Draw from Experiences When You Write

 

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The poster quote for today says "nothing that happens to a writer is ever wasted.' What do you think? True or False? 

Personally, I am in agreement with the quote. Whatever experiences we have been filed away in little boxes in the recesses of our minds. Something will trigger the memory of that experience, and the box opens for you to explore and perhaps use in a story. 

Did you have your heart broken when your steady boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with you? You can tap into that memory and write a great scene in your romance story. Did you ever spend time in a hospital? You can write well about a character in a hospital as you've had the inside look at being a patient. Were you ever in an accident where you were injured? Once again, you know firsthand what it felt like--the pain, the fear, the reaction of others. 

When we write, we do use our imagination a great deal, but we also rely on the life experiences we've had to help us write with realism, with feeling, and with expert knowledge. 

We have multiple happenings in our lives, and you might think that you'll never remember them all. Perhaps not all, but the ones that impressed you will come back easily with a trigger. 

What about keeping a small notebook with life experiences as they happen to you? Sounds like a fair idea, but I doubt we'd have something exciting or traumatic happen to us, then go running to get the little notebook so you can write about it. On the other hand, if you are a person who keeps a daily journal, you will most likely write about those experiences that are important or impressed you in some way. Journalists benefit from having a record of these happenings. Only one of the positives in journaling.

Take a few minutes and look back over your lifetime. What experiences did you have that might end up in a story someday? It needn't be the entire occurrence; sometimes bits and pieces of an experience will work their way into your writing. 

My husband spent a summer during Law School working on a wheat ranch in Montana. He's told me so many stories about that impressive, eventful summer. If he was a writer, he would have a lot to help him write a story about that kind of summer work or about a ranch hand who had a permanent job in the same kind of surroundings.

You may think nothing much has happened to you, that you don't have a lot of experiences to draw from. It's not only the monumental  happenings that can end up in our writing. Small things count, too. 

So, yes--'Nothing that ever happens to a writer is wasted.'