How Much of Your Book is Based on Real Life?

If you have written a novel and gone out into public to speak about it, I am willing to bet money that someone has asked you that question. I have found that many readers assume that authors, especially those of contemporary, realistic novels, almost always write stories based on their personal experiences, as if we have no imagination at all.

I am often flattered and reassured when someone assumes, for example, that just because the main character in my first novel Losing Kei surfs, I can recommend a good spot to practice the sport in Bali. (I have never surfed.) I figure my research paid off, and that I have written convincingly. But I would be less flattered if readers assumed that just because characters in my books have broken the law, cheated on their husbands, and were rude to their mothers-in-law that I, too, have done the same.

I always get the feeling that people will be disappointed if I say, “None of that really happened. I made it all up!” People seem to prefer true stories, or at least stories with a compelling real-life back story, and publishers are aware of that. Remember James Frey? Remember his novel A Million Little Pieces, which was initially published as non-fiction? It was wildly successful until Frey admitted that he had made stuff up.

Or how about the novel Sarah by JT Leroy (which I personally enjoyed and found to be beautifully written), about a young male prostitute in Appalachia? The book was a sensation because readers, such as Madonna, believed it was based on the author’s actual experiences. When it came out that JT Leroy wasn’t even a real person, but a persona created by Laura Albert, the public was suddenly disappointed. Never mind that it was a good book. 

When I am asked which parts of my novels are autobiographical, I often say something like, “To some extent, it is entirely autobiographical because it came out of my head.” Or, I hedge and say, “Of course some parts are based on my personal experience, but others are not.” I could tell you exactly which parts are inspired by real life, and to what degree, but what good would it do? Would it satisfy a salacious appetite for gossip? Or would some be disappointed that the most shocking and embarrassing scenes didn’t actually happen?

To be honest, although I have never raised my hand at a reading to ask this question, I understand the urge. I am the first to admit that I have paused while reading a novel to Google the author and try to determine if the writing was based on real life. For example, while recently reading a novella about a lonely middled-aged woman in Paris who had fallen in love with her Japanese masseuse, I looked up the author wondering if she had something in common with her protagonist. I discovered that the author was a beautiful French woman who had been married to a famous actor, and later involved with a famous French rock star.

Maybe she’d had a Japanese masseuse at some point, but she seemed to be nothing like the mousy woman in the story. I was doubly impressed by her ability to conjure such a character, to render her story with such authenticity.   

 If you want to read a story that is 100% true, I can refer you to my memoir, Squeaky Wheels: Travels with My Daughter by Train, Plane, Metro, Tuk-tuk and Wheelchair. I took notes to make sure that even the conversations in the book were accurately recorded. But even in writing nonfiction, there are some things that are left out since the author controls the narrative.

In writing my memoir, I tried to respect the privacy of my family and friends, so I didn’t write everything. Writing fiction, however, is a way to protect my loved ones, to leave them out of the story. While those who know me or know something about me will note that, like Christine, the main character of my new novel, The Baseball Widow, I taught English in Japan, married a Japanese high school baseball coach, and became the mother of a disabled daughter, Christine is not exactly me. Sure, some of the events in this novel resemble things that happened in real life, but, as a writer of fiction, I tweak and embellish. I exaggerate and add details. I think about “what if?” I make things up.

Again, you want to know how much of this story, that so closely resembles my life, is true? C’mon. I told you already. It’s fiction.

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Born in Michigan and most recently from South Carolina, Suzanne Kamata has lived in Japan for over half of her life. She is the author or editor of fifteen published books including the award-winning young adult novels Gadget Girl and Indigo Girl, and the middle grade novel Pop Flies, Robo-Pets and Other Disasters. She earned an M.F.A. from the University of British Columbia, and is an associate professor at Naruto University of Education. She lives with her husband and two cats on the island of Shikoku.

 

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Website: http://www.suzannekamata.com/

THE BASEBALL WIDOW, Suzanne Kamata

When Christine, an idealistic young American teacher, meets and marries Hideki Yamada, an aspiring Japanese high school baseball coach, she believes that their love with be enough to sustain them as they deal with cultural differences. However, Hideki’s duties, and the team of fit, obedient boys whom he begins to think of as a surrogate family, take up more and more of his time, just as Christine is struggling to manage the needs of their multiply-disabled daughter and their sensitive son. Things come to a head when their son is the victim of bullies. Christine begins to think that she and her children would be safer – and happier – in her native country. On a trip back to the States, she reconnects with a dangerously attractive friend from high school who, after serving and becoming wounded in Afghanistan, seems to understand her like no one else.

Meanwhile, Daisuke Uchida, a slugger with pro potential who has returned to Japan after living abroad, may be able to help propel Hideki’s team to the national baseball tournament at Koshien. Not only would this be a dream come true for Hideki, but also it would secure the futures of his players, some of whom come from precarious homes. While Daisuke looks to Hideki for guidance, he is also distracted by Nana, a talented but troubled girl, whom he is trying to rescue from a life as a bar hostess (or worse). Hideki must ultimately choose between his team and his family.

The Baseball Widow explores issues of duty, disability, discrimination, violence, and forgiveness through a cross-cultural lens. Although flawed, these characters strive to advocate for fairness, goodness, and safety, while considering how their decisions have been shaped by their backgrounds.

Suzanne Kamata’s The Baseball Widow embeds her readers in the thorny lives of Japanese high school baseball coaches and bicultural families with even-handed compassion  and insight. Kamata is a dazzling, deeply empathetic writer. – Kevin Chong, author of The Plague

“Through a diverse group of characters brought together by Japan’s passion for baseball, Kamata explores identity, the loss of idealism, and the ragged beauties to be found in that loss.” – Annabel Lyon, author of the Women’s Prize longlisted novel Consent

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