Writer's Fallout Shelter

I've had a number of people react to some of my poetry as if it's about me and it actually makes me feel uncomfortable to be misleading. These days I've just come to the point where I have to take it as a compliment. If I can be a 25 year old woman and portray an 80 year old dying woman then it speaks of masterful empathy. I aim to connect with characters and put enough of myself into it to be able to be convincing as anyone. That doesn't mean I AM the mother of an autistic child, or an 80 year old woman, or a brutally slayed child, or a ghost, etc. It just means I've taken what I have experience in my own life, my love and care for my children, my grief over losses etc. to give in an emotional 'realness'. These days if it's believable then I did a good job. I've stopped even bothering to correct readers about it too. They'll believe what they want.

I feel it's important to focus on our personal beliefs when writing. I won't, for example, write books that glorify rape or crime or war. I feel a moral integrity to encourage the kind of things that won't give people a belief other than my own. I believe in extra terrestrials so while I might have a story that has a main character who doesn't believe I couldn't write a book that disproved their existence. At least, I couldn't do it convincingly, because I don't believe it.

I guess writing is an outlet for us to express ourselves and while that doesn't mean all our characters are us, or that we can't use counter aspects or very different personalities that are alien to us we won't find a passion to write about things that don't invoke our core being. If it's not interesting to me or if it's completely counter the values I want to instill in myself and in my readers it won't sustain me as a writer. I need to write about what "I" love, not what I think others will read, or the writing will be agony and the result even more so for the readers.

I don't think it's fair to loose points based on a readers belief that a fiction story is based on fact. There is fact in all fiction, it's a vital basis for fiction. It is impossible to allow a reader to suspend disbelief if they feel it's so unreal that they can't lose themselves in it. Only the very best writers can pull of the super extreme and usually that's simply because they've mastered the ability to capture reality and hide it in a fantastical situation.

I feel like I'm wandering off the point. Basically I think there is nothing wrong with writing that comes across seeming personal, even if it IS personal so long as it doesn't sound preachy or angsty or read like a journal entry it usually won't be a problem for readers. Just consider all the reality TV and blogging that happens around the world. People love reading and learning about other people. The characters make the story, it's their story, and even if part of them is based on yourself, your own experiences, or is completely based on your own research doesn't matter if you've created a character others can believe in and connect to. Readers often WISH they were reading about the author, because then they can say, "I know that person, her name is ... and this was her life." They gain a personal sense of significance as if they've gotten the goss on a famous person.

Have fun and keep writing,
Yours truly,
Rebecca Laffar-Smith