‘Is this scene about you?’ Lisa said, her brows furrowed worry-worn grooves. ‘Did this happen to you?’
My writing tutor, Lisa had just read a scene from a manuscript I’m working on about a woman who has an incident with her husband while on holiday in France. It was a nasty, cold, violence-infused moment.
‘No. It’s based on something I overheard in Aix-en-Provence and I’ve laced it with all the emotion I’ve ever felt when my husband and I have been at odds. It’s also got elements of other situations I’ve heard of that happened to friends. It’s sort of an every-woman experience.’
‘Wow. It’s so real I got goosebumps,’ Lisa replied, her tone carried the relief that she wouldn’t have to counsel me to seriously reconsider the relationship I was in if it was me.
When we read something that resonates. When we read something that we recognise, either in ourselves, or in others, something powerful is sparked within us. It’s the universal humanity of experience.
While my story is about a fictional character, it’s also a conglomeration of every woman I’ve ever known who has struggled to find her place in her own relationships. Where there’s an imbalance of power, a subjugation of needs and wants and a sense of shame there are women everywhere who can relate, even if they haven’t been in that exact scenario. A fictional character or situation can viscerally remind us of a real someone or something in our own lives. That is the wonderful thing about great writing, or acting or music, or art. Art makes emotions and experiences recognisable. In that moment of recognition, it’s not about art, they’re about ourselves.
The challenge is to create art that is powerful enough to spark recognition.
Photo Credit: Heidi Hondema
It is interesting how one word can spark memories that one believes she has buried beyond recognition. Mandy Nachampassack-Maloney
