One of the many interesting things about being a writer is that you can go back, look at what you’ve written, and glean things about yourself that you never knew – things that somehow found their way into your writing through your subconscious.
I’ve found this in my own writing, with the strange preponderance of aunts (the familial kind, not the insect). One of the main characters in one of my early novellas was the aunt of the protagonist. Another aunt, Aunty Becky, figures prominently in my first novel, ELDORADO (as does an uncle, Jim Keller). The ‘aunt-hood’ of Rebecca, one of the main characters in my second novel THE ARX, is also significant.
I had no conscious intention to include aunts or uncles in any of these writings. I guess, from a writer’s point of view, the inclusion of a close, (but not too close) family member is useful because they’re likely to care about the fate of their nieces/nephews, and often the actual parents of the main character are not around. But in my case I think there’s more to it than that.
My mother had six siblings (mainly women), and they, along with their spouses and my cousins, formed the core of our family group when I was growing up. Our family gatherings were always a sea of aunts and uncles, telling stories, making jokes, giving advice. As a kid, (and especially as a teenager), I never saw much value in those relationships, but somewhere, back in my subconscious, I’m sure they had an impact, which filters into the stories I write.
The link between my real-life aunts and uncles, and those of my own creation is an example of how in some strange way writing allows me to know myself better, to get a better view of what’s important to me, and what’s impacted my life. It’s like my inner self is talking to me. I’ll have to keep a lookout for other interesting things it has to say.
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