Funny Things to Write About

The thing to remember, writers and memoirists out there, is that if you "write what you know" you may run into a little problem. The problem is simply the fact that what we know best is how to avoid conflict. Unless we're gluttons for punishment, lawyers, or prize fighters, most of us spend most of our waking hours scheming as to how we will avoid conflict for the rest of the day. But stories are about conflict. You don't want to write your story about someone who is avoiding conflict-- this is a story's death knell. It's realistic, sure, but not very interesting. Keep in mind, when you are examining what you know for something to write about, that those moments when conflicts you've been trying to avoid finally come to a head are the moments of which stories are made. And they happen. No matter how hard we try to avoid them, they happen. Let this be your excuse to go ahead and let conflict happen. Take note of it. Observe it. Observe yourself and others. How do people deal with it? What does it mean to them? Now you're getting somewhere!