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Friday, December 1, 2017

When parts of your life creep into your fiction, by Susan Oleksiw

Soon after my second Mellingham mystery, set in a small art college, was published (Double Take, 1994), a friend said she and her colleagues at the nearby art school had read the mystery and were now trying to figure out who was who in the book. I was startled and quickly reassured her that no on in the school was in the book. This was not a reaction I expected, and since most of the characters in the story were unattractive, as suspects in a murder case often are, I wanted to reassure my friend that this was not how I saw them.

Some writers mine their lives for plot or characters, rewrite what is real in their lives, and never raise any suspicions. I'm not one of them. I work hard to keep my life out of my fiction, and the purpose of one of my read-throughs is finding just this kind of problem--a scene that recalls an experience that seems obvious to me, which means a rewrite, or a character who is far too close to someone I know casually or at a distance. I might wonder how these elements got into the book, past my vigilant eye, but there they are and out they come.

My friends and relatives have a right to their privacy, and while some writers believe anything a writer comes across is fair game, I don't. Children are especially vulnerable, and I cringe to think what it must be like to grow up and see yourself in a parent's or sibling's book. I wouldn't like it but I know that some others don't mind.

After the publication of my third Mellingham mystery (Family Album, 1995), several friends asked pointedly about a certain character, convinced that he was modeled after a specific person. He wasn't, and once again I was unprepared for the reaction. I thought I'd invented everyone in the book, with nothing matching any living person.

This has been less of a problem in the Anita Ray series, set in South India, even though I send copies of the books to friends there. For the fourth book (When Krishna Calls, 2016), a friend was so pleased that I had captured perfectly the problem of village loan sharks that he insisted on writing a review. He articulated my deeper goal, which is to capture the experience of the people and a place rather than copying a real person. I understood the world of debt among the lower castes because while I lived there I was regularly approached for money by those who worked for me. One woman took the time to explain how the system worked in her part of Kerala. But she is not in the book.

Despite all my care in keeping details of my personal life and those of others I know out of my fiction. I'm beginning to accept that this is not always possible. Whatever story I tell comes from how I see the world, from personal experiences in which I figured prominently or sat on the periphery. But I was there and I played a role. I can't disguise my worldview, and that inevitably means I'll explore the lives and behaviors of the kind of people who are part of my experience. But I'll remain cautious about a scene or character that comes too easily and seems too familiar, and in the final read-through (if not sooner) I'll edit out anything that I recognize as taken from a specific life.

To find Susan's work, go here:

https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Oleksiw/e/B001JS3P7C

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/SusanOleksiw

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/susan+oleksiw?_requestid=1017995



9 comments:

Jacqueline Seewald said...

Susan,

Real life does inspire a good portion of my fiction. Whether stories or novels are in part inspired by real events or people, they are fictionalized. I'm very careful, not wanting to offend anyone. But fact mixes well with fiction. It gives our work meaning and a sense of reality.

Maris said...

Susan I also try to make sure my characters are not modeled after any one person, but there was one time when I was having trouble with a township supervisor. Although the character I described in the book didn't look anything like the real person, I used our "battle" and had my main character get the last word with the fictional one. (Something I was never able to do.)

Susan Oleksiw said...

Jacquie, you're quite right that real life inspires us and keeps the story grounded. I want to keep reality out of my fiction because I want the story to be seen for what it is, not a tale of gossip.

Maris, those battles with real people can teach me a lot about how I feel in such a conflict, and I use that to deepen the story. I'm glad you got the last word, finally; I too sometimes find myself rewriting a moment of disappointment. That's more satisfying than rewriting the speech or reply to a heckler on the drive home from an event.

Thank you both for sharing your views and experiences.

Alice Duncan said...

Interesting blog, Susan! Personally, I don't believe I could write about a real, live person, although shades of folks I know show up in my books from time to time. In fact, I've written (twice so far) about somebody's overbearing mother. The last time I did that, a friend I've known from kindergarten wrote, "Alice, you wrote our MOTHERS into your book." Well... Kinda :-) I definitely write about real places though, specifically my old home town (Pasadena, CA) in my recent books. Heck, one of my heroines lives in my old house.

Susan Oleksiw said...

Thanks for this comment, Alice. I'm okay with using real places, and have used a real place for the setting of the Anita Ray series, but the setting existed in the 1970s and has changed a great deal since then. I've also used my home town with many, many changes. When I use someone's home, I usually ask permission but I also disguise it as much as I can. The feeling of real life grounds a story and my writing, but I don't want real people in my stories. I can say for sure my mother wouldn't have liked it at all to find herself in a novel. Thanks for adding your points.

Pamela S Thibodeaux said...

Great post, Susan!
I try not to bring 'real' people into my books but sometimes the characters turn out to be more real than I imagined.
Good luck and God's blessings
PamT

jrlindermuth said...

I had that happen with one of my early stories. A man I worked with insisted the character was 'him,' and he was pleased with the portrayal. Though the character did have some attributes like him, I assured him he wasn't the model. Didn't matter. He still went around telling others how happy he was to be a character in the story.

Susan Oleksiw said...

John, if only everyone felt that way when they recognized a character in a story. Thanks for sharing the story.

Pam, you're right. No matter how hard I try not to bring in real people or places (unintentionally), reality creeps in. Still, I can always edit things out and keep the story on track. Thanks for commenting.

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