Comments on: How to mine your life for writing material (1)

By: David Bridger

David Bridger — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:32:35 +0000

Hi Dawn. They’re wonderful companions, aren’t they?

Your published story will be a fantastic gift for your father. I hope you can do that very soon.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:24:41 +0000

David – I love your Jake. I grew up with shepards, and boy to do I miss having one. They are special animals to be sure. And I do write from my life, small elements. Parenting has affected me the most. It’s also made me appreicate my own parents more. I have a short story making the submission rounds right now about the sacrifices a father will make for his children. It’s exactly where my own father would be in a similiar situation. I gave him a copy for Father’s Day last year, but I’d like to present him with the published version someday. . .

By: Beating Writers Block And Mining Your Life For Writing Material

Beating Writers Block And Mining Your Life For Writing Material — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:18:14 +0000

[...] David Bridger recently wrote post about mining your life for writing material. [...]

By: David Bridger

David Bridger — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:53:00 +0000

We go through changes, don’t we? In life and in writing. There’s a season for everything.

By: Hope Wilbanks

Hope Wilbanks — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:46:38 +0000

I used to mine my life for writing material a lot before my youngest child was born. Since him, I haven’t seemed to be able to “go there” as much. My life has changed tremendously in the last 4 years, too, which I think has attributed to this as well. Life writing definitely touches people more, in my experience.

By: David Bridger

David Bridger — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:58:37 +0000

Yes, a lot of people do that. But I think a lot of other people only ever write directly from their imaginations, fearful of the cold if they expose anything of themselves. That can be another route into writing a Mary Sue.

My ideal mindset is to engage my imagination fully while feeding it from every source available to me, including my own experiences and emotions.

By: Rebecca Laffar-Smith

Rebecca Laffar-Smith — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:44:50 +0000

I think a lot of people begin writing entirely within their own heads. They end up with Mary-Jane’s, characters that are more a reflection of how they think and feel then they could ever have imagined. As we grow as writers we learn to take from the lives around us as well as our own. Any situation becomes something that could offer a nuance to our story in some way.

It’s important for writers to experience new situations and explore opportunities because it’s in living life that we fill our writer’s well.

I love how you’re using the chaos around you to explore your writing, David!

By: David Bridger

David Bridger — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:27:14 +0000

I think some writers have to learn how to use their own lives and experiences. I feel the same way you do about this, but I know some find it a scary thing to lay themselves wide open.

By: rgoodchild

rgoodchild — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:18:28 +0000

Personally I think the only way we CAN write is by mining our own lives, and the lives of the people around us.
We create out of what we understand, or at the very least are trying to understand. It’s no different than a child who is drawing a picture of the way they see their family, or how they picture themselves with their friends.
We all just rework the lessons life is teaching us and weave them into a story somehow.