The Forgotten Element of Story: The Author | Jane Friedman Blog

“Have you ever thought you put too much of yourself into your fiction? You read through your manuscript and, woah, you are all over the page. It’s not just that characters reflect your own struggles, hopes, and personality traits, it’s that your hopes and fears are laid bare on the page. So you do your best to mute yourself. You alter characters, blunt your unadulterated emotions, make things a little less passionate. Writers aren’t supposed to put too much of themselves into their story, right?

“Or maybe you’re the opposite. You don’t want your writing to seem biased, clouded by your own experiences. You shape your characters into people who don’t share your background, beliefs, or love for puppies in teacups because good writers keep distance between themselves and the page.”

 

Source: The Forgotten Element of Story: The Author | Jane Friedman

Personally, I hope more emerging authors and students in writing programs will find their way to this post. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that one of my favorite quotes comes from Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: ““Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.” The reason I like this post from Jane Friedman’s blog is that author Dani Abernathy is asking you to acknowledge this and own it rather than trying to stifle it.

In short, the “you” that you allow on the page will determine whether the story sings or falls flat. She asks you to examine your own backstory, your values, and your impact.  Abernathy is spot on with this advice.

–Malcolm