In the Example at the beginning, the Grandma Zombie story, you might think, what personal life could you inject into that story? Well, the name of the retirement home was Huntington, my real Grand Mother lived in Huntingtonville. My real Grandmother had a cat. Not a really big deal, but there is truth there, buried in the fiction, that allows me to draw on emotion, and just as important it allows the story to flow because I know this Grandma. She is my own.

This is shorter: How to connect to the emotion.

I have explained what I wrote from emotion, but not how I tapped into that emotion. That is simpler still, and if it is not you should not consider writing.

Writers, every writer I know, have spoken to, spent time with, is messed up. Something is not quite right with that person, me included. Maybe it is a big problem, many problems, or maybe it is many small problems. But if you truly examine that statement, is anybody quite right? Anyone at all? I don't think so. We are all flawed. We have all used and been used, bullied and been bullied, loved, hated, been lonely, bored, happy, ecstatic, depressed and the list goes on and on. It is why we can all relate to one another on the most basic levels. Writers just seem to have more to draw on. More experience from life. They have learned it is right there to draw from, but most of the time that has not been the issue at all. It is there and it will not go away.

No, I have not lost my mother so I cannot know for a fact how it feels to lose your mother. My friend has though, and she has talked about it and helped me to understand the parts I didn't know. Even so, I don't know how it will affect me completely, and that is sort of like writing. If I had to write a story about a man or a woman losing their mother I would first relate it to things I do understand that are similar, losing my father, my uncle, aunt, yes even when my dog died.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!