Writing a story where your crush is...

one of the main characters.

Is this appropriate or not? I ask this because she is my Chinese auditing professor.

I have always been a sucker for “pointless” stories that take place down in South Texas on a Cedar Wood lodge that have no real plot, just moments of every day life and romanticism.

 

Is it decent or appropriate to write a story (that may have a quality plot or none at all) where I and my crush are the main characters-when my crush is my Chinese auditing teacher?

 

Uh well, are you planning to publish it?

I read the phrase "Chinese auditing professor" multiple times trying to figure out what "Chinese auditing" is, and then I realized you probably meant "auditing professor who is Chinese." I think. Or is it a Chinese professor who's auditing you? Or are you auditing the class or.......

 

Hmm. I mean, if you're sure she'll never read them, most women, sensible ones imo, would find that creepy. Then sure, go on, don't see why not.

 

No not going to publish it haha. I’m not even sure I’ll write it, i haven’t written anything like this since early August, so the catching up I’d have to do plus the amount of time I can allocate to this over this coming months is less than adequate. But I’m not closing the door just yet.

And yes you had it right the first time lol, an auditing professor who is Chinese.

 

No she will absolutely not ever read it. Ever. It will never leave my notes on my phone (where I do all my writing, make lists and so on).

And see that I find problematic. If it’s perceived as creepy in any way, it makes my feel guilty (even though most people who claim to be closer to normal have all done something at some point that could be perceived as weird/abnormal/creepy/etc).

 

I think you can absolutely do it ...IF you disguise yourself and her so that you're not recognisable to anybody but yourself. Keep the romantic bits that matter to you, but change names, locations, professions, etc. There isn't much point in slaving over a story that you absolutely don't dare publish because folks will recognise the people in it. So challenge yourself to disguise enough of the story so this won't happen.

I suspect many of us put characters from real life into our stories. (In fact I know we do.) Also some stories are wish-fulfillment stories, and that can certainly include a romance with somebody you are attracted to. However, give them another name, another profession, etc. You can even swap genders , which really puts folks off the track. (If you're a woman in real life attracted to a particular man, you can make the 'you' in the story into a man attracted to a particular woman, whose personality is very similar to the real person in question.)

However off the wall this sounds, it can provide a catharsis for you as you write it. Whatever you wish would happen between you and your crush will actually happen. You can follow that through to the consequences. You might discover that your crush isn't all you'd hoped for after all ...that there are problems inbuilt in the relationship that can't be overcome. Or you can be together, but being together won't be the focus of the story. Instead, the two of you can confront other major story problems together.

However, don't risk people dismissing your story or writing you off as some kind of weird stalker by failing to disguise the people you're writing about. And don't waste your valuable time as a writer writing something you know can't ever be published and nobody else can ever see. Your feelings about your instructor are part of what you 'know' as a person, and they are legitimate fodder for story writing. However, if you wrote a story about your actual boss at work, portrayed him exactly as he is, name included, and made him into a crook—whether he is or not—you'd be in trouble. So what you would need to do, before writing 'what you know,' is heavily disguise him and your relationship with him. Then go to town on it!

 

So why are you asking us? If it's never seeing the light of day then it doesn't even exist.

I write wish-fulfillment stuff all the time. Doesn't include real people, but it's all the same, just something that I wrote that I like that I know nobody else will. It's like fanfiction for something that doesn't exist. I don't need to ask anyone if that's "okay" or not.

 

It sounds like you're more asking for validation or permission. Can you do it? Yeah, sure. Should you? I don't know -- who do you think the moral authority that gets to say yea or nay is? Is it a committee of fellow writers on the internet?

I don't know, man. Write the thing. You can write whatever you want so long as no one's reading it. You're only beholden to yourself. Or if it more makes you feel creepy than brings you enjoyment, don't.

 

I laughed out loud lol

 

I use real people and real situations all the time as a good jumping off point. But even if you plan to write this character exactly how you think this woman is in real life, writing fiction always changes everything. I was dating someone once and wrote a short story about us. I kept this person's name and profession, but it wasn't really this person. It became fiction quite quickly and quite easily. I let this person read it, but by then it pretty much took place in an alternate world with some faint traces of real life. However, it had a story. There was a plot. It wasn't just a story about a crush. It was a story about what would happen if the person who I was dating and I were thrown in this fictional world with these obstacles. You've got to have a story. I love a quiet story, but even those stories have (sometimes deceptively simple) plots.

 

Please share it in the workshop when it's finished.

 

I mean, if it's not leaving your notes, I don't think you really have anything to worry about. If it makes you happy, do it. If you feel weird doing it, don't.

 

I wish I could give this 10 likes, thank you! I’ll write down some notes and see what I can come up with and bring it back here. I saw my teacher for the last time tonight, if only she knew that I have the hots for her lol!

 

Well I would still share it here for improvement purposes and something for people to enjoy reading (or laughing at). But publishing, probably not unless I change the names, etc.

I don’t know who to look to outside of you guys for authority on this. If I told a friend I sense that I would get a negative reaction. I feel they’d hope/think I’m joking. And obviously even worse if I told a friend from school. But, writers are often far more creative people and with that can understand my point of view better-if that makes any sense (it’s been a long, Mentally draining day) .

I’ll have to think about it more.

 

The plot part is where I come up short-Big time (using my best Peter Gabriel voice). To me, I find it comfortable to read good dialogue that takes place in cozy, warm settings. Such as log cabins. I’ll see what I can come up with.

 

Story ideas comes from real life inspiration. I'm sure when your book became a huge hit and you tell her that she's the reason you wrote it in the first place, she'll be proud of you.

 

Which setting is better for such a story, the one attactched or a Cedar Wood house down on a ranch in brush country South Texas?