From personal experience...

[zevie]

I was thinking about the Two-Bit Rumble prompt, and trying to figure out what to write as his rambling story, lol. I ended up running through my own weird, real-life rambles, or ones from my friends. In your stories, fanfic or original, I guess, do you bring in a lot of your own experiences? Do you recreate the specific details, or are you only influenced by the general feeling of the experience? Do you tend to write about the things that you know intimately, or do you research things for specific settings?

[Nittanylizard]

If I happen to know something about something and it fits the story and the character, I'll use it. Otherwise, for factual-type information, I poke around and do some research, talk to people, etc., and then do what I can to make it sound real. When I was writing about Soda and Melanie meeting in Ten Years Later, I spent three or four days researching the types of cars she might have been driving, what might have gone wrong with the car, what was typical for a mechanic to do on the road in the mid-70's (my dad was a mechanic at a garage for a while in the late 60's, so he was a big help there; apparently they tried to do most repairs on the road rather than automatically towing back to the garage), and what automobile problems would have made the car react the way I needed it to AND caused it to require towing.

Particularly in my original stories, as long as it has no impact on the plot, I use what I know in as many places as possible to avoid making mistakes left and right, or losing out on the details. For example, most of my original stories take place in the Northeastern US, where I'm from; if I tried to write a story based in Arizona it might not ring true to someone who lives there because the little details would be missing. But in my stories I know to add comments about the humidity, the traffic circles in New Jersey , the types of birds at the feeder and how they behave, etc., without doing hours of research and still wondering if I've got it right.

As far as emotions and situations that evoke certain emotions, I tend to use past personal experiences, relevant or not, to get the feeling that I might expect the character to experience. If I'm not sure what the character might have been feeling, I reach out to anyone who might have been in a similar situation and ask for their input. I've found that most people are very receptive to discussing something in their life, especially something that had a big impact on them (negative or positive). Then, as I'm writing and becoming the character, the emotions can just start bubbling through without me second guessing myself.

Sometimes the two merge, and I can pluck the situation right out of my own life - in one of my original stories, a friend of the MC's brother commits suicide. Two people I've been at least reasonably close to in my life (an ex-boyfriend and a co-worker) killed themselves. So it was both the situation (finding out, getting through the first couple days, going to the viewing, etc.) AND the emotional aspect that I had experienced. I didn't change much on paper, especially for the description of the viewing, which was very closely recreated.

Really good question, Zevie!

Liz

[Des]

I was born in Germany, and moved to the States when I was five. After high school, I moved back to Germany, and stayed there up until this past January when family issues forced me back to the States once again, so my perspective on the towns and cities here are very limited.

The most I can do is try not to insert anything too specific into my story, and hope that it still works.

[fosterchild]

I just have to say that I do not understand why people have such difficulty navigating a circle!!! LOL

Anyway, in my originals I use much of my own experiences as far as emotions go. Sometimes situations, too.

I guess anything emotional I would use from personal experience. I mean, what better way to get something across than drawing from something you've been through and how you felt yourself. But it's the general feeling not an entire recreation of an actual event.

[Tensleep]

Well, you all know my opinion on realism - if it didn't' come from my head it's not real

Seriously, if I know something about a a topic, then I can use it. If I don't I have one hell of an imagination. But I've got a lot of life experience or at least I think so.

So Two-Bit betting on a Quenilla (my spelling is questionable on this, but it is not adumpling!) at the tracks, sneaking a bottle of Bourbon in is easy for me to write, but Sandy getting her hair done at the salon takes an awful lot of thought. on my part I have no idea what she and the other gals would talk about, if they talk at all, and so forth...

I suppose I do add a lot of life experience to my stories mainly because the original plot makes it easy to do. I know all about gangs and how things work and where these boys would be on the totem poles and all that. So it's not a stretch.

And I could go into examples, but that would mean we'd be here a while...

So to answer the question, yes I bring in a lot of personal experiences if they are relevant, depends on the story if I recreate things exactly or just by feel, and no I don't research, but I write what I know and imagine what I don't.

Thanks for reading my rambliness! Blame coffee.

See ya in the funny papers!!!

Tens

[Nittanylizard]

fosterchild said:

I just have to say that I do not understand why people have such difficulty navigating a circle!!! LOL

Hahaha, and now that they're phasing them out in NJ, I think all of the out-of-work circle engineers have drifted up here to New York. Last year they put in four circles near us, but not just in any old configuration. They're ALL IN A ROW! I'd like to meet the genius who came up with that one...

[fosterchild]

I tell you what, they just re-did one on the way down the shore that baffles even my mind!! I'm so used to the normal way of edging the morons out of my way and then they go and throw a YIELD into the circle!!! I get all nervous and jerky coming up on that one! LOL

[printandpolish]

I research everything -- even little details. If I mention a street in Santa Barbara, you can bet I looked at MapQuest and picked a street.

"Family Ties" was written as a direct personal experience. I was adopted and searched for my first mother when I was 28. A lot of what happened to Maureen happened to me.

[fairlane]

Yes, I definately take real life experiences and tweak them into stories, sometimes from a 'but what if it happened like that instead' sort of angle.
When I was about 17 I was friends with a group of guys who were involved in an ongoing dispute with another group, and a couple of experiences from that time have made it into my fan fics. They translate pretty well because of the soc/greaser/gang thing in The Outsiders.

[zevie]

Ten years? Wow, congrats! My longest was about three weeks. Mayyyyybe.

I've only written one "romance" fic, and there's no way it could have been from personal experience, lol. Are there topics that are too close to home to write about? Has anyone ever pushed their boundaries here? Does the work then end up screeching to a halt, or does it make for more powerful writing?

[fosterchild]

I don't think anything hits too close to home for me to write about. The only thing is some things might just not translate well into a story....too boring or something....

I do think I should be a PWP writer, though!

[TehNetteSpeaks]

zevie said:

Are there topics that are too close to home to write about? Has anyone ever pushed their boundaries here? Does the work then end up screeching to a halt, or does it make for more powerful writing?

Certain topics that have to do with death, dealing with and losing someone in your immediate family for example, come pretty damn close to home with me and it's difficult to think about and remember sometimes while I'm writing and reading.

The one thing that upsets me beyond belief is a poorly-written angsty, tragic story. It honestly makes me irate. There are things about losing a parent that most people do not understand, because they haven't gone though it. So when I read a poorly-written story about Mary Sue who's a misunderstood or pitied orphan, it makes me want to bash my head into the wall.

I don't mean that I dislike all stories that deal with death, if it's portrayed accurately enough and written well, they can come out beautifully and usually do. It's just the poorly-written one's that make me want to gauge my eyeballs out with a pen, and banish un-experienced writers from writing tragedy. (though I know I can't do that.)

[fairlane]

There is one event I would never write about, would not even attempt it, or want to. Way too close to home and emotionally involved.

Factual errors tend to bug me more than anything. Like Ponyboy listening to Britney Spears - I've actually seen that in a story (and no it wasn't a future fic). Seeing errors in published work is the worst though. I'm trying to remember the book I was reading a while ago, and came across a passage that went;
"she gave birth to conjoined twins, the boy died first then the girl".
Boy/girl conjoined twins!!! It was meant to be a meaningful moment, but I couldn't take it seriously after that.

[maxiekat]

I read a romance novel where a woman gave birth to twins ... after being pregnant for eleven months. And, to top it off, it was a high risk pregnancy and, according to the author, had gone into labor early. The book was "Going Overboard" by Christina Skye and to this day I can still remember doing the math to figure that one out.

[zickachik73]

Spelling errors in published books are my absolute enemy. I mean, how much are people paid by publishing groups to edit? How many people comb over a book before it's printed? It's unbearable.

Seriously, Maxie? That's the most ridiculous thing ever!! It's not even specialize knowledge.

Yipes.