Writing who you Know

As noted yesterday we're re-writing a chapter of Blooms because it became too personal.

This is not unusual. Writers very often include things, people and places they know, we certainly did in A Line through the Desert. That's our street, those are our friends, and Patricia Wallace is a real girl. We're even FB friends today. In 2003 It never occurred to us not to write that way and we wouldn't change it, except to add a character that was clearly William Stroock.

In subsequent novels we've toned down the urge to personalize, but what we know still creeps in. In one novel we took literary revenge in a way we regret today; bringing that son of a bitch into our art, what were we thinking? But we've also done so in a good way. The crew of Indian Navy Space Ship William Slim are our friends and neighbors. Remember, we live in Chindia.

The writer cannot help but reveal himself, but one can impose limits. One of the reasons we usually avoid sex scenes is becuase we'd only write about sex that we like, leaving the reader to conclude, 'Ahhhh, so that's what he's into....'