Big Ideas From Little Experiences
We’ve all heard that we should write what we know. But what if what we know doesn’t seem worthy to write about?
Have you ever sat listening to your friends and family tell stories and think, “If I had adventures (or misadventures) like that I would always have something to write about”?
I’ve listened to stories of traveling to Peru and hiking up Machu Picchu, whitewater rafting down the Colorado River, strolling the streets of Paris, and destination weddings. I know someone who survived a house fire and another who was stood up at the alter. Compared to all that, my life seemed pretty uneventful, certainly nothing book or story worthy.
But after attending a writing group a few months back and doing an exercise where we wrote down as many experiences we could think of, big or small, that others may not have experienced, I had a different outlook on my writing. I looked back on my childhood and the small town I grew up in. What could I have possibly experienced that others had not?
Then I remembered the bushes at the edge of our field where we picked and ate sour gooseberries while we slapped at mosquitoes buzzing in our ears.
I remembered wet mittens and frozen fingers as we rolled up garden hoses after flooding the skating rink in our back yard in subzero temperatures. And playing hockey under the stars and the crisp sound of skate blades digging into the ice.
I remembered standing behind a red metal gate at the butcher shop as a cow was brought in to slaughter while the stank of fresh blood still hung in the air from the last butchering.
I remembered the disappointment of traveling to northern Minnesota for summer vacations while neighbors went to Florida. While they were enjoying Disney World, I was touring a paper mill.
I remembered my first job, at fifteen, working on the cleanup crew in a turkey processing plant.
On and on I wrote, conjuring up memories and reliving my past.
From this writing exercise I learned that no matter how small and mundane my experiences may seem to me I can draw from them and create believable and loveable characters with conflict and mystery and heroes. After all, my favorite books are based on small towns.
Carol Kalmes is a writer of short stories and flash fiction that always seem to have an unsuspecting twist at the end. She has published a My Guardian Angel story in Woman’s World magazine. She loves entering contests and is currently looking for the next place to submit her flash fiction.