Two Truths & One Lie

Sometimes the truth makes for better fiction than fiction does. Often the best fiction is based in truth using poetic license to embellish it and create a story. Good writing has to be believable; the best source is usually what you already know well.

Explore this technique:
Start a section in your journal or even a separate journal in which you examine your life systematically. The questions listed below will help you define the person you are. Once you’ve finished answering them and writing about those answers, start coming up with your own questions to answer. Examining your life and recording your observations will provide you with an invaluable source of material.

Use these questions as springboards. Once you’ve answered them, react to your responses.

• List in detail all the places you have lived – one place per page. This is a good place to begin because it gives your journal a concrete grounding in time and place. You might want to get very specific by recounting the different rooms, etc.
  
• Next, recall if you were happy or unhappy in those places.
  
• Consider your parents’ relationship, from their point of view.
  
• List important family members: brothers and sisters, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins. What were the dynamics of your nuclear family? Your extended family?
  
• List smells – indoor and outdoor – and the memories they conjure up.
  
• Do you have any recurring dreams or nightmares? Start a section for your dreams.
  
• Ask your self. What did I care about when I was five, ten, twelve, fifteen, etc.? What do I care about now? How might my feelings change about what’s important to me now?
  
• What is your five-year plan?

Exercise:
First, read these three stories. Two are true, and one is a lie. Try to figure out which one is fiction, and note what elements of each story helped you come to your conclusion.

Now you're going to try this yourself. For this activity, you are actually going to go against the rules of journaling; you will have to think and edit in order to accomplish this task. Write two true stories about yourself and one lie about yourself. Write these stories in a way that no one will be able to tell the difference between the truths and the lie. Make sure these statements are all about you; not a friend or family member.

When you're finished, proofread for publication, post the results, and let us know that your stories are up for us to read.

Happy writing!