The_Garf

I've nearly finished my first novel and, though it is not wholly autobiographical, people that have read it say that they can see large parts of me in there. That's OK because that is a deliberate choice on my part.

However, what, if any, are the dangers of this?

I only ask because I wondered if a publisher would be less inclined to take you on for fear of a lack of scope / talent / future work.

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Banzai

I'm not sure from a publisher's point of view, but I wouldn't have thought it would matter too much. After all, everything you write must take something from you, surely.

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Hobbes

It shouldn't be a problem. You don't have to tell a prospective publisher what your friends thought about your manuscript. In fact, it would probably be better if you didn't ;^)

Mike C

All fiction is autobiographical.

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cyberspecter

The only concern should be- is it well written? After that, the publishers shouldn't really care.

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lisajane

If it's well written, it doesn't matter.

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mwd

Just yesterday I read a short story, published in one of the top tier lit journals, where the main character was the authour. I'm not sure if the actual story occurred or not, but the guy wrote in himself and his family as characters in the story ... so I'm thinking the events were probably at least somewhat true as well.

So no, I wouldn't worry about it.

aspiring

All first novels are to a certain extend autobiographical. I don't agree with Mike about the 'all fiction is autobiographical' but I see where he's coming from - you have to use parts of you in writing - it's impossible to write fiction completely objectively because you have to connect with your characters. However, people who know you will always automatically assume it's about you - my parents were horrified when they read my novel about self-harm. They said 'did you really feel like this?' and I said 'no, of course I didn't! It's made up!' And it really is - but of course the main character has similarities to me. But then I have some similarities with most humans on earth - simply because we're all the same species. Don't worry about it. If you can write well, that will carry you forward to your next book.

Mike C

"... all fiction may be autobiography, but all autobiography is of course fiction."

Shirley Abbott.

All fiction is filtered through the writers' own beliefs, prejudices, opinions. One may write about self-harm without self-harming, but one will still be writing about how one would self-harm if one was so inclined. It's autobiography once removed, seen through a paraphrased veil.

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aspiring

I think we've had this argument before, haven't we?
I still disagree. I wrote about how someone would self-harm if they had attributes or weaknesses that I don't. The character in my second novel does things that I would never do but then she has much lower self-esteem and a wrecked family life - none of which I have. She has a lower IQ than I do and no ambition. None of which remotely relates to me.

But as I say, I get a strange feeling of deja vu about this...?! I suspect it is one of the few points on which we disagree

Mike C

That's because you're right about everything else!

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Banzai

I agree with Mike here. Every piece of fiction has to contain elements of the writer's personality, because the art form is subjective by its very nature. You can't have an objective piece of fiction; it's just impossible. Similarly, to use the previous example, if you write about self-harming then you write about it as you understand it. You can't write about self-harming from a completely alien viewpoint, which is beyond your own comprehension. It has to come from your own view of it, which will colour it to other people.

I suppose it depends on what meaning you attribute to the term 'autobiographical'. I agree that you don't have to be a self-harmer to write about self-harming, but you have to think on it from your own point of view, so what you write about it would, as Mike said, be how you would self harm. You couldn't write about self-harming in a way which you found incomprehensible. Or maybe that's just me...

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"Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you"
-"The Wasteland" by T.S. Elliot

mammamaia

sorry, but i find it silly to worry about such a thing being 'permissible'... it's not against the law... and if what you wrote is marketable, no one will give a flying fleep who the m/c resembles...

if it's a novel, you should NOT be telling the agent/publisher that a lot of 'you' went into the m/c, anyway... they only need to know that if it's an autobio... the only thing they care about is if it's well written and will sell...

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