Okay, so I recently posted a blog about a phone call I got. About twenty minutes after I posted it, I started having doubts about having put it out there for all the world to see, especially the person who called me. I came more than a little close to removing the post, but then I stopped and thought, what if I always edited what I wrote with the thought of knowing that someone who might recognize him or herself in the text would read it? Needless to say, I left the post up, as any halfway decent writer should do to prove his or her literary courage.
Once I made the decision to leave the post, my thoughts turned to the creation of fictional characters. As every writer knows, it is important for us to rape our personal lives for inspiration. Anyone who comes in contact with a writer is fair game for inclusion in some form or another into one of the writer's future projects. (Okay, let's face it. You don't have to come in contact with the writer. If we even hear about something you've done that is mildly interesting, you could come face to face with yourself in print.) So, if I found myself considering editing a post because of fear of recognition, what does this mean about how I write fictional characters.
I started thinking about some of the characters I wrote in the past. I know for a fact that I have edited some of them because they too closely resembled the person they were based on, but I didn't edit all of them. I have one character, whom I adore, sho is the spitting image of my brother when he was about ten years old. I love everything about this little boy, and I'm not afraid to let my brother read the story he is in. However, I have another story about my grandfather that I would never let my grandmother read, not because my grandfather is portrayed as a horrible person, but rather because she would get upset that she isn't mentioned in the story. Now I don't name my grandfather (anyone who knew him would recognize him, though), but I do use the name of a woman who used to hang out with my grandparents. This is what would actually upset my grandmother. Though the other woman is very, and I mean very, peripheral, she is the one who is in the story, not Grandma.
Now, I would love to base a character on my grandmother. She's an enormously intelligent, interesting, and complicated woman. The trouble is that I would most definitely want to include the unflattering aspects of her personality. In fact, I think these would be the focus of my characterization of her. It would hurt my grandmother greatly to have her portrayed as less then the perfect front she displays to the world. Her pride is great, and I have no desire to wound it. Now, does this make me a coward? Should I go ahead and write the story now, or should I save it until she passes away. (One final piece of information, Grandma is 84, and she doesn't show signs of giving up anytime soon. And let's face it, I'm not getting any younger, and there's a strong possibility that she'll out live me--she's that stubborn!)
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3 comments:
It depends how much you're willing to fictionalize the person or event. I struggled for a long time with this issue, because there are people still around who might be upset by the true story. And the more iterations of the story I've been through, the less like the actuality it's become. And that has improved it. A lot.
We all think our lives and the people in them are going to fascinate everyone as much as they do us. And in a few cases it may be true. Your grandfather may be one of them. But a healthy dose of tweaking to serve the story can make a world of difference.
Just keep in mind that people rarely see the unflattering sides of themselves unless you point the finger straight at them and say "You suck because of a, b, or c."
Even then, they are likely to deny it.
Here's the other thing: When we're writing a 'character' that character tends to come to life by themselves. You may start out saying "I'm gonna write my grandmother" but, odds are, as the story progresses, the character will morph into something else. Even memoirs/biographies are not as true to life as we suppose...the creation is colored by the artist.
Van Gogh's self portrait would not be the same if painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. So, I say go for it. If it's too close...burn it.
Yes, what they said.
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