"Nasty, brutish, and short. . . ."

[Ravana]

You could, I suppose, omit that aspect of your father's character… it isn't directly relevant to the rest of the account. May not help much in terms of memories coming back, but at least you won't have to decide how to set them down–which would of necessity require a much closer inspection of them.

-

(One tangential recommendation: look up the poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke. You'll understand why when you see it, I suspect.)

 

[grahamguitarman]

I like that, good poem.

I dunno why I suddenly got so nervous about the idea of writing about it, it was a long time ago and he doesn't scare me anymore. It was just a sort of sudden panic attack I guess.

I doubt I could do a novel without having to explore all of that, which I'm not interested in at the moment. But the more I think about it the more I like the idea of a short story describing my life back then.

Might have a go and post the results in the showcase

 

[Graham Irwin]

Graham, I imagine that many of us had the kinds of fathers that made us want to escape into fantasy.

Mine wasn't abusive, but he wasn't there. Coincidence that my first book is about a boy looking for his missing father?

Er, no.

 

[grahamguitarman]

Lol I always wished that my father wasn't there, that he would go away and never return.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I too have suffered more in my life than most, and often wonder if my writing and art are too influenced by those factors. I draw inspiration from my own experiences, but do readers identify with the sort of punishment through which I put my characters?
Looking back at my own life, all the misfortune which has befallen me can only be my own fault, as it all happened when I was grown, but I do have concerns that I am somewhat desensitized because of it. I wonder whether my writing is too raw or controversial; maybe even offensive.

 

[Fnord]

That was a great story, Grahamguitarman. I remember back in the 80s, I lived in rural Western PA in a small trailer park and we had one of the worst snowstorms I ever witnessed one year. The electricity was knocked out for a week and we had no way to get into town with all the snow and ice. We had this little kerosene heater in the middle of the living room and that's what we slept around and cooked on. We didn't have a ton of food, so we were rationing what we could and without electricity the pipes froze pretty quickly (since the underside of mobile homes aren't insulated) so we didn't even have running water.

That was a long week, but it certainly gives you perspective. But those are shaping experiences, for sure.

 

[grahamguitarman]

Yeah its those kind of experiences you draw on when writing, its what makes your work more real. I read a recent interview with Terry Pratchett, and when asked what advice he could give aspiring writers, he replied that you should go out and live. Get a few years of real life experience under your belt and then write (he meant a couple of decades here, not just one or two years BTW). And I think that is very sound advice, the more you experience things first had the better you write.

I've just got started on writing a short story based on the experiences I mentioned above. Its actually beginning to be an enjoyable and enabling experience. As it reminds me how much I loved that part of my life, despite having a physically abusive drunk for a father, and makes me realise how strong I've become since then.

Anihow, I wouldn't worry about being too raw or controversial, if it comes from the heart then people will feel that, and the work will become better for it. The important thing is to be always asking yourself how you would feel in a given situation, based on your previous experience.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I write about things which have moved me, or have otherwise left their mark on me. I feel my writing is very genuine, but I wonder how it would come off to a reader. See, I have never let anyone read anything. I just sent the first 50 pages of my 7th novel to an agent, but no one I know has ever read my work other than maybe a snippet in an email or something. Only a few people in my life even know I write at all.
I have no idea how people would react to the subjects I choose to write about, because I don't censor anything I feel is real. Since I write a renaissance sort of setting, I base the moral fiber of my characters and cultures loosely off of our own history, and I just wonder if modern people can handle it.
I don't know what has desensitized me so, but it would probably make me throw up to read about a shiny happy world where unicorns frolicked on rainbows. My unicorns (if I ever write some) kill people. Rainbows only come out after a storm wreaks havoc on a village, destroying crops and setting several houses alight. <= Actually, that might be an exaggeration, I write a lot about love and friendship and loyalty and family as well.... it just seems like I enjoy writing a more genuine and sometimes raw view of the world and people, and I wonder whether a reader would prefer the murder, rape, torture, and brutality; or the frolicking unicorns.....
(None of it is randomly written and thrown in for shock value or anything like that.)

 

[Caged Maiden]

No unicorns were hurt, emotionally or otherwise, in the writing of my last post. I like unicorns just fine, I just don't have any in my books.