Reality Bites...

I have often begun writing stories only to realise about halfway through that I am unconsciously basing my story on people I know or situations I have been in instead of inventing something completely new. There is some creative liberty that I take but essentially the story remains true to reality. It just helps prove that art does imitate life and maybe there is nothing wrong in that, but I just can't help feeling that it's wrong. I have deleted countless such stories only because I have felt all too strongly how I would feel being in another person's position and seeing my life out there for all to see, but maybe that's just me. Moreover, I think it really matters to me what people think and while we are always preached that 'it should never matter what someone else thinks', I think there is nothing wrong with that. Man is a social animal and needs to survive by getting along with people; sure, there might be a few outliers who genuinely do not care about what people think of them or their actions but even they value the opinion of those few people who matter to them. For the rest of us, things might not be so easy, we may even heed the opinion of a new acquaintance. While I wouldn't recommend that, I really think there is nothing wrong with going along with the crowd, or wanting approval from those around us, its all a part of life. But I digress, my point here was about being unable to write about things that are too close to reality. But ironically, some of best pieces of writing have been I have broken that mold and written true (but well disguised) stories. I guess this is why I am such a big fan of metaphors. I am so much more comfortable relating feelings to abstract things or everyday incidents instead of putting it down as an actual story. I am also good at it, so I don't think I'm going to change anything. My 'stories' shall continue to be metaphorical with the occasional one of reality thrown in, it should keep things interesting and prevent me from becoming predictable, for I do think that I tend to get predictable sometimes. Here's to keeping those surprises coming. Cheers!