Turning your real life into fiction
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I've been contemplating doing it for 10 years now. Haven't yet put the pen to the paper, or erm, fingers to the keys yet.
Read some Jack Kerouac. Or Allen Ginsberg. Or Neal Cassady. Or Charles Bukowski.
Or, hell, read some F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Or, hell, read some F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I am writing a novel right now, that is taken from parts of my life.. However it is not autobiographical.
All the the different parts fit together... and then I add in fiction... What question do you have?
What about Hunter S. Thompson? -- I think the Kerouac/etc... bunch were not actually writing "fiction" they also emboidered quite a lot, but the writing was basically journalistic. The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, and On the Road were about actual Events as was Fear and Loathing. I would guess most of the writers were taking drugs much of the time. As far as Ginsburg-- Naked Lunch is a hoot but I am certain they were not really crushing giant insects and snorting them to get high, so that was probably fiction.
Or, maybe not.
i have put this in forum in write your life section,
how does a person write about it and is there like a r18, section when wanting to get ones life published as in (viloiance) sorry cant spell that word and things of that nature? I guess what im thinking is for me when writing about my life perhaps it would be to graphic for readers etc.
and also i find it way easier to use the real names of people could i be chargered for doing that?
And also how does one hide etc when writing a book as in, not making it a real life story more fiction, so then no one could really call it the truth aye?
I find some things hard to write because of the memories and details of it all, sorry using a friends computer havent got spell check.
But my life as many others have had was one of torture, abuse, neglect. etc so i find as any one would it sensitive yet a relife to speak or type about it...
and when writing say ones like as a fiction would it have to carry on in one book or could it be done in like many books as in a series
And can sexual abuse be writen about, Rape and all of that if it happened alot?
How far can i go into my world that is ok to have published?
how detailed can i be? about everything, death also?
I've written a couple of short stories that are very close to events in my own life, like when I was a teenager working on a farm and drove a tractor for the first time. It took off with me and I couldn't regain control because I was crossing moorland at high speed. When I saw a bit of flat land, I headed for that as best I could. There was a hillock at the edge of the moor and I fairly flew over it. I don't know how the golfers made it into the bunkers before I landed on the fourth green - but they were'nt very happy.
Another one was after a series of earthquakes I had to visit a certain village in Papua New Guinea but the people didn't want me there. They threatened my life and swore to bring sorcery to get rid of me, but I went. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the people had deserted the village and I was there alone but one little girl (4yo perhaps) came out of the jungle to talk to me. Then more kids came. Then I made them paper aeroplanes and it was more like a funfair (first litter problem in the East Sepik District). Anyway, soon the men came and I was able to stay the few days to do the work I had to do.
So, yes. I have written about my real life.
Another one was after a series of earthquakes I had to visit a certain village in Papua New Guinea but the people didn't want me there. They threatened my life and swore to bring sorcery to get rid of me, but I went. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the people had deserted the village and I was there alone but one little girl (4yo perhaps) came out of the jungle to talk to me. Then more kids came. Then I made them paper aeroplanes and it was more like a funfair (first litter problem in the East Sepik District). Anyway, soon the men came and I was able to stay the few days to do the work I had to do.
So, yes. I have written about my real life.
Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe (Electric Koolaid Acid Test) are more recent than Kerouac/Ginsberg/Cassady, but their works are of a similar vein.
I'd say there's a different in that Thompson and Wolfe were by far more journalistic than the Beat generation writings. Thompson started out as intending to be a journalist, after all, and quickly realized that he could find more success with the fictionalized first-person accounts of Gonzo Journalism.
Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassady, on the other hand, were first writers. It just so happened that their very own lives were probably the most interesting things out there to write about. Kerouac's version of events as Sal Paradise surely differ from reality in many accounts, but it's essentially his "real life" turned into fiction. Ginsberg himself often wrote poems about experiences with Kerouac and "N.C. secret hero of these poems."
As for Naked Lunch, you're thinking of Burroughs there.
And in answer to Pup's question, I'd say yes, definitely change all the names, even your own. For example, in Kerouac's On the Road, Kerouac himself is "Sal Paradise," and his friends Neal Cassady is "Dean Moriarty," and Allen Ginsberg is "Carlo Marx." In Charles Bukowski's novels, he portrays himself through his alter ego "Henry Chinaski."
I'd say there's a different in that Thompson and Wolfe were by far more journalistic than the Beat generation writings. Thompson started out as intending to be a journalist, after all, and quickly realized that he could find more success with the fictionalized first-person accounts of Gonzo Journalism.
Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassady, on the other hand, were first writers. It just so happened that their very own lives were probably the most interesting things out there to write about. Kerouac's version of events as Sal Paradise surely differ from reality in many accounts, but it's essentially his "real life" turned into fiction. Ginsberg himself often wrote poems about experiences with Kerouac and "N.C. secret hero of these poems."
As for Naked Lunch, you're thinking of Burroughs there.
And in answer to Pup's question, I'd say yes, definitely change all the names, even your own. For example, in Kerouac's On the Road, Kerouac himself is "Sal Paradise," and his friends Neal Cassady is "Dean Moriarty," and Allen Ginsberg is "Carlo Marx." In Charles Bukowski's novels, he portrays himself through his alter ego "Henry Chinaski."
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Hello thank you for your reply, it sounds like you have lead an eventful life. So you did turn your life experiences into fiction, did you end up writting in the Third person?
And i would be interested in reading more of your work.....
have you got anything on here i could look at?
Regards
Michelle
Just did something close to that yesterday. Took a trip I made to Africa several years ago and peppered it with new characters and a plot idea I came up with early in the morning. But I used real events and real places from the three-week journey of 4300 km. Assembled a two-page synopsis that came out really good.
In fact, it's so good it's scary because the story delves pretty deep into human relationships, something I haven't done to that extent before. It's the first time I've tried using firsthand experiences as background and props, but it's great because I know exactly what happened and how it happened. Don't have to rely on books or the web for research.
In fact, it's so good it's scary because the story delves pretty deep into human relationships, something I haven't done to that extent before. It's the first time I've tried using firsthand experiences as background and props, but it's great because I know exactly what happened and how it happened. Don't have to rely on books or the web for research.
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Oddly, it's the one thing I don't write about. I spent years traveling around with the most amazing characters - performers and artists and fighters and freaks - but it's not something to which I feel I could do justice, so I just tell the stories of my wild youth to my friends. Since most of the folks I spent those years getting to know are rather private (despite having very public personas) and very smart, they would probably recognize themselves if I wrote about them. And some of them are more than a little scary, so I'm going to stick to pure fiction for awhile.
I've peppered some of my real life into my current work, but only a little.
However, I draw alot upon experience to embue scenes with life and detail, though not actual events from my life, per se.
However, I draw alot upon experience to embue scenes with life and detail, though not actual events from my life, per se.
I tell my students, the only person who thinks your childhood is interesting is you.
It's possible to do it well (making your life interesting; not just cataloging it), but I think it's not likely for 2 reasons. It's extremely hard to be honest about yourself. Most people want to make themselves look good. What makes the writers mentioned so good is that they were honest about themselves. Kerouac was half fiction half autob, but he never pulled punches. A Moveable Feast is autobiographical, and it's better fiction than most of the fiction ever written. And secondly, most of the first person stuff I see in group is therapy writing. If that's what you need to write about to get it out of your system, then write away. Then, when you want to be known as a writer, write some fiction. You know, make up characters, people with actual flaws, get them in trouble and let them grow their way out of it.
It's possible to do it well (making your life interesting; not just cataloging it), but I think it's not likely for 2 reasons. It's extremely hard to be honest about yourself. Most people want to make themselves look good. What makes the writers mentioned so good is that they were honest about themselves. Kerouac was half fiction half autob, but he never pulled punches. A Moveable Feast is autobiographical, and it's better fiction than most of the fiction ever written. And secondly, most of the first person stuff I see in group is therapy writing. If that's what you need to write about to get it out of your system, then write away. Then, when you want to be known as a writer, write some fiction. You know, make up characters, people with actual flaws, get them in trouble and let them grow their way out of it.
To give a long answer to a short question:
I used to mess about with music a lot. And when I was was trying to work out how to play a particular piece without the score, I almost always came up with something more interesting to me than the piece I was trying to reproduce.
There are things in my writing that are autobiographical, but by the time they've been through the mill of my writing process, they aren;t recognizable to anyone but me.
As far as what you are allowed to do: anything that doesn't bore the reader.
I used to mess about with music a lot. And when I was was trying to work out how to play a particular piece without the score, I almost always came up with something more interesting to me than the piece I was trying to reproduce.
There are things in my writing that are autobiographical, but by the time they've been through the mill of my writing process, they aren;t recognizable to anyone but me.
As far as what you are allowed to do: anything that doesn't bore the reader.
Hi again, Pups.
I've just put a story in Romance/Womens SYW for crits. It's called Nardi Nardi and it is closely based on the trip to a hostile village in Papua New Guinea. It's written from a female POV because I was entering it into a really high paying SS competition.
I've also posted two stories, one in Humour and one in SciFi/Fantesy. One is about saving the world and the other is called The Truth. They are not about my experiances except that they came to me during my sleep. I just woke up and wrote them down.
I'll put my story The Fourth Green in the Other SYW section. This is first person.
Hope you enjoy them.
Mumut
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But you'd never let the truth spoil a good story, would you?
I've had a surprise, though. The other day my thirty-three year old son asked me to write my autobiography. I take that as a compliment, eh?
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I did it with my first novel. I discovered (as have so many others) that, when you get right down to it, our real lives are usually not interesting enough to make a decent novel. 
I'd write my life into a novel if I wanted to bore my readers to death. Although I find my life quite interesting, few others do.
All writing is autobiographical in that the writer can only employ the sensibility his or her life has shaped.
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Never, never, never, and never EVER will. My life is not only dull beyond tears but depressing as well...who wants to read a story about a socially avoidant shut-in who writes boring stuff and cries all the time and has no relationships?? I wouldn't. Blech. I would be the most annoying and dull protagonist.
That's why I write so much fiction, because there's nothing else to write about!
That's why I write so much fiction, because there's nothing else to write about!
In one way or another. My first book that I published on Lulu and really just consider practice because looking back on it I realize how much it sucks...anyway, the beginning of that book is pretty much exactly how my husband and I met. I based a lot of my two MCs on him and me. For some reason it was the only way I could get the story written.
My second book is based on something that happened to me, but the circumstances and events surrounding the event are totally not my life. There are only a few people that know this, however. Well, now all of you do. But it's not something I'd ever make public if it were published.
And my third is very different, but all the characters still have pieces of me or my life in them. I find that in all my writing. No, I'm not making my life into a story. But there's parts of me, there's parts of my husband and my family and friends, co-workers...little parts of every area of my life in my stories.
My second book is based on something that happened to me, but the circumstances and events surrounding the event are totally not my life. There are only a few people that know this, however. Well, now all of you do. But it's not something I'd ever make public if it were published.
And my third is very different, but all the characters still have pieces of me or my life in them. I find that in all my writing. No, I'm not making my life into a story. But there's parts of me, there's parts of my husband and my family and friends, co-workers...little parts of every area of my life in my stories.
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