“Are they based on a real person?” My Writing Journey from Non-Fiction to Fiction
“Are they based on a real person?” My Writing Journey from Non-Fiction to Fiction
If you write fiction, I bet that’s a question you’ve heard many times. Some writers don’t like being asked this, assuming that readers think your imagination isn’t strong enough to dream up a character all by itself. But I choose to take it as a compliment – my characters are so realistic that people can’t help but believe they exist out there somewhere.
Answering that question can be complicated though. Especially if, like me, you have a background in journalism or non-fiction writing. It’s not a simple yes or no.
All writers ‘borrow’ from real life: a habit here, a detail there, an unusual name that captures our attention and begs to be included. Then it takes a bit of magic – and hard work – to combine these different elements into a brand new, unique character. It’s less common to be able to point to a single person who directly inspires a character on the page. But it does happen.
One of the central characters in my first novel for children and young adults, Nothing Ever Happens Here, is called Dee; she’s a trans woman who comes out while her children are in high school. Dee’s character is directly inspired by real people. Not just one person, but several women who I had interviewed a few years previously when writing a non-fiction guide for LGBT parents.
These women generously shared their experiences with me to help other parents in similar situations and, with their permission, I included their quotes and stories within the published parenting guide. But their stories stayed with me, and eventually compelled me to use fiction to explore the situations that these women, and their families, faced.
I worried how they would respond. Even though I was not using their personalities in the novel, I was using their situations and details they had shared with me about their lives. They hadn’t signed up for this. These stories weren’t mine, they were given in trust. I had to make sure I didn’t betray that trust as I used them as raw material for a new fictional narrative.
To my relief, they were delighted and moved by the finished book. LGBT families hardly ever see themselves reflected in fiction, let alone in fiction for children and young people, so when our stories are told, it can be deeply powerful and validating.
In my second novel, Proud of Me, which is published in February 2021, I took the same approach with renewed confidence. I used the experiences of people I knew who were donor-conceived as a springboard for a fictional story of a boy searching for his donor dad.
It set me wondering whether writing fiction gave me more freedom than writing non-fiction. After all, in fiction I was not bound by getting the facts and details exactly right – if something didn’t fit or worked better a different way, then I could just change it.
In my day job as a charity communications officer, I had learnt the hard way how important it was to get the facts right when reporting real people’s experiences, even if it made a neat story more complicated.
Fifteen years ago, I visited women’s groups affected by the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami in 2014. Many of the women I spoke to had lost husbands or children when their homes were swept away. Through a translator, one woman told me how she was struggling to support her family now that her son was gone. It only emerged later, when I wrote up the story into a fundraising appeal, that something had been lost in translation – she was not referring to her son’s death, but to his move to a different state. I learnt from that mistake to always double-check my facts, and my assumptions, before committing anything to print.
While it might seem that mistakes matter less in fiction than in non-fiction or reporting, I am not sure that this is the case. In the UK, hate crime against trans people is rising and there is a vicious debate about trans people’s rights. As a writer who has created fictional trans characters, I have to be responsible. I have to think about the impact that getting something wrong, or using an inaccurate stereotype, could have on real people’s lives. That’s why I was glad to work with sensitivity readers, people with lived experience of the issues I was writing about, who checked the text and fed in their thoughts and comments before publication.
We all know that fictional stories are shaped by their authors, but even non-fictional accounts are always shaped in some way – first by the perspective of the individual telling them, then by the author, journalist or editor, and finally by the reader, whose own prior knowledge and preconceptions influence how they understand the story. No experience can be understood completely objectively, instead it is usually framed to fit a particular message or world view, however unconsciously done.
Recognising this, and our responsibility as authors, means that whether we write fiction, non-fiction, or both, we can tell the best, most accurate and most meaningful stories in ways which resonate with our readers.
—
Proud of Me and Nothing Ever Happens Here are published by Usborne. Pride and Joy: A Guide for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Parents is published by Pinter and Martin. All are available here and at all good bookstores.
—
PROUD OF ME
An accessible child-centred story about self-acceptance and the importance of opening up to those closest to you.
Becky and Josh are almost-twins, with two mums and the same anonymous donor dad. Josh can’t wait until he’s eighteen, the legal age when he can finally contact his donor, and he’ll do anything to find out more - even if it involves lying.
Becky can’t stop thinking about her new friend, Carli. Could her feelings for Carli be a sign of something more? Becky and Josh both want their parents to be proud of them…but right now, they’re struggling to even accept themselves.
https://uk.bookshop.org/
Category: How To and Tips
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
