Do fictional characters have to be fictional?

Writing coaches are notorious for saying so—same with writing tutors, magazines, etc. However, many authors, such as one of my favorites, D.H. Lawrence, constructed his characters from the people he knew best—and sometimes got himself in a lot of trouble because of it.

As I ventured into research for The Justine Trilogy—in Cairo, Italy, and Taos—I met fascinating characters: an ambassador, Director of Antiquities, Minister, and a revolutionary in Cairo; a striking geneticist and novelist in Ferrara, a museum director in Fiesole, a Baroness in Tuscany; three archeologists and Pueblo Indians in New Mexico….  A Greek historian here, and Lawrence scholar there. How could I ignore such a rich mine of flamboyant characters?

What was I to do? So, I asked them if they would consent to being characters in my novels. To a person, they were delighted. (However, I will admit that I never directly asked the Supreme Director of Antiquities—but I did rename him!)

What do you think about this lovely conundrum?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 24th, 2013 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Egypt, Fiction, Italy, Taos, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.