“A story should generate it’s own actions and emotions organically…A story should be authentic…made of stuff that has never been appropriated from other forms of narrative art…other stories…movies or television. Or it has it should be sufficiently re-processed through the author’s unique sensibilities so the resulting work has its own authenticity.”
—Peter Selgin, 179 Ways to Save a Novel: Matters of Vital Concern to Fiction Writers
A story should have it’s own unique characters and plot.
Well if this be the case why are writers encouraged to read for more than the experience of learning writing technique? Reading makes us think.
Many writers say they cannot or find it difficult to read another writer’s work while they are writing their own story or novel.
They fear that the work they are reading will influence their writing—that it will bleed into their artistry and overshadow the creation of their imagination.
But what if what we are reading serves as a blade upon which to sharpen and clarify our perspective?
“There are two or three human stories and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened.” –Willa Cather, O Pioneers
Our perspective is what makes our stories and art unique.
No two people who have lived have undergone the exact same experiences and held the same view on those experiences, not even identical twins.
That is why you and I may tell a story based upon the same or similar events, but the plot will differ, if only slightly.
And this is due to the differences and contrasts in characters—their personalities as shaped by experiences.
The characters I create for my stories will differ from those you craft because they are rooted in a groundswell of experiences shaped by a composite of events I have undergone—those happenings of my life and living that can never match yours and vice versus.
Neither perspective is better or worse than the other simply distinct and unique.
Thus to write with authenticity and authority, passion and clarity we must know not only know our experiences.
We must also become intimately acquainted with ourselves as shaped by the events of our lives, past and current.