I think, when people ask this, what they want to know is if I have experienced any or all of the situations I write about. If this is what they are asking, then the answer is usually, ‘no!’ I imagine the scenarios I put my characters through. They are in the stories I tell myself as I fall asleep at night, so I think about them quite minutely before letting one turn up in a novel or short story.
If I confined my writing to experiences I’ve had, then I’m pretty sure no one would want to read it. I don’t think my autobiography is going to crop up anywhere any time soon. I’m a watcher, not a do-er. I’m a thinker, not an actor. I’m careful and safe – exciting things rarely happen, because I don’t want them to.
And, of course, the other answer to this question is: all. All of me is in my writing. I am my writing and my writing is me.
When I write, it is an all-encompassing process. I seldom think properly or deeply about anything other than my WIP. It holds little observations that I make. It holds ideas I am toying with – sometimes without knowing utterly what I believe. It holds the key to my head. It is like a diary of my thought processes. It is a chunk of me.
This is one of those questions that does crop up a lot, and I agree with you on this one. All of me and none of me.
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Here, here: all and none of me. And dear reader, I’m telling you which is which.
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The first novel I wrote was very much based on my own life with a bit of magic and interesting life events thrown in. My current WIP is definitely not based on my life but it’s just as you said ‘i am my writing and my writing is me’. Having people close to me read my writing is like baring my soul for all to see, it’s so difficult!
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