FACT: Real Life Affects My Writing #MFRWauthor #amwriting

My family believes they're in each book I write, that they're reflected in the characters I create. While that's a stretch, there's truth to the fact that they do affect my writing.

The fact is... if you're in my life, you affect my writing. While none of my characters are a complete replica, their characteristics come from those around me. I observe, and those observations become ideas that spark a piece of a future character. I see hair I like -a style, a color, a shading- and I give it to a character. Those quirks my characters have? Yep, those are from people with whom I've interacted too.

More often though, rather than actual events or people playing out in my writing, it's my feelings about what happens in my life -my frustrations, sadness or happiness- that comes alive on the pages of my stories. By putting it all on the page, I leave it there. It's nearly therapeutic some days.

Sometimes I alter the scenes I'll write based on my mood that day, or based on the events going on around me. Since I rely on my own emotional level to convey the depth I need for the characters, I write the scenes that need intensity when I've got a ball of emotion that needs to escape.

Real life affects my writing... am I'm a better writer for knowing it.

What About You?
How does life affect your writing?