Family History: How much is too much?

Of course, you could write a fictional version. With characters based on the key players, yourself included. This could be done anonymously without difficulty.

 

Thanks. Still thinking about this.

 

Just my


This is a very personal question that cannot truly have a line drawn that serves everyone. I am minded of the book The Hours by Michael Cunningham, wherein a good part of the story is about a book written by one of the characters that portrays the lives of other characters in the book, and the impact this book has on their lives. From one particular angle, the story is about how literature shapes us, which in turn causes us to shape literature, which shapes us, etc., etc., etc.

I don't see how a writer can escape using their real life in some way to shape their stories. What else would we tap into? Kinda' like the way aliens in science fiction are never really aliens; they are some aspect us, even if the aspect they depict is the unknowable, it's the unknowable as perceived through human eyes and hearts, yours, mine. The xenomorph is me, and I am the xenomorph. It's the only way it has meaning or any connection that I can engage.

To not use your life in some way would seem a waste, to me, of your individual and unique travel in this paradigm. I know the characters in my stories are heavily shaped by my life and people I have known. In one WIP, my protag Marco is the embodiment of every fuck-up of which I have been guilty (and god knows there have been many) that I am too ashamed to admit. I admit them through him. I try to find forgiveness for myself through him.

No one can answer this question for you, and if one day you become J.K. Rowling famous (and I hope you do) I don't think there's any way that members of your family could read your stories and not find ghosts of themselves therein, no matter how hard you tried not to have them there.

 

Thanks, @Wreybies .

I read 'The Hours', btw, one of the best I've ever read.

 

Dysfunctional family?

I haven't read really any of the previous answers so as to not twist my thoughts ( have responses influence me) so I'll tell you what I think about this. Briefly.

I've given thought to writing a -based on true family events- novel but of course changing names so as to protect identities. With regards to how relatives could
react to your work is entirely your fault. So if you were to tackle this, I'd give a lot of thought. Being that you desire to write on individuals close to you or relatives,
you must either admire them very much and wish for others to see them and know them too. OR their circumstances and individuality intrigue or amuse
you so much that it could become a interesting book. No family and/or extended family is perfect and while all have certain traits, these traits can be negative or positive.

If you do decide to go through with this, allow, even force yourself to expel all observations and thoughts from your interactions with these human beings. It could
result in a more powerful novel. Perhaps there are details that you rather not divulge. Fine. Do your best to remain objective. Decide if its going to be from your perspective or third-person or from another family member. It is in the end fiction, and it rests entirely in your hands.

 

Some stories demand some family history, some a little. I am finishing a dystopian novel that features family flashbacks and some family scenes featuring the main characters. It is an interesting way to reveal character without the tedium. I am new to novel writing mind you, but I have lots of experience writing non-fiction.

In my mystery, detective novel, the two protagonists have little to no family background, though the serial killer might have some.

So, it depends on your purpose, I suppose. However, like I constantly remind myself, if there isn't a plot, character or other reason to put it in, leave it out.

Peace,
Tex Shelters

 

I've never actually written about a whole person I know. I usually take stock characters, and then overlap things that I have felt, seen, experienced, onto these people and then I let them run around a little bit and see exactly where they end up. Although this is probably because I'm a very unreliable narrator at best, and my memory of events is often drastically different to others during my upbringing, so I write with a fog upon me. Honestly, I think you have to write what you know and then figure the rest out after you've told yourself the story.

The only thing I do worry about sometimes is that if I've got a strong feeling about a certain person in my life, I'm more likely to use their name than I am a made-up one. The amount of Henry's and Tom's I write about often bothers me. But I refuse to randomly generate names, and I don't have a skill in name-crafting unfortunately.

 

Telling on the family for money? That'll go over real big. Someone is bound to either get pissed off or demand a percentage! You know how siblings can be!! You're guaranteed to wreck a few relationships, and make Thanksgiving quite different from that point forward...which could be a good thing!

I come from a rather large family. It's easy to get lost in the crowd. I'm not sure any of them read books, anyway. It's just that...unfortunately, life with them was boring - that was the main feature and why I left at 16. Boredom. So, I'm safe.

 

I suppose they do say kill your darlings. So if you love your family...go nuts.

 

well alrighty then