Do you guys ever run into this where someone thinks your fiction is based on real life and is just disguised as fiction? It's sort of a strange reaction, I think. And "I made it up" isn't always accepted. My novel is pure fiction, but my lover thought there was enough truth in it to get a little upset with me after reading the first chapter. I'm keeping the rest to myself for now. But I've also gotten this response when it comes to short stories. I've had a friend ask if she was a certain character before. When I said that character wasn't her and that it was fiction, she seemed disappointed. But none of my stories actually happened in real life. I think good fiction does ring true as it mirrors our experiences, situations and society. I want to say something true in my fiction, but that doesn't make the story true or real. How true are your stories? Have you ever been accused of writing something based on real life even if it's not? And what's the best way to handle a situation where the line between truth and fiction seemed blurred to some readers? Maybe it's because these comments are coming from people I know, and perhaps the line does get blurry at times, but my fiction is fiction.
I really want people to think my fiction is fiction. Of course there is some of me in it, because I'm choosing what to write, but I'm a big believer that you uncover what you are looking for by writing, and that there is only as much of you in what you write as a sculpture has of the person who made it. Writing is chipping away and finding things, and then you try to make them seem like themselves, rather than like you.
In all honesty, "I made it up" should never be accepted. That's just laziness on your part. I've had dealings with a lot of successful authors (and a lot of less successful ones too), and in the panels I've been to or watched recordings of, they'll all rip you a new one if you ever respond with "I made it up". That goes for the editors I know too. What this is all telling you is that you've got a major blind spot when it comes to your writing. Why did your lover get even a little upset with you after reading that chapter? Because they recognized a situation, probably one that was very personal to them or to the two of you. Partially conjecture as I don't know the full story here, but I've seen it often enough to be 99.9% sure that's probably what happened. Why did your friend as if she was a certain character? Because in that character, she recognized herself. And not just in the "I relate to this character" sense, more like the "The character sounds like me." So what's happening here that you're not seeing but the people who know you and are close to you are seeing? Very simply, while you're correct that your fiction is fiction, it is still, in some measure, inspired by real life situations and people. Not necessarily intentionally - often, very unintentionally - but there is still that inspiration there. Your lover got upset because you didn't recognize that bit of truth that they did. You didn't recognize it because you've got a blind spot. Your friend was disappointed because you didn't have the integrity to tell her, "Hey... Now that you mention it, maybe you did inspire that character somewhat." (Maybe integrity is the wrong word there, but the my point is consistent throughout, so hopefully you get what I was driving at.) I don't think it's right to label it as disguising real life as fiction, I'll agree with you there... but blatantly ignoring the subconscious inspiration is a major blind spot. Going so far as to simply respond "I made it up" when asked about your inspirations for a story is just lazy and dishonest.
On a subconscious level you are "writing what you know". The people around you recognize it but you don't. Better be careful. Your mind is telling you something though, trying to get you to deal with it through writing.
I'm lazy? Really? I don't think any of what you said applies to me or my situation. I'm not writing truth and saying it's fiction. I'm writing fiction. I'm not taking stories from real life. I AM making them up. And I have never had an editor treat my work otherwise.
"I made it up" works for me. Also for Robert Munsch - https://robertmunsch.com/book/mortimer John Green - https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/514232-author-s-note-this-is-not-so-much-an-author-s-note Christopher Moore - https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Moore_(author) Kate Atkinson - https://www.chatelaine.com/living/books/author-kate-atkinson-fiction-writing-tips-what-every-wannabe-writer-needs-to-know/ And quite a few other authors I found in only the first two pages of Googling "I made it up" and "author". Let's not get too dogmatic in our proclamations, here!
I think if more that my friends are mistaken. I'm not writing them or thinking of them. My characters are fiction in fiction. Don't you guys make stuff up too? Writing what you know doesn't mean take reality and turn it into fiction. I'm really not doing that.
Sort of related to this: So many times when I write I get a different reaction than I expected, as though I am revealing a part of me that I didn't know was there. My first (unpublished as they all are) book was about a lawyer, and I thought of it as an adventure -- most feedback I got was that it was "sad." My subconscious taking charge, as it were. Or I write a "wicked" little short story and enjoy this unexpected part of me emerging. My belief is that everything we write is, has to be, based not on what we live, but what we think and feel, and the experiences -- real, imagined, exaggerated, minimized -- we recall.
Like dreams have SOME connection to what's going on in our brains during the day, but they get twisted around and changed so much that there's no real point looking for concrete connections. I might have an "anxiety" dream after an anxious day, but I could easily express that anxiety in terms of a my kindergarten teacher, a guy I saw on a plane once, and, just for fun, a giraffe. It's a distant "inspired by" more than a direct "based on".
You've clearly missed the entire point of what I've said if that's your response. I absolutely agreed that you're not doing so. Again, you've clearly missed the point of what I said and what your lover and friend have said if this is still your response. Everything is inspired to some small degree by something else - a spark of conversation, a random childhood memory. This isn't to say that we intentionally draw inspiration this way. It's more like what @John Calligan said: you're chipping away at a block of stone and choosing what to reveal. A lot of the time there's no cognitive recognition that "this event inspired this event". THAT'S the bloody point I was making, if you paid any sort of attention. Robert Munsch doesn't stop at merely "I made it up" - he gives the story its proper context, which is not what OP was proclaiming. John Green very nearly leaves it at "I made it up" - but he goes on to explain that "Neither novels or their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story." If you don't simply read this at face value but actually pay attention to what is said, Green is essentially doing the same thing Tolkien did: saying "yes, there were some real life inspirations, but they don't matter to the story. The story stands on its own and has meaning on its own." Christopher Moore also doesn't state "I made it up" in the same way as the OP does. I quote: "This book you've read is just a story. I made it up. It is not designed to change anyone's beliefs or worldview, unless after reading it you've decided to be kinder to your fellow humans (which is okay), or you decide you really would like to teach yoga to an elephant, in which case, please get videotape." (emphasis mine). This is pretty much exactly the same as what Green was saying: the story has value as a story without you looking for meaning. The OP is claiming to be some sort of supergod who is never inspired one little bit (despite, by his own admission, evidence to the contrary). That's not at all what Moore does with this quote. You're also completely ignoring the context of Kate Atkinson's quote as well. Atkinson is talking in terms of intentionally autobiographical fiction, where the author uses their writing as some sort of outlet or way to process events. That's very far removed from the OP's claim, and it's also very far removed from what I was talking about: merely saying "I made it up" and leaving it at that. None of the authors you've highlighted have said "I made it up" and left it at that. While they (like myself, and I'm assuming yourself) abhor the idea of consciously inserting real life influences into one's stories - and I don't know about you, but I'm with Tolkien when I say I hate deliberate allegory, unless it's done really fucking well - that's not what the OP has stated. That's not what I was addressing in the least. My point was exactly this, as you yourself have put it:
This is absolutely hitting the nail on the head. And @deadrats, if you actually take the time to go an read any of the articles and quotes that @BayView shared, you'll see that this is exactly what Kate Atkinson is talking about. You clearly don't understand the difference between the conscious and the subconscious... So far, I haven't seen anyone claim you were actively thinking about such things while writing. Seeing as you seem to have difficulty understanding what I say, I'll quote BayView again:
@NathanRoets i see where you are coming from, but don’t get it twisted. I’m more in favor of Deadrats points. I don’t think very much of the creator has to be in any work of art other than the will to see it made and the cognitive empathy to make it sound true. The will to make it doesn’t even need a good reason. Money will do. I have occasionally written things because they were in my heart to get out, but even then they rarely have anything to do with real life. Maybe I felt the way the character does at some point.
So if "neither novels or their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hid inside a story," why would all your successful authors and panelists "rip you a new one" if you said "I made it up"? It seems like a pretty dramatic response to a pretty simple truth. As Green goes on to say (in the part you didn't quote) "Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter."
@John Calligan that's the exact point that I'm trying to make. Such as exactly this, for example. It's an abstract, not a conscious event that's consciously inserted. There's still some influence outside of the pure story in this example: the sort of back and forth between creation and creator, if you will. Again, the point isn't whether it's effectively made up, it's about the intellectual laziness of saying "I made it up" and leaving it at that. All the authors you referenced did not leave it at that. In the panels and other discussions I mentioned, those who got a new one ripped were those who, like deadrats, left it at that. And I addressed this point numerous times in my response to you regardless of whether it was quoted directly or not, so I fail to see the point in highlighting it?
This just sounds like a wholly invented psychological theory. You are insisting that no author is capable of writing a story that bears rough similarity to common situations in their own life without subconsciously making it autobiographical. And then, as evidence, you make the friend and lover who have projected themselves into what they have read as somehow psychological detectives that have a clearer window into the author's experiences and mind then the author themselves does. Why do you believe the author so easily prey to self deception while his two casual readers are so perceptive that they know better? Why is it you immediately reject the opposite - that the author wrote some fiction and his two acquaintances, working on the assumption that all authors write from their experiences only, found evidence of themselves that wasn't actually there? Why assume that this friend and lover aren't looking for validation in the art of their friend, hoping to claim that they are inspiration or muse to something that might achieve fame? The whole thing sounds Freudian - and not in a good way.
I don't think it's anything to do with Deadrats subconsciously writing friends and family into their writing. I think it's something like the Barnum Effect, where people with certain ego problems are looking for themselves because they think they must be so important to the author. It's a really odd reaction.
@NathanRoets -- Can you please stop calling me lazy? Nothing about what I do is lazy and my approach to writing is not lazy. You're new here. So, welcome. But it sort of seems like you came here looking for a fight. I was looking to hear from other writers, not looking for a hard time.
There seems to be a current influx of super-opinionated, aggressive newbies at the moment. I wonder if it's coincidence or something else.
I thought it was an odd reaction too and not what I expected. What you said makes sense. Have you or anyone else here ever had someone you know have a similar reaction after reading your writing? And what's the best way to respond to this sort of thing? It makes me a little nervous about showing work to friends that aren't also writers. I had another friend insist that a piece of my writing had to be true. When I said it wasn't he said, "Well, this part was true." It wasn't and none of the characters or situations even came close to anything that had ever happened to either of us. Maybe my friends are just a little strange.
I've seen it, yes, and I thought it was really odd. I would never have thought, even before I was a writer, that a friend's book would feature me or be about me. I'm just not that self-centered. Nowadays I only really show my writing to other writers until it's published... it cuts down on the weird reactions.
I've had a friend accurately point out an incident I borrowed from real life, and the same friend has certainly said, "Oh, I can just HEAR YOU saying something like that." But she was right in both cases. I don't think I've ever known anyone to insist I was inserting myself into a story where I wasn't...and she's never said "Oh, that's me" or anything!
Maybe they're just trying to fit in with the super-opinionated, aggressive, disparaging oldies and how they behave?
I had enough funny reactions before the new policy to get me through your average dinner-party-anecdote scenario.
