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4 Tips for Mixing Truth With Fiction

October 14, 2019 / Uncategorized, Writing Tips / 14 COMMENTS


Vicki Vass, @vickivass

Whoever said reality can be stranger than fiction might be right, at least for me. Reality slips into my cozy mysteries, particularly my Antique Mystery Hunters series. My need to insert reality into my stories might stem from my long experience as a journalist.

When I set out to write my first mystery, I studied Writer’s Digest to learn about the structure, settings and particularly the characters. The magazine advised that characters should be amateur sleuths with a hobby that lends itself to detecting. The creative juices began flowing thinking of ideas. I had no one particular hobby other than reading so I thought and thought until I thought about the antique hunting expeditions. Being in a new to me home, I had spent the past year antique hunting with my two best friends. We would venture to barn sales, flea markets, antique stores and everything in between.

My two characters quickly developed, CC Muller, a journalist who is the encyclopedia of knowledge, and Anne Hillstrom, shopping collector and antique enthusiast. They quickly became the protagonists of my Antique Hunter Mystery series.

Many of their real-life escapades make it into my novels, including a recent setting within a cemetery after the real-life CC found herself locked in a Chicago area cemetery one evening when the caretaker left early. The real version gave way to a scarier  more suspenseful version that leads the plot along.

That is how I’ve merged truth with fiction in my series, here are four things I’ve learned along the way about using reality within my fictional stories.

Ask for permission. After I wrote the first book, Murder for Sale, I gave my friends copies and asked them to read it. They were flattered with the content and that gave met the freedom I needed to further develop the characters.  I have also subsequently asked them before including bits of real life such as the cemetery scene.

Observe and listen: When I go out, I like to sit and listen to conversations around me. It helps me create realistic dialogue. Now when I am with my friends, I listen to their anecdotes and picture my characters. As in the cemetery scene noted up above, I  might not have had the idea to include it if I hadn’t listened to my friend’s story.

Change it up. While my characters may be based on real people, there are definite  differences. I have changed their names for the sake of the story. My fictional characters do not physically resemble the real individuals. They have kept some of the main character traits but over the series the fictional characters have transformed taking on traits of their own.

Edit. Don’t be afraid to take out a detail or change something. Sometimes the truth can be mundane or boring. As a former journalist, I had to let go of my need to report on reality or the truth. Instead, I’ve enjoyed the freedom of expanding on real-life actions and sometimes making them bigger than life. And, when it’s not working don’t be afraid to edit it out. One scene based on a real event just wasn’t working within the flow of the story. I felt as if it was slowing down the pace. Finally after much deliberation I removed the scene. Who knows? Maybe it will show up in a future Antique Hunters book.

Thanks for letting me stop by and share a little about my series. Fellow writers, I’m curious, do you find reality creeping in your work? And, if it does, how so?

After turning in her reporter’s notebook, Vicki Vass turned to chronicling the near-real adventures of her two best friends in the Antique Hunters Mystery series. Book 6, A White Rabbit’s Tale, will be released in December. She chronicles her real-life adventures and reads on her blog, Vicki’s Cozy Corner (vickiscozycorner.com). Fleeing from a Chicago blizzard, she now lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband, two Australian shepherds and cats who star in her Witch Cat Mystery series.

Tips for Mixing Real Life with Your Fiction from @vickivass : Click To Tweet

Photo on Visual Hunt

  1. These are all great ideas, for which thanks. There’s definitely a way to go about weaving facts into a story. I think the tip that resonates most with me is to observe and listen. The more attention we pay to what’s going on around us, the more we learn, and the better we can integrate what we learn into our writing.

    1. I agree real life can be stranger than fiction at times. I enjoy stories where you read something and it sounds like something you’d do or someone you know would do. It tends to bring to story to life for me. Being a former journalist I aslo love that you incorporated that into your stories. Congratulations on the new release.

  2. Great tips! Real life actions don’t generally make it into my writing, but the emotions certainly do. Now I’m going to be on the look out for some actions as well :)

  3. I enjoyed this article. I also think that fiction writers need to keep facts factual. In y first Hawaiian mystery, I had my detective visit a guy in prion, only to find out that there ae only certain days people can visit and you have to be on the prisoner’s visiting list–time for a rewrite. Also, I had some characters sail from Honolulu to Lahaina, Maui. The boat I wanted to use was one like I lived on when I lived in Hawaii. But before I wrote that scene, I contacted the Commodore of the Waikiki Yacht CLub and found out what ind of boat I really needed and how long it would take (longer than I had thought). Sure, I could have written it as planned, and most readers wouldn’t have known the difference. But there’s always that one who would know you were wrong and then your credibibity is destroyed.

    1. So true, Sharee! I remember when I was researching the Memphis BBQ series and realized that Beale Street is completely blocked off to traffic. In my original version, I had people driving up and down it all day. :)

  4. Great tips, Vicki. If you take the real truths of human nature and the facts of how the world works, you can make even the most bizarre of situations relatable … at least think so. :-)

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