Showing posts with label Composite Characters: Do They Have a Place in Creative Nonfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Composite Characters: Do They Have a Place in Creative Nonfiction. Show all posts

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Composite Characters: Do They Have a Place in Creative Nonfiction?

by Marcia Moston @MarciaMoston

It was a familiar situation, a mix of writers—some fiction, some nonfiction—coming together for their monthly critique meeting. Michelle was working on a nonfiction submission. She felt she had included too many characters for such a short piece and asked the group what to do.

Sitting across the table, Elizabeth, a solid fiction writer, saw no problem. “Just combine the characters.”

I yelped. “You can’t do that. That’s not a real person.”