Tips on How to Safely Use Your Background for Inspiration When Writing a Fiction Novel

Fiction novelists often find themselves struggling to create work that takes place somewhere outside of their own natural habitat. In other words, writers tend to wish to use what is familiar to them, such as a town or a group of individuals, as models for their books. However, most wish to conceal who or what was used as inspiration (for obvious reasons). For a few guidelines on how to use your personal history for motivation without making your work overly transparent, consider the following tips on how to safely use your background for inspiration when writing a fiction novel.

Tip #1: Transplant your familiar scenery to a new location. Grow up in the Appalachian Mountains? Why not transplant the feeling of mountain air caressing your face to Mount Kilimanjaro? In other words, your home town likely has characteristics that can be used to help you relate to environments that you may never have actually seen. Use the sights, sounds, and feelings that your natural environment has to offer to write on other locations that may offer similar characteristics.

Tip #2: Combine strong personality traits from several individuals to create one unique character. For example, rather than modeling your character entirely after one person in your life (which is a risky move, at best), consider taking several characteristics from a group of individuals who have influenced you to form a single, complex fiction hero, heroine, or villain.

Tip #3: Use familiar feelings for varied circumstances. Anger, regret, joy, disappointment, and peace can all be attributed to many different scenarios in life. While you may not have actually experienced what the characters in your fiction novel will experience, you can use an intense memory of your own to describe their feelings. Conjure up memories of the past while you convey your characters' feelings to add an extra touch of authenticity to your writing.

Tip #4: Feel free to interchange the sexes of the muses and the fiction characters. In other words, if your mother is a key source of inspiration for a character but you are not comfortable making the use of your muse obvious, simply change the character she is modeled after to a male. The character can still play a parental figure or have the same influence over the plot formation. Changing the sex of a character so that it is different from the inspiration used is an excellent (and easy) way to hang on to your muse without compromising relationships.

Tip #5: Change a vital part of a muse's physical appearance. In other words, if you plan to write a fiction novel loosely based on a childhood friend with blond hair, blue eyes, and a short stature, consider making him/her a statuesque brunette with deep chocolate eyes. Disguise your character physically without compromising his/her more important psychological and emotional attributes. Do be sure to see that the character's physical likeness still "matches" the personality you intend to portray, however.

Tip #6: Make the fiction story more complex than the original. In other words, add a few characters, scenes, and twists that will make the story that inspired you a bit less recognizable by readers who may notice the true elements (such as family and friends). While a scene from your own life may have inspired your story, the joy of fiction is to add to, or take away from, the whole as you like. Change the outcome, add a few new interesting elements, or throw in a few characters to keep your personal acquaintances from being able to see your inspiration too clearly. This is where your imagination comes into play.

Using your own personal background as inspiration for a fiction novel is a great way to add depth and a personal touch to your work. If you feel less than comfortable divulging the intimate details of your past, however, consider these tips in order to utilize what you know while masking what you wish to keep private.