Found Fiction: A Sneak Peek Prompt

Daydreams, Lies, and Trouble

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Robin Hemley, author of Turning LIfe Into Fiction, affirms that, despite what some writers claim, all fiction is drawn from real life experience—this is true for stories set on planet Earth and for stories set in some other galaxy. Inevitably, our emotions, our insights, our interpretations of life feed the characters we create on the page. But in order to write convincing, successful fiction, we must be willing to do more than record our experiences; we must be willing to transform them. How do we know if we’ve ‘transformed’ an experience? Is it enough to change the names? Change the place, the season, the situation? Yes and no.

The truest answer is that we know we have moved beyond recording when we are not tempted to say “But it really happened that way!” in response to someone who has raised an eyebrow of incredulity at our work. Interestingly, we know we have landed on fiction (rather than fictionalized reality) when our story tells a clearer truth than the one we could have told had we been faithful to the facts.

Indeed, fiction is a lie that tells a truth, so what better way to kickstart a story than with one character lying to another?

Put two people in close quarters. (A car is a great one because no one can easily escape.) Make one person tell a white lie to the other, and let the trouble begin.

Try writing just this one scene—the inciting incident, limit yourself to one point of view, and be sure to sprinkle in some setting so we can picture the moment. Naturally, you should use your life experience: Channel that sick stomach, those enflamed cheeks. Put all your sweaty guilt into your point of view character and then ask “What if?”