Thank you!
]]>I too enjoyed your post. All of my stories at least start with a real life situation that I have observed, usually from afar. My best stories grow from situations that I’ve only heard the begining of like how a couple met or how strange a friend’s friend acted. It’s like that game we so often see in movies–people look at strangers and make up stories about them.
You are so right about centering a story or scene on family members. I did that once and oh, my! None of them ever got that my fictional account wasn’t a true (horrible) story about them. Ouch!
]]>I never thought that my first novel was based on my family. Well… one of my brothers is a named minor character, but other than that… 🙂 However, some of my readers tell me that my female protagonist is me, which surprises me because I think we share very little. And the people (other than the character who has my brother’s actual name) who inspired other characters never see themselves.
All that to say that I suspect that it isn’t always obvious to the writer when a character or story reflects a reality that others recognize.
But I suspect it’s hard to escape life from intruding into the story and vice versa. 🙂
]]>On the other hand, I have not had the reverse experience you describe – or at least, I’m not aware of having done so. But now I wonder – is the fiction creeping into my reality in surreptitious ways? Do I change my behavior towards actual people because of the characters I’ve created that resemble them? That’s something I’ll have to watch for – or maybe write a story about. 😉
]]>I hope you’ll consider buying the book, it’s live today at http://amzn.com/0615876013!
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