by Maggie King
“A writer wastes nothing.” This saying is attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald. The renowned writer mined his college years to create his debut novel, the autobiographical This Side of Paradise.
I recently attended an outdoor event in a local park and feel inspired to write about it—in fiction form.
The crowd at this event was large, the air heavy with humidity. Virginia is a steamy place in the summer! I drank little water as I was unsure if facilities were available or even nearby (they weren’t). After standing for over an hour, the crowd started to leave—slowly.
A feeling of lightheadedness came over me and my vision blurred. To say I was frightened was an understatement. I was with friends and the crowd was friendly, so I wasn’t in danger. But the feeling of losing consciousness is scary and uncomfortable under any circumstances.
One of my friends let me lean on her until we came to a tree where I sank to the ground and sat back. People gave me bottles of cold water to drink and press against my wrists. I ate one of my melted protein bars. In no time I felt revived, grateful that I hadn’t passed out. A couple of EMTs showed up and took my vitals (they pronounced them fine!). I opted not to go to the hospital. Dehydration was named the culprit.
One of my friends left to get the car. The EMTs parted the crowd for me, and one of them stayed with me until the car arrived. While we waited, she asked what I did for work.
“I’m a writer, and I’m already planning to use this experience in a story.”
After all, a writer wastes nothing.
As I know how frightening it is to feel on the verge of losing consciousness, I can bring a visceral feeling to the story. My imagination will ratchet up the danger, raise the stakes. Possibly elements of a Hitchcock film I’ve seen is inspiring me as well.
My preliminary idea is based on a series of what ifs:
- What if this is a hostile crowd, in addition being a slow moving one?
- What if my character, a woman, is alone?
- What if the heat and humidity make her feel lightheaded and make her vision blur?
- What if she is carrying a quantity of cash and/or jewels that she’s stolen?
- What if she is being pursued–by law enforcement? Another criminal? Both?
She must stay conscious and she must evade her pursuer.
Yikes!
A writer wastes nothing.
Has a personal experience ever led you to write about it, especially in fiction form? Tell us about it.
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The Writers in Residence 
What a wonderful post and phrased so succinctly while at the same time giving writers a formula for using our own personal experiences for material. What could be closer to the truth and thus come across as authentic for the reader? Tucking away moments in our lives so we can call upon them for our books is a gift – unless our memory begins to fade as we age!! Which, come to think of it, is material of its own.
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Thanks for your supportive comments, Jill. I appreciate your take on aging–but perhaps our long term memory is more reliable than the short term! Of course we can always be creative with memory.
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I agree with Jill – our own life experiences provide a wealth of ideas and a greater sense of reality in our writing. Recalling just one simple incident can inspire a whole novel – especially with all the ‘what ifs’ we can muster!
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Rosemary, what-ifs may well be the heart of our writing. Thanks for your comment.
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And I agree with both Jill and Rosemary. Everything writers do, see or experience can trigger story ideas. Your post was both interesting and inspirational Maggie. I hope you’re all better and rehydrated now–and will look forward to hearing what you do with this in a story!
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Thanks, Linda. Yes, I’m pretty well-hydrated–and I know what can happen when I’m not! My first novel started out with a what-if scenario based on a past incident in my life. A writer wastes nothing!
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Maggie, your post not only proves we don’t waste anything, but we can create something – or some things – out of every experience, if we put our imaginations to work. The number of attention-grabbing scenarios you came up with impressed me. As for the rest of us, I’m sure we’ve all used incidents in our lives to give a realism to elements of our stories, whether happy, tragic or odd. Even in fiction, if readers can relate, they’ll believe what we’ve written.
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Miko, I love this: “Even in fiction, if readers can relate, they’ll believe what we’ve written.” Because readers are at the heart of the writing experience.
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Writers get to use everything from their own experiences to those of friends or stuff we see on television and then make up the rest. We can’t be in all places at all times, but our imagination can. Great post. Glad you didn’t pass out.
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Indeed we’re never at a loss for writing ideas. Developing them can be a challenge—but we’re up to the challenge! Note: I’m staying indoors till the fall.
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I’ve done this too. I went on five short term mission trips to Malawi, Africa to work with children. They inspired a series of ten short stories written for middle-grade children from the point of view of kids in a missionary family living there. They circulated among the kids in our church, and made it online and into contests. Several people say they’ve read them to kids in their own children’s groups.
So I know how experiences – perhaps expanded with a bit of fiction – can make wonderful stories.
Thanks for showing how YOUR experience will blossom (explode?) into a story.
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Your stories sound wonderful, Jackie. I’m sure your readers appreciate them (and what inspired them).
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