My Writing: Finding Inspiration

Jan 01, 2008 - 15:22 PM PST

The three stories that I have posted on quarterlife are personal. Everything I have ever written has had some kind of attachment to me and has affected me in numerous ways. I have realized things about myself that came to light only after the pieces were finished on paper and the story complete in my mind. These stories are me in a way. I always picture myself being the main character. I put myself in their shoes and become them and they become me.

Most of my ideas simply come from wandering thoughts about my life and what could happen if I did a simple thing differently. What if I was more spontaneous? What if I was a ladies man? What would happen if this event happened? I wrote a story last year that was 23 pages long (it's not done yet) about what would happen to my friends and family if I died in a plane crash. What would their livces be like after I am gone? How would they mourn?

These things haunt me to a certain degree. The idea for a suicide story came to me when I thought 'What would happen if I heaved myself over the railing?'. These things scare me sometimes but the characters I create are me so I have to accept them. So many ideas have come into my head that it is almost fit to burst if I don't write something down half the time.

I try to relate everything I write to something about me. This is what makes the writing complete and what makes me whole.