I have always felt that all writing is so personal, even fiction writing. Maybe even especially fiction writing. Fiction gives that freedom to use anything in your life and then take your imagination and run with it. The past few years I’ve read amazing short fiction writers such as Loorie Moore, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff, and Joyce Carol Oates, and I can’t help but notice the stark detail in all of their work. It is so real that it hits you in the face. It makes me think that in one way or another, it must have been real to them too.
I think all writing is based off of true life. But fiction is special because it allows us to do both. We can use our own life experiences and our imaginative abilities. So much of my life is in my work. It’s sprinkled in every story like ash. The remnants of people, events, and emotions of the past.
Oscar Wilde said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” I think we see this in a lot in fiction because our imagination is our subconscious. Our subconscious being is able to take hold and write the pages for us. After it’s written, we may see things reflected in real life that were always there. However, our lives begin to imitate the art that our subconscious, or imagination, is creating.
Fiction writing also has a way of being great therapy. I’ve noticed my pain tends to come out within my stories and I find that I can work through those struggles within my characters. Fiction is a free space. Anything said could be real or imagined. It’s just as much of a mystery to the reader as it is to me.
I feel so blessed to be able to explore these questions and continue to write. I’m grateful for my life experiences and for my imagination. And maybe this is why for me life does imitate art, because in order to understand how I feel and what’s going on inside of me, I have to write it first.
