Writing in Authority

I’ve always believed that one should write what one knows most about, especially something one knows firsthand. Some of the best love stories that moved us did so effectively because they were inspired by real events and characters.

It’s a belief echoed by my friend, an English teacher now based in the States. In an old e-mail, she tells me about her dreams of writing her own love story.

I still have a box so huge it’s almost as big as a balikbayan box that contains tins of my old letters from my ex. It’s probably around 2 1/2 years worth of letters and he wrote pretty frequently a couple of times EVERY WEEK. . .

But i saved them all, and even paid excess baggage for it, ’cause some sick part of me knew i would someday turn this pile of trash around into a book or screenplay. I want to start little by little . . . but . . . i don’t want to be distracted by blasts from the past that is surely to “haunt” me once i open that pandora’s box of letters. . . maybe i could start writing from sheer memory without the aid of his old letters, but . . . i know once i begin, i won’t stop writing.