The Company Therapist Message Board (Closed)

Re: Fiction or Real Life?

Posted by: Olga <OWerby@Pipsqueak.com>
Date: Sunday, 24 May 1998, at 9:22 p.m.

In Response To: Fiction or Real Life? (David Jensen)

> If you discovered that the material some of
> your authors presented to you was based partly or
> wholly on their own personal lives, how would you
> react to it? Have you ever suspected or questioned
> any of the authors about that possibility?

I can only speak for my characters: Lloyd Major, Anna Green, and Sylvia Bows. The only thing I have in common with the pompous, bisexual millionaire and CEO of SII, Lloyd Major, is his sinus problems. As for Sylvia Bows, I gave birth to 2 children. And Anna...well, I was a programmer once. So, as you can see, there isn't that much that's based on real life in these characters. It's fiction!

> Maybe these authors are truly talented, because
> a lot of what I read just seems too real, and I'm
> not giving them enough credit.

I think the authors are very talented indeed. The few that I know personally are not at all like their characters. Perhaps, however, they're exorcising some dark corner of their soul--e.g. I can assure you that Karen Geer is not a man having serious gender problems, Andrew Werby is not like Joseph Mazurka or Peter Hossfeld, and David Bergeron is not at all like Katherine Lippard.

> But what if they are based on their own lives?
> Why would the authors choose to reveal so much of
> themselves under the guise of a character name?
> A sort of self-therapy, perhaps?

Personally, I think of this as fun, as well as a great way of improving my writing skills. But writing is about exploring one's feelings, and if I gain some insight into myself in the process, so much the better. I suspect all writers doing any kind of creative work take something away from the process which becomes part of who they are as people.

Enjoy the site,

Olga

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