Changing Non-Fiction to Fiction?

[MIKEYLICKEY]

Luckily, I have a few GREAT stories that happened to me that I would like to write and publish.

How much do I have to change so that I don't get sued?

I know probably all the names, but what about nicknames, other details, etc.?

Thanks!
Mikey

 

[Hypoxia]

How much do I have to change so that I don't get sued?

I know probably all the names, but what about nicknames, other details, etc.?

If you think readers will recognize themselves, change as much as you can. I tend to base characters on real people in real places -- so I change all names and sometimes obscure the locales. Maybe use similar (nick)names but with plausible deniability. Just remember that real life is rarely as interesting as good fiction. Reality may underpin my stories but they're not bound to accuracy or even sanity.

 

[oggbashan]

My advice is simple.

Use the real life experiences to inform your fiction but DON'T write anything like the reality.

If for example you knew details of a brother fucking his sister in Kentucky and could describe them physically and socially - change location, physical details and social circle.

An example:

The real event has a nerdish computer graduate, slim and weedy, with his sister who is taller and heavier than her brother. She is into team sports as an aggressive player. Did she seduce him, or did she effectively rape him?

For fiction you could change the details and re-use it several times:

1. Strong sister, diffident brother but her strength is mental, not physical. She persuades him into Incest after a girlfriend rejected him.

2. Strong jock-like brother with athletic sister both of whom are disappointed with a succession of unfit partners. They start by complaining to each other about what their partners wont/cant do, excite each other and move on to demonstration of what they really want.

I don't think the real individuals would recognise themselves from those scenarios.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

I dunno... If you are going to write bad things about real people they probably won't like it.

Not sure if I've ever heard someone sue someone else for writing nice things about them.

What are you planning to write about? If you're going to divulge some huge personal/private secret about someone and you don't disguise who you are writing about then you're risking a legal threat, that's for sure.

My mother sued Anthony Burgess a very very very long time - for reasons that you wouldn't believe I don't think.

Burgess was a fucking idiot. So not only would I try to write good things about real people, I'd try to make them proud of the actual writing, and the narrative context, and I'd want to know they'd think I was handling the truth fathfully TO the actual truth and not spinning stuff along mediocre or biggoted, even patronising lines.

I think you can get very close to 'fictionalising' an actually true account of something and some people. Frankly I think the best writing IS based on the truth extensively.

 

[sr71plt]

Use the real life experiences to inform your fiction but DON'T write anything like the reality.

This.

When I do a takeoff on what actually happened (and most everything I write has an "actually happened" as an element), I go for the emotions of it rather than faithful depiction of the activity.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Luckily, I have a few GREAT stories that happened to me that I would like to write and publish.

How much do I have to change so that I don't get sued?

I know probably all the names, but what about nicknames, other details, etc.?

Thanks!
Mikey

You can't get sued for the truth but that usually makes dull reading.

Use the plot as a template and apply it to another group of characters in another location - abracadabra! - fiction.

As Ogg says, given the template you have a resource for many stories.

 

[MIKEYLICKEY]

WOW!

You all had great suggestions which I will take to heart. I am writing about some of my teenage experiences in Chicago during 1972-73. Sort of an homage to American Graffiti, with a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural twist..

After ruminating on the experience for 40 years I've decided that the story needs telling, and I am about 1/3 done. The unique characters and unusual experiences were such in this case, that truth was indeed stranger than fiction. I am writing everything down (as close to reality as I remember) just to get it out, then I will set to obfuscating the identities.

Thanks a lot!
Mikey

 

[sr71plt]

Hope you aren't planning on writing anything erotic for anyone under 18 at this Web site. That won't fly here.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

I agree with all the stuff that's already been said about changing to fiction. Just wanted to point out that you can keep it non-fiction. Sometimes if the reader knows it actually happened, it can up the dramatic stakes. You still have to do the same things to protect the others (be they guilty or innocent) for all the same reasons people have already mentioned. The idea is the reader understands it happened to you, so it's more of a confession or perhaps you have an interesting voice or some insight to share about the nature of the story. Good luck!

 

[soflabbwlvr]

When I create characters based on real people, I make small changes such as bumping the age a few years in either direction, change the hair color, give the character a different occupation, change the number of kids, etc.

When writing a story based on real events, the most important thing to remember is that your purpose is to entertain, not to inform. The author is not bound by any journalistic code of accuracy. Exaggerate, inflate, change the sequence of events--do whatever it takes to make the story more interesting to the reader. You may choose to be bound by the laws of reality, but you do not have to be bound by what really happened.

 

[MIKEYLICKEY]

sr71 Blackbird,

Yeah, No. This would hopefully be book length which I will probably e-publish, if I ever figure out how. Probably not much more erotic than American Graffiti. Basically a coming of age story about me.

In a best case scenario it would be picked up by an ambitious Hollywood screenwriter, and made into a movie.

I don't belong to any other author forums, so I asked you authors for advice.

Thanks