My collaborator and I are adapting her grandmother's journals into a novel, but we can't agree on how much to invent versus how much to preserve exactly as documented. I want to create composite characters and compress timelines for narrative coherence, but she feels like that betrays the truth of her family's story, and every creative decision feels like it has ethical weight.
More people experience this than they realize.
Transforming lived experience into fiction requires creative liberties that can feel like betrayals when the material carries personal or familial significance.
“Where Are You with The novel — form and possibility?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.