I went to see Becoming Jane last weekend with a couple of guy friends. Convincing two guys to go see a movie about Jane Austen isn't an easy thing, but since my birthday was approaching (it was yesterday), I played the birthday "card" and said that it was what I wanted to do. The movie theater was packed beyond belief. Apparently, it's a limited release because only one theater in my home town is showing it.
I was intrigued by the movie because I wanted to see how a well-known and well-respected author incorporated her own experiences into her work. According to a downloadable book club guide that is available on the movie's official website, "The film spins the few known facts surrounding Austen's real-life flirtation with Irish lawyer, Tom Lefroy, into a tale of personal passion and social complications that could have inspired Jane to become the ingenious and timeless observer of human relationships and romances that she soon did."
So, we don't really know for sure whether or not the movie accurately depicts her romantic life or not, but if it does, it's easy to see why Austen's six novels have been so successful. She would have been able to tap into the emotions she felt for Lefroy in real life and translate them into her characters' emotions. But still, in Pride and Prejudice the boy gets the girl. In real life, Austen was never married. I'm guessing it wasn't a huge leap for Austen to take though. If she knew love, she could easily imagine what that love might look like in the context of marriage.
Some novelists use fiction to make sense of their own lives. If they've struggled to find love, they often create two characters who find each other against all odds--almost in an attempt to give themselves hope. And since they are writing out of a wellspring of lack, they understand the emotions and turmoil that someone in their characters' position might feel because they've spent so much time feeling the same way.
I don't have any novels published, but I'm a novelist at heart. In the two novels I have written I've explored topics in my own life. I have an idea for a third novel, and it comes from a different place than the other two did. I'm not going to say it's more advanced thinking...it's just further down the road on my journey--a more realistic view of life.
But none of this means that a novelist must write from his or her own specific set of experiences or wants. I know several novelists who cover a myriad of topics in their work. They are so good at analyzing and understanding human behavior that they are able to write about nearly anything and make it seem realistic. I admire them for that. I hope to be there some day. Or maybe not. I think I could be quite content exploring exploring my own experiences.
