FICTIONFACTFICTIONFACT
I have argued this before.
I don't believe anything is pure fiction. Of course, there's no way to prove this unless you can pin an author down and say, "Okay, this hysterical scene—how did you come up with it?" They may very well say they made it up, bones to balls; but they also may not tell you that one of the funny lines in it he overheard in a Starbucks one morning waiting for his skinny vanilla latte. Venti.
We draw on people we know to create different voices or characters. We draw on what we've seen and heard to create settings and interactions. Hell, I'm even in a book. Well, an evil version of me, anyway. A local writer cast me as an evil antagonist in one of her books. The character's name is "Julia." (Subtle, yeah? :)
Good writers know how to blend, amalgamate. The above author is not only experienced, but she is skilled enough that she probably not only used me (or what she thinks she knows of me), but also her imagination, life experience, and a myriad of other resources (including her own personality traits, consciously or unconsciously) to create that character. All writers do it.
Not only do we get a glimpse into an author's life through their characters, much can be gleaned by recurrent themes in an author's work. Albert Camus, one of my favorite authors, said: "Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth." He of course meant that the stories we create bring Truths with a capital "T" to the fore, Universal Truths that stand the test of time. But I also choose this to mean that the truth about the authors themselves is revealed within the lines of their work. Especially through their themes. We learn what they care about, what their passions are, what disturbs them, what dogs them in their sleep, what fascinates them, and what confuses or haunts them.
An example of this is found in the works of Howard Jacobson, author of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The Finkler Question. Many of his books deal with Jewish life in Britain, post-World War II. Another theme that recurs in his work is the theme of sexual and marital infidelity, and an interesting penchant for women much older than the protagonist (usually a male). So are we to infer that he is self-obsessed (being Jewish himself), an adulterer and has an Oedipal complex? Probably not. But I think we can surmise that these themes fascinate him, resonate with him and he is comfortable in their company. But that is about all we can assume.
Jonathan Franzen is a tad bit obessessed with our feathered friends. Much of what he's written about in the last 10-15 years has included birds and conservation. I watched an interview with one of my new favorite authors, Joshua Ferris, and he admits a love for the Boston Red Sox. In his fabulous book, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (review of this to come) his protagonist is slightly obsessed with the Sox. Ferris is not--not to that extent, but taking what's real and making it deeper, more colorful and richer is how we create memorable characters.
I'm in the process of re-editing my novel, Falling Back to Earth. I had looked forward to re-reading it, since even when one writes a novel, one can forget much of it if it isn't revisited. What I've found is that the book is striking emotional chords in me that I didn't expect to get strummed. I'm finding the places where fact runs into fiction into fact back into fiction. In places it chills me.
But if anyone were to ask me if the book is a memoir, or non-fiction, I'd of course tell them, "No, of course not." Because it isn't. But I can't deny that the truth, in many forms, weaves its way in and out of my words, themes, characters and motifs.
Where the Truth with a capital "T" resides is, of course up to you, the reader.
