Updated: June.18.2015
Nobody ever told you becoming a fiction writer would involve life-threatening situations, right? And you didn’t choose a writing career so you’d end up in jail or worse, in a casket. If like me, you pick your inspiration from your immediate surrounding, there are a few pitfalls you just have to watch out for. I’ve listed about five here applying well-known proverbs but there might be more.
Nobody ever told you becoming a fiction writer would involve life-threatening situations, right? And you didn’t choose a writing career so you’d end up in jail or worse, in a casket. If like me, you pick your inspiration from your immediate surrounding, there are a few pitfalls you just have to watch out for. I’ve listed about five here applying well-known proverbs but there might be more.
“A Good Name is
Sooner Lost than Won”: You probably heard it
said, “Give a dog a bad name and hang him and the
name remains.” The saying also applies to fiction writing. Folks don’t take
kindly to being made the butt of the joke especially, one where the clown gets
paid. Use names that cannot be traced to persons, living or dead. Even if your story is not inspired by an event in
your immediate vicinity, make it a personal commitment to avoid picking names associated
with local, real people around you, for your story. Most of the time, folks won’t
mind becoming a part of your story yet the few exceptions would spell the
difference between a fruitful career and an embarrassingly short, unhappy one.
“What
is Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander”: Have you ever considered writing a story not
sex-driven? Your story people do not have to be male or female. They can
be genderless, if it furthers your
cause, or even bisexual (we used to
call that hermaphrodite back in my high school days.) Here’s a story
in your hands that’s a best seller in its own rights but you know you’re going
to step on toes if you lay it out the way it is. You’re especially worried
about how to keep your story faithful to the character without blowing the real
life inspiration out of the water. I think you ought to give this a try; trade genders.
 |
| Chinua Achebe: Legendary writer who almost got shot for doing his job. |
“The Habit Does Not
Make the Monk”: Story is king. Forget about all
the misconceptions going the rounds about making your work fit into a standard genre.
If attempting to mold your tale into a particular fiction category is going to
spell trouble for you, ditch the genre and get the story done anyway you can. Going
for the obvious might wake the dead, drawing painful and better-forgotten
memories to the fore. Believe me, you don’t need the drama. The habit don’t
make the monk and the genre don’t make the story. Your readers are bound to see
it for what it is, anyway.
“Speak Well of Your Friends
and of Your Enemy Nothing”: What gives profiling its appeal is
how it injects life into your fictional characters and gives them the
feel of real people. And whether the process is accidental or otherwise (the peeved
individual would most likely tell you to ‘shove
your excuses where the sun never shines’) most of the conceits you feed into your character are things you notice in the people around you. You can
do yourself a favor and add a creative twist when drawing up traits of folks
who populate your story. Business can get nasty in a hurry if your
mother-in-law spots how the toothless old hag living up a tree in your fantasy
series shares her peculiarities.
This is a reheated version of an
article I wrote way back 2012 called “Entirely
Coincidental.” Just in case, you noticed.
Keep your pens bleeding!
Akpan
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