Puppets of Experience

Many writers and poets use their experience as fodder for fiction. James Frey altered the truth and called it memoir when he could not sell the manuscript as a novel. Philip Roth writes in his novel, The Counterlife,  of how family members of a writer find themselves in material they don't believe is "right."

When Michael Greenberg approached his sister about writing a memoir concerning her manic breakdown, she said, "Mikey, if you tell the truth about me, I don't want to read it."  When her brother gave her the manuscript to review, she said, "I felt I was reading about someone else named Sally who had been to hell and was the only who didn't know it.  How many people get to look at themselves in such a way?"

Before Wallace Stegner published, Crossing to Safety, he contacted family and friends to advise them of their appearance in his novel.  They read drafts and did not recognize themselves so he had no worries.  

No matter what we write someone might think the I or he and she involves them or the writer's life.  As writers we have the opportunity to take a peek at life's possibilities from a different place.  We wonder what happens beyond the window. No one sees the same face peeking out.

A way to express your life frustrations, emotions or experience involves mixing them into characters to talk and behave for you.  Plunk individuals into the middle of your angst or ennui. It helps to move from first to third person and change the sex of the protagonist.

Create the puppet that will translate your frustrations into publishable work.

Creative Write:  Choose a situation of frustration or rejection.  Define this in two characters away from the original source.  Put them on a train or plane.  Have them work through their issues. You may even discover unique solutions to a personal struggle in this way.