If you are writing a book

[Tiggeroo]

and it's based in your home town.. How much local color can you include. If your town has several very colorful individuals and you want to include them as secondary characters, just sort of passing thru, would changing their names be enough. Would having them read the book and give their ok be enough. Anybody have any info on this. I live in a town full of interesting people. They make this town what it is.

 

[kild]

You can base your characters off anyone. Changing the names and some of the personal habits should be ok. Plus, you may see them very differently than they see themselves.
If it is fiction, I would change the name of the town. Use yours tate and general location, but a different name.

That's pretty much what I did.

 

[cynsaun]

What did you change my name to, Kild?

 

[Tiggeroo]

Hey Kild, are you published? I have articles and newspaper stuff published but I'm really determined to get books out. I'm not going to change the name of the town because it's pretty central. But the names and some of the things about the people as well as the actual names of busineeses I will change.

 

[Tiggeroo]

It's a mystery. I think of Sue Grafton's series as an example. The names and major landmarks in Southern California flavor her books. She has also said that some characters are based on real life people. But you may not be able to draw a street map from her books.

 

[kild]

Originally posted by Tiggeroo
Hey Kild, are you published? I have articles and newspaper stuff published but I'm really determined to get books out. I'm not going to change the name of the town because it's pretty central. But the names and some of the things about the people as well as the actual names of busineeses I will change.

Not published...yet. I have some serious interests, but I am not at the point where I can call it completed. It took 6 months to write and I revised it afterwards . Set it down for a year and am now back working on it. I plan to have it completed by the end of the year and hope to get published.


Cyn, I kinda like your name the way it is

 

[onecoolmama]

Kild good for you!



I want the name of the book once it gets published.

 

[cynsaun]

I'll definitely buy it Kild!

Thanks BTW!

 

[Tiggeroo]

It's sometimes good to let your writing breathe for awhile before the final edit. Gives you some distance and makes you less partial. Good luck. I am envious of you in the worst way. I have very decreased work hours for the summer so there is no excuse for me not getting started. I tend to over think things and this leads to procrastination.

 

[kild]

You can base them off people in the area, just not name them without permission. Landmarks are fair game, but obviously proper names are not. Unless you get written permission.

My book is based on people from my childhood and others from my adult life - as adult as I get anyway - but I mixed some of the personalities to create "new" people and changed the name of the cities, with the exception of Birmingham.

If it was non-fiction, the rules are more strict.

 

[kild]

Originally posted by Tiggeroo
It's sometimes good to let your writing breathe for awhile before the final edit. Gives you some distance and makes you less partial. Good luck. I am envious of you in the worst way. I have very decreased work hours for the summer so there is no excuse for me not getting started. I tend to over think things and this leads to procrastination.

I enjoyed the writing part much more than the editing and rewrites.
Some of the best advice I got was from a published author that said to put the work away for several months and then go back to it. I can tell it really helped. I do not feel as attached to the characters and it makes it easier to edit as needed.
I was really surprised at how close I became to the people in my book. It's hard to explain, but it is almost as if they are real.



Thanks guys, I'll let y'all know what happens.

Tiggeroo - The only advice I can give is to enjoy the writing process. During the times of mental block, walk away from it and come back later. Good luck with it, I hope it turns out great for you.

 

[onecoolmama]

I should write a book..but mine I think would have to be a romance novel I think.



I'll put it one my list on things to do before I am 30.

 

[Fantasmic303]

I find this thread very interesting - Good Luck to my fellow authors!!


I, too, have been working on a piece of non-fiction. I started it in November of 2002, but I've spent a lot of time organizing the histories of characters and places and things and outlining the story. That's what takes me a long time, I can't write unless I have an idea of where I'm going. I'm a 15 chapters and a couple hundred pages into it so far, and I'm well determined to complete it!



(Nudged strongly by my friends, who aren't allowed to read ANY of it until I'm ready for their editing expertise...I've tweaked so much of it already that I don't want them to read even a paragraph until it's complete!)

 

[kild]

Non fiction would be a big challenge for me. But I agree with you on the outline. That is a very important part of the process, in my opinion. I would be lost without one.
I already know the story in my head, but I need to put it down on paper in a detailed layout before I can start the draft.

I let a select few people read mine after the second draft. It went over pretty good, with one offer to shop it around for a publisher.
Boy, that will scare you. Made me feel kinda vulnerable. Pretty strange.

Good luck with yours as well Fantasmic303, sounds like you have a good layout.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I write non-fiction for newspaper and magazine articles but my heart is really in fiction, particularly mystery writing. Non-fiction comes much easier to me because I find it farely easy to string facts together in an interesting way. It's odd because I'm much more of an artistic then a black and white sort of person. But when I start writing fiction I have to push down my more factual side of my personality. One of the problems is I would prefer to have everything outlined ahead of time and with mysteries you do have to have a bit of a skeleton, at least the crime, criminal, and solution in order to lay out the clues and the trail, but I change it as soon as I start writing so the outline becomes non-functional.

 

[kild]

That happens, but you just change your outline to match.
I use my outline for reference points and to ensure the flow of the story. It isn't a must, but it really helps me.
Everyone has their own way and whatever works best for you is the best way.
Plus, I should be taking tips from you, you are the published one here

 

[minniepumpernickel]

I would like to try to write science fiction. They do say that you are supposed to write about things that you know very well.

Do you know if you are writing from the omniscient or first person? I kind of like the idea of being a know it all type of narrator.

Good luck!