This month Robin asks whether we’ve used an event in our lives, in the life of someone we know or one reported in the press in our fiction.
This might be a politer and more academic way of asking where do you get your ideas from? That is an issue that puzzles many folk. On the other hand, it might be a question of morality. Have you taken a joy or a misery lived through by yourself or others and fictionalised it?
The bald answer is yes. My most recent longer piece was the serial I wrote last year for People’s Friend. City of Discoveries had a brief as it was a commission, but I had a great deal of artistic licence within that. Showcasing Dundee’s Jam, Jute and Journalism reputation, what was my theme?
City of Discoveries
Well, my Fife granny told me a bittersweet story about how she had to leave school and go to work in a factory/mill. One day, the foreman stood behind her and ran his hands through her beautiful red hair. She resisted vigorously and implied he left her well alone thereafter. Forward a few decades and that unknown man became the baddy in my heroine granny’s story. Drew Fleming doesn’t leave my heroine alone and we have a tale of nineteenth century stalking.
And there we have it. Yes, I have and I will continue to do so. Where do I find ideas? On the bus; in the shopping queue; actually listening to the conversation of friends; reading beyond the headlines; ruthlessly analysing the minutiae of my own life.
Are you wondering what the fine fellow whose picture illustrates this post has to do with anything? Good to leave a question unanswered till the end.
My house, in an urban area, has an enclosed back garden. The garden is surrounded by three 8 foot walls and the house. Looking out one day last week, I saw the hind quarters of a deer sticking out of the rhoddies. He made himself at home, as you can see, and only left in a series of specatacular jumps, when my husband walked down the garden in the late afternoon.
We’ve been decades in this house and that’s a first. Yes, it’ll be in a story sometime soon.
How about you? Do you fictionalise life as lived for your works? You may want to visit some of the other blogs in this RR. As I’m setting this up a bit early, I can only give you my best guess of whose that will be. I’ll correct it as soon as I can.
Anne
Fiona McGier https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fionamcgier.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C888b8523f4dd4023796f08d6f2a3825c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636963181409130301&sdata=YTgTbHc8Om5NWhYQrLecwlXWOQK0CgArIpO0CBfWSfI%3D&reserved=0
Novels Now 
I’m glad (and sad) to hear not even an 8′ wall will keep these voracious beasts out of gardens. Your granny’s experiences showed how time may have changed but behaviors not so much. Great inclusion for a story.
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Hi Rhobin, curiously, I’ve just spet a week in the north-west and islands where orca were seen, but no deer! Maybe everyone is moving to the city. Anne
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I have an alternative outcome for your story: Your granny tells the foreman off, he apologises, but consistently woos her. They get married, and you were never born!
🙂
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Hi Bob, Um! I suppose if my granny had married a dfferent man I wouldn’t have been born. As to the apology prospects in 1900 – truly, not high. Anne
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Love the idea of your deer appearing in a future story. Like you, I get my ideas from unexpected places, but if one keeps one’s ears open and does a lot of people watching the ideas are everywhere.
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Hi Skye, they are, aren;t they? Just a question of finding the right vehicle. Anne
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Yup, people haven’t changed much, despite the many years between your gran being young, and her telling you that story. That’s why I write contemporary romance…there’s more of a chance of meeting a feminist male these days, though they are still rare. Hey, I raised 3 of them, so I’ve done my share for the females of the world! Grin.
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Hi Fiona, It’s sadly true that many do cling to ingrained beliefs, but also a sense of entitlement. I really enjoy challenging that. Anne
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I really liked the granny story and how you embelished it. The deer in the yard (wow!) has to lead to another story.
I am late with comments but catching up!
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Hi Judy, i did write a 1200 word story about the deer and it’s gone off to a magazine. fingers crossed. thanks for dropping in, Anne
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