The Walkabouts - The Light Will Stay On

What goes into good fiction by an author? How is it created? It may be a fairy tale, a fantasy, or even a horror novel, but can one find traces of the author in the their fiction? Long before the popularity of shared voices and experiences, scholars and even really good readers learned to look for aspects of writers' life in their fiction. Some call it looking for fingerprints, the tiny details left by the author that acknowledges their identity, that reveals something personal about their experiences. Even specialists can look at their syntax and see patterns in how they construct sentences. Writers, we know, are thieves. Just look at all the quotes by Faulkner who told where he got the "stuff" for stories. An example of this process is the video I am playing now, which gave me the idea for my current WIP. Lyrics and images from this video are used over and over in my story. The truth is, all authors do this, even if they are not aware of it. Some more than others, and some in different and strange ways. "Write What You Know" may be more subtle than one thinks. Because what a writer knows, experiences, and sees in life does affect their work. There is no getting away from it. Also, what a writer pays attention to in life, shows, too. It's psychology. I call this creative process, "collecting artifacts." You are what you do, what habits you have, what you read, what you love, what you know. Even if something is set on the moon, the heart of the story, the psychology is you and the inside of your mind.