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authors, book disclaimer, characters, developing characters, disclaimers, novelists, the writing process, writers
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
We’ve all come across this when we opened to a new book, right? Maybe most of ignore it or barely think any of it, but it seems there are some people out there who need to read that disclaimer.
I suppose many authors deal with this: people thinking the characters they wrote about are actually the author themselves, or the conflict the characters face is something the author actually went through, minute by minute. It can be true. Some authors may write about an event in their lives, yet tweak a few people or scenes to make it more fictitious. When I took a writing course a few years ago, a few people in the class were doing that. 
But some stories are born out of a writer’s imagination. There may even be some aspects of the event or character that resemble the writer, but not all of it. We all know Stephen King’s novels all take place in Maine, where he is from. But that doesn’t mean everything he’s ever written about has actually happened to him.
I just bring this up because a few people in my life who have read my book have actually asked me if parts of it are reflection of me. They ask if, like Claire McCormick, I am agnostic (nope). They ask if I’ve been in an abusive relationship (no, and I made that clear once before). The hysterical part is when I’m asked if I really do have sex on the first date (I do not, and I’ve explained why I wrote that part). It’s funny because it is usually a guy who asks that question. Ha!
So while a few things about Claire may sound familiar to those who know me (freelance journalism, struggling to find work in a lousy economy, Irish heritage, living on Staten Island), many things about her are not like me. I don’t have a brother, and I also would’ve handled the terror Daniel put her through in a different way – and that would’ve been by ending up in a psychiatric unit.
When I write my characters, they develop and grow on their own. You can’t micromanage characters, especially main ones. They become their own persons to the point that nothing of you is able to penetrate them. With that, it is impossible for a book to reflect it’s author – unless it is that author’s intention all along.
So yeah. I’m just bringing this up for lighthearted fun because recently a guy I went out with did ask about the sex on the first date part. He seriously thought he had struck gold with me. Oh, was he disappointed!
Megan Cashman 
You are so right about characters becoming their own person in the writing. I think the most we do is give them a name and a few characteristics in the beginning, a few likes/dislikes and they take it from there. I love the development process.
I have also had it asked of me about a character’s traits. It was said that the reader was so sorry I found the world so dismal, as if the MC was me. I explained, but I’m not sure it registered.
I do use some personal experiences, as you stated, but it’s part of that “write what you know” adage. I also use my knowledge of things, like the horses in my novel, Where the Horses Run, and psychology as in Ariel’s Cottage.
Thank you for writing this. I’ll post it on my FB timeline for my friends and family who might be confused about this.