What DOES the writing reveal about the author?

Nowadays, most people would have heard the idea that in fiction, the writing reveals a great deal about the author. But what does this actually mean? It’s a question that’s crossed my mind every now and again since I first heard the saying sometime in elementary school, and the answer came to me, surprisingly, when I was studying my own work.

The truth I found, is that while the concept of an author’s writing revealing themselves is wholeheartedly true, there is no set way for an author to appear in their work. A person’s writing, whether it be the story or the writing itself, can reveal part of themselves.

It’s impossible to bullshit everything:

One of my first clues as to why this occurs is another common expression – ‘write what you know’. The phrase doesn’t mean to solely write about your own life, but instead to use your experiences to your advantage.

When the author can be found in the writing, it makes the story feel real to the reader. An author putting themselves into their work is not always intentional – speaking from personal experience – and it can be to any scale. It can be something small, like the author giving a character their favourite hobby or their biggest pet peeve, or something much larger, such as setting the scene in their hometown (as I tend to) or creating a world where everyone is bisexual and gender is an illusion (a friend of mine did this and it was quite the insight into how she saw the world).

The reality of the situation is that writers take on many roles in their writing. They have to be ballet dancers, teachers, politicians, fairies, and so much more. It’s hard for someone to write genuinely about experiences they’ve never had, and a reader can absolutely tell when it’s entirely fake.

Where the author can be found:

When it comes to the tone of a story, the author’s attitude or opinion towards a certain topic is shown through word choice (specifically adjectives) or the writing style. It passively leads the reader to a (opinion based) conclusion on how they’re made to see the world of the story.

When an author is overly critical of something, it could mean a distaste or criticism of said thing. Calling a fast-food joint ‘a sticky hell of grubby-handed kids and obesity’, or politicians ‘the opposite of fae’ (every word is a lie), suggests the author’s own disliking. Whereas a constant sense of praise or empowerment reveals the author’s support or preference.

In either case, the author’s overall outlook can be found throughout, in little asides like a children’s bedtime story, in passionate monologues, or in reoccurring passages (criticizing acts of hate, constant pessimism or optimism, so on and so forth).

Identifying the author through reoccurrence can be tricky though, because it could either be a repeated topic throughout one story, or a repeated topic in many stories. It could be a character, a character trait, a conflict, anything. When it comes to reoccurrence, it’s all about the details.

Now, in real life I’ve only just begun to self-identify as asexual and seek consul for my developing anxiety, but these two concepts have been in my stories for years. Upon looking back, I found that in all my stories there’s a (usually main) character who’s asexual, and none of my characters have passionately romantic or sexual scenes, simply because I cannot write them. Instead, affection is shown in small moments of shy physical comfort, like leaning into one another or a soft brushing of fingers. There’s also always a sense of anxiety, appearing as a constant worry over the future or an inability to move on from the past. It’s led to me questioning if some part of myself knew and was trying to tell me through my stories.

But what’s revealed doesn’t always have to take the form of some personal breakthrough, it can be fun too – reoccurrence can take the form of Easter eggs, little repeated ideas like a name, an action, or a concept.

Maybe there’s a specific car that always shows up, as the character’s ride, the picture on a calendar, or a page in a magazine. Or maybe when characters in different stories need a scapegoat, it’s always the same fake name. Or maybe the main character is similar in multiple stories – they could always be female or always male, they could all have anxiety or a certain phobia, they could all be described as confident, no-nonsense types or timid, coming-out-of-their-shell types.

The author could include a vision of themselves in every story (as I first did – again without fulling being aware), or a person they love, or even a person they hate (this person is usually killed off). As for myself, having been raised with a Catholic school education, each of my stories includes at least one allegory of Catholicism, because it will always be a point of inspiration for me.

As a rule, reoccurrences in a story or stories signifies a sense of importance to the author.

To be laid bare:

A person’s writing, just as any other art form, can be a snapshot of their current state of mind and outlook on the world. An author’s own anxiety can be hidden behind a character’s worry. Their sense of humor can be found not just in the characters’ dialogue, but also in the pages and their description.

Through writing, we writers lay ourselves out on the page. In order to dive into the minds and motivations of the characters, we use ourselves. And it can be hard. Sometimes, we fight it, but by diving into those vulnerabilities, we breathe life into our stories.

There is no specific piece the author must give of themselves, but there is always something. The writing does reveal the writer, and it’s up to the reader (and sometimes the writer themselves) to find them.