I’ve had a lot of clients who used their own lives as the starting point for their fiction story. They aren’t writing memoirs or autobiographies. They’re using a moment, a feeling, a person, an experience from their own lives as a starting point from which they spin a tale. Many successfully published authors will tell you they do this, too. Our lives are great fodder for fiction.

There are a few tips to keep in mind that can help make it easier to use your own life in your fiction.

I was watching a video of some kids dancing, recently—well, one of them was dancing. The other was running in figure 8s and 9s swinging his arms wildly in the air above his head. I’m a naturally cautious person and I kept cringing in anticipation of him whacking someone in the head or knocking something to the ground. But I also reveled in his obvious delight those helicoptering limbs portrayed. I was reminded of an action I’ve noticed occurring more and more in projects I've been editing:

The character “threw his arms up.”

I wonder if the character is overstimulated and letting off steam, like the boy in my dance video.