24 Comments
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Andromeda Romano-Lax's avatar

I love this: "Mom: I didn’t know all that was going on…"

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Laura Leffler's avatar

😂

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Jennifer Pollock's avatar

My mom "sees herself" in everything I've ever written lmao

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Laura Leffler's avatar

Better than seeing YOU in all the awful people like my mom 😂

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Melissa D MacKinnon's avatar

No you are not wrong using names you know! Names are tethered to places and time and make a book believable.

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Laura Leffler's avatar

This is exactly why I did it!

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Maria Hanley's avatar

I'm writing my first novel and am starting to share my hook with people. The follow-up question is almost always, "So, can I assume that happened to you?" Um, NO!

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Laura Leffler's avatar

nov·el

noun

a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.

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DIANA ADMIRE's avatar

Yes this…..

I have had readers think they knew who was who. It is fun and flattering when writers make it seem so real. Means we are doing something right, I think.

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Laura Leffler's avatar

Ohhh I like this take!

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Henny Hiemenz's avatar

I’ve only ever dabbled in writing fiction, but I feel like this would confuse me. Like, I’d conflate the two - the real person and the made up one. Was that an issue for you at all?

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Laura Leffler's avatar

Interesting! No, not at all!!

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Jan M. Flynn's avatar

I'm bracing myself. My book is MG fantasy, but I've already had it pointed out to me that two of my character names are too similar to characters in OTHER fantasies. Oy.

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Laura Leffler's avatar

Oh pshaw!

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Musings of a Late Bloomer's avatar

Wow, that's hilarious, lol. I wonder if I'll get comments like that about mine, since it's set at a summer camp that has *some* similarities to one we went to during the school year, even though it's an absolute work of fiction.

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Laura Leffler's avatar

100% you will!! (I bet)

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Musings of a Late Bloomer's avatar

Well, I really exaggerated it and added a murder mystery, so I can definitely have some fun with people who ask questions. LOL

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Laura Leffler's avatar

Yep same lol

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Caitlin Kunkel's avatar

I use my nephew's names as fun Easter eggs for them in my book...I hope people don't think Pip my nephew is really a tarantula lol.

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Laura Leffler's avatar

Girl, they might.

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Marianna Busching's avatar

I was told by my publisher not to write a memoir....I know (knew) too many famous people, and they will sue me if I reveal some of the truths of my interactions with them. So I'm sticking to fiction...for the moment, at least.

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Laura Leffler's avatar

But… my book IS fiction.

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Jillian Kaplan's avatar

But it’s never all fiction or it wouldn’t be relatable.

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Laura Leffler's avatar

Hmmm

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