Do you ever read a book or watch a movie and wonder, what made the writer write that story? Is it all imagination? Did the story just come to them? Did they ‘what if’ a plot? Or did they live the story?
So where do stories come from?
The only fiction Hunky Hubby reads is what I write, and he reads every word I write, which amazes me and makes me thankful. Anyway, years and YEARS ago, he’d been listening to the radio and the dj’s were talking about Anne Rice’s The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, written under the name A.N. Roquelaure. The steamy on air conversation, led him to believe that buying the book for me, might be romantic. He said romantic, but I’m pretty sure he really thought it would ‘get me in the mood’.
Hahaha, well, I’m not sure that book is what I’d call romantic, nor is it a book that would ‘get me in the mood’ but it made me wonder about the author. At the time, I had no idea that it was actually written by Anne Rice, not that it would have made any difference, because I didn’t read vampire books anyway. I had a hard time with the book. Brilliantly written, but also shocking and even bizarre, I’d read a little, put it aside, wondering where these thoughts might come from, then, come back days later to read a little more.
Eventually, I went to the bookstore…because I didn’t have the internet back then, and tried to find other books by A.N. Roquelaure. I discovered who she was, and that she also wrote under the name Anne Rampling. I read Belinda, followed by A Cry to Heaven, and finally, Interview with a Vampire. None of this helped resolve my issue of where these thoughts came from. They were, however, compelling reading.
At that time, I wrote nonfiction. I wrote a cooking column for our local newspaper and Quick ‘N Easy Country Cooking magazine, as well as articles on parenting (I wouldn’t do that now!), consumer law, public speaking, and various other topics. I wrote fiction for fun, for myself.
But that changed.
I started writing fiction seriously. My published books are all romcoms. And if you’re looking for a romantic read for St. Patrick’s Day, I hope you’ll check out #SilverBracelets. But I’m also working on women’s fiction. Writing fiction, brought me back to that question. Where do stories come from?
The answer seems to be it depends on the writer. Some people plot out their stories, selecting characters, places, and carefully planning plotlines, you may already know that these writers are called plotters. Other people let the story unfold as they write it, aka pantsers. And I’d be willing to bet that for most writers, real life at least inspires scenes and characters in their stories.
I personally call myself a plotsy pantser, because I write my first draft as a pantser, letting the characters tell me their stories while I document them. Then, I use that first draft as my outline, and go back and flesh out the story, filling in gaps and hopefully, adding scenes, and hopefully, developing the story into something others might want to read. And yes, while my characters are fictional sometimes people that I’ve known influence their personalities, and real life events often end up in my stories.
Real life in my writing.
In #SilverBracelets, the hero, Benny’s grandmother is inspired by my Tia Tonia, in fact, I didn’t try to hide it, giving her the name Antonia. I didn’t plan this. The Antonia in the story is fictional, but her personality, is inspired by my beloved great Aunt.
In Love and Mud Puddles, one of my favorite scenes is at the beginning of the book. The main character is on a quest to learn to bake cookies for Christmas. She finds a recipe that calls for packed brown sugar. At the grocery store with her best friend they look for packed brown sugar. They find golden brown sugar, dark brown sugar…everything but packed brown sugar. This is of course where they meet the hero, who explains to them what packed brown sugar is. This scene was inspired by a real-life event. Years ago, a good friend, who didn’t bake, asked for a cookie recipe. I gave it to her. A couple of days later I got a frantic phone call from the grocery store, asking if she could substitute another kind of brown sugar for packed brown sugar because she couldn’t find any. I’ll leave her unnamed to protect her identity!
And while the real-life inspiration in my romcoms is from the lighter side of my life, there have been some darker situations that inspired situations in my women’s fiction.
So, the truth is that stories come from different places. They come from imagination, they come from experience, they come from plotting what ifs. And it doesn’t really matter where the story comes from if it engages the reader. If it makes us think or act. If it makes us wonder.
There have been many books over the years that have made me want to know more about the author. Books that have made me want another story to read. Books that have made me want to write. Books that have changed who I am. I’ll always be curious about the origins of a good book, but what really matters to me, is that there’s another book on the shelf to read.
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Great essay, Tari. I, too, often wonder where some stories come from.
Thank you Marianne!
Great post! I, too, often where stories come from. And wonder more about the author after reading something of theirs. It’s interesting having friends read my book and ask me where I got my ideas- if any character is based on someone they know. We all know that characters sort of have a mind of their own, but they can be influenced by the author’s world, rather directly, or indirectly.
Thank you Denise! And that’s exactly what it is…the characters have a mind of their own, but are influenced by the authors world. I’m going to quote you on that!