A New Discovery

 The following is a comment I received from my last post which I admit was some time ago. I enjoyed this comment as it got me thinking. Anything that gets my mind working I count as a benefit - it keeps us sharp. Anyway, back to the comment I was talking about. Here it is for you to read:

"Your last post dealt with age. I believe this goes hand in hand with today's post because as we age we experience more experiences! It truly is a wonderful teacher. It is much easier to write about something we've experienced first-hand, however, I've found at times I get an idea for a story that I have no experience in at all....or maybe I do but it has been a good many years and I have to update myself to make it more timely. Those are fun times of writing too as I get to learn... I love being taught by my characters, which you'll probably agree with me that we are taught whether they are walking through something we've previously experienced or not."

This comment brings about a great point. As nice as it is to write about what is known and within our comfort zone it is equally enjoyable to write 'outside the box' of our comfort and learn in the process. Research is a wonderful tool that not only develops our stories but enriches life. It is a win-win situation. However, I believe there needs to be a middle ground, a gray area if you will. Experiences we have in life can add a special element to our story and an intimate knowledge of a setting can add a new level of vivid description but we also need to sprinkle in the element of new discovery. It is in this new discovery that authors find their fire to progress a story to the end.

Writing is an extension of discovery. Even if we write a story about marriage because we have many years of experience being married there is still an element of discovery. Though writing we get to inspect a topic from different vantage points which oftentimes leads to learning something new that we may have missed before.

My thought on this is to find that balance between memory/experience and research/new knowledge. When combined properly we will end with a new discovery.