How have you mirrored real life in your fictional writing?

[AchtungNight]

I’m a fanfic writer whose stories have featured real life celebrity couples including TomKat, Brangelina, Evan Rachel Wood & Jamie Bell (also some irritating musician who goes by a fake name), Sacha Baron Cohen & Isla Fisher, and others. This has included cheating, open relationships, and mocking people on occasion. I once featured serial dater Alicia Witt with her real life fiancé with whom she broke up later on a “last date” where he chose the wrong Halloween costume (Comissioner Gordon to her Batgirl… oops!). In another story I had Busy Phillips meet her eventual real life husband (they’ve since divorced) and get attracted to him while also discovering she was bisexual and into her co-stars on Dawson’s Creek. I also referenced my author avatar having a past divorce with a woman based on my ex-wife (did this with her permission, the relationship never appears on screen). I only deal with the consensual stuff of course, and I acknowledge that what I do is fiction, not reality.

Have other authors here done similar things? Would you like to discuss them? This is your thread!

 

[Mastered_again]

Sure, but I don't do fanfic, so it might not apply.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My own real life gets scattered through stories, but Celebs and Fan-Fic, no.

 

[Altissimus]

Self-insertion, yes; factual people, no.

 

[KeithD]

I include historical people (or a direct parallel of them) occasionally but still-living people, not so much. There's almost always some real-life in my experience/observation at the center of the story.

 

[EmilyMiller]

How have you mirrored real life in your fictional writing?​

Pretty much like this (doesn’t reflect some restructuring of my portfolio):


The Litlikers Guide to the Emiverse.

Em

 

[Mastered_again]

Pretty much like this (doesn’t reflect some restructuring of my portfolio):


The Litlikers Guide to the Emiverse.

Em

I've led such a sheltered existence.

 

[live4thebj]

Yes factual things are in my stories but it is only I that knows what is true and what isn’t.

 

[PennameWombat]

I don't and never would write about celebrities. Not for any legal reason, I just have zero interest in their doings. I have included the odd mention of a few or of politicians or similar to 'place' a story in a time and culture. But that's it, it's a reference that I count on most readers to understand. As to fanfic, not my thing. Again, no interest in shipping characters or such.

I do use elements of my life, as I've written here, soccer players, computer programming, math, leaking municipal swimming pools, all show up, because I know those things and it's easy for me to build from. There might be the occasional germ seed of a real event in a story, but nothing here is autobiographical. I may be far from the most talented around here, but I don't want to intentionally bore my readers to death.

 

[Rob_Royale]

As an artist in the past, I was always a stickler for originality, when possible. I fully understand that no idea is really original in the realm of erotica. The Best Friends Mom story probably dates back to Egyptian hieroglyphs on the wall of Tut's tomb, but at least attempting to put my own spin on it is important to me. And the best starting place for that, IMHO is original, well-thought-out characters. I may someday venture into the fanfic category, but that will probably be a one-off just to scratch a creative itch.

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship."

 

[Mastered_again]

As an artist in the past, I was always a stickler for originality, when possible. I fully understand that no idea is really original in the realm of erotica. The Best Friends Mom story probably dates back to Egyptian hieroglyphs on the wall of Tut's tomb, but at least attempting to put my own spin on it is important to me. And the best starting place for that, IMHO is original, well-thought-out characters. I may someday venture into the fanfic category, but that will probably be a one-off just to scratch a creative itch.

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship."

So are you a Mary Anne or Ginger fan?

 

[MelissaBaby]

My characters Mary and Alvin went to Fenway Park and bought a Cuban sandwich from Luis Tiant. That's about it.

 

[Rob_Royale]

So are you a Mary Anne or Ginger fan?

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't write about celebrities, but there are some ways in which my stories are based on real life:

1. I've written stories based loosely on real people I have contacted online and who have given permission for me to write them. My Lisa and Mrs. Pillsbury stories are examples.
2. I've written stories that aren't exactly based on, but perhaps inspired by, my personal experiences with certain kinky things, like erotic photography, rope play, dominance/submission, exhibitionism, and voyeurism, etc.
3. I've written stories inspired loosely by real events, like Penis Fish, which was inspired by a report of thousands of innkeeper worms washing up on a beach in California.

 

[AchtungNight]

I don't write about celebrities, but there are some ways in which my stories are based on real life:

1. I've written stories based loosely on real people I have contacted online and who have given permission for me to write them. My Lisa and Mrs. Pillsbury stories are examples.
2. I've written stories that aren't exactly based on, but perhaps inspired by, my personal experiences with certain kinky things, like erotic photography, rope play, dominance/submission, exhibitionism, and voyeurism, etc.
3. I've written stories inspired loosely by real events, like Penis Fish, which was inspired by a report of thousands of innkeeper worms washing up on a beach in California.

On that note, my author avatar character Doug Ramsay is based on me but he is a parallel universe version of me who’s way more of a Casanova and idealized in other ways too. The people he knows are echoes of people I know but not the actual people from my real life. In cases where it was possible & necessary I contacted the people on whom I directly based the characters and got permission.

Examples- Marie O’Day is based on a woman with a similar name who is my ex wife, we divorced amicably. The woman in question is involved in business IRL but not on an international level like she is in my stories. I also once had a crush on a seriously kinky freckled Australian named Kelly Lee Nichols. The character Jodie Lee Nichols in my stories is based on Kelly and her equally kinky sister Jodi (I had a crush on her too, somewhat). Neither woman would ever consider becoming a special forces secret agent for the UN or the Australian SAS, far as I know. I doubt they’d be content waiting tables either. The Jodie Lee Nichols in my ficverse does both and she’s willing to date Doug and be a unicorn for his open marriage with another woman. I was never sure the people on whom I based her were that kinky. Hopefully this doppelgänger depiction made Jodie Lee Nichols unique enough that I can call her my character and not theirs, should the issue ever come up. I’m out of touch with the real Nichols sisters, so I couldn’t get permission from them for the depiction the way I could from the real woman on whom I based Marie O’Day.

Doug Ramsay’s life experiences are also similar to mine but not actually mine. I once aspired to be a police officer. Ramsay was a sheriff’s deputy for a brief period. I have never met Alicia Witt but I did get a free VIP ticket to one of her concerts once. Ramsay used to date her in an open relationship with other celebrities. Ramsay is an entertainment executive. I’m just a factory middle management type. Etc.

 

[firmbutgentle]

I don't write fanfic, so not at all in that sense. My fiction is based on my experiences, but it's not autobiographical. I don't mirror things that happened in real life. First of all I wouldn't want anyone recognizing themselves in my stories, but also, I want the characters to do what's natural for them, and sometimes they surprise me.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Often, at least snippets of my stories are based on real life. Either from something I've experienced, or something that I know someone else has done. Like getting caught naked in a lake partying with a bunch of friends by the cops, as happened in my story 'The Dare.' It did happen to someone I know, but sadly for her, she didn't wind up with a hot cop.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've never written about celebs, and put my most recent story in the future to make clear that "the Home Secretary", the PM, Equalities Minister and "another Equalities Minister, this month" are definitely not the people currently in those jobs! Is Government like that? I couldn't possibly comment...

Most of my stories are extrapolated from real life, not necessarily mine. I like fiction which feels like it could be real. I try to change enough details so no-one could think I'm talking about them (except in a couple cases where I was), but even so, someone's identified a location and employer. Prof 'Mike Snow' in Wheelchair Bound? was real but must be long dead by now, sadly.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I’m a fanfic writer whose stories have featured real life celebrity couples including TomKat, Brangelina, Evan Rachel Wood & Jamie Bell (also some irritating musician who goes by a fake name), Sacha Baron Cohen & Isla Fisher, and others. This has included cheating, open relationships, and mocking people on occasion. I once featured serial dater Alicia Witt with her real life fiancé with whom she broke up later on a “last date” where he chose the wrong Halloween costume (Comissioner Gordon to her Batgirl… oops!). In another story I had Busy Phillips meet her eventual real life husband (they’ve since divorced) and get attracted to him while also discovering she was bisexual and into her co-stars on Dawson’s Creek. I also referenced my author avatar having a past divorce with a woman based on my ex-wife (did this with her permission, the relationship never appears on screen). I only deal with the consensual stuff of course, and I acknowledge that what I do is fiction, not reality.

Have other authors here done similar things? Would you like to discuss them? This is your thread!

I've done a few Celebrity stories, which I had great fun writing. To be honest, they were just inspired by seeing celebrities on TV that I wanted to have sex with, and that I then felt could be stitched believably (enough) into the continuing narrative of my MC. Most are B-grade Aussie celebs, but I did a reader request story featuring WWE star Rhea Ripley, which was a great challenge. My Celebrity stories get relatively low views, but it's just such a turn on writing them!

 

[AllenWoody]

My own real life gets scattered through stories, but Celebs and Fan-Fic, no.

This, especially quotes and bits from sexual encounters. If someone says something to me during sex that sticks with me, I’m likely to eventually find a spot for it in one of my stories. Same for a certain visual. Introducing them into scenes that I’m writing makes them more immediate for me, and therefore easier to write and hopefully more authentic.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Real world stuff? Sure. Real movies, bands, cars, clothes, etc. I mix real and fake stuff. I've even used real fake stuff, like cars from GTA or Vigilante8/Interstate76.

I often read Webtoons and get a kick out the parody things they use. In one comic the mc works at Spenders, the last update he was wearing a Knives&Roses shirt. Or another where many wear high fashion and you'll see a Guggi shirt or Adadas sneakers.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

I've only mirrored the fantasies I had about cuckolding my first husband after we split up. No real life at all in my stores, other than the vampire ones. Yeah, those are all true.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This, especially quotes and bits from sexual encounters. If someone says something to me during sex that sticks with me, I’m likely to eventually find a spot for it in one of my stories. Same for a certain visual. Introducing them into scenes that I’m writing makes them more immediate for me, and therefore easier to write and hopefully more authentic.

I have a writer's theory that, if you put a tiny piece of absolute truth in even the most fantastic story, people consciously or subconsciously spot it, and they'll be prepared to suspend a million miles of disbelief for the rest of your story.

I do it in every story, usually by way of little descriptive grace notes, that observational stuff. Other times, it can be whole encounters, sometimes to the finish (although these days, they're more likely the fantasy and can be spotted as such).

I've received comments saying, "Thank you both for sharing", which means a reader has thought the characters were real and I'd given them something autobiographical. That's the ultimate compliment, when a reader can't tell truth from fiction.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I’m a fanfic writer whose stories have featured real life celebrity couples including TomKat, Brangelina, Evan Rachel Wood & Jamie Bell (also some irritating musician who goes by a fake name), Sacha Baron Cohen & Isla Fisher, and others. This has included cheating, open relationships, and mocking people on occasion. I once featured serial dater Alicia Witt with her real life fiancé with whom she broke up later on a “last date” where he chose the wrong Halloween costume (Comissioner Gordon to her Batgirl… oops!). In another story I had Busy Phillips meet her eventual real life husband (they’ve since divorced) and get attracted to him while also discovering she was bisexual and into her co-stars on Dawson’s Creek. I also referenced my author avatar having a past divorce with a woman based on my ex-wife (did this with her permission, the relationship never appears on screen). I only deal with the consensual stuff of course, and I acknowledge that what I do is fiction, not reality.

Have other authors here done similar things? Would you like to discuss them? This is your thread!

The only time I used someone like a real celebrity, I named her Cynthia Delta-Yates, from Sheffield. They do have a distinctive accent there, which she lapses into when she's excited or distracted - like at the Tony Awards. Her husband (they were estranged at the time) is Jeffrey McDonnell. You do know which company McDonnell Aircraft merged with? Hint: they built significant airliners like the DC-3. DC-6, DC-7 and so forth.

But it's not really her, of course. Although, she does regret that "Steven" talked her into doing a sequel called The Haunting II: The Ghost of Nell.

 

[gunhilltrain]

View attachment 2272484

Natalie Schafer was actually about 64 when she started with the show. (She sometime gave her birth year as 1912, not 1900.) An interesting take on her and Jim Backus. It's part of a much longer interview which is available in segments on YouTube. Who knew there was so much to say about Gilligan's Island? I watched it because I was of the age that if the TV was on, that was enough for me.