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Erin Kane's avatar

I'm not yet comfortable writing memoir - I'm working on fictional pieces. I have a writing teacher who pushes me to give my fictional characters all of my problems. And even my friends' problems. Those trust issues, emotional traumas, eating disorders, and other wounds reveal my characters' wants and needs which then drive the story into something uniquely theirs rather than mine. So I get some catharsis without revealing my personal story in detail.

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Cali Bird's avatar

I remember a talk that Elizabeth Gilbert gave where she said, if you want to know what's really going on in someone's life, read their fiction. I think as writers that we have to be comfortable with quite a high level of sharing our lives. But as you say, we can decide where to draw the line. One of my writer friends says that putting your writing 'out there' is like walking down the street naked. Everyone can see what you've got and who you are!

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