When I started writing my novel, a bunch of years ago, I happened to mention to someone (a highly literate person) that my book was "somewhat autobiographical." I could swear he gave me a look that said something along the lines of, "Yeah, you and everyone else, good luck with that." I've also come across other disparaging comments about first-time authors who insert themselves into their novels. I'm definitely not the entire book, although I am a main character, and the whole plot is totally fictional. To help the reader better understand my character/me, there are some first person chapters - much shorter than the regular chapters - strewn throughout the book, maybe 10 of them. It's not the story of my life by any means: each first person chapter homes in on a specific event in my life that reveals something about the character/me. (And they're not very flattering, believe me.)

I like these first person chapters; some of them are the best writing in the book, I think. They're not self-pitying - I don't think, the novel hasn't been fully critiqued yet - and there's a lot of dark humor. (Please don't tell me to write a memoir because I don't want to do that and the tragedies I experienced have happened to many other anonymous people in this world. Also, I'm not a famous rock star or athlete.)

I'm just wondering what other people think of this. There are also a few other real (fictionalized) people in the book - my mom, who is deceased, my older sister, and a cousin. The cousin is the only one who I even remotely disparage, and she's disguised as a much older aunt. Well, not really disguised; I suppose if my cousin read the book, she'd know right off the bat this was her speaking. (It's one of the first person chapters which consists entirely of a phone conversation between me and the "aunt.") I doubt she'd sue me My older sister is depicted truthfully, which is to say, as a distant, chilly person who's more or less not all that interested in her younger sister. And even then, there's an element of kindness in my stories that involve her because, well. . . she's my sister.

But back to my main question - what do others think of this tack? Pros and cons? Thanks!

As for placing yourself into your work:

“You can fire your secretary, divorce your spouse, abandon your children. But they remain your co-author forever.”

~ Ellen Goodman

Everything that hapens to a writer eventually shows up in their work. In reality, it doesn't matter if it's your life, that of a neighbor, or something you make up. All that matters is that your reader is entertained by reading it because you made them live it.

As for the idea working or not, if you're writing like a pro it will work. If not, it matters not at all if it really happened. So post a chapter or three for reaction, and maybe some ideas on making it more real.

--edited by Jay Greenstein on 1/29/2015, 9:52 PM--

Nice, Val! Here's a link for easier access.

Also, you should post a link and an announcement about it in this thread, since that's where folks looking for new LitFic projects check.

There is a difference between inserting yourself in the novel and using your experiences.

All my novels are partly based on my experiences, the locations are all places I know well.

It's important not to preach your beliefs in your writing. 

Several of my novels involve serial characters. I make no apologies when I say that there is a lot of me in the main character. The other characters are composites of people I know or knew.

My main character in the series is a retired police officer, like me, and a couple of the others are working cops. I appreciate not including beliefs and opinions in a novel. Cops however do, when talking among themselves or with former cops, tend to interject opinions and beliefs that civilians and other delicate creatures would consider extremely un-PC.

I'll temper those opinions in my books but the talk is fairly accurate otherwise. I'd hate having a law enforcement officer pick up one of my books and make the comment, "This don't sound like cop talk."