Maxing your life experiences

It’s no secret that many authors use their lives and the lives of those they know as inspiration for stories. Now while some authors may think it’s OK to simply change some events a little, or maybe a character or two, I think that your own life is more of a springboard to jump off into the deep pool of imagination. So let’s talk about how I effectively use my experiences in my stories and max out my boring personality and life.

I’d say I’ve had a pretty interesting life for all intents and purposes. I’ve been adopted, reconnected with my birth parents, survived a bloody divorce, been used as drug collateral, served in the military and played competitive card games (it may not sound cool but I say that with pride). But many of these things aren’t interconnected and didn’t have grand emotional payoffs, lessons that occurred at the right time, or basically any stories that people outside my social circle would be interested in hearing. So what do I do with all these seemingly exciting things when you stack them all up? Well, I start with a lie.

Let’s take the military for example. While my military career was blessed with safety and stellar comrades, I could easily tweak that experience. I could add a tour to Iraq, a superior who was always on my back, or how I was the most physically fit soldier (I was too lazy unfortunately to be considered even above average). Basically I take the experiences I know and stretch the boundary of what is true while also being within the realm of what I know could possibly occur. Now equipped with my “lived lie” you could call it, it’s time to max that out.

So we’ll take my “lived lie” and add the trapping of the fantastical. I wasn’t just overseas, I was stranded alone without my unit, tied to an enemy who I couldn’t understand. Or my parents battled it out in a bloody divorce and I used this distraction to become a vigilante that hunts down and attacks homewreckers and adulterers. Or a rags to riches story as old as the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh, where I entered a card tournament to get money to pay for my sister’s operation. I made friends along the way and overcame everything as the loveable underdog.

While any of you could quickly think up the things I’ve listed, there is that important element of “lived”. Because I have slight experience in these fields, I can deliver something unique and outlandish and still have it ring true, not only to those unfamiliar, but also those who have experienced something similar. This is the way I’ve found easiest to write for myself. Again I’ll say I know I’m not the most interesting person. Still, I know how to make the things I’ve experienced interesting because I know the bounds of believability and relatability it takes to engage someone.

So if you’re looking for inspiration I would say start in your own life. Then make up lies about your life and use that creativity to make something cool, otherworldly, or unique. If you do that, you’ll never run out of ideas. But to do that, you’ll have to keep living and experiencing new things to lie about.