Use the dirty little secrets of those you love and care about.  Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?  Who would do that? Are you kidding me Janey?

I kid you not.  The skeletons in the closets of those around you are sat there, in the dark, gathering dust, and you owe it to them to take them out, air them, use them in your next story!

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are hidden in the most unlikely places.  Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it. –– Roald Dahl

Secrets and scandal are all around us.  Secrets are buried and rarely talked about because, to the bearer, they are of such monumental importance as to be quite shocking and scandalous if ever they are known.  By their very nature then, they are nuggets of information that are outside what may be classified as socially acceptable or morally right. Honestly, you probably couldn’t make up that stuff!  Use it then in your novel writing.  Change the names, the circumstances, move abroad, whatever you have to do.  Don’t divulge the source but do utilise that little snippet of wrongness or perhaps something really wonderful, and hand that secret to your protagonist or antagonist.  Do it to them, whatever it is, or put the secret inside their mind and then let them deal with the consequences.

The secret is out.  How will they ever pick up the pieces?  You see?  It’s okay to use this information if it doesn’t disclose the writer’s source.  After all, you’re not breaking a trust or telling a secret that isn’t yours to tell; it was the story people what did it M’Lord.

Like me, have you ever used real secrets or experiences in your novel writing?  Did you feel guilty afterwards?  Did it add to the tension for your story people?  Comment below and free the skeletons of this world.

Janey x