Write Where You Are
Write Where You Are
There’s inspiration aplenty at home
The Story Writer’s Path
There’s inspiration aplenty at home
I have a pretty good idea where you are. It’s the same place I am. At home. In lockdown or quarantine. Maybe you’re feeling confined. Longing to write, but thinking you don’t have anything to write about.
I beg to differ. There’s plenty of writing material within the four walls of your home. It just takes shifting to a different perspective to find it and appreciate it.
You don’t have to travel far
I run a Facebook group for writers, and a few weeks ago one of our members asked if we felt that a writer needed to travel widely and have extraordinary experiences in order to become a great writer. The answer from many writers was the same: no. Several evoked the spirit of Emily Dickinson, who never strayed far from her home, as an example of a writer who achieved greatness without traveling far.
And I wholeheartedly agree.
One of my writing students is working on a variety of memoir pieces. For one of them, she’s made a list of items of importance to her in her home, and for each one writing about where it came from and why she loves it. You’d be surprised at how some of these pieces lead to fascinating stories of her life.
Along the same lines, I learned an important lesson years ago when I first started writing about art. I turned in a piece about an artist and his work. My editor returned it to me, instructing me to return to the gallery and study the art more in depth. She suggested I stand before the painting and look at it, really look at it for ten or fifteen minutes. I did, and I was astounded at the depths that revealed themselves to me.
The universal is in the specific
But, you say, people aren’t interested in the minutiae of my daily life, or the details of my home. And I say, au contraire. Because counter-intuitively, when writers write about the specifics of their lives or their characters lives, readers relate. Conversely, when writers get too general, there’s nothing for readers to hook onto. Details make writing more vivid, more convincing, and more interesting.
So writing from where you are right at this moment is excellent training for all writers. Describing your surroundings, your routine, your feelings gets you used to putting such words on the page.When it comes time to do the same thing for your characters, you’ll not only have experience, but you’ll have first-hand source material as well.
Look through different lenses
When writing the details of your surroundings, it can help to view them through several different lenses. For example:
Metaphorically. What can you compare the object or emotion or thought to?
Concretely. If you were an objective journalist describing the object for a newspaper piece, how would you write about it?
Abstractly. Does the object evoke a feeling, such as happiness, sadness, etc.?
Storytelling. Do any stories occur to you as you view the object? These could be truthful or made up.
You contain multitudes
As Walt Whitman said, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” We all do. And those multitudes can and should be mined for your writing. Here are some ideas.
What are you feeling right at this moment?
How did you feel yesterday?
Describe a typical day at home in lockdown.
What’s your morning routine?
What’s your evening routine?
How has the way you dress changed in lockdown?
Are you showering every day? Wearing make-up? Shaving?
Is time moving fast or slowly?
What time of day are you happiest? Most miserable?
Does the above vary from day to day?
How are you relaxing at the moment?
What does you workday look like?
How is the above different or not different from before lockdown?
Every thought, feeling and idea are grist for the mill at the moment. Write them all down.
Where you are contains multitudes
Look around you. And consider:
Where are you right now?
What do you see right in front of you?
What do you see out the window?
Open the cupboard or cabinet closest to you and list what’s inside. Now write about each item.
Describe the floor of your dining room, or any other room.
What colors dominate the room you are in?
Do your surroundings please you or the opposite?
If you could make any changes to your location, what would they be?
What do you eat off? What do the dishes look like?
What is the art on the walls?
What was your last meal?
How are you getting groceries?
Describe your closet.
You get the drift. You can take any aspect of your surroundings — the tiniest aspect — and write about it in detail. Who knows where it might lead.
The people around you contain multitudes
Odds are good you’re in pretty close contact with your family or roommates or friends. Like, all day, every day. This may be driving you crazy, or maybe you’re loving it. Either way, you’re living in a perfect writer’s laboratory. You can observe people closely and note all kinds of things. Such as:
Daily habits
Physical tics
Insistent quirks
Repeated sayings
Annoying traits
Charming traits
Close observation of their appearance
A consistent smell (hope it’s a good one)
Inspiration
And, finally, I leave you with a couple of links that will inspire you to deeply consider your own location.
This article details a mapmaker who charted the area of his confinement.
And this piece shows and discusses some examples of quarantine diaries.
I’m curious to see what kinds of literature comes out of our experience in lockdown. I know one thing for sure — it is going to be home-based. And you can get busy writing your own version of it right now.
Go forth and write!