FRIENDS IN FICTION
I have a friend who asks this every time I finish a story. Is she in it?
One day I finally said, yes, you are.
After years of wanting and asking to be part of the busy, made-up fictional life in my head, there she was.
Wednesday Lunch is a short story. And she is in it.
Like most of what I write, the story is based on a truth. In this case a real event - a lunch - with said friend and another girlfriend where we discussed some taboo topics in the way good friends do.
Now, while the lunch and the conversation happened, the story in its writing and wresting from real-life into fiction has become, in the process, something else altogether.
Suddenly she wasn't sure if she wanted to be in a story.
What if someone recognised her?
They won't I said, it's fiction.
What was her fictional name?
Gemma, I told her.
I don't like Gemma, she said, why am I Gemma?
It isn't you, not really, I reassure her.
It's fiction I keep saying but I know this word isn't making sense to her.
The lunch was a spark for the story but the characters are made up, I tell her. She nods.
I'm not surprised she's confused. I manage to confuse real-life with my imagination and the sorting process in my head. Maybe that is why I love to write fiction.
So when you read Wednesday Lunch when it is published one day, you won't recognise anyone you or I know because it is fiction.
Right. Got it?
Lunch anyone? Pic taken at Sculpture by the Sea in 2010.
I'll have the grass please (I am a vegetarian).
ReplyDeleteYes, Susanna, the old "Am I in it" thingo. Long time ago, I had a good friend who was writing a novel. I asked if I was in it. "Of course" he said. Okay, I thought. To tell the truth, I'd be annoyed if I wasn't.
And I totally agree ... fiction is the best. And it isn't all made up. Let's be practical - it's far harder to make things up than it is to steal them from real life.
I look forward to reading the story!
So true Susanna or they ask "can I be in it?"
ReplyDeleteThat's when they are not asking "have you finished your novel yet?" and looking at you like you must be a complete incompetent when you say 'no' for the next 3 years. Makes you realise how reassuring the short story format is.