How to Experience Adventures Like a Writer (my first adventure post!)

Something I mentioned in a recent post about balancing life with writing was finding adventure. I’m big on having adventures and if I’m bored, it’s likely because I haven’t had one recently. XD But I think they’re even more important for writers for two reasons.

1. Having adventures is a great way to take a step away from writing and experience life.
2. No matter what genre you write, your story is going to have action and adventures… How can you write them if you haven’t experienced a few yourself?

Today I want to talk about how you can use your adventures as fodder for your stories. Starting with a story of a recent adventure of my own…

Story Time

Shortly after I wrote that post about balancing life with writing and I was all gung ho about finding my own adventures… I found one. Though it wasn’t a very pleasant one. XD

It was a beautiful day out and my whole family was outside doing random things. I was trying to teach my sister how to ride a rip stick, though that wasn’t working very well. My dad was cleaning out the garage and hollered over to us that he found a pair of roller blades and asked if we wanted to keep them. Well I was stoked about the possibility of roller bladding so I ran over to see if they would fit.

My dad, being my dad, told me to check the insides of them for any bugs before putting them on. But me being who I am (someone who actually loves bugs) really didn’t care about bugs and more about getting them on my feet so… I put them on.

Also, important note: I am always barefoot. Yes, that adds to the story. XD

I got one roller blade on and was going for the other when I felt something squishy on my toes. Something was blocking my foot. I peeked into the shoe and saw some saw dust type stuff. Since they had been next to my dad’s work spot, I didn’t think much of this. I simply tipped it upside down and dumped it out.

Y’all. For the record, I do not scream. Really, it either takes something to really scare or surprise me to make me scream. And even then I might just gasp really loud.

Well, when six baby mice fall out of the roller blade I screamed loud enough for the neighbors to hear miles away. Usually I love mice, but when they’re coming out of something I had just stuck my FOOT into… Yeah, that’s a different story.

My dad was still standing there, and what does he do? He starts laughing uncontrollably. -_- Yeah. Some help he was. XD

It really was pretty funny… After I got that squishy feeling out of my memory. I stuck my foot in that! It still makes me shiver. That may have been worse than the time my best friend and I decided to open baby spider sacks and had millions of little spiders crawling all over us. That’s not a feeling you soon forget.

Applying it to Storytelling

But how can adventures such as this apply to our writing? Well, the simple reason is this: it strengthens our storytelling.

You can’t tell me that I’m the only one who narrates the entire adventure in my head. After something fun or funny happens I write it out in my head how I would word it the best, preferably to get the most laughs out of my readers. Sometimes I even write it out like I did for this post.

This may seem silly and you may be wondering if this really works. Try it. That’s all I’ve got to say. I love it! Not only does it make you crave more adventures and therefore balance life and writing better, but it also makes you a stronger writer in the end.

You can do it right now. Just grab a piece of paper and a pencil and write out whatever your last adventure was. This can be as simple as a conversation you had with a sibling yesterday (mine often are XD). Don’t make it complicated! This is supposed to be a fun exercise.

Conclusion

A friend of mine recently told me I should start writing blog posts about fun adventures that I have (she’s probably tired of me always telling her them XD). That idea was largely the inspiration behind this post. Also added to the fact my resolution to balance life and writing better this summer, I thought writing adventure posts might be a fun way to force me to do this more.

So… What do you all think? Is this something you would like to see more of? Let me know in the comments below!

Your turn!

What was an adventure you recently had? Do you think I should write more adventure posts like this one? Do you ever write out fun stories like this one to help improve your writing?

Blessings, Allyson

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