“Write what you know” is a famous axiom. It’s attributed to Hemingway, and sometimes to Twain, but it isn’t strictly applicable unless you’re writing a memoir. My personal creative mantra is a sign I photographed at a Fort Myers restaurant. Let me point out three things: Not all of the choices I write about are mine. Not all of them were bad choices, simply the result of making the best of a bad situation, and ya gotta do something when you’re hip-deep in alligators. Might as well make it into a good story!
One of the most exciting scenes in my novel, Death by Blue Water occurs when Hayden Kent is diving the wreck of the Humbolt in one hundred twenty-five feet of water. Her first stage malfunctions, causing a rapid escape of air from her scuba tank. Her dive buddy has swum out of sight. Hayden’s training takes over, and she makes a controlled ascent while breathing from the tank. Hayden didn’t make a bad choice, but I did. I separated from my dive buddy leaving him fifty feet above on the deck of the wreck while I made the deeper dive to the sand. Writing this scene gave me the opportunity to re-write one of my bad choices.
“What if” are two of the most powerful words in a writer’s vocabulary. We take experiences, our own or others, and ask, “What if?” The answer to the question fills novels and stories with scenes, details, and sometimes humor.
Writers, do you use your choices to inform your scenes? Readers, do you wonder how much of the author’s life is in the story?
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As part of my course Revision and Self-Editing I have an assignment for students to consider a scene and brainstorm for five minutes about what could make things more difficult for their main character. Those who allow their imaginations to run free almost always find something they can use to make their story stronger.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great course, Jim. Stir the pot and up the ante :)
ReplyDeleteWhat if and what else? Two good questions for writers (and grannies telling bedtime stories).
ReplyDeleteAgree.. we always end up stealing a seed and magnifying it. (of course, we may borrow the experience from someone else, but usually everything has an idea that can be traced back to an author)
ReplyDelete@ Molly - perfect advice - what else. The best way to ramp up the conflict.
ReplyDelete@Debra - The names are often changed to protect the innocent, and the guilty :)
What if? Two powerful words to help writers get unstuck.
ReplyDeleteWhat if? and I add, "Then what?"
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to think that mistakes we make can be fodder for one of our books. As for my sleuth, I'm glad when she gets into trouble on her own because I hate putting her in danger.:)
ReplyDeleteWhen I decided to write a mystery, a good friend told me about receiving a fax from a law firm that had been sent to her by mistake. I took that idea and built my mystery around the question, what if a fax went to the wrong number. What could have been in it that would cause someone to commit murder? It worked.
ReplyDelete@Shari - Indeed they are.
ReplyDelete@Margaret - Oh, yes, it's always so much fun to follow the trail where it leads.
@Marilyn - Carrie does have a knack - good thing Evelyn has her back!
@Grace - It most certainly did!