 Short Stories: June 04, 2025 Issue [#13165] |
This week: Stories from Personal Experience or Not Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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Short Stories Newsletter by Dawn
A look at the idea that personal experience can help make a story realistic. Write what you know, they say. But don't forget that not every story or poem is based off what a writer has experienced. |
Write what you know. That is the advice often given as for some, it is seen easier to use personal experience when it comes to writing. There are some obvious exceptions when it comes to different genres like murder or fantasy with made up worlds. However, elements of our experiences are bound to end up in the writing. The question is how much you use it and how much is perceived by the reader when it comes to using what we know for short stories. This can be said both for fiction and nonfiction.
Now those that have read some of my newsletters before probably know I am not a strong believer of the write what you know approach. Aside from being a fan of fantasy, I often tend to write things that are different than myself and what I read or watch. Most of my short stories tend to be LGBTQIA+, which I am a member but not for what I mostly write. So, it can be a challenge since I have to write some things I don't know but for me, that's okay. I've never liked writing about myself. Even when I tried to do the "Mary Sue" style fantasy character based off myself with others based off my friends, it didn't work out that way. Pesky characters got personalities and such of their own instead. In school it was easy for me to write essays but torture when it was a personal essay that was supposed to be about me.
When it comes to writing things that you may not know there are some definite options. Research helps. We have many options at our fingertips, though have to be careful not to believe everything that is found online. Look around for information and little details that will help make things more realistic, especially the characters. You can even see some drawbacks from writers in the past because there has been a lot said about men writing female characters. Some of it is quite entertaining and others, well it's a little cringe worthy. Plus, one character doesn't represent an entire species/gender/etc. That means it might not be common but that doesn't mean something is impossible.
One thing on here you can do to help a tiny bit with letting people know if there is reality to your story or not is the use of different genres. Ones like personal for poetry or stories will be a good indicator that there is something behind what is written in that way. People might still assume that you are writing from experience when it is completely fake, but it helps when you have the chance to give an indication.
As a reader, you can also consider a few factors before making comments or doing reviews. Even poetry on here can be completely made up or it could be based from personal experience. It can be hard to tell when it's real or not. Sure, you can check out the writer's bio if they have it filled out here but that can only give a very limited picture. Look for information like prompt details, story notes in a drop note or even the listed genres to help have an idea. Try not to assume too many things either but if something feels like a personal story and you want to comment on that factor, go for it. The review is your experience of the short story, not matter how fictional things are or not.
At the end of the day, if you think my story is based off my personal experience when it's completely fictional, I will take it as a compliment that the story feels realistic. Thank you.
What do you like to write? Are the short stories inspired more by reality or something different? Let us know and have fun writing them out for people to make guesses when they give out reviews. |
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Do you write from personal experience or use something else?
Back in January, I wrote a newsletter about whether or not a character should be liked by the reader. Here are some comment sent back then over the topic:
Comment by Osirantinous  :
Interesting question about 'like'! You'd be inclined to say that if a character doesn't garner some feelings from the reader then the character isn't written properly. But there's a whole different world between generic 'like' and 'in my fantasy, we're married!'. I think I say 'like' for characters that would be my friends IRL - same interests or quirks or background or just all-round nice, easy-going people etc (Or, having thought about it, a character who might be my 'ideal' hero-type - like Kiyoka Kudo from My Happy Marriage who destroyed a gatehouse to rescue his beloved).
Whether a character is likeable, lovable or on a stabbing list all comes from how well the writer has created them. (And that should tell us what the writer themself thinks of the character, right?)
Comment by Max Griffin 🏳️🌈  :
Great newsletter! I think Vonnegut said that readers should be able to cheer for at least one character--which, as you point out, is different from liking them. Perhaps empathizing with them or thier situation is more important. The recent remake of "The Day of the Jackal" on Peacock is a case in point. The protagonist, brilliantly played by Eddie Redmayne, is a ruthless killer. The police officer pursuing him should be the herioine we cheer for. But the screenwriters--and performers--have reversed this, making the the audience cheer for the Jackal, or at least sympathize with him and dislike the investigator. It's worth watching just to study the craft at work in this reversal...
Comment by S 🤦  :
I'm not sure of the reader needs to "like" a character, but I think it does help if they can empathise with why a character is doing something. I feel that is an issue with many villains (especially in movies... especially especially superhero movies... don't get me started!). They are just generically "evil." But if the audience can go, "Hey! I get why you're such a jerk!" then there is something of a connection even there. So, not necessarily 'like', but 'understand' (at least a little) is probably what I aim for.
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