Before I started my career as a writer, I practiced writing through essays. Personal ones. Often way too personal, but I was a teenager; I didn’t know any better. I learned a lot from that work. Especially about how seamless it can be to write a story that isn’t about you, but still features everything you know and care deeply about.
Writing requires vulnerability because the best stories are the ones we tell straight from our hearts. You can try to avoid it, but that won’t end well for you. Trust me.
It May Not Be Autobiographical, But You’re Still In There
I eventually, mostly, stopped writing about myself. But my “self” still shows up in everything I write. These are my words, after all, and they come from me. The stories I write are a reflection of what I know and believe. Where I come from; where I hope to go. Who I used to be, and who I’ve become.
Authentic stories that resonate with people come from a writer’s ability to be open and honest about their experiences and the things that matter to them. You don’t have to make yourself the main character of a story to still leave your mark on it, and therefore, on anyone who reads what you’ve written.
Our Stories Come From Us, Way Deep Down
In my fiction (I’m still working on my debut novel, but I’ve written a dozen books as practice) I tend to write about relationships between people and how they change over time. This has always been a fascinating element of life for me, but I’ve also had — being alive — a lot of experience watching my own relationships with people shift as I’ve gotten older.
I can’t help that this interest — and yes, sometimes grief and pain — comes through in my work. It matters to me, so I write stories about it. The best writers take what they know from living and make stories out of it. You’re going to show up in those stories whether you like it or not because you’re building them off of your own experiences, thoughts, and feelings. It’s a good thing. It makes our stories more human (and it’s the reason generative AI can’t be a novelist).
This Is How You Build a Legacy
It’s part of being human, this need to feel like we’re leaving some kind of impact on the world. The worry that we’ll leave behind nothing of value when we’re gone isn’t just common; it’s real. Writing stories that matter to you leaves pieces of you behind within those pages. And for many, that’s a legacy worth leaving.
Your words can and will exist beyond you. If you dare to write them down, that is. If you want to be remembered, let the stories you write show who you are, even if it’s subtle. It doesn’t have to be ABOUT you. But you have to let yourself shine through. It will make a difference, in the end.
Meg Dowell Writes 