| janfields |
Join us today in the
AUDITORIUM-Scheduled Events Room for an open forum chat. Tonday's
topic is "Writing From Your Life." In the effort to write what you
know, many writers choose to write from real life incidents -- but
find it's harder than it looks. So, join us for some tips on writing
from your life AND selling it. Come and join in five minutes from
now.
|
| janfields |
Today's Open Forum Chat
on the topic of "Writing From Your Life" will begin shortly. While
you wait for chat to begin, feel free to use your ASK A QUESTION
button RIGHT BETWEEN THE YELLOW “MAP” AND THE RED QUESTION MARK IN
ICHAT to post some questions or comments on writing from your life
-- fiction or nonfiction. Chat will begin two minutes from
now.
|
| janfields |
Hi, and welcome to Open
Forum. I'm your host/moderator, Jan Fields -- and today we're going
to chat about writing from your life. If you want to ask a question
and be sure I get a chance to see it... you'll need to use either
the "ask a question" button on the bar across the middle of your
screen. OR type /ask...then space once and type your question. That
passes the question to me and I can post it to answer for you and in
the transcript. Now, let's get going.
|
| janfields |
Writing from Your Life
can mean different things...
|
| janfields |
It can mean mining your
memories to fuel stories...
|
| janfields |
It can mean using
interests and connections to write nonfiction...
|
| janfields |
And it can mean letting
those things that interest you be a kind of
barameter...
|
| janfields |
for how well you'll be
able to stick to a story idea.
|
| janfields |
For example of the
last, if you really hated high school physics...
|
| janfields |
That wouldn't be a good
topic to pursue, even if you happen to have
access...
|
| janfields |
to
materials.
|
| janfields |
Life is too short to
write about things you hate...
|
| janfields |
and really...an
author's feelings serious tend to show.
|
| janfields |
Now...one of our
enewsletter readers, Debra McArthur...
|
| janfields |
wanted to share her
experience with w
|
| janfields |
"Writing from
Life"
|
| janfields |
DEBRA: When I was
finishing my ICL course (about 10 years ago), I was doing volunteer
work for Girl Scouts, leading my daughter's Brownie troop. I also
did some PR work for our local Girl Scout service unit that got
|
| Council office.
When I had the opportunity to write for our council newsletter (a
slick publication distributed to about 20,000 homes), I jumped at
it. This provided nice "clips" to use |
|
| other articles.
|
|
|
|
| janfields |
DEBRA: I really KNEW
Girl Scouting, and was always interested in the older girls who
remained active and involved. Our council runs a camp for girls with
disabilities, and it seemed to me that it would take a very
|
| give up her
summer to do volunteer work with these special kids. I was able to
shadow a counselor-in-training for a day and later returned to watch
her in action at camp. I wrote an |
|
| Spent Her Summer
Vacation" as one of my last ICL assignments. I was able to sell the
article to LISTEN magazine- -my first magazine sale! |
|
| janfields |
DEBRA: A few months
later, I enrolled myself in a training course for rappel
instructors, but my ulterior motive was to shadow two teen girls who
were taking the training. I also sold that article to LISTEN.
|
| janfields |
DEBRA: Later, when I
was ready to introduce myself to an editor at a publishing house for
possible assignment for nonfiction work, I had a nice collection of
published articles to add to my credentials. I have
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| (and have
contracts for two more), and I really think I got a good start
through my volunteer work with an organization I really knew well
and cared about. |
|
| janfields |
Obviously, Debra has
been VERY successful at using her life interests...
|
| janfields |
and experience to guide
her in nonfiction articles.
|
| janfields |
But it's also clear
that she didn't stop at what she already knew.
|
| janfields |
She used her interests
to point her toward research that would be fun
|
| janfields |
for her and
productive
|
| janfields |
So, that's one great
way to "write from life."
|
| caq |
I fyou hated high school
physics, wouldn't that be good topic if maybe you were going to
write a humorous fiction peice?
|
| janfields |
If your hatred for high
school physics led to some funny moments in
class...
|
| janfields |
or you could see how it
could...
|
| janfields |
yes, I could see that
taking off...but part of that is because of
distance.
|
| janfields |
Even if we HATED
physics passionately...we're not in it anymore
|
| janfields |
So we can find
humor....even though we REALLY don't want to do a lot of physics
research.
|
| janfields |
I HATED...HATED...UBER
HATED bowling in college
|
| janfields |
And, frankly, I really
stank at it.
|
| janfields |
To the point my bowling
instructor requested I lay out of class on the day his instruction
was being evaluated
|
| janfields |
But even though I hated
it...a lot of funny things happened in class.
|
| janfields |
The time I threw the
ball behind me...
|
| janfields |
my poor bowling group
scattered, leaping over the backs of the booth to get away from
it.
|
| janfields |
Or the fact that my
hunky bowling instructor tried to help me by putting his arms around
me to show me the correct form...
|
| janfields |
causing ALL the other
girls in my class to SUDDENLY start throwing gutter
balls
|
| janfields |
and other horrible
things to get similar "instruction"
|
| janfields |
So...again, I hate the
class...it was embarrassing to be that bad.
|
| janfields |
But in retrospect...it
was very funny.
|
| janfields |
So...today I could use
that in a book.
|
| janfields |
Not every funny story
from life felt funny when it happened...distance helps a
lot.
|
| janfields |
It's very hard to write
from life when you're in the moment.
|
| janfields |
Especially when it's a
very hard or painful moment.
|
| janfields |
Because the lack of
distance can result in writing that alienates the
reader.
|
| chippy |
Is there a way of writing
about divorce, death, war, broken families etc. without being too
negative. The above have been pretty much my life as a child. I
would love to be able to help others, but put it across in a
slightly lighter manner than in reality
|
| janfields |
A lot of it has to do
with voice...I've seen books about divorce
|
| janfields |
where the character is
clearly feeling pain
|
| janfields |
but he/she is also
commenting very wryly on the experience
|
| janfields |
and finding the humor
in it.
|
| janfields |
That kind of thing is
not 100% realistic...most kids are laughing in the middle of the
pain.
|
| janfields |
But by giving the
character going through it a bit of emotional
distance...
|
| janfields |
You can let him see the
funny side of some things in there.
|
| janfields |
Again...my mother died
of cancer about 15 years ago and I was her
caretaker.
|
| janfields |
It was an incredibly
painful time...
|
| janfields |
but even so...there we
some funny moments...
|
| janfields |
moments where she and I
laughed...
|
| janfields |
and moments where we
even got other laughing.
|
| janfields |
So...those moments are
a kind of emotional distance that can lighten an otherwise entirely,
overwhelmingly grim story.
|
| janfields |
But some stories don't
have to be light at all...in those cases, in place of
humor
|
| janfields |
You need to use "hope"
--
|
| janfields |
A story that is grim to
the end and very very cynical and without hope
|
| janfields |
Has a much tougher time
selling...and won't sell at all to magazines.
|
| janfields |
MARY: I have read a
couple of articles as of late where authors have turned memoirs into
fiction. Can you give any suggestions? Thanks.
|
|
|
| janfields |
Part of the reason why
so many folks turn memoir into fiction...
|
| janfields |
is because it's really
hard to sell memoir unless you've lived a very unusual
life...
|
| janfields |
and can comment on it
with a certain amount of emotional distance while still being
compelling.
|
| janfields |
Many people write
memoir as a kind of "therapy" for experiences they still feel
incredible pain and negative emotion about.
|
| janfields |
And it's nearly
impossible to sell that.
|
| janfields |
But...if your life is
pretty "average" -- like mine, for example...you can use the life
incidents...
|
| janfields |
with a lot of lavish
embellishment
|
| janfields |
as a basis for
fiction.
|
| janfields |
The key with writing
fiction from your memoir-ish experiences
|
| janfields |
Is to find the story in
the experience...because fiction needs that sense of
story
|
| janfields |
The story needs to
drive toward a clear, satisfying ending...something life seldom
does.
|
| janfields |
So...you have to fix
life to write fiction.
|
| caq |
You said "That kind of
thing is not 100% realistic...most kids are laughing in the middle
of the pain" What did you mean?
|
| janfields |
opps...I meant most
kids are NOT laughing in the midst of pain.
|
| janfields |
Kids in divorce are
usually angry and hurt and angry
|
| janfields |
not wryly
humorous
|
| janfields |
Even in an amicable
divorce...kids tend to be ticked off much of the
time.
|
| dawnlee71 |
Are diary/journal stories
done to death or still worthy with an original
slant?
|
| janfields |
Some editors won't
touch journal stories...
|
| janfields |
Because they have truly
been done so much...
|
| janfields |
but if you have a very
original story and tell it in a very compelling way
|
| janfields |
With great, great
writing.
|
| janfields |
And you avoid the
pitfalls of journal stories -- too much telling...
|
| janfields |
and unnatural sounding
info dumps.
|
| janfields |
It's certainly not
impossible to sell.
|
| janfields |
I expects we'll
continue to see journal stories...kids like them when they're done
really well.
|
| janfields |
SUZANNE: How do you
address a serious issue with a girl as young as 12 without talking
down or writing at too high a level, especially where medical terms
are needed?
|
| my life and my
trials and triumphs and still get the disease and its aspects in
without turning into a textbook? |
|
| janfields |
If you're writing about
your own medical issues ...
|
| janfields |
you don't have to worry
so much about talking over the reader's head...
|
| janfields |
especially with a 12
year old...
|
| janfields |
as you do of keeping
the reader's interest.
|
| janfields |
Kids don't care about
the medical problems of adults.
|
| janfields |
Really...other than
adults in their family.
|
| janfields |
So, you have to be
dealing with the medical condition from the time you were the
reader's age.
|
| janfields |
And you have to stick
with the experience you had at the reader's age.
|
| janfields |
And you have to focus
on the elements of the condition that you cared about at that
age.
|
| janfields |
And then give them in
the piece as you got them.
|
| janfields |
You can write it as a
personal experience...when I was 12 I was diagnosed
with...
|
| janfields |
Give your reaction to
that...questions or misconceptions you had.
|
| janfields |
Show how you learned
the real facts.
|
| janfields |
Or...you can write
about the disease and leave your experience out.
|
| janfields |
By finding kids TODAY
who are dealing with the disease
|
| janfields |
and interviewing
them...
|
| janfields |
talking to their
families.
|
| janfields |
Getting lots of quotes
that basically cover the same ground I suggested
above.
|
| janfields |
You keep it from
becoming a textbook by making it about PEOPLE more than about
disease.
|
| eggamy |
I have many family
stories, which as you said were not funny
|
| janfields |
And stories from your
life or your family don't have to be funny...
|
| janfields |
as long as you can
present them with hope...
|
| janfields |
even if they proved
hopeless in your own family.
|
| janfields |
A story that ends with
"and then they all died" or "and they lives miserably ever after"
isn't something kids want to read.
|
| janfields |
I actually read a quote
from a famous writer recently...though I was reading a lot of quotes
so I wont't gues at which writer...
|
| janfields |
but the write basically
said it's our job to present tough truths with
hope..
|
| janfields |
because without
hope...kids won't have the strength to use the tools we offer in the
story.
|
| janfields |
We're offering kids a
way of dealing with the pain of life...but kids are such "live in
the moment" people...
|
| janfields |
that you must always
give hope because the worst thing we can do
|
| janfields |
as writers is
perpetuate despair.
|
| eggamy |
att the time, but are
now. These stories are interesting to
|
| janfields |
Poor eggamy...I am
forever posting your half done questions aren't I?
|
| janfields |
Any life story that can
be done with humor now if major kid fodder.
|
| janfields |
Kids LOVE to laugh and
in humor we do a lot of suggesting about how to handle
life.
|
| janfields |
The key to a funny
family story is to find the bigger picture.
|
| janfields |
For example, my bowling
experience is funny...
|
| janfields |
I once washed two
piglets...and the story of that is very funny.
|
| janfields |
I taught a rooster some
manners...and that story is funny.
|
| janfields |
I once even almost
drowned and the story is hysterically funny.
|
| janfields |
But I need more than
funny for a story to work.
|
| janfields |
I need a sense of plot,
of story arch...
|
| janfields |
and of
relevance.
|
| janfields |
A story has to feel
like it has value beyond just being funny.
|
| janfields |
I recently read three
funny stories in SPIDER...
|
| janfields |
and on the surface they
seemed to just be funny for funny's sake...
|
| janfields |
but they SOLD...because
one was a modern play on a TRICKSTER TALE...an native american
form.
|
| janfields |
One was a modern play
on a TALL TALE...another classic American form.
|
| janfields |
And one taught kids a
lot of stuff about sheep and wool and did it totally seemlessly
while setting up the "story joke"
|
| janfields |
So...you have to take
the funny family story and look for ways to make it
"bigger"
|
| janfields |
to make it more than
just a funny incident
|
| janfields |
to make it have some
value beyond the laugh.
|
| chippy |
Different countries have
different cultures, languages, etc. How do you write from life about
these things so that they are understood by todays
readers?
|
| janfields |
That can be
tough.
|
| janfields |
And it takes huge skill
to make a story with a very different culture and
attitude
|
| janfields |
still be
funny.
|
| janfields |
Because sometimes the
humor is a "you have to be part of that culture" type
humor.
|
| janfields |
And it really doesn't
play beyond that.
|
| janfields |
So, you have to find
the stories that do...and to do that you have to know both the
culture you're writing from and the culture you're writing
for...
|
| janfields |
and look at ways they
overlap.
|
| janfields |
Sometimes that can only
happen with less subtle types of humor.
|
| chippy |
To clarify, I've lived in
4 different countries, with different cultures etc
|
| janfields |
You'll need to look at
places they overlap...but with a slight twist.
|
| janfields |
It's really not
easy...you can try out stories on friends...see if you can tell them
in a way that make them laugh.
|
| janfields |
That can show you the
stories that just don't play in different cultures.
|
| janfields |
And of couse, there's
always the issue of respect...
|
| janfields |
if you live in a
culture but are an "outsider" much of the humor...the joke has to be
on you...
|
| janfields |
not on
them.
|
| janfields |
I've seen a lot of
really funny stuff from folks trying to adjust to another cultural
situation.
|
| janfields |
As an ICL instructor I
see a lot of stories written EXACTLY from life...
|
| janfields |
Funny stories about the
cute grandkids...
|
| janfields |
Funny stories about
childhood...
|
| janfields |
And many of these don't
work because although they are amusing...
|
| janfields |
they are (1) either
written from a very adult perspective.
|
| janfields |
The humor depending
upon that adult perspective.
|
| janfields |
Kind of a "kids do the
darnest things" humor
|
| janfields |
That works in adult
magazines but not in children's magazines.
|
| janfields |
Or (2) the situations
aren't stories.
|
| janfields |
They're incidents...for
a story you really need to get close.
|
| janfields |
Create a
scene.
|
| janfields |
And make sure you have
a story arc...a feeling of "story" rather than
"incident"
|
| janfields |
Also, I often see
people who have a really really great personal
experience
|
| janfields |
But instead of using
it
|
| janfields |
They mix it in with a
lot of facts.
|
| janfields |
For example, say I
wanted to do a personal experience piece on learning to
bowl.
|
| janfields |
I wouldn't bother with
a lot of bowling facts (because in my case...that would really dull
down my experience)...
|
| janfields |
Instead I would just
still with what happened...leaving out boring bits.
|
| janfields |
And ending with
something wry about how I now know how to bowl...
|
| janfields |
I just can't actually
do it.
|
| janfields |
If I were to start off
with my wild bowling story...
|
| janfields |
then slip into the
history of bowling...
|
| janfields |
or all the types of
games similar to bowling...
|
| janfields |
I would serious tick
off an editor.
|
| janfields |
So...don't be afraid to
write your experience as nonfiction as long as it illustrates
something.
|
| janfields |
With my bowling bit, I
could do a tongue-in-cheek observation about how practice doesn't
always make perfect...sometimes it makes personal
injur
|
| janfields |
injury
|
| eggamy |
I have a piece written
from my chilhood. It was a course
|
| eggamy |
assignment to change a
real story in fiction. I choose my
|
| eggamy |
time @camp when I tried
to learn to swim when I wrote the
|
| eggamy |
the fiction story. I
changed the ending to the one I wish
|
| eggamy |
I'd had Is this
Alright
|
| janfields |
Sure...as long as it
works as a story...
|
| janfields |
close scene writing,
good viewpoint, good voice, clear story arc.
|
| janfields |
Hey, fiction is GREAT
for letting us rewrite life.
|
| janfields |
But sometimes wish
fullfillment writing can lead to weak plots...
|
| janfields |
so you really have to
be careful that the reader believes that ending can come from those
characters and situation.
|
| janfields |
And as long as there is
nothing in the story that makes a real-life identifiable human being
look really bad.
|
| janfields |
For example, say you
wish that a bully had turned out to be
|
| janfields |
arrested and sent to
jail
|
| janfields |
When really he just
succesfully continued his bully ways
|
| janfields |
Now if people reading
the story would say...hey, I recognize that guy...it's Bruce the
Bully...
|
| janfields |
I never knew he went to
jail!
|
| janfields |
Then...you're in
trouble.
|
| janfields |
So when you turn life
to fiction...make sure the characters
|
| janfields |
become
unidentifiable.
|
| janfields |
I'm out of
questions...any others?
|
| janfields |
I have just about time
for one more...you can ask something off topic if you
like.
|
| janfields |
Well, in that case...Be
sure to come to chat on Thursday nite when LeUyen Pham will be
joining us.
|
| janfields |
She does incredibly
gorgeous illustrations.
|
| janfields |
Some of her characters
I could just hug to pieces.
|
| janfields |
And feel free to ask
any picture book or illustration questions.
|
| janfields |
She is also a writer
and has a book she has written and illustrated.
|
| janfields |
Ahhh...a question ---
Will Sunday School papers accept real life stories turned into
fiction
|
| janfields |
Yeah, actually they
love those.
|
| janfields |
Again, make sure it
works as fiction.
|
| janfields |
And actually, you can
send a story like that to some of the religious magazines that run
only "true" stories.
|
| janfields |
As long as you only
changed it slightly...they like the story to well illustrate the
point.
|
| janfields |
And sometimes you just
have to take a slightly different attitude than you might have had
IN the real life.
|
| chippy |
So is writing from life
more nonfiction than fiction
|
| janfields |
It's both...much of
fiction is really something in our lives...
|
| janfields |
turned
sideways.
|
| janfields |
But it can also be
simply letting out life guide us toward good nonfiction
topics.
|
| janfields |
Or it can mean using
life experience to make personal experience
articles.
|
| janfields |
Even a dull life like
mine can produce both articles and stories now and
again.
|
| janfields |
Thanks everyone for
coming to chat today -- sorry for ducking out on you for a minute
there.
|
| janfields |
If ANYONE has any
suggestions for open forum topics they would like to
see...
|
| janfields |
please, let me know.
You can write to me
jan.fields@forums.institutechildrenslit.com
|
| janfields |
I'm still short a
couple topics for
June.
|
