Posted on August 16, 2023 at 11:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
It's sort of a joke in the bookish world, that writers borrow from real life.
Hence the quips about not ticking off an author, because they might "kill" you in their next novel.
But what happens when someone recognizes their life (or another person's) in fiction?
We heard one take on it a few years ago, when a woman came forward to say that a viral short story borrowed from her own young adulthood — and now, we can hear a take on it from a different angle.
Author Rebecca Meacham, long ago, incorporated a neighbor's tragedy into a short story, and for years, she felt conflicted about having done so.
Read her essay on the complexity of borrowing others' tragedy for the sake of art.
Related posts
Categories: Today in Books