Monday 7 April 2014

Fiction, Really ??

When I wrote this post, a lot of people I knew asked me whether this was a real incident or a fictional one. All I replied was, ‘Sssh.. it’s a secret’. And I don’t know what people construed out of it. This hasn’t been the sole case. A lot of friends who read me have asked me similar questions when they have read some or the other post.

Haven’t you heard that real life inspires our films? And isn’t it vice versa too? Don’t films have an impact on real life too, good as well as bad? Can something similar be said for our literary world too? We know that reading inspires people in real life. But is it also the other way round? Does fiction get inspired from real life too?

Isn’t it possible that fiction writers create characters, situations and stories that they have seen or even been a part of? The situations we read about in books, the short crisp stories we read on blogs could actually have been enacted in real life.

Those thousands of characters we come across the pages of hardcovers and paperbacks, the ones we glance through the silvery screens of our ebook readers may have lives of their own, may be they are real people just dipped in the colours of fiction by the writers by giving them fancy names, adding the right amount of texture, may be mixing more than one real life character to create a completely new persona that gets the author appreciated for a well sketched character. May be even the dialogues have actually been said in real life between people, only to be added by the observant author just at the correct time in the story.   

While breaking up, one of my friend’s ex-boyfriend on being asked what about the promises that he had made, had said that she could kill him for not fulfilling those promises but he would never spend his life with her. Doesn’t this line resonate to this - “I could die for you. But I couldn't, and wouldn't, live for you.” (Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead) And I am pretty much sure that that guy has never ever heard about The Fountainhead, forget about reading it. Of course, Ayn Rand wrote it much before. But when she told me about that line, I remembered the book.

Haven’t we all used ‘come on, you don’t have to be sorry’ to our loved ones sometime or the other. Just that Eric Segal put it in Love Story as “Love means never having to say you're sorry.”

Whosoever thought about creating the characters of nosy neighbours and aunties, about the ever confused young generation, about those over-the-top loud Punjabi characters; I am sure must have met a few around.  

And what about coincidentally meeting the girl you had a crush in your school after several years, the hero falling in love with a nerd girl or vice versa, tit-for-tat for your mother-in-law, steamy romantic scenes, hard break-up stories, tales about wrong decisions of life; may be all of such situations have actually happened, may be they are happening even right now. God knows which pair of writer eyes is witnessing them and creating new masterpieces about them in their head.

Have you done it? Like, have you created stories out of real life characters and situations?



This post is written as a part of April A to Z Challenge 2014 under Non-Themed category. I am doing two posts for this Challenge and Themed posts can be found here.


25 comments:

  1. Well written Jyotsna :-) It made me sit and wonder a bit about this...:-) The magic a true good writer can make creating characters amaze me:-) And sometimes you find out he/she has based in on real people/events.. Who would have known?! Often reality beats fiction anyway right? "that is too crazy to be true" - and then it is:-) I find inspiration in real life, but if the character is a dodgy one, I might try to put her/him in a bit of a disguise.. he he
    http://expatliv.blogspot.in/

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    1. I agree Eli, the ability of creating beautiful characters is a wonderful gift given to a writer. And yes, reality is far more stranger than fiction. Glad you liked this one :)

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  2. Nice post, I guess our thoughts and actions , our dreams and stories are always related to our real time experiences, we might realize it sooner or later.

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  3. I can speak for myself when I say that when I write fiction it usually has a part of what I have seen, felt, heard, read or experienced. I build up the story on that idea. But then again there are so many fantasy stories that are purely fiction. Like how I always wanted to ask J.K Rowling about her inspiration for the Harry Potter series :)

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    1. Thats a case with me too Prasanna. And asking J. K. Rowling about her inspiration for Harry Potter would be a interesting read, isn't it?

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  4. Most stories have an element of reality in them, that's how writers get the seed of the idea . Nicely written, Jyots :)

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    1. Yes, totally agree to that Sreeja. Thank you dear :)

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  5. There is always some reality in fiction, but yes, we haven't thought of it much ... now that you mention it, the relation seems so obvious :-)

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    1. The way you create so vivid characters in your stories, Amrit, I am sure you either live with some really interesting characters around or you have some great imagination skills ;)

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  6. Yes I did it...It's always there..Subconsciously real life influences us more often than we think it does..another meaningful writeup!

    Random Thoughts Naba

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    1. Thanks a lot Nabanita. So, its not just me who uses real life instances to build stories :)

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  7. The best characters and stories are based on real things and people. That way the truth shines through the prose and we keep our readers guessing and turning the pages.

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  8. Yes yes yes! Superb post! Fiction is but real in a different form...:)

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  9. First of all, I do not understand why people want to know of it is from a real life incident, as long as it doesn't involve them. I hate having to justify my posts.

    Most of my fiction posts are inspired by a real life. Mine.

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    1. I know, its difficult to answer these questions. I feel that it just takes away the charm of the post if you have to tell somebody how the post happened to you.

      Hi5 to that too babes.. One more similarity we have ;)

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  10. Often the inspiration for writing springs up from real life...:-)... and this is true for all writers.. I surmise..

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    1. I guess, looking from the response here, I agree to it too :)

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  11. thats a Debatable Question :D , I think both Influence each other equally... So i am agreeing to Vice Vera. :) Sometimes movies get inspired from real life and sometimes we get inspired from movies. for example. Ideas changes when lot of tv serials are involved :D the height of expectation from men increased coz it influenced the idea of next move men should take. Like that of in TV serials :D

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  12. life is like a movie, we create characters around us. We change the plots sometimes, sometimes the situation changes it. Endings, well depends how we steer the ship...

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    1. Ah, there speaks the writer in you. We steer the ship of our characters, the way we want, bring in happiness, bring in sadness, take the story wherever you want. I guess thats the best part of being a story teller :)

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  13. Thanks a lot Neelam. Glad you liked this one :)

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