Lately I have been reading books with advice for writing fiction. Most of them suggest writing about something you know, like your life for instance. The books say our personal experiences can provide for great stories that lead into fiction, or for me a novel.
Great! I have plenty of exciting personal experiences!
But wait!
The words of wisdom from these books on writing fiction say not to actually write about your life because your life has no plot, and a good book needs a plot. Hmmm.
But there are so many good stories...
Like rolling my suitcases down the streets of Washington D.C. to try and find my hotel for a leadership conference I was attending. I thought the bus would let me off at the hotel, only to find out from the unsympathetic lady behind the counter at the bus stop that I would have to find my way to the hotel by myself. Which I did, evn though I was only sixteen, from a town of less than 200 people, alone, strolling through the streets of Washington D.C. and not the good side of town.
Ok. No plot. But there is a little drama.
Then there was the time in Alaska when I couldn't get the 1980 diesel Oldsmobile- Stella- started at the gas pump in Anchorage. Some extremely nice girl came to my rescue and helped me push the car off to the side. Only in the process of moving the car I put the car in neutral and shut the door. I quickly remembered when you put the car in neutral, or any gear, the doors automatically locked. That was bad. But the nice girl found a nice guy who was able to unlock my car.
No plot again, but there was drama and a very happy ending.
My driving record is a completely other post, but there again, no plot.
I guess all this means is the plot will be left up to my imagination. With the personal experiences I have had, I'm sure I can come up with an interesting plot.
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