Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: A-RokzStalker on March 01, 2008, 01:33:44 AM
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Okay, I don't know if this has been discussed before (chances are yes, lol), but I was curious, so I thought I'd ask.
I got fed up with writing fan fics just because I can never get anywhere with them, and shortly thereafter, I thought about making a whole journal about an experience of mine that I'd like to remember for the rest of my life. Anyway, I got to thinking that maybe I'd have an easier time if I write from personal experience. So, I began writing this nonfiction story that is completely 100% true (dialogue and all), and so far, it has been SO much easier for me. I'm only stuck on one little part, because I can't remember what this one store was called that I went to and it's important for this chapter of the story, lol.
So, I was wondering: Has anybody else attempted nonfiction and/or personal experience and found that they had an easier time with it?
Sorry, kind of a vague/boring question, lol.
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I don't think I've ever written a completely one hundred percent true story, but I do often write about things I know. Like I used the whole bi-polar thing in "Welcome To My Heart". Not only did it make for an interesting character, but I got to vent about it a little. Turned out to be a great outlet for me. (LMAO at the number of people who thought I did a lot of research for that story. That was the other reason I chose bi-polar, cause I didn't have to do any research, I'm way too lazy for that. I'm not Julie, ya know ;))
But to answer your question, I have a really hard time with nonfiction. I've tried it before and it just never seems interesting. So I just use all the nonfiction stuff in my life and put it into a fictional story and that's when the writing flows the easiest for me.
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I'm still reading "Welcome to my heart" right now, lol. It's really good so far, though. I really love it! ;D
lol. I'm not sure I know anyone who researches for their stories as much as Julie does!
That makes sense too; basing fiction stories off of stuff in real life. I've never seriously tried it, but I might one day. It sounds like it'd be fun to play around with the different things I could do with personal experience things.
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lol I didn't know you were reading that one. You might not even be to the part where you find out about the bi-polar thing. haha I may have just spoiled it for you.
now, takes a moment to cringe knowing that you're reading that one.
haha if that's how I feel every time someone tells me they are reading that one, maybe I should take it down. lol ok I won't do that, but I do have to give the disclaimer to make myself feel better. Thank you so much for reading that story, *is flattered* but ugh... SOOOOOOOO not my best work. That one is so much crap. I love it, but it's really crap.
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:D That's okay. I'm used to reading spoilers since I'm always behind in reading stories lately. The quality of the writing is what counts though. :)
lol. Don't feel that way! It's a wonderful story! Regardless of if it's your best work or not!
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I think it's easier to write what you know and have expericenced personally. Many of my non fanfic and even fanficy stuff has a lot of real life stuff in them. I also think the more personal the story, the harder it is to put it out there for people to review lol
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lol the writing quality is what makes me cringe with that one. We could play a game with that story and try to count how many of the pet peeves from the pet peeve thread are in it. (probably more than I put in the pet peeve challenge. Maybe even all of them. haha.)
I did have fun writing about my crazy issues though, and it's often made me think I should write a story about some of my other experiences. I've always kind of wanted to write a story about how my husband and I met cause it's really cute and sort of "fairy-tale-ish" (we were engaged two weeks after we met without ever having even gone on a date, and got married two months later. We're crazy, ha ha, but it was very fluffy. Right up my alley as far as writing goes, but I wouldn't want to just write non fiction, I would spruce it up in a fictional way.
And I've also kind of wanted to write a serious story about some of my darker experiences, but I'm not very good at writing drama/angst. I wonder if writing my own story might actually help me do that. I should try it, but it's kind of a depressing story, I don't know how many people would ever want to read it. (though I suppose since I "beat" it, it's a happy ending.)
How has your story been going? Do you ever feel strange writing it knowing that it's all real? Do you find it hard to remember things? Would you ever consider sharing something like that with people? I think I might have a hard time showing people something that they knew was real.
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I think it's easier to write what you know and have expericenced personally. Many of my non fanfic and even fanficy stuff has a lot of real life stuff in them. I also think the more personal the story, the harder it is to put it out there for people to review lol
hehe, that's when you change your name and move to another state if you still know the people that are in it! That or reveal everything personal ahead of time, lol.
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lol the writing quality is what makes me cringe with that one. We could play a game with that story and try to count how many of the pet peeves from the pet peeve thread are in it. (probably more than I put in the pet peeve challenge. Maybe even all of them. haha.)
I did have fun writing about my crazy issues though, and it's often made me think I should write a story about some of my other experiences. I've always kind of wanted to write a story about how my husband and I met cause it's really cute and sort of "fairy-tale-ish" (we were engaged two weeks after we met without ever having even gone on a date, and got married two months later. We're crazy, ha ha, but it was very fluffy. Right up my alley as far as writing goes, but I wouldn't want to just write non fiction, I would spruce it up in a fictional way.
And I've also kind of wanted to write a serious story about some of my darker experiences, but I'm not very good at writing drama/angst. I wonder if writing my own story might actually help me do that. I should try it, but it's kind of a depressing story, I don't know how many people would ever want to read it. (though I suppose since I "beat" it, it's a happy ending.)
How has your story been going? Do you ever feel strange writing it knowing that it's all real? Do you find it hard to remember things? Would you ever consider sharing something like that with people? I think I might have a hard time showing people something that they knew was real.
:D Who cares if some pet peeves are in it? It's not like the whole story is one big pet peeve! It's a good story, lol.
I think that writing personal experience really helps a person to be able to write what they normally couldn't with something that never actually happened, in my opinion. You should try it. :)
My story's been great! It's about a beach trip that my church youth group went on. I've written 9 pages so far (which is more than I can say about any other story I've written) and we're still on the ride down there! :D I love it.
I'm only having trouble with the little "filler" type things that happen in between the major parts, because I can't remember what stores we went to and what everyone said and did in them (it was quite amusing though...), I think that once I get passed this one part, everything will go smoothly again. :)
No, I don't feel strange writing it knowing that it's all real. Partially because over on Julie's forum, there's a whole entire two threads about this, because I use Julie's forum as my journal, lol. So, I've basically already written the story, I'm just putting it into story form now!
I don't think I'd mind showing anybody on the internet. It'd be an entirely different thing if I were to show people that are actually in it. *hides* lol.
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oh man... Church youth group trips... I have some crazy stories about church youth group trips.. ha ha good times.
filler parts are always the hardest thing about writing, I think, anyway. But good for you on writing! getting past the first scene is always tough, so nine pages is awesome.
And yeah that makes sense about sharing the story with internet people. I could probably do that easy enough. That's different than writing a story about everything I went through and then showing it to the people I have to face everyday. Even the people that experienced it with me. It would be so nerve-wracking letting everyone know what I was thinking and feeling through all of that.
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oh man... Church youth group trips... I have some crazy stories about church youth group trips.. ha ha good times.
filler parts are always the hardest thing about writing, I think, anyway. But good for you on writing! getting past the first scene is always tough, so nine pages is awesome.
And yeah that makes sense about sharing the story with internet people. I could probably do that easy enough. That's different than writing a story about everything I went through and then showing it to the people I have to face everyday. Even the people that experienced it with me. It would be so nerve-wracking letting everyone know what I was thinking and feeling through all of that.
Oh yeah, youth group trips are always fun-filled, lol.
lol. See, if I were to show this story to the people I face everyday, I'd die. I really would. Whether from suicide or heart attack, I'd die, lol.
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I use a lot of personal experiences in my writing, but I definitely don't write EVERYTHING based on personal experience. Just certain little events I'll stick into my writing. Funny that this topic came up because I was just rereading Quarter Life Crisis, a story I began writing and kind of abandoned that was probably my most personal story yet and considering giving it another stab. There are definitely parts of Misty's depression that are much darker than my experiences, but in other ways it is very experience driven. Her two best friends are modeled after two of my friends and her problems with each of them are problems I've experienced. For instance she's dealing with the abandonment of one of her best friends getting married and not having time for friends anymore. Definitely something I experienced with my best friend from college. Basically I like to take my experiences and integrate them with fiction sometimes. It makes for a more powerful story I think.
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I've done that! Sometimes the best stories come from things that have happened to you personally.
Horra:
This one is a little boring, but... "Memoirs of a Nineteen-Year-Old Teenybopper (http://www.absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=8128) I rarely get the motivation to update it. lol And obviously it hasn't been updated recently because then it would sadly be "Memoirs of a Twenty-Year-Old Teenybopper." lol
And then there's also "Boundaries" (http://www.absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=8753) It's more ficction than a few other pieces I have on there (like some essays I really liked, lol), but it's really mostly non-fiction, so... There you go.
I think writing about your own experiences can be fun... But it can also be a challenge. It really just depends. lol
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I use a lot of personal experiences in my writing, but I definitely don't write EVERYTHING based on personal experience. Just certain little events I'll stick into my writing. Funny that this topic came up because I was just rereading Quarter Life Crisis, a story I began writing and kind of abandoned that was probably my most personal story yet and considering giving it another stab. There are definitely parts of Misty's depression that are much darker than my experiences, but in other ways it is very experience driven. Her two best friends are modeled after two of my friends and her problems with each of them are problems I've experienced. For instance she's dealing with the abandonment of one of her best friends getting married and not having time for friends anymore. Definitely something I experienced with my best friend from college. Basically I like to take my experiences and integrate them with fiction sometimes. It makes for a more powerful story I think.
Ah, so you're writing fiction based on reality, am I correct? In some ways, I almost think it would be more difficult to do that than it is to actually write nonfiction experiences... That's just me though. Sounds like it works out really well for you. :)
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I've done that! Sometimes the best stories come from things that have happened to you personally.
Horra:
This one is a little boring, but... "Memoirs of a Nineteen-Year-Old Teenybopper (http://www.absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=8128) I rarely get the motivation to update it. lol And obviously it hasn't been updated recently because then it would sadly be "Memoirs of a Twenty-Year-Old Teenybopper." lol
And then there's also "Boundaries" (http://www.absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=8753) It's more ficction than a few other pieces I have on there (like some essays I really liked, lol), but it's really mostly non-fiction, so... There you go.
I think writing about your own experiences can be fun... But it can also be a challenge. It really just depends. lol
Oh cool! So, you've written quite a bit of this sort of thing! That's awesome! :)
I personally don't think it's too challenging. Just because I've actually experienced it first hand, so I know what it's like and everything, you know? And like I said before, I've already told people most everything that happened and most everything that was said, so if I need to be reminded of things, I can just go back to those and copy and paste, lol.
I can see why you'd say it would be a challenge though. I'm sure I'll hit road blocks along the way eventually, but as of yet, I've done pretty okay. :)
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Well, the only thing that was really challenging to me was the "Boundaries" had to be twenty-five pages for an assugnment. lol So there was a bit of stretching involved... I don't know if you've read it, but I guess it's mainly about the "boundaries" between my actual best friend and I--though I changed all the names in the story. And I guess when it's something not really concrete, it's hard. I can only base it off of my feelings, so I think that's what makes it difficult. lol Whereas, when you're going for fiction, you can take any person's feelings and make them up....
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No, I haven't read it, but I can see what you mean. That does sound like it would be kind of difficult. A good challenge though! :D Ignore me.
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I figured not. lol :P
I think the other thing about writing about your own life is you're leaving yourself ope to any sort of feelings or criticism... It can be hard... And you may not always know the right way to tell the story... If you can do it justice. I think that's the problem with writing about your own life--what's important to you, may only be important to you...
I don't know what I really wanted to say anymore. lol
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:D Memory problems? I have those, lol.
I don't know... Personally, I'm writing this story for ME. Not for anyone else. I mean, I don't even know if I'll bother showing anyone or not. If I do, then I do. I don't really care what other people think. I'm just writing what happened, and I can't help it if someone doesn't like it. It's real, it happened, I can't change it, and that's life. :D
Though I suppose it could be embarrassing if somebody just plain thought it was stupid... *shrugs* Beats me if I know.
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No, I'm sick. :(
Writing for yourself is important though. :) And... yup, still can't remember.
Cherrios.
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Aww, I'm sorry. :( Hope you feel better soon, because being sick sucks.
Well, I figured I'd want something to be able to look back on to remember this trip with my youth group, so I thought a story would be a good way to do it. :)
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Aw, I feel mostly fine.... I just can't talk. lol Which is unfortunate as heck, but you know... lol
Yeah, a story is a good way to remember. :) I have a journal for that. lol
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I've never actually written a story based on any of my real life experiences as a whole, but like others on here have said, I've used bits and pieces of real experiences and incorporated them into stories, more specifically in "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and more specifically then that, the feelings that Brian is experiencing. I've channeled alot of his emotions from the emotions I experienced over the two years I watched my grandma die from cancer. I think it kinda acts as a coping tool, if that makes any sense. For me personally, I have a really hard time opening up about what I am feeling inside. My favorite thing to say when someone asks me what is wrong is, "Nothing." Yeah, I know, that's a common thing to say when asked that, but I say it even when I'm completely desperate to really express what's going on inside my mind. And still, I hate change and I've yet to fully accept the fact of what happened with my grandma and it's been almost two years. Guess I have acceptance issues :-\? So incorporating a crap load of my own emotions into ITNC has worked as a bit of a coping tool for me. Sometimes it can be easy to write all of that out, especially when you are writing your own real life experiences, yet at the same time it can be extremely difficult. Overall, it can be both a positive and a negative.
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Ah, so you're writing fiction based on reality, am I correct? In some ways, I almost think it would be more difficult to do that than it is to actually write nonfiction experiences... That's just me though. Sounds like it works out really well for you. :)
Ehh I really don't find it too hard because I like writing a lot of angsty dramas with a lil dash of romance in there and quite frankly I live a pretty boring life, so if I were to write a story strictly based on experience it would bore you to tears. I like incoporating some of my personal experiences with fictional situations to spice them up a little bit. It's definitely not AS hard as you think. Just requires a good imagination I guess.
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^ I guess that's how I do it too.
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^ Ditto. My life is also too boring to base entire stories solely on personal experience (which is probably a good thing, considering the kind of stories I like to write LOL), but I sometimes fictionalize experiences that have happened to me or people I know. Most of what I write is 100% fiction though.
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Aw, I feel mostly fine.... I just can't talk. lol Which is unfortunate as heck, but you know... lol
Yeah, a story is a good way to remember. :) I have a journal for that. lol
LOL See, like I said, Julie's forum IS my journal. Most people over there don't even reply to my posts in my thread anymore. Probably because they've gotten tired of me posting EVERY LITTLE DETAIL, lol. But I post every detail because it's my journal. Doesn't really matter if people post there or not to me, lol.
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I've never actually written a story based on any of my real life experiences as a whole, but like others on here have said, I've used bits and pieces of real experiences and incorporated them into stories, more specifically in "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and more specifically then that, the feelings that Brian is experiencing. I've channeled alot of his emotions from the emotions I experienced over the two years I watched my grandma die from cancer. I think it kinda acts as a coping tool, if that makes any sense. For me personally, I have a really hard time opening up about what I am feeling inside. My favorite thing to say when someone asks me what is wrong is, "Nothing." Yeah, I know, that's a common thing to say when asked that, but I say it even when I'm completely desperate to really express what's going on inside my mind. And still, I hate change and I've yet to fully accept the fact of what happened with my grandma and it's been almost two years. Guess I have acceptance issues :-\? So incorporating a crap load of my own emotions into ITNC has worked as a bit of a coping tool for me. Sometimes it can be easy to write all of that out, especially when you are writing your own real life experiences, yet at the same time it can be extremely difficult. Overall, it can be both a positive and a negative.
Aww, well at least you can express your feelings through writing! For many people, writing is definitely a vent for them. And it sounds like it's helped you quite a bit. :)
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Ehh I really don't find it too hard because I like writing a lot of angsty dramas with a lil dash of romance in there and quite frankly I live a pretty boring life, so if I were to write a story strictly based on experience it would bore you to tears. I like incoporating some of my personal experiences with fictional situations to spice them up a little bit. It's definitely not AS hard as you think. Just requires a good imagination I guess.
^ I guess that's how I do it too.
^ Ditto. My life is also too boring to base entire stories solely on personal experience (which is probably a good thing, considering the kind of stories I like to write LOL), but I sometimes fictionalize experiences that have happened to me or people I know. Most of what I write is 100% fiction though.
LOL All you people claim to have boring lives (or something of the sort), but I'll bet you that your lives aren't as boring as you put them out to be!
For instance, Julie! (you're the one I really know, so I'll use you as an example ;)) You teach at an elementary school!! There MUST be something you could write with that! I mean, even if it's completely different from what you normally write! Actually... what about the kid that moved away that had the twitching problems? There's medical stuff in that, lol.
*shrugs* Everybody has SOMETHING in their life worth writing about.
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LOL All you people claim to have boring lives (or something of the sort), but I'll bet you that your lives aren't as boring as you put them out to be!
For instance, Julie! (you're the one I really know, so I'll use you as an example ;)) You teach at an elementary school!! There MUST be something you could write with that! I mean, even if it's completely different from what you normally write! Actually... what about the kid that moved away that had the twitching problems? There's medical stuff in that, lol.
*shrugs* Everybody has SOMETHING in their life worth writing about.
Well yeah, but to me, that's not even interesting enough for a whole story. Maybe something to include in a story with a bigger plot, sure, but I wouldn't be interested in writing a whole story about it.
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LOL See, like I said, Julie's forum IS my journal. Most people over there don't even reply to my posts in my thread anymore. Probably because they've gotten tired of me posting EVERY LITTLE DETAIL, lol. But I post every detail because it's my journal. Doesn't really matter if people post there or not to me, lol.
I wouldn't use a forum as a journal, because it seems weird to me. lol
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Well yeah, but to me, that's not even interesting enough for a whole story. Maybe something to include in a story with a bigger plot, sure, but I wouldn't be interested in writing a whole story about it.
Well yeah, okay, I guess, lol.
You could still write a "A day in the life of Ms. Lewis" though! :D
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I wouldn't use a forum as a journal, because it seems weird to me. lol
Well, it started off with me coming back from this trip and telling everyone what happened. And I completely gushed over this other guitarist that just freaking rocked, and I was totally head over heels for him, and then I just kept posting every time I'd see him, and all sorts of things have happened since I met him, and my friends over on that forum were all like, "OMG Amy likes someone!!" so they'd reply to my posts, and yeah... lol. Get my drift?
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Huhh..... Guess so..... *shrug*
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:D Sorry, maybe I'm confusing... or weird... or both, lol.
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Yea like Julie I teach too and I admit I probably do have some interesting stories, but they are all isolated events. They might be good for one shot stories, but I'm much more into longer form stories and I like to write about more than just my life I guess. Otherwise I'd just have kept a journal. I like using my imagination.
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Ah, I see. Completely understandable . :)
I think I may just be going through a phase here... because lately, I've really enjoyed journal type stories, lol. But again, I believe it's just a phase. :D
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I'm like a lot of you, I put personal experiences into my stories, but none of them are fully true. The story I am working on right now has some domestic violence and I've dealt with that before. Writing about it has helped me to deal with it and just generally vent about it. And parts of another story I've been working on (it's not been posted yet) come from personal experience as well. I don't do journals or diaries-I don't want friends or family finding them and reading them. I guess I feel that writing it into a story is my form of a journal/diary. I can get it all out, and if someone I personally know where to read the stories, they wouldn't know that it was personal experience, unless they read this or I tell them lol
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That's a good point. I'm always afraid of my family finding my journals or whatever (yet I still leave them lying around... shows how much I care apparently, lol).
Personally, I think that if I were to write about a bad experience of mine, it would just make me mad and resurface old hatred, but that's just me, lol.