Young Writers Society

So, I've been working on this project, a realistic fiction about high schoolers. (Wow, please tell me that only sounds cliche to me).

Anyways, I'm beginning to notice that most of its events have something to do with those in real life. They're usually somewhat similar, or at least somehow connected. A lot of the time, I don't even notice the connection until after I've plotted or written a given scene. So my question is, does anyone else have this? And why is it happening? I don't have a problem with it, I'm just curious.

Not really sure this is the right forum, but it seemed like my best bet.

Since you're writing about high school, and I'm assuming you've been to one before, it makes sense that your story has somethings to do with real life! My novel also has some things that come from life, especially when it comes to the school aspect of it. People say to write what you know. I'm guessing you're subconsciously doing that!

EVERYTHING I WRITE has something to do with my life, so... Yeah...

I'd say it's completely normal. Writing isn't always just a hobby- it can actually help us sort through life. Some people take up writing to help them through a tough time, and then stick with it.

I can't say that my prose reflects much of my life, but my characters do tend to work on things that I'm working through. In poetry, it all stems from my emotional state, generally.

Completely normal! I write contemporary YA so I often draw from my own experiences when I write. For example, one of my favorite parts of high school was being in marching band, so the novel I'm working on now heavily features marching band.

One small word of caution though is to make sure that you're using your life as inspiration rather than source material. I only say this because I've made this mistake and it wasn't good :p For example -
I had a great 10th grade English teacher so I'm going to write an English teacher with some of the same qualities and traits.
vs
I had a great 10th grade English teacher so I'm going to write the same English teacher as the first example plus make the scene exactly as I remember it being when I was in 10th grade English.

The first example is inspiration and the second is source material. Remember that at the end of the day you're still writing a story and it isn't the story of your life. Small connections are great and fine and super common (especially in contemporary stories), huge parallels less so