Writing Fiction Based On Your Life: A Chat With Jessica Berg

How do you write what you know? By writing fiction based on your life. This doesn't mean writing memoir or simply changing the names of the people in your life: It could be a passing comment you hear at the bus stop, or someone's missing shoe you notice in the street, or it could even just be a feeling from a time in your life..the list goes on and on.

(How To Be More Media-Savvy: A Chat With Paula Rizzo)

In this episode of "Writer's Digest Presents," editor Michael Woodson sits down with author and literary agent Jessica Berg about how to write fiction based on your life, how you can find inspiration everywhere, how to mine your life for story ideas in real time, and more.

Jessica Berg is a literary agent, author, and the founder of Rosecliff Literary, where she champions bold, emotionally resonant fiction with unforgettable characters, strong stakes, and a sense of urgency.

She is especially drawn to literary, upmarket, historical, and supernatural suspense, with a soft spot for haunting atmosphere, richly layered relationships, and characters who carry deep emotional wounds.

A multi-nominated writer with an MFA from Spalding University, Jessica brings a sharp editorial eye and a hands-on, strategic approach to agenting. She is a member of AALA and EFA and provides developmental feedback for Writer’s Digest. Represented by Amy Collins at Talcott Notch, she splits her time between crafting her own stories and guiding her clients through every stage of their publishing careers.

On How Much Fiction to Put Into Our Life On the Page: "I think part of what we do as authors is cathartic. We're working through our own Big-T Trauma, little-t trauma, to understand why we act the way we do. So, how much do we put in? I think we take the juiciest bits and then we twist them and we fictionalize them and dramatize them so that they feel familiar because they're lived experiences, but they're not so thinly veiled that our friends and family will be able to say, 'Oh actually, I remember it differently.'" - Jessica Berg

On Having Enough Curiosity to Find Story Everywhere: "I was on a girl's trip with a bunch of author and publishing pals. We're on the train, and we see one shoe. It's a group of four women, and we see one shoe, and we all are in publishing and writing in some way, and immediately we start telling a story. 'Oh well this happened and then this happened,' right? Because that's what we do as humans. Now, the person who lost the shoe, they're probably like, 'Oh, I lost a shoe.' It's not a most significant moment, but to us it was this really fun experience to say, 'What happened and how did it happen?' and we were able to construct narrative around it. So, when we look at how our lives might not be 'dramatic enough' or full enough or have experiences worth telling, I have to say that's not true. Because that example reinforced to me the fact that all you need is a little bit of curiosity, and then you can talk about anything." - Jessica Berg

On A Feeling Being A Truth From Life for Our Fiction: "The concept of something can also be truth from our lives. I was asked to write a story about the coming out experience. I was then interviewed about it, and they asked, 'Is this true? Did this actually happen?' And no. Nothing in this story happened, but the feeling that this gives me is true. I decided to run with no event in my life, but the feeling of all of these things—melancholy or nostalgia or something—bring up a truth in me that then was so much easier to fictionalize and put into scenes. I think authors understandably are like, 'I don't have a lived experience that I can pull from.' But how did this thing make you feel? Fictionalize the truth of that feeling." - Michael Woodson