Real life experience is key to my works - it is what inspires many writers, not just from poetry, short stories or novels but every field of creative writing. Dickinson and Cheever are obvious examples. Cheever's stories are known for featuring alcohol, as he was himself an alcoholic. Christopher Wolstenholme, the bassist for the band, Muse, wrote and sang two songs, Save Me and Liquid State, for the album, The Second Law. It was based on his experience as an alcoholic ' 'Liquid State' was written about the person you become when you're intoxicated ... 'Save Me' was about having the family, the wife and kids, and ... at the end of it, you realise that they're still there and the ones who pulled you through.' (2012, Muse's Chris Wolstenholme on Alcohol Battle: 'I had to stop or die' [online] available at: http://www.nme.com/news/muse/65148 [accessed 21/2/13])
I've been writing horror and fantasy for years that are mostly violent and graphic. I can admit, I am capable at writing disturbing content - this is because of personal experience. I've been jabbed many times with a needle, bled profusely from blood tests, and even witnessed an inserted tube coil up inside my vein! Because of this, I am unaffected by the horrors that i write as I have already experienced my own. Slasher films doesn't affect me, hence why watching a victim getting mutilated or butchered does nothing but make me laugh because it borders stupidity.
I like how you've used a musician's perspective in a parallel with those of Cheever and Dickinson as well as yourself as writers - it's all creative output at the end of the day!
ReplyDeleteI like the part about why you are influenced to write horror stories, and the stuff about your experience in hospital is particularly interersting.
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