Using Real Life in Fiction: 5 Must-Do's (and Two Mistakes)
by Richard Tyler Jordan
The people in your life are not your material. Your observations are. A writer’s job is not to photocopy reality but to transform it into a story that feels true.
Readers think writers spend their days secretly copying the people around them into stories. Countless times, I’ve heard, “Am I in your book?” My stock reply: “You’re not interesting enough.”
I’ve worked in Hollywood, publishing, and entertainment. I’ve attended enough charity galas, opening nights, family gatherings, and dinners to fill dozens of novels. Yet only one person I’ve known has appeared directly in my books. (You know who you are—@$^&*!)
Your 5 “Do’s”
Here are five things every writer should take from real life—and a couple they shouldn’t (but maybe—why not).
1. Steal Behavior, Not Biographies
The most believable fictional characters are rarely based on a single person. They’re composites. A character might have your stepson’s narcissistic arrogance, your former boss’s talent for taking credit, or your neighbor’s remarkable ability to transform a fifteen-second anecdote into something requiring a nap.
Readers recognize behavior. When you’re observing people, don’t ask, “How can I put this person into my book?” Ask, “What does this person do that readers will identify with?”
2. Capture the Language of a World
Every profession, social circle, and industry has its own language. Lawyers speak differently than truck drivers. Teachers speak differently than politicians. Entertainment executives have perfected the art of saying “no” while sounding enthusiastic. (“That’s an interesting concept” generally means “Over my dead body!”)
Pay attention to how people talk when they’re nervous, ambitious, or trying to impress someone. Those details make a fictional world feel authentic.
3. Watch What People Want
Beginning writers often focus on appearance. Experienced writers focus on desire.
When you enter a room, ask yourself: Who here wants attention? Who wants approval? Who wants a shag? Human beings become remarkably transparent once you start looking for what they want.
Desire drives the story. A character’s goals will always be more interesting than their eye color.
4. Make Reality Cleaner Than Reality
We all know that real life is messy. Fiction should be distilled. An argument that rambles for forty-five minutes in real life may become a one-paragraph scene in a novel.
Real people repeat themselves, wander off on tangents, forget what they were talking about, and stop to answer text messages. If we reproduced life exactly as it happens, readers would fling our books across the room in frustration.
The writer’s job is to select the moments that reveal character and move the story forward. Reality provides the raw material. Craft shapes it into something fun.
5. Turn Up the Volume
Most people have one quality that defines them in others’ minds. The chronic complainer. The attention-seeker. The know-it-all. Spotlight those traits.
The difficult neighbor becomes more onerous. The narcissistic stepson becomes more insufferable. Before long, you’ve got a character readers will remember—and possibly a suspect in a murder mystery.
You’re not changing who the person is. You’re simply saving readers the years it took you to figure them out.
Now for those Two Don’ts…
Mistake #1: Don’t Become a Court Reporter
One of the biggest traps fiction writers fall into is feeling obligated to preserve exactly what occurred. “But that’s not how it happened,” they’ll say. Fine. But if changing what happened makes the story stronger, change it.
Merge characters. Move events. Invent conversations. Fiction owes its loyalty to narrative, not history.
Mistake #2: Never Write Revenge Fiction
Bullshit. Don’t waste a perfectly good villain!
Every writer has encountered an odious boss. A pompous colleague. A manipulative relative. They practically beg to be enshrined in fiction.
The trick isn’t running from revenge fiction. The trick is disguising it. If you simply copy someone you detest and spend three hundred pages punishing them, readers will see through it. But if you borrow the traits that pissed you off and build an entirely new character around them, you’ve got something useful.
(Read Suite Charity and guess which character was inspired by a vile ex-boss of mine. I'll deny everything, of course.)
Final Thought
In the end, a writer’s job is to pay attention.
A mentor once said to me, “Observe relentlessly. Transform creatively.” And if an abominable relative (there’s my rubbish stepson again—and my equally deplorable stepdaughter too!) occasionally turns up as a murder victim in Chapter Three, well, that’s one of the fringe benefits of being a novelist.
Just remember to change enough details to maintain plausible deniability.
Do you use real situations or people as inspiration for your books? How do you handle it? And has anyone ever guessed that they inspired one of your characters?
* * * * * *
About Richard
Richard Tyler Jordan began his career as a wide-eyed young talent in Hollywood, where Walt Disney Studios was apparently charmed by his “rare blend of gullibility and tireless work ethic.” He went on to contribute to more than 500 feature film publicity campaigns before escaping to England to write full-time.
Richard is the author of more than a dozen novels, including A Corpse in the Castle, Shadows at Midnight, Murder and a Missing Manuscript, and Gay Blades. He lives with his Irish husband in a 500-year-old cottage, complete with a resident ghost who is more “meh” than “boo.”
He is currently writing the next Timothy Trousdale Mystery, drawing on a lifetime spent observing high art, high egos, and the decidedly unglamorous worlds behind publishing, film, and theatre.
To learn more, contact Robin Blakely at 660-973-2723 or Ro***@*********************ca.com.
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40 comments on “Using Real Life in Fiction: 5 Must-Do's (and Two Mistakes)”
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Loved your comment to friends that they're not interresting enough. Haha!
Thanks for the tips.
Thank you, Jackie! 😂 I've found that telling friends they're not interesting enough is a wonderful way to end a dinner party... and occasionally a friendship.
Hahahaha!
"If we reproduced life exactly as it happens, readers would fling our books across the room in frustration."
And our books would be monstrously thick tomes, more suited as doorstops. (Who could afford to waste all that paper printed with endless "um"s and "you know"s?)
Funnily enough, I sometimes throw in an um, yeah, a repetition a trail off, etc. to show nervousness as well as filling a line as I do my own formatting so justified lines don't stretch out
But not a whole book's worth, that was the first draft
😂 Exactly! That's why first drafts should never be released into the wild. They're unpredictable creatures.
Spot on, Sally! And don't forget the riveting dialogue: "What do you want for dinner?" "I don't know. What do you want?" Six pages later... they're still discussing it. Ha!
You're absolutely right, Sally! Real life is in desperate need of a good line edit. It also has a terrible habit of repeating itself. 😄
Thank you for this useful guidance! It is very timely for me. I've been writing a revenge villain who was not that interesting and two-dimensional. I dug into some craft resources and talked to my writing coach and have been evolving him. I gave him an arc, dammit. I also needed readers to feel some empathy for him. Arrgh! And I needed to make my villain have a couple of keen insights into my hero. (I fought that one!) I had to turn my villain into someone worth the ink on the page and someone who ends up making the hero a better guy. I've moved beyond my revenge villain, sadly. It was fun while it lasted. My baddie is now pivotal to the bigger story arc. He still has key physical attributes. Glee!
You've described one of the great tragedies of writing: we set out determined to hate a character, then the pesky thing develops depth and insists on becoming human. Congratulations on losing your revenge villain and gaining a memorable one!
I seem to only do this in picture books. I take a thing that happened for real and run with it. It has to be distilled and illustratable and fit the page count in a way that makes kids want to turn the page. I haven't sold one yet, so maybe they still aren't working or maybe I haven't submitted enough. (Or maybe I'll self publish.)
Ah yes, the writer's mantra: "Maybe I haven't submitted enough." It has consoled generations of us. 😊 I hope one of those stories lands on exactly the right editor's desk.
Don't despair too much, Debbie. Publishing has a curious way of rewarding persistence!
Bravo! I am excited to share this piece and your funny Timothy Trousdale mystery series with our writing groups because this very topic absolutely haunts new writers. The concern from writers that I am working with is "how do I allow my mom or sister or grown child to read my stuff when they will recognize each other?" If they pair your books with this article, it is sort of a master class. You just provided permission and a way to navigate. My favorite two nuggest of gold in your article: "You’re not changing who the person is. You’re simply saving readers the years it took you to figure them out." and "Steal Behavior, Not Biographies" Love it!
What a lovely comment—thank you! I'm especially pleased those two quotes stood out for you because they really get to the heart of what I was trying to say. And if your writing groups emerge feeling slightly less terrified of their families, I'll consider my work done!
Wonderful advice. Yes, I do use real life in every one of my books: real people, situations, etc. I also follow your rules - I just never had a name for them before. I'm going to embroider all on a pillow for my office. Thanks for a great read and professional grounding.
Thank you! I'm beginning to suspect writers secretly communicate through embroidered pillows. 😄 I'm so pleased the article resonated—and even more pleased to hear you've been following these instincts all along.
Fantastic advice, Richard, thank you!
Some of my characters are based on people, but often have characteristics of more than one individual.
I am amused by the Beta readers who try to find me in the characters.
As far as situations go I've used bits and pieces, weaving them into the story.
Thanks, Ellen! I'm so glad it resonated! I think blending traits from several people is one of the writer's greatest camouflage techniques. Meanwhile, beta readers continue their noble quest to identify the "real" people anyway. 😂
From childhood on, I have spent a huge portion of my life with my nose in a book. So much of what I have learned about living and being human comes from fiction. They’re not kidding about how fiction creates empathy.
That said, I worried about family members, seeing themselves in my characters and tried very hard to mix and match. When my ex-husband praised my book, it meant the world to me because I worked very hard to give one of the characters his furniture but not his personality.
Thank you Anna! I couldn't agree more about fiction and empathy. And your line about borrowing your ex-husband's furniture instead of his personality made me laugh out loud. That's the safest kind of literary larceny. Keep writing!
This is excellent advice, even for writing nonfiction. I especially appreciate Richard’s point to “Watch What People Want”. As I strive to capture our family history, my biggest challenge is to determine which stories, and what about the stories, our younger and future generations would find interesting. And for sure I need to “Make Reality Cleaner Than Reality” as in their ever increasing fast pace worlds the minutia of life decades ago would no doubt bore them to tears. Thank you Richard for helping me to focus and streamline my work!
Hi Julie. I love that you've applied the ideas to family history because I think they work there, too. Future generations won't thank us for recording every detail—but they will thank us for preserving the moments that reveal who people really were. I admire what you're doing!
Great blog post! So much fun creating revenge characters! Impressive portfolio and LOL on the ghost. They're so not scary at all.
Hi Diana. Thanks for the comment! And yes, my ghost has all the menace of an apologetic houseguest. I don't think anyone's losing sleep over her. (I'm told by an expert that it's a female energy.) She ended up being a character in one of my Polly Pepper novels!👻
Nice essay, thank you. Your best advice for my purposes was "desires are more important than eye color" 👏👏
Thanks for the comment, Matthew.
And I rather suspect that eye color rarely gets anyone murdered. Desire certainly does. 😄
This is an excellent, well observed article on shaping fictional characters from life. I try to pay attention to most of these points noted.
Hi Dennis. Thank you for the observation! Writers have been quietly borrowing from real life for centuries. We just prefer not to leave fingerprints. 😉
Solid guidance on shaping fictional characters from the characters we encounter in life.
Very interesting! Alot goes into writing a book and I know other authors will enjoy this information. Thanks for sharing the wisdom of your craft!
Thank you so much, Joy! I'm delighted you enjoyed it. If it saves even one writer from copying Uncle Bob into a novel verbatim, I'll consider the article a success. 😄
I love this! You boiled those do's and don'ts down to perfection. However, #3 is probably going to get me into a lot of trouble because the next time I walk into a bar, and probably after a few, I think I'm going to interview the occupants by asking them: Are you here for attention, approval, or a shag? The guy that cocks a smile and says all three, is the one I'm taking home. Red flags be damned.
You're hilarious, Chris. 😂 Just don't be surprised if his next question is, "Are you a novelist?" At which point the evening may take an unexpected turn. Ha!
I enjoyed getting this peek of how authors navigate reality to narrative so end up with imaginative characters that are so believable. Having experienced many “characters” during my years as a social worker then as a chaplain I affirm “you can’t make this stuff up”! Glad you continue your writing bringing pure believable enjoyment to all your readers. I continue being a fan!
Hi Ann! Thank you so much! And you're absolutely right—real life is endlessly inventive. The irony is that writers often have to tone reality down because readers wouldn't believe half the things that actually happen! Thank you for continuing to read my books. That means a great deal to me.
Excellent advice! Saving and sharing this!
Thank you, Carol! 😊 Knowing it's worth saving is one of the nicest compliments an article can receive.
Wonderful advice.
I use situations and I use some of the characteristics and actions of real people for my villains. Pay back is fun when they don't know it's them in the book since they don't read novels. Which is a good thing. I enjoy having fun with people who have been really nasty to me by making them villains (and one a murderer) which is a lot of fun. The only one who caught it was my daughter and she was laughing at what I did to get 'even' with him.
I observe people’s behavior everywhere I travel. My characters are composites of my family members. We have a great example of the narcissist personality gracing the pages of every social media site and news outlet. Lots of material there. I am never wondering about what I should write about, next. The headlines are all I need.
great ideas.