“Stories are memory aids, instruction manuals and moral compasses.” – Aleks Krotoski
Someone recently asked me if the heroine in my most recent book, Amulet, is based on me because I am a lawyer in my day job and Alex Weaver (the heroine) is also a lawyer. The answer is, of course, yes and no. Parts of Alex and her life are based on me and my own, but certainly not everything. Parts of several other characters, from Val, the hero of the story, to his feisty niece to his not-so-nice mother and sister also have bits of me in them, too.
This made me think about why I write stories to begin with. Am I a narcissist who wants to play God and create people in my own image and make up worlds and relationships and fates according to my will? It is a pretty heady feeling to have such control over someone’s destiny, even if that someone is fictional. Perhaps I am a little vain for enjoying the control I possess when I write, but when I came upon this month’s quote above, I realized there is a lot more to this desire to tell stories than just a power play.
“Stories are memory aids, instruction manuals and moral compasses.” It’s true—there are things that have happened in my life that I don’t want to forget. Conversations, relationships, scenes—moments that have affected me or taught me something or brought me joy. And I do infuse those experiences into each of my stories, embellished and altered to accommodate the characters and the romance that is ultimately the point of every book I write. Writing these experiences down (even in fictionalized form) is a way for me to remember, my memory aid. In Amulet, for example, the characters travel to Israel. I have been to Israel on business trips several times, and the sights, sounds, smells, and flavors are ones I wanted to remember. Needless to say, I did not have any type of romantic encounters on my trip (luckily for everyone involved), but that’s where imagination comes in.
Although my books are not “instruction manuals” or morality tales by any stretch of the imagination, I do write to teach, and I like to explore morality in my stories. I think of my daughters and what kind of people I hope they become, and I write characters who make good decisions and are rewarded for them (even if not initially) or make bad decisions and face the consequences of their actions. More than that, though, sometimes I feel that what I write is an instruction manual for me. I write to figure out why people do what they do, how to deal with feelings and emotions, and what makes us who we are. Concepts like forgiveness, jealousy, hope, despair, and (of course) love are complicated and difficult to rationalize, but writing about pretend people who have these real emotions teaches me something about myself and the people around me. And I think, in some way, it helps me learn to be a better person.
Any way I look at it, and for whatever reason I do it, writing is a joy for me. It makes me feel whole. It entertains me and keeps my brain working. It makes me smile. And if someone reading what I’ve written smiles once in a while, too, well then that’s just icing on the cake.
- Kathryn Amurra