Since I have started telling people about my writing and specifically since I published Breathe, I have noticed a strange phenomenon amongst people I know. It started out with little comments here and there. I didn’t really notice them at first. “Be careful what you say around her. She’s a writer. You’re going to end up in a book!” Then it started happening more often. Hmmm.
Now I have started paying attention. I’m not sure if people are worried they will end up in one of my stories or excited about it. Some of them look at me kind of sideways like “Uh oh” and others have a sort of smirk that leads me to think maybe they would like it.
I started to think. Do I put people I know in my books? I absolutely used situations I either witnessed or heard about in Breathe. As a matter of fact a friend said to me “That’s not very believable, Elena” Interestingly enough, that was the situation I stole from real life. Truth being stranger than fiction and all.
Do I use the people I know as characters in my books? I think I’m going to keep that one to myself. Just keep talking about your life. Don’t pay attention if you see me typing away on my phone. Just texting the kids…
If you would like to keep up with when my next book comes out, put your email address in the box on the right!
That’s funny. I am working on a book (my first) about my years of bad dates. Every man I know looked at me with a gleam of suspicion….could I be including them?
They should be worried right? Lol. =)
I loved the “that’s not very believable” comment. I got that from several people on things in my first book, and oddly enough, they were the things that were 100% true. Good post.
Giacomo Giammatteo recently posted..We Don’t Need No Stinking Copy Editors
Thanks so much. I’m glad I’m not the only one with that experience! =)
Congrats on your writing!
I recently came across this quote:
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
Made me laugh 🙂
Thanks Sarah. So nice to hear from you. I love the quote. It’s so true!!
I Love It!!! <3
😉
Great post, Elena! Truth is definitely stranger than fiction, that’s for sure!
It got me thinking about my grandfather’s books, which I’m currently editing. He used real people and real events from throughout his life and wove them into the fabric of what is most definitely a work of fiction. Although the characters are all figments of his imagination, there are aspects of them that I can recognise in family and friends. But don’t all authors do that? I think it makes a book feel more genuine when you can sense that the author has witnessed something similar themselves.
Mike Harris recently posted..The Special Edition Hardback…Where it all began
I do this all the time! A lot of my family and friends have quirks that end up as characters in my story. The general rule of thumb for me is that they should be represented so that if they read it, they’d be okay with it (or at least laugh along). Anything that could cause offence is a no-no.
Having said that, one of my favourite games is to slip something in that my mother did as I grew up and wait for her to read it herself. I’ve been caught out on a few cases which I forgot I wrote altogether!