I have a blogging friend some of you may know. Daphne. And currently Daphne is stuck in what she has named Hotel Hell. Her family got evicted from their apartment and while searching for another, they’re basically all crammed together in a small room.
But you know what I think? Daphne is the sort of person that encompasses this quote below, and I just know her trying experience at Hotel Hell will one day turn into bestseller material.
The quote from Terry Brooks:
Fiction writers are strange beasts. They are, like all writers, observers first and foremost. Everything that happens to and around them is potential material for a story, and they look at it that way.
I think, we too, should look at life’s trying moments as adventures or at least fodder for future stories. After all, we have to pull from our own experiences to give our stories the depth they need. Call it the positivity in me, if you must, but I really believe there’s lemonade to be made of any situation. And you can even add mint to make it extra delicious.
So make minty lemonade my friends, and then stick it in your stories.
Have you had a difficult time in your past that you draw upon for your stories? Do you see everything around you as potential material for a story? Where do you get most of your inspiration?
Lit and Scribbles with Jae 
Gosh..tough…but you’re right. And may there be plenty of sugar to sweeten the pot…
Hi,
I’ve nominated you for The Sunshine Award.
Check it out http://thejennymacbookblog.wordpress.com/
That is a great attitude to have!
I agree. When you get a flat tire/your job suck/your childhood pet is dying/Your girlfriend+best friend breaks up with you….it’s hard to be like “AWSOME! This is great writing material!” In retrospect that’s what it turns out to be.
You’re exactly right, although sometimes I’m able to see some of those things as an adventure. Sometimes. 😉
Hi Jae,I have a wonderful happy life but it is riddled with disasters that provide plenty of fodder for my writing although I mostly write non-fiction. I live with an autoimmune disease which attacks my muscles. I can usually walk around ok but I’m a bit clumsy. Today, I was on the train on the way to hospital and bought a meat pie on the run which turned out to be really sloppy and difficult to eat. Then, I choked on it and I mean really choked on it and I was coughing for at least 15 mins and thought I might throw up. Then my nose starts to run but of course I have no tissues. I was just grateful that nobody put on a face mask. That’s happened to me on the train before when I had an asthma cough. I could clear train carriages with my asthma cough. I’m surprised I didn’t get sprayed by some sort of disinfectant spray.
I hope Daphne finds somewhere to live soon. Adversity is no fun particularly when kids are involved. I am on the Status of Women Committee of our local council and there are too many women like her in our communities.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Yikes! Sounds like you’re life is a movie. I hope there’s days of good luck too.
A friend sent me a card once during a particularly trying time in my life. It said, “When life handed her lemons, she asked for ice, vodka, and a sippy straw.” It’s the only way to fly.
Tee hee! Great card. I’ll bet that does help a ton with flights, and life’s lemons.
Usually the hardships encourage me to draw more than write. But I feel this quote implies to all artists. 🙂
I think it does too.
This is why my blog is themed around adventure. Everything is can be epic, even going to the grocery store is exciting. You just have to have the perspective and imagination to see it.
That’s why I like reading your blog. 🙂
Thanks!
Yeah, I do get a lot of inspiration from both good and bad experiences. And I’ve realized my favorite characters to write about are usually the ones who have something to overcome. Painful experiences can color their decisions and outlooks, and I always hope they grow from that point throughout the story. I also get a lot of inspiration just thinking about random scenarios, lol. A lot of my stories come from a single scene that gets stuck in my head, usually something that brings the main characters together, or something that works to hold them apart. It’s kind of a backwards way to do it, but I tend to build entire stories around a scene somewhere in the middle, or even at the end. 🙂
That’s cool to hear about your process. Sometimes mine works like that too, but I definitely know what you mean about getting a scene stuck in my head. Do you ever feel like some scene pester you until you acknowledge them in some way? Like they’re beating down the mental door of your mind until you write it down or even write the scene?
Lol, oh yes they do. 🙂 I know exactly what you mean – those scenes can be so persistent! They end up replaying like a movie in my head, sometimes even getting more detailed as time passes. Sometimes I’m even lucky enough to “see” my characters. Lol, this can be very distracting at work, when they usually happen – because why would they happen when I’m quietly sipping tea at home with my computer booted up? 🙂 I’ll end up writing full scenes from those, without too much thought to how I’m going to get there. 🙂 Lol, and then I have the opposite end of the spectrum too, where I’m mentally cursing and scrambling for something – *anything* – to write on (a notebook, a post-it, the back of my hand, the back of my husband’s hand if mine is full) before the idea disappears like a puff of smoke.
I nodded through all of your comment. Yep. Yep. Yep. Seriously, don’t they know it’s better to come knocking when I’m not trying to get my day job on. 😉
Oh my goodness! Here I am, scrolling through your old posts (trying to find where I left off) and BAM! There’s a picture of my siblings and fuzzy baby. You’re so awesome!
And I totally agree. I LOVE the quote!!! Funny that you should put it that way; “adventure” is how I’ve been telling myself I’m going to think of it. Gotta look at the positive. 😉
Glad you’re holding fast to “glass is half full.” Tee hee! A small part of me worried maybe you didn’t like it, but most of me knew limited internet connection was probably the culprit. 😉 Keep that quote handy, and make it through your trials, Miss Someday-will-be-bestselling-author! 😀
Oh sorry! Yeah, the really late comment was because of no internet connection. And the library doesn’t seem to like loading wordpress.
What the heck, library, hating on the WP? What did the WP ever do to you? 😉