It is not uncommon for family and friends of authors to feel a mixture of pain and violation when they find pieces of their character or aspects of their experience turning up in a novel. This is particularly the case, of course, with authors who work in the genre of realism, and especially with those who are themselves recognisable as characters in their texts. When people take exception to what they perceive as transgressive fictional portraits, it is not necessarily the 'bad' or 'obvious' things that they mind. The author may inadvertently make public some apparently trivial thing which the character's model felt to be intimate or private or domestic. At the same time, the author may firmly believe that she or he has 'made up' the character, or has developed it as a composite, and may even be aware of what has been borrowed or used… While all of that can be difficult, it goes with the territory of being in a relationship –– whether as friend or spouse –– with that sort of writer.
The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift (2001)
Use the link below to visit the website of Australian biographer and award-winning children's author NADIA WHEATLEY:
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The Write Advice 061: CHARMIAN CLIFT
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