Writers play hide and seek

I’ve been surprised by how much the characters and situations I’m writing about in fiction class are based on my experiences in Texas.

I write about people, places, and feelings from NYC, too. So past and present mix to yield interesting results.

Playwright Neil LaBute puts it beautifully in the preface to his play Reasons to Be Pretty:

We writers stare into a variety of mirrors, studying the faces of people we don’t yet know as we make them up, working to create a series of believable psychological profiles for a bunch of folks who don’t really exist. I prefer it to life most of the time, as it’s much safer and a whole lot easier. These “people” all seem to be the same as us, unfortunately - my flaws become theirs and their wants and loves grow out of my own, and suddenly I’m surrounded by the same miserable, lovely, lonely, sad, terrific people that I was escaping from in the first place.

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