Marg McAlister

There are all kinds of reasons for people to start writing. Often, it's simply because they really enjoy telling stories. They have always loved reading, and they can't wait to create stories of their own.

Sometimes, though, people start to write because they've been through exciting or traumatic events, and want to share their lives with the world. Sometimes writing is therapy: by writing about a life-changing event, people are able to come to terms with it.

And sometimes... a parent wants to write because they look forward to the joyous expression on the face of a child who is featured in 'Mummy's book'.

The bottom line is this: for whatever reason, large numbers of writers are keen to write a book that is about themelves or members of their family. The big dilemma - should they do it? Here are some common questions from writers:

Q: "I've had a really exciting life. I want to write about it. Should I write it as an autobiography or should I turn it into fiction?"

A: The big problem with turning your life into fiction is that it's difficult to gain sufficient distance from events. The big temptation is to put everything in 'because it happened', regardless of whether it works well in the overall structure of the story.

When you're plotting fiction, you can tweak the main story events. You can add new twists to enliven the 'slow bits' or cut out the slow bits altogether. You have control over the pacing.

If you're telling the story of your life (or a significant event in your life) you lose a lot of objectivity. It's easy to get bogged down in faithfully recording every little detail.

Stop and think about whether your story would work better as an autobiography (so you don't have to spend a lot of energy disguising people and events as fiction) or as fiction (so you don't have to worry about people getting angry or taking legal action because they don't want to be in your story.)

Q: "If I write my story as an autobiography, do I have to change names and places?"

A: If you're concerned about people being upset about what you say, then you need to get legal advice. (It's probably a good idea to get legal advice to start with, anyway.) Start with your local Society of Authors - if they can't advise you, they'll be able to direct you to the appropriate legal services. And keep in mind that 'disguising' someone involves more than changing that person's gender, name and physical appearance. If it's possible for readers to identify a character through dates, times and surrounding events, changing a name won't help you.

Also... how sure are you that there will be a demand for your autobiography? Before you write too much of it, prepare an outline and some sample chapters. Send these to the publisher you have in mind and see what happens. What you see as an interesting life may not coincide with an editor's view of a story that will appeal to the public.

If you have been a public figure or a celebrated sports person, you may have a better chance. The thing is, you can't know until you get some feedback. Do yourself a favour and test the waters with a proposal first. (Unless, of course, you want to write your story for your family - and you're happy to self-publish the book in small numbers if it doesn't get taken up commercially.)

Q: "My kids say such funny things. I'd love to use them in a story. Is there anything wrong with that?"

A: No, there's nothing wrong with it - if you have the skill to handle the writing. Scores of writers have named their characters after their children. BUT - putting funny sayings or family humour into a story doesn't always work. Okay, so little Amy's malapropisms had your family in stitches. Sorry, that doesn't count. What's important is whether it translates to the printed page. (You know yourself what it's like when a friend tells you about a funny thing that happened to them... and it falls completely flat in the retelling. Usually, the friend realizes it, and says with a shrug and a rueful grin, "Oh well, I guess you had to be there...!" The same thing can happen when you try to write about your own children's funny actions or sayings. It simply may not work as a story.)

Ditto for putting every member of the family in a story. Believe me, editors get a lot of stories from enthusiastic young mums who write a story that stars *every* member of the extended family. By the time they've listed and described everyone from the dog to Aunty Jan, there's no room left for the plot.

Before you start writing about yourself, your friends, or your family... ask yourself whether it would really make a good story. Is it going to be a thankless chore to try to convert this to fiction? Or, if you decide to write it as an autobiography (or a biography) are you going to risk discord and lawsuits? Would it all work much better if you just used one or two incidents as a stimulus to kick off a whole new plot, with new characters?

It's true that there's a little bit of the author in every story. But put in too much of the author... and you risk there being no story at all.