Thinly Veiled Biography

When I was in college, it was often difficult to read and review my classmates' fiction writing. The biggest problem I had was that it wasn't really fiction. They were writing about themselves and their lives, as they were living it right at that point of time, and they were giving different names to the characters.

I know that when the former runner writes a story about a woman who shattered her knee in the steeplechase, that this is a thinly veiled biography. It became more awkward to me once I noticed this, because I would read the work of my classmates who I didn't know too well, and I suddenly got a huge dose of their life story.

Back then, I really took pride in writing fiction that had nothing to do with my life. I felt like it proved me a better writer or a more creative person for being able to leave my life and my writing separate (and honestly, part of me still feels that way).

Now that I have more experience and knowledge, I know that there is nothing inherently wrong or bad about thinly veiled biographies. For some people, it's an easy way to start a creative work. For others, it's a way to explore their own lives and feelings in a safe environment, and that is wonderful.

If you are writing a thinly-veiled biography and you intend to share it with others, that is totally fine, too. There is one catch, though: it still has to be done well. Even if a story is based on yourself, it is still a story. It needs to be entertaining. It ought to provoke thoughts or feelings in your audience. And when your audience is more than you, you need to be conscious of that.

As a final thought, thinly veiled biographies are a double-edged sword of sorts. On the one hand, if people know that you are writing about yourself, it can create an instant connection with your characters. They know who is who in real life, and you don't have to go into as much depth for people to understand. On the other hand, any time you diverge from real life or talk about something that people don't know, they may just assume that it is all true, which could be disastrous. Keep in mind, on both hands, though, that this is only true for your readers that actually know you. Anyone who doesn't know my life story doesn't know fiction from biography anyway.