How many authors use personal experiences in their writing? How can the reader determine which are personal experiences of the author or a fabrication of the author's imagination?
In my four published novels I have hidden personal sexual excursions, sexual phrases known to me, moments from my past and/or thoughts shared between me and my husband. But only myself and my husband know what they are.
I have to admit (and my husband will be thrilled to see this) that most of my erotic romance writings come from him. Deep conversations, moments of past intimacy and shared fantasies all play a major role in my writing. Although I will give credit to a local radio station and their "girl-on-girl" segment that gave me the idea to stretch my erotic genre to my first F/F novella. **Thank you Z93 KQZ for that**
But back to the life experiences that are weaved into my writing...
I find it fun, witty and exhilerating to add parts of my personal life to each novel I write. I snicker and think, "will someone really know I did this?" or "Would my innocent image be tarnished?".
In all honesty, I don't care. My private life is kept private...what I care to let others know is my own personal call. If a reader or fan figure it out, then so be it. But they'll never know the truth- it's only their speculation and assumptions.
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3 comments:
I can see where it would be fun to slip in snippets of one's life into one's writing for personal amusement...kind of like an inside joke.
I've thought about doing that, however thus far, I've made a conscious decision to not include anything that is specifically personal in my own writing.
However, as an author, we're shaped by the sum total of our experiences that no doubt do influence what we write, how we write.
Cara, co-author of Spanked!
For all my cop books, I use real-life experiences either I or my cop wives pals have had. Also, many of the scenes in the Kissin' Cops books are real moments that have happened to our cop-hubbies. It never fails when we get together for fun and drinks, that everyone starts sharing things with me that they have gone through. Inevitably, I'll weave them into the books. The next Kissin' Cops book will have some really hard and tragic scenes after a deputy-involved shooting. My DH and his close friends have been there in that situation and they were so very open to share with me what happened.
As for actual moments of my private life happening in the books, hubby loves to tell people he was the inspiration for those chapters, lol. Maybe he is. I like using little things from my life to shine up settings and people I write. For me, it makes the whole story seem anchored in the real world, even though some of the time I'm writing vampires.
Dawne, interesting. I can see how that would be an inside joke. Certainly, I use my experiences. However, not actual events because, for one thing, they don't fit the story or how the heroine and hero relate to each other.
But, truth to tell, I have a very vivid imagination and that gets used a WHOLE LOT! And, as I always say, my heroines never do anything I wouldn't do in that 'particular' circumstance and storyline.
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