When Fiction Gets Real: 3 Tips for Using Real-World Events
By Nancy Johnson | April 7, 2022 |
Fiction implies a made-up world, but for some novelists, their books are rooted in real events. WU contributing author Nancy Johnson offers examples of contemporary novels that explore some of our shared experiences. Check out her video here.
Do you center your own fiction around real-life events? If so, what have you learned in the process? As a reader and writer, how do novels help you make sense of the real world around you?
A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson (she/her) worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates in markets nationwide. Her debut novel, The Kindest Lie, was a Target Book Club Pick. It has been reviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and was featured in Real Simple magazine and on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List. It was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and was named one of the most anticipated books by Newsweek, O, the Oprah Magazine, Shondaland, NBC News, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Chicago Tribune, The New YorkPost, Good Housekeeping, Parade, Refinery29, and more. Booksellers nationwide selected her novel as an Indie Next pick and librarians chose it for LibraryReads. A graduate of Northwestern University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nancy lives in downtown Chicago and her second novel, People of Means, will be published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in early 2025.
Find out more about Nancy, her books and events on her website.
Well, first, it’s so awesome to start my day seeing you, hearing you. You are missed, Ms. J.
Second, since my post is up tomorrow, I want to thank you for making my job as the following act even more daunting. (Joking. Kinda.)
Third: I’ve always used real world events to trigger my stories, and the most involved task was creating credible characters affected by the event—or agents in its occurrence—without reducing them to mere plot puppets or thematic manikins. That in turn created the next challenge—turning the story over to the characters but not letting them Shanghai it into dozens of irrelevant digressions. That balancing act—creating fascinating characters but reining them in—always proved the most demanding task.
Thanks for this wonderful start to my writing day.
Echoing David, LOVE seeing you here. When I see you out and about, I try to touch base, ie your wonderful interview at the Writers’ Museum in Chicago. As for your topic, living in a world of news, Twitter, FB and newspapers (we still read magazines and newspapers, support print) reading fiction centers ideas in the real world. Setting THE KINDEST LIE when you did provided echoes that made the work even more relatable. My WIP bloomed in my mind at a time of a kidnapping that rattled me. It still does. Even if the current event is not a central theme, knowing the bravery of humans, or the evil that lurks, can inspire our words on the page.
Beth! Thank you so much. I really enjoyed my conversation with Catherine Adel West at the American Writers Museum. It was one of my first in-person book events and it was wonderful to connect with readers. I hear you that the real world event may not be the center of the story, but there are echoes. The Obama election inspired my novel and anchored it in time. I don’t think I ever knew that your WIP was inspired by an actual kidnapping. You’ll have to tell me more WHEN we get together in Chicago. :)
David! Great seeing you here. Creating credible characters is an ongoing challenge and joy for me, too. I don’t want to force them to play their prescribed parts as plot puppets, which you described so aptly. That’s one reason I “dream” my novels as Andre Dubus III suggests. That way, the characters go off-script, and when they do, the story really takes off and becomes more interesting and nuanced.
Looking forward to your piece tomorrow. I always learn from you and look forward to seeing you at the next UnCon! :)
Nancy
Especially during this pandemic time, there has been anxiety among fiction writers about whether or not to include contemporaneous events in their work. Should characters wear masks? If they do, will a novel feel dated fifty years from now, or even five?
In your post today–so nice to see you “live” and hear your voice!–you dispel that anxiety. Real world events don’t date a novel; that is, not if the novel uses real-world events as a springboard for characters’ stories. No story is dated if it captures–as you beautifully say–“a sense of common humanity and experience.”
The efficiency of your video also makes me ashamed of my own talks of forty-five minutes duration or longer. I mean, sheesh. You have given us a day’s worth of thinking and work in just ten minutes and twenty seconds! Stop being so good, would’ja? Making the rest of us look bad.
On another note, after seeing The Kindest Lie appear in various workshops, it’s terrific to see it finally in print. Published by William Morrow/HarperCollins, it is an Amazon editor’s pick of the month. Blurbs by Jodi Picoult and Caroline Leavitt? You hardly need it, but best wishes from me for all success. I’m thrilled for you.
Don! It’s great to hear from you. This is definitely high praise coming from you! I’ve learned from the best. You’ll notice your name in the acknowledgements for The Kindest Lie. :) Yes, I was honored to receive blurbs from Jodi and Caroline, two of my literary sheroes.
I’ve certainly thought about how we’ll address the pandemic in our fiction. Love the way Jodi handled it, connecting us with a shared experience. Thanks for weighing in on this, and hope to see you soon.
Very fun (and instructive) to see you “live,” Nancy! My first thought on your talking about real events in a fictional context was Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, where the central character, Billy Pilgrim, is a prisoner of war in Dresden*, and experienced (as did Vonnegut) the terrible firebombing of the city. That Billy moves in and out of time (and space, since he goes to an alien planet as well) takes the “real events” angle to angles unknown. The work is decidedly anti-war.
I also thought of “A Gentleman in Moscow,” the aristocrat count “jailed” in a luxury hotel in the early 20s by the Bolsheviks, that has real-world parallels in the politics and power struggles then. And since I’m working on a memoir of my shoplifting business in the 70s, I’m definitely working with real-world events and attempted to examine broader themes of the outer world as well as my inner world there.
[* Note: My father was a waist-gunner on a B17 with his fellows in sorties over Dresden, which many analysts have argued wasn’t a strategic target for the Allies, and thus a cruel mistake, if not something worse. My father never spoke about it, nor did I ask, and he’s gone now.]
Tom, hello. You’ve shared great examples of novels that handle real-world scenarios very well. If I recall, Vonnegut tells us that Slaughterhouse-Five is an anti-war novel in the first chapter. In my book, The Kindest Lie, I was intentional about not being didactic. There’s certainly a point of view, but I wanted the readers to come to their own conclusions about race and class after experiencing the story through the lens of the characters.
Interesting story about your father, too. My late father served in the Navy in WWII and I have so many questions for him about that war that I never got to ask him. Anyway, I appreciate your perspective.
Nancy, is it terrible that I have glasses envy? I want yours! Your topic resonates deeply for me because even as a child I wanted to know the stories of the common people during world events. I wanted to understand why things happened the way they did, and how they affected people like us. I’m drawn to historical fiction for that reason and your new book sounds so interesting and I’ll look forward to reading. I still remember how grateful I was not to be living in LA anymore when the riots started. I’d just left for grad school in rural WA.
Vijaya, hello! I’m laughing at your comment about my glasses. I love the color! So glad this topic resonated with you. You’re right that so much historical fiction examines real events in history. Look at all the novels that center WWII! How interesting that you had been in LA prior to the aftermath of the verdict in the beating of Rodney King. I was a Junior at Northwestern University in 1992 and I distinctly remember joining my classmates in a march in protest of those police officers who beat King. It was my taste of activism. I continue to be intrigued by what ignites that spark in young people to get involved. Thanks for sharing!
Ms. Johnson: I just finished “The Kindest Lie” last night and LOVED IT! Also enjoyed your tips about fiction connected to real events. In one chapt of my novel, my main character (older fatherly figure, white) says to adopted son (afro-asian mix) “be careful out there” as he goes out for jog. They just finished delicate conversation about angst son experiences when socializing with white girls (nothing hot & heavy, not a steamy novel). Sadly the impetus for this dialogue was the killing of Amaud Arbery. My personal connection is that I almost took a job many years ago in Brunswick GA as Director of Planning. Never regretted that decision. Stayed in New England. As newbie writer, I hope that the implication was there without direct, overbearing reference.