Honesty Vs. Self-Censorship In Writing

I remember once seeing an episode of the series Newhart where the character played by Bob Newhart had just had his newly written novel published. And lo and behold! It seemed that each of the characters in it bore uncanny resemblances to Newhart’s family and friends. The whole hilarious episode centered around various people confronting him with his portrayal of them (and their angry objections).

I just recently purchased and have begun to read a book titled The Courage to Write (How Writers Transcend Fear) by Ralph Keyes, a writing teacher who has written several books on the subject. One of the points that Keyes makes in it is that honest writers will usually, without any intention of doing so, at one time or another offend someone they know with their writing. This may or may not be an overt, obvious sort of thing, but in truth, a writer’s chief (by far) source of any information (and that includes of characters) is from his or her own memory and experiences. Keyes related several examples of authors who had to deal with angry relatives and friends who identified themselves (in their opinions, unflatteringly) in published novels and stories. But Keyes stresses that an honest writer will not let this external pressure for self-censoring limit what is a sincere expression of what he or she really feels.

I’m a little concerned that, eventually, people who know me and find out that I am writing this blog may suspect that I’m going to use it as an exposé on them in some way. In truth, I’ve been at it since early April and feel that nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve deliberately avoided tackling some very sensitive, difficult topics precisely and solely because I was concerned about the privacy and feelings of others. But since I don’t live in insulated isolation from others, my own experiences and feelings, some of which I would like to (and have a right to) write about inevitably touch upon certain people, and they will be mentioned as diplomatically and discretely as possible (or not mentioned at all). So, I am really going “above and beyond” in respecting others whom I know with this blog (unless, of course, they are public figures about whom I am writing). When I finally get down to writing fictional stories to submit for publication, though, I intend to follow Keyes’s advice and be a “courageous writer”. But as Keyes also stressed, each writer needs to come to sort of peace within himself about how to tackle this area. And, quite frankly, I don’t know exactly how my characters will reflect upon real-life people I know. But my instincts tell me that what will most likely occur is that I may take a bit from one person and mix it with traits from others (and from my own imagination) to create unique, special characters, quite unlike the comic “Newhart” scenario.