enough to do something like it.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
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1 comment:
This is a good exercise, Sis Riding! Good idea. It's something I need to do, though I probably won't post it on my blog. All the same, thanks!
And thanks for the feedback on the prose. I'll try to write more of it, and other stuff as well. :)
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