I had a really good writing session with Carolyn yesterday. I'm not sure how many pages I went through, but I'm getting into the heart of the story, so it's moving along quickly. I also had an idea for a career change for my oldest main character, and I think it will add a lot to him and to the subplots of the story. I'm pretty excited about it and think it will ramp up the conflict.
Speaking of story ideas, I'm sure as writers many of you have heard crazy or amazing stories from friends and family, and probably you've thought, "I totally need to write that story someday."
Well, what do you do if the story is kind of a big deal, and it's affecting the person in ways you can't really know because you're not that person, but you have a pretty good idea because you're hearing a lot of the story, and of course you have an imagination.
Like, are any stories off limits? Or, do you feel the need to change the story so much to not offend the person from which it came? If you do write someone else's story, do you have to ask permission first? What if you write it and they read it but get upset or don't want it written or say, "You have no idea about this!"
Please let me know your thoughts about telling other people's stories. Have you ever done it? What were the consequences? Because I have a good one, from someone in my family, but I don't want to proceed if I'm going to hurt someone's feelings. And maybe you're thinking, "Just ask the person!" but I don't know about that. Sometimes people don't say what they mean.
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5 comments:
Hmmm...good question. There is nothing like real life drama to fuel your story. Perhaps you could tweak it enough so that when it's read, the person won't automatically see themselves in it. But that's the kind of emotional writing you want--to write a story that others can relate to. That they can read and think, "This is exactly how I felt when I went through XXX." So taking stories from real life is a good idea. You've just got to do the right amount of tweakage.
This very question has kept me from writing a story I've wanted to write. It's close enough to people I know they would assume it was "about them", but in fact, if I wrote it, I'd have to make the characters my own. Those characters would then be true to themselves, not secret codes about how what I *really* thought about people I knew.
It's hard to explain this to non-writers, so, like a coward, I've never written this story.
I don't think I would write a story that I was worried might somehow hurt someone, but I would take elements from it to use in another story or stories. It is really a tough call though.
On the other hand, we live in such a tell-all culture, this person might be flattered that you are interested in telling their story.
Think about what you would do and how you would feel if that story made it big time - like to the Bestsellers list or something. Would you really want that on your conscience if it hurt the person? I know I wouldn't.
You could elements of the story, as Kate suggests. And she has a good point - the person might be flattered if you just asked them. Who knows!
Elana- Yes! The real life drama is why this story is so good. Maybe I could write it, tweak it, show it to her, and if she recognized the story as partly hers, maybe it would be different enough that she would be okay with it.
Tara- I agree, I think if I started this story the characters would run off and be their own people, but there is still the "What if someone reads this and recognizes him/herself?" Maybe we should trade stories! Then no one would know. :)
Kate- I did mention to the person I had thought about writing a novel about this situation, and she said, "What, from a third-person perspective?" Well, maybe, yeah. I think by that she meant I had no idea what she's going through, which is true.
But what I would like to do is start with what I know is happening in real life and then change the second half.
Lady Glamis- Yeah, that's true, I certainly don't want to hurt anyone. Maybe I can just take the main theme of what is happening and create a new situation. It's the emotions I'm so intrigued by, and all the "what ifs" happening in these people's lives.
Anyway, thank you all for your suggestions! I will keep mulling this over. Maybe I will wait for some years to go by, for the situation to die down, then ask the person again.
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