WIPlash Wednesdays- Question from Joey R.

We're always attracted to the edges of what we are, out by the edges where it's a little raw and nervy.

~E.L. Doctorow~

Joey R.- Do you sometimes use actual events or things that has happened to you or people you know in your work?

Not really, but I do draw from life. Though I write romantic fiction, it is based in reality, so there are certainly bound to be topics or ideas that I've taken from the life around me, though I haven't written anything directly that could be tied to one event or person, or even myself specifically, because I take bits and pieces of knowledge, common sense, experience and mesh it together. They say, "write what you know" and I do, but not always the way you would think.

Any events in my novels are the indirect result of living and paying attention to my emotions, my situations as well as being observant of what others have gone through or are going through. There are a lot of things that are just common ground for all of us.

Most people have had their hearts broken by someone they love. Most everyone has lost a loved one or known someone in a bad relationship. Some have been abused, neglected, mistreated, or felt that way. Illness can strike anyone whether it's mental, emotional or physical and that includes things like bad habits, addictions, quirks and behaviors.

We are results of our environment and experience and subject to a plethora of things- accidents, deaths, debilitating disease, job loss, running into an ex at the grocery store. It's all happening around us, all the time, so I have a vast world of ideas at my fingertips. We're all also very adaptable, whether we like change or not, and we also all have a singular goal in common for the majority of our lives and that is to seek out love, regardless of where it comes from- parents, siblings, relatives, friends, acquaintances, lovers.
I draw from all that because I know it is the human condition, our compulsion, to seek love and approval through our work, our hobbies, our relationships and in most everything we do. Even my fictional characters need to be real, believable, fallible. They have quirks, mixtures of my own loved ones' idiosyncrasies, emotional outbursts, hidden sorrows, broken hearts and life experiences and that never-ending need to be loved, find joy and live happy, just like we all do.

Truth is, though that by the time they come to life on the page, I find it easily conceivable to believe they are living people who's situations are just as real to me as anything else I've ever seen or experienced myself.

Thanks for the question Joey!

If anyone else has a question, feel free to ask, leave a comment.

Feel free to leave me more questions in the comments here at anytime.
I'll be happy to answer them.

Happy Hump Day! I can see the weekend from here!