In a post on Lit Hub, Jincy Willett discusses how much real life we can steal from real life people.
“If you Google ‘basing fictional characters on real people,’ you’ll get a lot of advice about avoiding lawsuits, but legal issues are not the point,” Willett says. “The point is betrayal of trust. If you use people in your circle—family members, friends, friends of friends, whoever has let you into their lives and been let into yours—in such a way that they are easily recognizable to themselves, to others, then you’ve invaded their privacy.”
Willett says that using specific, identifiable stories from the life of someone you know should be off-limits. However, taking inspiration from true-life public events is open game. “In choosing public life, politicians and other celebrities are there for the taking,” she says.
Some writers are well known for plundering stories from their real-life friends and family members, but aren’t always remembered fondly for it. While Willett based one of her main characters on herself, she fictionalized significant aspects to avoid accidentally plucking real-life details from her friends and family. “She is, like me, a widow, but her husband bears no resemblance to my own, and she has no children,” she explains. “These two most vital distinctions have allowed me to use my own personality, or what I understand of it, without fear of betraying anyone.”
