You’ve turned into a unicorn before, right? Read on to find out what happened when a seventh grader fell out of a tree…
To finish Part I of Using Real Life to Write Fantastic Fiction, here’s a way to get started:
Think of a true, ordinary event that happened today
What senses can you recall? Go through each one of them:
Sight?
Smell?
Sounds?
Taste?
Touch?
What are your further impressions? What did you feel?
Write these details down (write quickly! don’t edit yourself yet…)
Now you have a real life experience recorded. (Do you have that one special notebook and special pens? Pen problem? Me too).
Even if you left it right there, you would have a journal entry of sorts, an experience from life that you can look back on and appreciate.
Let’s try our hand at fiction. That’s fun because now you get to lie! (unless you’re writing memoir or nonfiction; please don’t lie).
It’s like playing the game Two Truths and a Lie (great ice breaker at a writing workshop, btw).
Use the true life details to spin a yarn! Make something up!
I recently asked some middle schoolers for an example of a true, ordinary event.
“I climbed a tree yesterday.”
“And then what?”
“And I fell out of it!”
She had our attention.
Me: “And how could you fictionalize?”
“Well,” she said, excitedly. “I didn’t actually hit the ground because I turned into a unicorn!”
Exactly. Of course she did. Her eyes lit up as we all laughed at her brilliance.
Another student said, “I got up late this morning and had to run to catch the bus.”
Me: “Did you miss the bus?”
Her: “No.”
Me: “But what if you had missed the bus?”
I could see everyone’s mind begin to whirl with the possibilities of missing the bus.
Or, how about a story about being on the bus? I could tell you plenty of stories about being on a school bus…
You could also change the Point of View. What would it be like if:
you are riding the bus
you are the bus driver driving kids to school
you are the parent putting your child on the bus
you are a hamster in someone’s pocket on the bus
you are a piece of gum underneath someone’s seat
And on and on we could go…!
I also ask this question: “Think of your favorite book - aren’t you glad it was written?”
Every head nods.
I’m sure there is something or many things in that book that came from real life because even fiction has elements of truth all over it.
I often end my presentations with kids this way:
YOU HAVE GOOD STORIES BECAUSE YOU ARE ALIVE.
Only you can tell your story - because you are the only one living it!
Turn the moments of your life into powerful stories; true and “based on real life.”
So, write on friends. Write it down and see where it takes you.
A final word to the parents, the caretakers, the overwhelmed mothers…I have a soft spot for you.
I used to despair somewhat, that I didn’t have the time to write b/c there were so many people and things to take care of.
But now I think differently.
If you want to write, you will find a way.
Back in the day, when my children were young and at home with me, I would snatch the spare moments and write so furiously, like I was running out of time - in the car and during nap time or while waiting in line. Or I would pause mid-dinner and run to the drawer beneath the microwave to pull out a pad of paper and a pen to scrawl down a thought before it disappeared.
We are all just experiencing life. What is it Cheryl Strayed says? You don’t have a career, you have a life.
WRITE YOUR LIFE DOWN.
“Many people have said to me, ‘What a pity you had such a big family to raise. Think of the novels and the short stories and the poems you never had time to write because of that.’ And I looked at my children and I said, ‘These are my poems, these are my stories.’”
-Olga Masters
I hung onto these words for a long time because I needed the validation of knowing that raising humans was my best, most creative work. And it is.
But it’s not a pity.
Do not despair. Day by day, month after month, year by year: taking consistent baby steps is how your stories get written, too.
Ironically, so many of my stories have been directly inspired by the real life children. They really are my best, most entertaining stories.
Here’s an example. Our local library has a rope hanging from the ceiling. It’s too high for kids, but if you jump from a chair, you can reach the rope and it will swing and IT WILL RING A BELL! What child can resist?
And here we are again. Real life inspiring fiction: THE MCNIFFICENTS before it was in book form. Swinging from a library rope!
So don’t despair. Write it all down. Record the real life details: sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing, feeling.
WRITE IT DOWN. And you are well on your way to something...
Love to you,
Amy ❣️
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Just finished reading: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. Just as good as it was decades ago. Next up? THE MOVIE.
Reading now: Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson