Not so long ago there was this woman…
Okay, before we go any further this woman is me! Yes, I was thinking about my life many years ago when I was in my twenties, partying with my many, many friends, living a somewhat carefree life. Well, fast forward an undisclosed number of years and the picture is quite a different one…
Now it seems to me everything has changed. The world is a completely different place to what it was decades ago. For one thing, the internet was barely in existence, and the public library was a familiar aspect of everyone’s life. Now, in the UK they are closing some of them down! In those days you wrote letters to friends and family that would take weeks to get to its destination. Now email, WhatsApp etc, means instant communication!
So I was thinking about some of the friends I knew back then. They say that ‘life happens’ when stuff happens to you that is let’s just say, less desirable! Life happened to me too and I no longer see many of the buddies I was partying with back then. Lots of my friends now live abroad or miles away with their own families, or we have simply grown apart.
The passing of time has meant other things too: the loss of parents and even friends. I lost my own Dad four years ago as well as a good friend, Tracey. I can tell you now, you are never the same person once you have lost those nearest and dearest to you. The world seems to be strangely hostile.
You know the funny thing is whenever we look back on the past, those days always seem brighter, bigger and a lot more fun. Just like that Gladys Knight song: The Way We Were – Try To Remember, where she reflects on the past. (Listen to it on You Tube, great song).
Using Past Experiences in Creative Writing
Well, you may be wondering, what’s any of this got to do with creative writing. I believe one of the best places to kick-start your creative writing is after ‘life happens’ to you. Bad or negative experiences tend to lend themselves to writing fiction as you are writing from a much deeper place where you can bring emotions like despair, angst, depression to the forefront and transform them.
There is nothing more authentic than when you are writing indirectly or directly about the things you have personally experienced. Somehow I feel that writing from the heart is more powerful because it’s REAL. Your readers will be able to sense this. Developing characters and plotlines, or a piece of poetry based on what you KNOW will come across in your writing giving it a uniqueness.
So as wonderful as the past may seem, it’s gone. But use those memories to fuel your storytelling and in so doing create a fabulous present and future!
May happiness follow you always!
Until next time,
Happy writing, S
