Jenna
asked
Cathy Lamb:
Cathy, Have your friends or family ever been offended or called you out on anything they assumed was about them? I have a great idea for a character in my head and can just imagine certain the drama that certain statements would make if people I knew interpreted certain things to be about them. Please keep doing what you do! Your writing is so unique and your stories have moved me. Jenna
Cathy Lamb
Dear Jenna,
I am so glad that you like my books. I do try to write for the hearts of women. Sounds sappy, but it's the truth.
As for your question, no, none of my family members or friends were ever offended by any characters I've written about, or thought that the character was about them, because they weren't.
All the characters come straight out of my head. I have a wild imagination. The characters grow and change as I write until they are 100 percent their own odd, quirky, funny, or mean person.
As for topics that I cover in my books, same thing. The topics that I cover - husbands, marriage, now and then a death, teenagers, bi polar, all kinds of abuse, etc. - are all issues that many women have. So, they're general.
My advice to you is to write your character. Write him/her as genuinely as you can. But let the character live and breathe in your heart and say and do what is natural to that character, so he/she is unlike any of your family members or friends. I also would be careful - and, in fact, I wouldn't do it - to not write personal, sad stories in your books that have directly happened to your family members. (Unless they give permission.) You have to respect people's privacy and painful journeys.
Now, in memoirs, people do write about family members....but that's a whole other genre that I don't write, and there's a reason for it. You can guess what it is.
I am so glad that you like my books. I do try to write for the hearts of women. Sounds sappy, but it's the truth.
As for your question, no, none of my family members or friends were ever offended by any characters I've written about, or thought that the character was about them, because they weren't.
All the characters come straight out of my head. I have a wild imagination. The characters grow and change as I write until they are 100 percent their own odd, quirky, funny, or mean person.
As for topics that I cover in my books, same thing. The topics that I cover - husbands, marriage, now and then a death, teenagers, bi polar, all kinds of abuse, etc. - are all issues that many women have. So, they're general.
My advice to you is to write your character. Write him/her as genuinely as you can. But let the character live and breathe in your heart and say and do what is natural to that character, so he/she is unlike any of your family members or friends. I also would be careful - and, in fact, I wouldn't do it - to not write personal, sad stories in your books that have directly happened to your family members. (Unless they give permission.) You have to respect people's privacy and painful journeys.
Now, in memoirs, people do write about family members....but that's a whole other genre that I don't write, and there's a reason for it. You can guess what it is.
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Feb 10, 2015 04:16PM