This is a weird thing for me. This is not non-fiction, but it's inspired heavily by experiences in my own life. Most of the characters have a real-life equivalent.
It feels wrong in some ways, though- I think there are people who will fee hurt by the portrayal, but I have to let that go. It's not real, after all, the actual people have been dramatized to push along the plot.
The person that the love interest is based on barely resembles my character. I merely took a situation that happened with that person, and then cut him out and inserted Nathan, my love interest in the story. Nathan is different than..ahem...this other person in many ways. It's funny because I sort of made him more like the man I actually married, (Matt) since I cannot imagine a better man than him. Also, the main character, Dawn, who's loosely based on me is much, much riskier than I am, and more secure in some ways. And less conservative.
The other characters are going to be close to real life. Which is why I may never ever show this to anyone, lest somebody get pissed off!! (no, I can't do that, can I?)
The real life events are only the jumping off point for bigger scenes in the story. One example was a trip down to southern california with our school choir. It wasn't that big of a deal, but in my story, it is.
I love writing, because you can play with all the "what if's" in life. My reality is so blessed, I feel the freedom to do this.
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I am doing the same thing with my novel. I plan, with much editing, to change it so much no one will recognise themselves or their loved ones however the characters are based on real people as I knew them.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun!
I think real people can serve as a jumping off point for sure. Since this story is basically about a relationship I had in real life that went bad, in this it will go bad- but much worse, then be redeemed due to the love interest being less of an actual jerk. :)
ReplyDelete(that makes my story sound bitter...there's more to it!)