Friday 13 January 2012

An Exercise in Autobiography

To a greater or lesser degree, most people draw upon their own experience of the world, when they are writing fiction.  No matter how much you refract and filter it, there's bound to be a few grains of your core thoughts and feelings lurking in your work, and it's not necessarily something to apologise for or to try and hide. You could even make a virtue out of it -- after all, it's the area where your work is likely to be strongest and most insightful.

In a bid to get a little bit more texture into the autobiographical aspects of your writing, to layer it so that it has depth and perspective, here's a little exercise to get your teeth into if you have time over the weekend.  Write a scene in which you introduce the person whom you think you are to the person you would like to be. Think carefully about when and where you set it as there may be significance to mine, and then  explore the affinities and seize on any  tension.  It may prove to be a slightly surreal experience, but it could just open up an interesting seam for you to exploit...

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