Parallels

As you write, do you find that aspects of your life creep in to your characters, settings, or plots? 

Are arguments or conflicts between characters easier to narrate if you have experience similar? Writing then becomes an instant replay of your experiences. Of course, the adage “write what you know” epitomizes this theory but to what extreme? Do you reach a point where you allow your characters to take something to a level you can only fantasize about in reality?

How then does this factor into the editing process? As you reread a work, are the actions, language, responses so extreme that you fear what others may think. Not your general audience but those readers who are close to you. Those insiders who know or may perceive where this influence came from. Does this make your real relationships strained or more difficult? Is the door open for unusual but somewhat expected conversations requesting that you explain your influences?

In short, how closely does your writing parallel your life and/or the lives of those around you?

Just the end of the week ramblings which stop and make you question. Or do you?