Welcome back to another bloghop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.

Have you included any of your major life events in your stories?

Not as a matter of course, but I’ve certainly used things that happened to me and people I have known as the basis for storylines and scenes in several of my books.

Many of the more memorable experiences in my life come from the time I spent on Merchant Ships. All connected to the travelling, the exploration of foreign places and the technical stuff, as well as things that happened to me. While I haven’t directly referenced any particular event, a lot of it has been modified and sent out to shape my future and alternative worlds.

And there’s a reason I don’t just repeat them verbatim, here or anywhere. I have a sneaking suspicion that you might wonder if they were too fantastic to be true, just a figment of an old seafarer’s imagination, coupled with too much grog. You see, too few people are at sea these days to have much idea of what goes on out there. Any story you tell needs so much scene setting and explanation that it becomes boring before you get to the good part. And that’s before you allow for the fact that most of what I did has been changed by the advent of new technology.

My wife never believed what she used to call my “sea stories” until she accompanied me for a four-month trip. Then, having seen it for herself, she understood a bit more about it.

It opened her eyes to a whole new world. And for a nurse, who sees a lot of life on a daily basis, that takes some doing.

There’s no doubt that my chosen life made me observe and question the way things were, and wonder about how they might have been. But until I started writing, I never realised what a source of inspiration events from my working life could be.

Then you have to add the good and bad things from my off-duty life, the trials and tribulations of home, children and family. Life in general, if you like. Much of it can be mundane, but by looking at things in a different way, you can make the ordinary into an adventure.

In fact, just about everything in my life has been mined for use in the lives and times of my characters.

Because it doesn’t matter where you are, in time or space.

Life will still go on, ordinary things will happen, as well as the dramatic and exciting events that make up a story.

It follows that any experience you’ve ever had could happen again. And might never have happened in exactly the same way to anyone else.

If whatever happened to you sounds relatable, then it’s probably good enough for inclusion in a story.

In all respects, I’m grateful to the people I’ve met for their contribution, however unwittingly given.

If I had known that my working life would produce that much source material, I’d have paid more attention.

What do you think about this week’s subject?

Let me know by leaving me a comment.

While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.

I’ll be back with another post on Thursday. See you then. Meanwhile, have a great week.

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