The Dangers Of Turning Fact Into Fiction

I love fiction. And I love fiction that's based on fact. But mixing the two can get you into trouble if you're not careful.

For anybody living in London in August 2011, the riots were inescapable. You didn't have to be caught up in the middle of the fighting to be affected. There was a mood, a tension that lingered in the air. Shops were closing at 3 p.m. People were eyeing each other suspiciously. Even a particular item of clothing suddenly acquired a demonic trait. As I put it in my novella, 'Riot Murder':

“The hoodie was transformed from a benign piece of leisurewear into a uniform for the disaffected, the angry, the malevolent. So much so that ‘hoodie’ was no longer a piece of clothing. It was a whole person. A hoodie was somebody likely to steal, plunder and do you unimaginable harm.
People were crossing the street when a hoodie crossed their path - even if it was a 70-year-old gentleman walking his dog. That’s how quickly the fear had permeated the collective consciousness. And lifting the hood was tantamount to cocking a gun.”

The climax of 'Riot Murder' depends on a particular detail of the 2011 riots. It was something so extraordinary that I felt compelled to use it. I can't say what it is because it forms the main twist of the novella. But I can talk about the issues it raises. It concerns a real person.

Now obviously there are legal ramfications to using real people in a novel. Characters can't be lifted directly from real life. Real people can sue.

But here lies the rub. All writers draw inspiration from real life. Even those specialising in the fantasy, or science fiction, realm. And what people do in real life make the very best stories in themselves; even though they are often incomplete and not utterly satisfying.

For a while, I thought about devising another storyline. But I kept returning to this man and what he did. When his court case came up, I decided I had to use the storyline I'd devised. It was a story screaming out to be told. Now let's get one thing clear. I did not know the man, had never met him, or read his life story. It was just one detail I wanted to use, which is perfectly fair game. Every other facet of my fictional character was made up.

But we live in litigious times. People trip on a paving stone and their first thought is who can they sue.

What I did, finally, was set the story forward in time. 'Riot Murder' takes place in the summer of 2012. The London riots have reignited, as many Londoners think they will, and an undercover cop is murdered. Setting it in the near future liberated the story in many ways. I didn't have to feel guilty about taking liberties with what actually happened this summer. So it worked out for my story.

I think the moral of this story is that no writer should be put off being inspired by real life. The real world is the lifeblood of fiction. Stories are important to the progression of society, no matter how trivial. Even a little detective novel can make people think twice. It's why stories were invented by our cave dwelling ancestors.

I want to say: to hell with opportunistic people's greedy need for the fame and potential financial reward of a court case. Stories must be told. But, of course, as a writer, you have to take this into account; you need to be careful. Make sure your character is genuinely different from its real life inspiration. And always include a disclaimer before your story.

There's always a workaround. And that workaround might just open a whole new world of possibilities.

'Riot Murder' – a Myles Morgan mystery by Mark Capell is available from Amazon and Amazon U.K. and will shortly be available from Barnes & Noble and the iBookstore.