For me, writing is most definitely cathartic. I use real life events/characters/places and then build the story round them. Most of them are dark but have a lively dash of Irish humour in them. My first published book is DON'T CALL ME BABY. It's a domestic thriller with a strong female lead and the opening few chapters were real events in my life. The writing down of these events to remember what actually had happened, drew me into the magnetic force field of using truth as the seed but manufacturing and fabricating a whole fictional story around that kernel. I love it.