Home   >   How to Get Published   >   How To Use Your Experiences In Your Writing

How To Use Your Experiences In Your Writing

By on January 7, 2021

If you want to learn how to use your experiences in your writing, read on! Doing so isn't just about taking the things that have happened to you in your life recreating them on the page. Nor is it manipulating your fictional stories so that you can write about an inspiring real-life event. Using your experiences can help create more authentic characters. It can make for more believable storylines and help your reader relate to the story as it unfolds.

Use your experiences in your writing - what you need to consider

Your life doesn't need to have been a whirlwind of excitement, a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, or a tragic sob story. We all have things that will have happened to us and different experiences that we can use in our writing to make it better.

Emotions are there to be written about

We have all experienced times of joy, sadness, frustration, or anger. We have all had days where everything has worked out. Ones where we've cried with laughter or been able to appreciate the little things. We've all had times where things haven't gone our way, and it seems like one bad thing after another happens to us.

Pay attention to your experiences

What every writer should try to do is to pay attention to these experiences, both good and bad. The more in touch you are with yourself and how you feel, the more accurately you will describe these experiences. The easier you will find the right words to capture the thoughts and feelings you have.

Practice explaining your emotions in words

The more you practice explaining, in words, your feelings, your emotions, and the physical reactions you have at things, the better versed you will be when it comes to relaying these kinds of emotions to your reader. Writers should pay attention to how they feel. They should spend time trying to capture the essence of this on the page.

Don't worry if it doesn't come naturally

Writing about our feelings isn't something that always comes naturally to us. That's why keeping a daily journal can be so helpful. Spend five minutes each morning describing how you are feeling. Ask yourself whether you are excited for the day ahead? What goals you have, and how might you feel if you achieve them or fail to achieve them? What are you most looking forward to and dreading?

Focus on your feelings

The key here is to focus on your feelings and write in emotive or metaphorical language. You should also spend some time writing whenever a significant event occurs in your life. Write when you feel an emotion particularly strongly. You can think about describing the feeling but also capturing it better by asking questions. For example, 'if this feeling were a colour, what colour would it be?' Or 'if this feeling were an animal, what would it be?' By asking questions such as this, you build up a rich bank of language of descriptions around certain feelings. So instead of falling into tired old cliches, you instead find surprising and arresting words. Ones that will capture your reader's attention and create vivid images in their mind's eye.

Use your life

Use your experiences in your writing by looking at your life. Experiences from your own life to influence your writing will help to bring authenticity to your work. Make sure that when you are taking the time to practice writing, you dedicate some of it to describing your feelings and emotions. This means when you come to tell these in your story, you do so with precision and flair!

So now you know how to use your experiences in your writing, now why not learn more about how to use your emotions in your writing?

Get A Free Writer's Toolkit By Visiting https://writerslife.org/gid

bethany cadman
Bethany Cadman - bethanycadmancreates.com

About Beth Cadman