Would you be angry if . .

[novella]

Would you be angry if a friend, an acquaintence, or a family member wrote a work of fiction and based a character on you, particularly without telling you beforehand?

What if the character was only 50% based on you and didn't actually DO anything that you ever did?

Would you still trust that person and continue the relationship on the same level?

 

[Erica]

Would you be angry if a friend, an acquaintence, or a family member wrote a work of fiction and based a character on you, particularly without telling you beforehand?

What if the character was only 50% based on you and didn't actually DO anything that you ever did?

Would you still trust that person and continue the relationship on the same level?

I would call them a VERY VERY DEFY EX friend...
No friend would do that!
Nooooooooooooo way!

 

[hay82]

That would depend on what the character actually does in the book. If it was something I didn't have a problem with, then I wouldn't mind.

 

[sanyuja]

If the character is only 50% based on me, then its not me at all. So, no question being angry
Why do you ask this novella? Are you trying to do something like that in your upcoming novel?

 

[«FickleMinded»]

--I think I'll be flattered.

 

[niceslacks]

I use everything and anything, and personally believe it's hard to avoid if you are writing stories set in your own time and place, though I am talking mainly character traits here, not events.

 

[mehastings]

I use everything and anything, and personally believe it's hard to avoid if you are writing stories set in your own time and place, though I am talking mainly character traits here, not events.

I agree. I think it would be difficult to keep my personal life out of my writing. However, if a major character were so obviously based on me that people I knew realized it without being told, I might want to be consulted first.

 

[novella]

If the character is only 50% based on me, then its not me at all. So, no question being angry
Why do you ask this novella? Are you trying to do something like that in your upcoming novel?

All fiction writers draw from life, some less directly than others. More experienced writers can cover their tracks better, if that's what they want to do. But I accept that all writers build characters and dialogue and settings from life, and in some it's more recognizable than others. Not a bad thing, just the writer's choice.

As Joan Didion said, "Writers are always selling someone out."

The reason I ask is I just read an interview with Ian McEwan and his protagonist in his latest book Saturday is his age, lives in a house like his in the same part of London, his wife does a similar job to the protagonist's wife, his kids are the same age, etc etc. The basic situation is, in fact, so close to his current life that you know that he must have personal consequences from that.

I'm not doing anything like that --so close to real life--in my current work, but I did get on a few people's shitlist when I widely published a story close to reality a couple of years ago. One of them still isn't talking to me. Tough, I say. (It wasn't as based on her as she wants to think. She's very self-centered.) If I had to worry about stuff like that, I wouldn't write at all.

I had an acquaintance years ago who published a novel full of people I know, quite blatantly (nicknames and all). Most thought it was funny, except one guy who came out looking like a moron. But it was fiction.

Just thought I'd take a poll and see who would be offended and why.

 

[sanyuja]

It didnt require such a serious explanation, novella. I was trying to be funny, thats all.
Now that the topic has become serious, let me put in my opinion. I would be offended if the character in the book was based on me but was not like me. What I mean is if the writer claims that the character is based on me and the character does something that I don't do or haven't done, then I would object. And I would be offended if the writer is revealing something very personal about my life. Otherwise, I think I would be flattered that I am featuring in a book!

 

[Geenh]

I agree with Sanyuja.

My mother wrote a book with me included in the words and I am NOT happy about it! She uses some things that aren';t entirely true to enhance the story, etc. She used me as an idea and didn't ever realise that it was (and is) humiliating!

I believe that it is cruel to use someone in your writing without their allowance.

 

[novella]

I agree with Sanyuja.

My mother wrote a book with me included in the words and I am NOT happy about it! She uses some things that aren';t entirely true to enhance the story, etc. She used me as an idea and didn't ever realise that it was (and is) humiliating!

I believe that it is cruel to use someone in your writing without their allowance.

Well then I guess the question is, can you think of a work of fiction with well-developed characters, for which the author didn't draw from people in his/her life?

In my experience, it's absolutely commonplace, and authors rarely, if ever, ask permission.

sanyuja--this was a serious question from the start!

 

[Genie]

I think it really depends exactly on what is going to be written about that person and how much truth will be involved.

I am trying to a write a fictional novel, but based on my true story (does that make sense?) A lot of my characters are based on real people but I wouldn't want to write anything that would clearly belittle a person, or hurt them, no matter what I thought of them. But that's my own personal opinion.

For my story I have changed names and events etc to some degree, although the basics are the same. An interesting thought though that has got me thinking.

Would my own characters recognise themselves in small print? Yikes! They probably would!

 

[Erica]

What would get me is I would not like not being told! think they should at least ask...

 

[alice]

Would you be angry if a friend, an acquaintence, or a family member wrote a work of fiction and based a character on you, particularly without telling you beforehand?

What if the character was only 50% based on you and didn't actually DO anything that you ever did?

Would you still trust that person and continue the relationship on the same level?

Well for a start a friend would tell you in the first place ...

I wouldn't really mind but not many people get to see my good side so I'd probably be a villain ... oh well I like them best

I'd be angry if they tried to flatter me, make me more beautiful than I am or whatever

Alice

 

[Ell]

I don't think I'd be angry, but who knows. It might be interesting to see how someone would portray me.

I guess if the characterization was highly disparaging and easily identifiable as me, I might be upset. In that case, I'd just confront the author and ask how and why she wrote the character in such a way.

PS

Well then I guess the question is, can you think of a work of fiction with well-developed characters, for which the author didn't draw from people in his/her life?

In literary fiction, I don't think you can write a detailed, realistic character without drawing from real life. Without the little nuances of real people, characters tend to be one-dimensional, don't you think?

 

[novella]

Well for a start a friend would tell you in the first place ...


Alice

I don't think that's the case if the friend is a professional writer. It's considered ungood to talk about a book that's in the works, unless it's only within a discreet circle of trusted readers and reviewers. Any fiction author would be crazy to go around saying, "One of my characters is a bit based on you . . .Is that okay?"

Like I said in an earlier post, you probably can't name a work of fiction that does NOT draw from the author's life, at least in character development. How many do you think asked permission?

I agree that one does not want to be cruel or give up someone else's secrets, but on the other hand I think it happens all the time.

 

[alice]

I don't think that's the case if the friend is a professional writer. It's considered ungood to talk about a book that's in the works, unless it's only within a discreet circle of trusted readers and reviewers. Any fiction author would be crazy to go around saying, "One of my characters is a bit based on you . . .Is that okay?"

Like I said in an earlier post, you probably can't name a work of fiction that does NOT draw from the author's life, at least in character development. How many do you think asked permission?

I agree that one does not want to be cruel or give up someone else's secrets, but on the other hand I think it happens all the time.

Meh. I agree completely. I don't believe any author who says a character came purely from their imagination

But what happens if after you have written the book, you tell your friend you have based a character on them and they don't like it?

I'm being picky here, I would only say it is a bad thing if the character had the same appearance, personality, etc as the friend, otherwise I don't see their being a problem, especially considering characters usually evolve rather than appear out of the blue.

Alice

 

[novella]

I'm being picky here, I would only say it is a bad thing if the character had the same appearance, personality, etc as the friend, otherwise I don't see their being a problem, especially considering characters usually evolve rather than appear out of the blue.

Alice

Yes, I agree! I'm sure there are some people who write exactly from life and call it fiction. That would be upsetting to anyone portrayed, especially if they were so readily identifiable.

But I think characters do evolve and say and do things and essentially become their own people in books. You can see the starting point, perhaps, in a friend or family member of the writer, but then you see how that character is also different. What person can entirely resist using what they know so intimately: their parents, a memorable teacher, a boyfriend, a person they always hated?


And then there are the cases, like Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which first was billed as a memoir, then he called it a true novel, don't know what he calls it now. Obviously, it's based on life and somewhere between the two.

 

[Delta_doh!]

Been thinking about it... I would like to be asked if ok first...
Then would quite like it... er I think! depends what was said about me I guess

 

[sanyuja]

sanyuja--this was a serious question from the start!

I know and I was trying to make it funny. Sorry for that

Well then I guess the question is, can you think of a work of fiction with well-developed characters, for which the author didn't draw from people in his/her life?

The only character that I can think of which was not drawn from real life is that of an alien!

On serious notes, I don't think any author can claim to have developed a character just out of the blue! He/she must have drawn from his/her life.

And as you said novella, you can't ask permission from every person you base your character on. But, if the author is going to base the character so strongly on a person that anyone reading the book can easily identify who the character is based on, then (in my opinion) the author should take permission from the person.