Factors That Influence A Writer

“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works. 

--Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf knew what she was talking about when she said that all the things that make us who we are, we put into our writing. We've all heard the suggestion Write what you know. We write best what we know or have experienced.

Yes, I can do research about the life of an oil rigger in the ocean and use that as a base for a story, but doing the research and actually living it are two separate things. I would have to experience the life of someone in that field in order to feel what he does, know the little idiosyncrasies, the reactions to certain situations and more. Good writers can probably do it, but a writer who has worked on an oil rig can most likely do it best.

I agree that our personality is formed by life experiences and the secrets we store deep within. Whether we grew up in an urban or rural area makes a difference in our writing. Our educated self knows that there are different sounds in the city and the farmland, but our real self knows them better, depending on which ones we grew up hearing.  Those sounds trigger memories and emotions within us which we can then transfer to the words we write.

Some of our secrets might not be written about distinctly for all to see and know but can be laced within a story about someone else. In a memoir, we would probably reveal many secrets about not only ourself but others, as well. In fiction, we can give our secrets to our characters and write about them with authority. Nor just surmising. We know how that person feels and acts because of a situation or event that we know personally. Does that mean that every situation in a piece of fiction is a secret the author has held onto? No, it does not, but it can happen sometimes. 

Life experiences make us who we are just as what we write defines us as a writer. Who we are shows up in our writing on a regular basis. The final phrase of the quote above speaks about the 'quality of mind,' and I think that also shows in our writing.