Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Catrina Barton on March 13, 2012 at 12:26pm

I find some of the more humorous aspects of having kids inspire some of my stuff. Like when my eldest bit into a sour grape for the first time. XD

Permalink Reply by Cindy Vine on March 24, 2012 at 2:53am

Children are a great source, and I would say you can use little incidents as long as you combine them with those of friends' children, so that in the end you have created a new child.  I've done this very thing in my new novel C U @ 8.  I got the idea for the novel while I was counseling my eldest daughter after her relationship ended badly.  Before we knew it, we were brainstorming the plot of the book together!

Permalink Reply by Sascha Stevens on April 24, 2012 at 6:14am

"How can we preserve our children's privacy and still mine this emotional gold for the compelling stories that inspire us to write?"

Preserving my children's privacy is one of the issues I struggle with. My writing is non fiction. Much of what I write about (and would eventually like to write) is guarded by my own fear that certain aspects of my personal life would be revealed to my children. How can I let my creative beasts run wild, without sacrificing the writer within?

Permalink Reply by Jo Michaels on July 12, 2012 at 6:31am

I use stories from my own childhood but give my characters the personalities of my kids. Abigale is a lot like my daughter, and Emmett is exactly like my son. They love being in the stories I write and their eccentricities make for compelling characters. Just keep their names out and change their ages a bit :)